An article in today’s New York Times describes the appeal of Major League Baseball broadcasts on XM radio.
“Because of the length of the season, the pace of the games and the soap-opera quality of baseball, listeners get to know announcers very well and become very close to them,” Gary Cohen, the radio voice of the Mets, said. “But what I like best about XM is that you can also listen to other broadcasters. You can get a point of comparison.”
Harry Kalas has been calling Philadelphia Phillies games in his unique baritone for 34 years, but only now can he be heard all the way to California. Jerry Coleman has been tripping over his words in San Diego for 34 years and can finally be laughed about in the far Northeast. But the main attraction seems to be Scully, the Dodgers’ Hall of Fame announcer who is generating better reviews on XM than Beyoncé. Fifty years after Scully narrated Brooklyn’s only World Series championship, New Yorkers can again listen to his lyrical broadcasts of Dodgers home games.