As the Orioles continue their run to the top of the American League standings, a controversy involving the team’s majority-owned broadcast network has taken center stage.
Kevin Brown, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network’s lead play-by-play announcer for Orioles games, was removed from the club’s television broadcasts a day after listing off statistics about Baltimore’s poor play in recent seasons, sources with knowledge of the team’s decisions told The Baltimore Sun.
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Brown hasn’t been featured on MASN broadcasts for the past two weeks but is scheduled to rejoin Friday, when the Orioles begin a series in Seattle to start a three-city trip out west, a source confirmed.
The decision has rankled many across the baseball world, with several notable broadcasters lambasting the Orioles, MASN and chairman John Angelos on social media and live television.
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Here’s a look at what broadcasters, analysts and other observers are saying about the news:
SNY’s Gary Cohen
“Let me just say one thing to Baltimore Orioles management: You draped yourself in humiliation when you fired Jon Miller, and you’re doing it again,” Cohen said during the broadcast for Monday’s New York Mets-Chicago Cubs game. “And if you don’t want Kevin Brown, there are 29 other teams who do. It’s a horrendous decision by the Orioles. I don’t know what they were thinking, but they’ve gotten exactly the reaction that they deserve, and it’s just a shame because the Orioles are playing so well, and now they’ve diverted attention from that and now made themselves a laughingstock.”
NESN’s Dave O’Brien
“That’s a fiasco that that’s allowed to happen,” O’Brien said during Monday’s Boston Red Sox-Kansas City Royals broadcast. “And I think every announcer in the league feels the same way. Every broadcaster in your position [Red Sox analyst Kevin Youkilis] and in mine thought that was an absolute joke. … That’s a joke and I hope he’s reinstated immediately when someone comes to their senses in the front office for the Orioles.”
YES Network’s Michael Kay
“This makes the Orioles look so small and insignificant and minor league,” Kay said during his radio show Monday. “And of course they don’t comment on personnel matters … but can you imagine how that guy [Brown] must feel? He has to keep his mouth shut. He can’t criticize the Orioles, because then he’ll get fired. And of course we look forward to Kevin coming back. But you embarrassed the guy for no reason. And most importantly, you embarrassed yourself. What you did is disgraceful to the business. Disgraceful. Fans of teams should be lucky when their announcers are allowed to be critical, and that wasn’t even critical. I believe that was complimentary of the Orioles.”
WFAN Radio’s John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman
“I’ve been on the air 63 years, so I’ve seen a million nutty things happen in this nutty business. This is right up there with the nuttiest,” Sterling said during Monday’s New York Yankees-Chicago White Sox broadcast.
“It’s amazing to me,” analyst Suzyn Waldman, Sterling’s broadcast partner, said. “How can you do your job if you can’t tell the truth? But he didn’t even say anything negative. He was extolling how good they are because look what they’ve done this year, and in the past they didn’t do it. I don’t understand it. When I saw the clip, I was waiting for him to say something horrible.”
“I’ve never heard of that in my life,” Sterling said. “If [John Angelos] was our boss, we’d get fired every day. We comment that the Yankees have terrible batting averages, and they have terrible on-base percentages.”
Sirius XM’s Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo
“This idiot [John] Angelos, who’s never won a damn thing,” Russo said during his Monday radio show, “this is the guy that gets [Brown] fired or gets him demoted or gets him silenced for a period of time as sort of punishment. Are you kidding me?! That is a disgrace. That is so bad, I don’t even know how to comment. Who would want to be a play-by-play guy of the Orioles?”
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Former radio host Mike Francesa
“Despite the standings, the Orioles showed themselves to be losers-and big losers at that- with their treatment of Kevin Brown,” Francesa tweeted. “Not only should Baltimore reinstate him. They should apologize profusely for their terrible error in judgement.”
NBC Sports Chicago’s Jason Benetti
“Kevin Brown is one of the most talented, thoughtful, curious, positive people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, working with and calling a friend,” Benetti tweeted. “He’s truly one of the best play-by-play announcers in the country. If the Orioles don’t want him, another team’ll be elated.”
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt
“This is very simple. There are facts and opinion,” Van Pelt tweeted. “Kevin recited facts, and only facts. If he’s been suspended for that, it’s my opinion that it is so small and ridiculous as not to be believed.”
Bally Sports West’s Wayne Randazzo
“That brings up a good point,” Randazzo said during Monday’s Los Angeles Angels-San Francisco Giants broadcast. “The [Angels haven’t] scored tonight and they’ve lost six in a row. And sometimes, facts are facts and we have to sit here and talk about them, whether they’re pretty or not. And in Baltimore certainly, they have had some different reactions to that sort of thing. And we got a guy sitting a few booths down, the Hall of Famer, Jon Miller, who went through that there almost 30 years ago. Certainly, our best wishes go out to Kevin Brown of the Baltimore Orioles.”
NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Tom McCarthy
“This make very little sense,” McCarthy tweeted. “He didn’t build the graphic and if he did, it only accentuated the great story of the Orioles. They should be proud of what they have done, not offended.”