The ASA’s list of the Top 50 Sportscasters of All-Time created 25, 900 search results on Google. Many sportswriters and fans approved of our choices and many more disagreed with them. Most of the comments were valid, arguing that other sportscasters should be included, some should have been excluded, and the order they were in should have been changed.
Most agreed that our top 10 choices of Vin Scully, Mel Allen, Red Barber, Curt Gowdy, Howard Cosell, Bob Costas, Jim McKay, Keith Jackson, Al Michaels and Dick Enberg were excellent picks.
The following are just a few of the many emails we received:
I agree with Vin Scully being #1 but thought Joe Buck should have been much higher in ranking (in Top 10). Also I missed Joe Morgan, In my opinion one of the best baseball announcers ever. He gives a unique perspective of the mechanics of the game. - Bill
Are you serious? Harry Caray over Jim Nantz? He was a gimmick. Good for the game but not a great broadcaster. Half the time you never knew if it was a flyball to short or a deep drive to the wall. Couldn’t get the names right of the Cubs half the time either. Nantz does golf, football and basketball all well.
How about the Mutual Broadcasting Company’s Game of the Day with Al Helfer? - CRF, Tallahassee, FL
I am very disappointed that Waite Hoyt is not on your list. I guess he’s probably been forgotten by everyone except those who grew up in Cincinnati in the ’ 40s, ’50s and ’60s. I may be biased but I still don’t think there has ever been a better radio broadcaster. Hoyt was among the most articulate broadcasters I have ever heard and his knowledge of the game was unparalleled. His stories of Babe Ruth and the Miller Huggins Yankees which he told during rain delays were so much fun that I became a history addict as an eight-year-old boy. - Tim Saunders, Half Moon Bay, CA
This is a pretty broad list. I don’t see how you can compare radio and TV broadcasters. There are a few on your list that do both but you have a lot of TV guys who have never done radio. I wouldn’t put Milo Hamilton on the list at all. I think Skip Caray and Pete Van Weiren should both get consideration. Thanks for giving us something to talk about. - Ted Morrows, Tucker, GA
I realize no one has probably heard of him outside of Texas and Arkansas, but in the glory days of the Southwest Conference (1960s) Kern Tipps was the best I ever heard. He’s long gone now, but I’ve never heard anyone better at football on the radio. He almost inspired me to take up the trade.
I read the list. Not bad, but a few observations. Where is Bob Uecker on this list? As a lifelong Brewers fan, Uecker is one of the most entertaining, knowledgeable and funny play-by-play guys of all-time. Best up and coming sportscaster - Gus Johnson of CBS. This guy is very, very good and has such a passion for the game. And where is Mike Patrick? He has been for years one of the most unheralded, un assuming guys in the business. Plus he is very talented. My thoughts, just a smalll town high school and colllege play-by-play guy. - Jim LaJoie, MPA, Marquette, MI
Dizzy Dean has got to be on that list somewhere. I have lots of good memories watching him on Saturday afternoon with my grandfather. I would love to find some old tapes of him doing the "Game of the Week." - Charles Adams
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