The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - October 12, 1 -
- Page 3
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Miller
John Niyo
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The
voice
of the Oriol
es
and
E
S
PN's
sses
Sunday
Night
Ba
seball
discu
* various aspects of our national pastime.
Since ESPN won the rights to
televise baseball, Baltimore Orioles
announcer Jon Miller has become
one of the most recognized broad-
casters of America's pastime.
Along with Hall of Fame second
baseman Joe Morgan, Miller has
transformed an ordinary Sunday
night game into an event. Miller en-
tertains fans during games with im-
pressions of some of the baseball's
most famous announcers, including
Harry Caray and even Vin Scully in
Japanese and Spanish. Besides
ESPN, he also does radio and televi-
son for the Orioles.
Daily Sports Writer Chad A.
Safran spoke with Miller about life
as an announcer.
Daily: How do you feel about
Oriole Park at Camden Yards?
Miller: I think obviously it is a
beautiful ballpark. To me one of the
keys to the ballpark is that it is a
completely state-of-the art, high-
tech, ultra-modern ballpark in every
respect. Yet it still has the feel of
some of the older ballparks in the
best sense - the sense of intimacy.
The seats are real close. Very little
foul territory. And there are unique
things about the ballpark. The way
the game is played in the ballpark, I
think over the years that is going to
give it some of the flavor that one
stretch of baseball buildings did not
incorporate with it. The big round
ballpark.
It starts with the warehouse out
in right field which a lot of people
wanted to tear down to give you a
clear vista to the Inner Harbor, the
skyline and what not. But they dis-
covered something like the ware-
house would give you all the things
you wanted in a ballpark without
making it a confinement because
you could build an odd-shaped ball-
park in the middle of a field some-
where with a 37-foot high wall but it
would be a total contrivance. Keep-
ing the warehouse they were able to
duplicate the brickwork, the arch-
ways, things like that and the outer
facade of the ballpark looks like
very much like the warehouse. The
two look like they have been side-
by-side for one hundred years.
By keeping the warehouse, that
helps you justify the odd dimensions
in right field, the big wall. It is an
innner-city ballpark that celebrates
the fact that it is an urban structure.
D: What is your favorite stadium
to broadcast from?
M: Tiger Stadium. You are right
on top of the game. You hear things,
much less see the ball and all of that.
Every other ballpark after you have
done a series at Tiger Stadium, you
feel like you are eight miles away
(from the action). That's always
* been my favorite. I like the feel of
the ballpark. You can hit home runs
there. It is exciting and home runs
there have dimensions. There are
home runs that go over the fence,
there are home runs that hit the fa-
cade of the upper deck or home runs
that make it into the upper deck. Or
hit the roof or even go over the roof.
Simply, from a radio standpoint,
that brings a home run to life. In
most other ballparks, it's just a mat-
ter of degree. It reaches the seats.
Did it go way back in the seats? At
Tiger Stadium, without even getting
into it you just say "It hits the upper
deck," or "It hits the roof," or even
"It's over the roof."
D: You mentioned Tiger Stad-
ium. What do you think should be
done in terms of the ballpark?
- Should they build a new one or ren-
0 ovate the old structure?
M: I'm not as familiar with the
whole situation there as I am with
the one here, but you know if it can
be preserved, as a baseball fan then I
would be all for that. I think there
are certain aspects of Tiger Stadium
that are not good. Is it conducive to
fans wanting to go there? Out of the
50,000 seats, how many of them of-
fer a real good view of the game?
How many are behind poles or how
many are backed up underneath the
overhang in the upper deck where
you can't see any ball in the air or
the scoreboard? There are a consid-
erable number of seats like that. This
reduces their season tickets. You
don't have many optimum season
tickets that, say, a coroporation
would want to buy to entertain
clients and that sort of thing.
cause with radio you have the per-
sonal relationship with the audience.
It is just you as the conduit between
you and the audience at home.
Whatever you decide is rela:ent,
that's what you tell them about. It
simplifies the game, but it is very
satisfying to speak directly to the
fans.
Television, particularly an ESPN
Sunday night telecast, it is almost
like a military expedition. We've got
11 or 12 cameras. We've got the
blimp. We've got seven or eight slo-
mo machines. We've got a crew of
40 or 50 people. The booth looks
like you are surrounded by secret
service agents because there are so
many people in there. Radio, they
set you up a microphone, fill out
your scorecard, open the mike, that's
I've always contended that a Tiger fan would
listen to a game with Ernie Harwell; now, they
use their imagination to get a picture of what
Ernie is describing based on his description.
televison where you don't see the
flight of the ball. A big home run -
you never saw the ball, in effect.
You saw the outfielder go back to
the wall. It hits the roof. Maybe, you
see it hit the roof or maybe they
didn't get it. Radio - Ernie would
describe it for you. He would tell
you it hit the roof, and in your
mind's eye you're sitting in the first
base stands, upper deck. You saw
the flight of the ball, the incredible
arc, you saw it hit that wall and
you're astounded and you never saw
any of it. That's part of the romance
of radio. In other words, a game on
televison is the movie version and a
game on radio is reading a novel.
D:Is it important as a broadcaster
to be very objective or do you think
if you are the "homer" announcer
you get the fans more involved?
M: I think when you start out ob-
jectivity is the No. 1 goal because as
a broadcaster on a local basis,
you've got to convince the fans that
you've got credibility. Fans, they'll
be there. You can count on them to
do that but they need to count on
you to tell them the truth. If you're
at some ballpark and the fans per-
ceive you are not telling the truth
about the home ballclub, then
you've lost everything. You have to
start from there. The fans have to
believe you are telling the truth at all
times, then they'll buy the rest of the
product.
D: How did you get your start in
radio?
M: I always wanted to do base-
ball on the radio. When I was a little
kid, I played Strat-O-Matic baseball
and broadcast the games in the
basement or my room. It's kind of a
bizarre thing to do in northern
California at that time. Everyone
else was spending summers at the
beach and I've got the Cardinals and
Cubs in a big four-game set. So I
guess there was always some ro-
mance to being a fan of the game
and listening to Russ Hodges and
Ron Simmons. They brought the
game to me, and, looking back, I re-
alize that everyday they emphasized
the notion that baseball is good and
healthy. Baseball is a pastime, and
baseball on the radio, particularly, is
good company.
Good versus Evil:
The other big game
Nothing beats a good rivalry. Except, well, beating up a good rival.
Michigan did just that to Michigan State twice this weekend, though
the first instance passed with much less fanfare than the last.
Everyone knows what happened Saturday. The Spartans, as has
become customary, lost. Michigan won, proving once again that we are
simply much, much better than they are, right?
Right. For further proof, you need only to rewind the tape back to
Friday afternoon, when the Michigan Daily soundly thumped the
Michigan State News in the annual battle of good versus evil on the
soggy turf of Palmer Field. The men and women in Maize and Blue,
doing their best impersonation of "the 22 arrogant asses who put on the
gloves of green," ran over, around and through the Jolly Green Giants.
Bob Ufer, bless his soul, would have been proud.*
We played for upwards of two hours. Tackle football, first one to
score five touchdowns wins. The final score was Us 35, Them 7.
Metaphorically speaking, we kicked their butt.
It was a two-man show on
offense. With Thom Holden,
who actually looks like a
football player, at quarterback,
and Jim Foss at wide receiver,
there was little that MSU could
do but beg for mercy. Defeat
- something the bad guys
have endured for two straight
years now - was inevitable.
Foss, a senior who is
majoring in intramural sports at
Michigan, hauled in no less
than four TD catches from
Holden - each time running
deep routes and then leaping
over hapless defenders for the r
grab. It would have been more '
than four TDs, were it not for
the whining State players and
fans insisting on "do-overs"
after phantom penalties and
obscure out-of-bounds calls.
"They took more
touchdowns away from me than
their whole team scored," said Jim Foss lunges for one of his four
Foss, who was playing in his touchdown catches Friday.
third Daily-State News football
contest. He has also helped lead the Daily over the green-and-white
freaks in basketball two years and counting, last year with 41 points in a
162-79 (no joke) thrashing.
Meanwhile, Holden, who might be a good enough punter to play on
Saturday instead of Friday next year, was busy directing the offense
when he wasn't launching bombs to Foss. He played a part in the fifth
and final touchdown as well, on an option play when he pitched the ball
to Mike Rancilio, who scampered in for the score.
But enough about the game. Rivalries are about more than just off-
tackle runs and post patterns. What did Elvis Grbac say about Michigan
State after the real game Saturday? "We wanted to destroy them. We
wanted to rip them apart."
Ditto.
There were at least three full-scale fights in Friday's game. Probably
could have (and should have) been a few more. It just wouldn't have
been Michigan-Michigan State if we hadn't brawled. There were big
hits, cheap shots and plenty of unfriendly conversation. It was war.
Some twisted knees and ankles, a few pulled muscles, scores of cuts
and abrasions, some unbelievable bruises ... and some cold beers and
cigars for the Victors when it was all over. 35-7. State Pride is truly ours.
* Ufer guru Sanjay Daga contributed to this story.
It has a lot of huge disadvantages
economically. Can Tiger Stadium be
renovated to become a ballpark that
features luxury suites and still main-
tain the aspects of Tiger Stadium
that the fans love? The proximity to
the field, the dimensions. All of
those kind of things. If they can then
I would be all for that. If they are
going to do the new ballpark, can it
be built downtown to help down-
town Detroit like this ballpark has
helped downtown Baltimore. All the
questions have to be asked. Selfish-
ly, I've been able to go to Tiger
Stadium for a good long time but
also I know the kind of seats that we
get in the broadcast booth at Tiger
Stadium. The fans themselves don't
get that view there.
D: Which do you enjoy doing
better, television or radio?
M: I enjoy doing television from
the standpoint that you reach a big
audience with it. You've got the
former player who is the expert. You
have the televison replays. So you
can really get inside the game.
There's a lot of things you can learn
about the game on televison. You
can replay things the fans want to
see again, but radio is the most satis-
fying from a personal standpoint be-
all there is to it.
D: Doing radio is almost like po-
etry, in which you have to describe
everything in a style that attracts the
listener.
M: For me, listening to the game
can be very satisfying as opposed to
television because as a listener you
are also personally involved. If the
game is well described, then, for in-
stance in Detroit with Ernie Harwell
for years, I've always contended that
a Tiger fan would listen to a game
with Ernie Harwell; now, they use
their imagination to get a picture of
what Ernie is describing based on
his description. Then my contention
is that a fan will see what Ernie is
talking about at Tiger Stadium from
the vantage point at which they
watch games when they are at Tiger
Stadium. So if you sit in the upper
deck, first-base side, when Ernie is
describing the thing to you, you're
seeing it from that vantage point.
So it is very personal just for you
because on television you only see
what the director chooses to show
you. Sometimes great moments in a
ballgame, the memory of them, can
be more vivid from of a radio broad-
cast because of that personal in-
volvement than having seen it on
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