The Sounds Of Summer?

For as long as I can remember, summer time has always been filled with different sounds: parades, splashing in the pools, music and outdoor gatherings. They've always beeen melodic to my ears, usually right around June or July. 

The best sounds of summer to me were the sounds of baseball. The voices of baseball here in the New York area were perhaps my closest friends growing up as a kid here in New Jersey.

Back then, the two New York baseball teams featured three-man broadcast teams that provided television and radio play-by-play and color. Two voices were always on the TV side, and the other on radio. Usually after three innings, the voices rotated. Since I liked the Yankees, my radio buddies werer Phil Rizzuto, Joe Garagiola, and Jerry Coleman. At that time the Mets were discribed by Lindsey Nelson, Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy. 

Enemies of mine that broadcast baseball were the voices of the hated Baltimore Orioles, Chuck Thompson and Bill O'Donnell on WBAL in Baltimore. I listened to thier games with the transistor radio under the pillows.

Listening to baseball today is an awful experience. It seems the last thing the voices tell you is the play that you are listening to. No longer do the New York teams have one set of three broadcasters. In fact, separate broadcast teams are used for televison and radio. 

Since Gary Cohen left the radio booth for SNY, the Mets broadcasts have been expectedly inconsistent. Howie Rose has been teamed up with yet another new voice to our area, Josh Lewin, and its too early to make any great analysis of thier efforts. 

The lone thing that annoys me about Mets baseball on radio is sometimes Howie dazzles us with his knowlege of unimportant Mets trivia. It makes great sports talks show fodder but i want to hear about the game.

For pure torture nothing beats listening to a New York Yankees game. Each broadcast is overburdened with absurd sponsorhips, aimless banter and it seems everything else but the game you've tuned in for. If you are out and about in your car and need the score of the Yankees game, you are in trouble. 

John Sterling has been the voice of the Yankees on radio for over 20 years now.   A one-time sports talk host here in New York, John came to the Yankees after working as a broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves. He has by far the best sounding voice of New York sports. 

Suzyn Waldman is John's partner on the broadcast, replaceing Charley Steiner.  Unlike most broadcast teams here previously, John solely does play-by-play and Suzyn does the color. To be any type of broadcaster requires an ego to be an entertainer, but I'm not sure the same size of ego is needed for sports as opposed to, say, a music show host. 

Combined with many observations that John just flat out misses some calls, makes incorrect calls, and sometimes forgets about the game, WAY too much emphasis is devoted elsewhere. The end result for this listener: rarely am I entertained and even more rarely do I ever get the information that I am seeking, the score of the game!

There are many times where I long for announcerless games such as NBC did in the 80s but on radio that is not possible. Is it?