I thought the Orioles had addressed the open color analyst when the brought back Mike Flanagan back into the booth, but yesterday during the Orioles/Yankees Spring Training game, Gary Thorne announced that four other former Orioles will stop by the booth to break down the club.
Eddie Murray, Brady Anderson, Mike Boddicker and Ben McDonald will join the game broadcast team for nearly a dozen games a piece.
It’s a move that I’m glad the Orioles made, replacing Buck Martinez was tough and I think it’s important that the club connects with fans through their former players a little better than they have in the past.
Peter Schmuck made an interesting point in his post about this subject, it should be fun to see buzz around Eddie Murray’s broadcast debut since he had a rough history with the Baltimore media.
There aren’t a whole lot of franchises that have rotating color analysts, but I think it will make the game broadcasts a little more exciting. It will be interesting to get Murray’s opinion on the team and also have Boddicker’s on varying subjects. Gary Thorne does a great job of breaking the game down with his analysts, so I’m sure the transition between guys will be virtually seamless.
Alsom, the O’s bring together a group of former players from a span of different time periods in their history, which is exciting for fans of different ages.
For myself, as a kid I was a big Brady Anderson fan. His poster hung on my door and I remember going out to the yard and sitting in the centerfield and watching him play. I liked his input last season during an O’s/Angels game and think he will be a fine addition to the broadcast.
What do you think of MASN’s rotating color analysts?
ABF…
Anybody But Flannagan
Personally I think Anderson and Boddicker have the gift of gab…Murray and Big Ben not so much. Give TD a chance or break Dipper away from MASN…insert one and take the other away. How about Amber or Anita?
Anita?
Ummm.
No.
Brady has been all over Angelos' jock for years.
Ive heard McDonald on the radio in interviews a few times lately and he seems fine.
Brady is a joke.
The trouble with Thorne is he has a tendency to take over and I fear slow talker Ben will be lost in the proceedings. Palmer was a good match for him…steal Singy away from the Yankees?! At least be able to beat them at something.
I'm a fan of Thorne. He's got this loose attitude about the game that I really enjoy. You can tell on TV that he definitely likes his job.
Will-o, you get my email, text and phone calls about the draft? We need your team!
Thorne is wrong so much that it's not even funny.
Get a pen and paper and listen to a full game that he does. It's astonishing. A ball will miss low and away and Thorne will blurt out "ball, high and tight".
That's just the little stuff. He's a hockey guy doing baseball.
I wish Palmer would expand his schedule to do more games. He is by far the best and most objective guy out there.
Hopefully the demote Jim "I still think it's 1997" Hunter to intern.