Don Sutton: Dirty Cheater
He's quick on his feet, at least.
Sutton's actually starting to grow on me. With the 14 or so similarly voiced weenies on TBS, I never paid enough attention to isolate his comments. He's got lots of quick, interesting observations -- is usually right! -- and he works well with Bob Carpenter.
I can't say that I'm a big fan of Carpenter. He's a pro, but I think he's a bit too Midwestern for me. "Golly folks, it's a beautiful night out here at the yard! C'mon down and see the boys play this grand old game." Listening to him, I half expect him to invite us all over after the game for some pie.
Sutton's actually starting to grow on me. With the 14 or so similarly voiced weenies on TBS, I never paid enough attention to isolate his comments. He's got lots of quick, interesting observations -- is usually right! -- and he works well with Bob Carpenter.
I can't say that I'm a big fan of Carpenter. He's a pro, but I think he's a bit too Midwestern for me. "Golly folks, it's a beautiful night out here at the yard! C'mon down and see the boys play this grand old game." Listening to him, I half expect him to invite us all over after the game for some pie.
posted by Chris Needham at
3:29 PM
7 Comments:
Kevin from Fairfax, never to be a blogger because too stupid to remember my Google password:
I am going to miss Tom Paciorek. I don't know how professional one should consider him, but I know that when he played for the Mets at the end of his career, and my brother and I hadn't moved to far-off places for careers, he took every at-bat with a big smile on his face as if the was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Because of that history, I happily accepted the borderline homer calls for the team of my family as a Dad, the Nats. When he got excited about an important hit, a game-saving play, I knew that he meant it.
Will Carpenter and Sutton do as well together? I am not sure- when things get really exciting, I know I want to hear Charlie Slowes- "Bang! Zoom! go the Fireworks" and "Another Curly W in the Books!" have grown on me to the point that I imagine them in the off-season, like I remember HOF Bob Murphy talking about "Another Happy Recap" for the Mets when I was a kid.
My wife and kids are converting quickly. I want my 4-year-old son to act out Nats victories like he plays Spiderman. It would be a family tradition.
By
Anonymous, at 3/12/2007 9:09 PM
If you go to Don Sutton's Wikipedia entry, there is this choice item:
"He was known for doctoring baseballs. His nickname was "Black & Decker"; legend has it that when Sutton met notorious greaseballer Gaylord Perry, Perry handed him a tube of Vaseline, and Sutton responded with a thank-you, then handed him a sheet of sandpaper."
I have no idea what to think about all of that. I've only seen Sutton on a couple of MASN spring training broadcasts, but for him to survive all those years on WTBS broadcasting Braves games, he must have something good going for him. I enjoy hearing him dissect pitching, and his HOF status lends him enormous gravitas. I've heard nothing but good things about Sutton from baseball fans who have heard him do Braves games.
Chris - Bob Carpenter is "too mid-west" for you? Well, he IS a St. Louis native after all, but I've met the guy a few times, and he seems incredibly decent and nice. He's been very kind to me, and he strikes me as having that Johnny Carson-esque everyman quality on the air (Carson was, of course, a Nebraska native. One thing I can tell you is, he works VERY hard to prepare for each and every game and his mind for details is wonderfully keen. I think that he is the archetype for sports broadcasting, exactly the sort of presence that network honchos and advertisers feel comfortable with, and I enjoy his on-air presence. It was delightful to hear him again after the long winter hiatus.
Kevin, I too, miss Tom Paciorek. I was honored to meet him a couple of times and he was very nice, and awfully funny. I know some didn't much care for his on-air style, but let's face it, the poor guy had to try and keep the banter light and entertaining while covering a team that was losing a lot of games last year. Not an enviable task at all. He also worked hard at preparation, which might belie his casual on-air manner.
I think that Carpenter and Sutton will make a great team this season, and they should soon get into a good groove together.
By
Crash, at 3/13/2007 12:47 AM
Stories like that Wikipedia one, which are a staple of most baseball books, make me not want to trust anything I ever read!
I agree with you about the professionalism of Carpenter. I said as much, even if it was just a word or two, in the post.
It's that folksy style that I don't particularly like. Well, to be more accurate, I guess I'm indifferent towards it.
By
Chris Needham, at 3/13/2007 8:49 AM
sutton's already added more intelligent insight in the one hour of spring training coverage i watched yesterday than paciorek added all year.
By
DCPowerGator, at 3/13/2007 9:34 AM
Yeah, but can he YEEEAARRGGHHH?
By
Anonymous, at 3/13/2007 10:49 AM
I like pie.
By
Anonymous, at 3/13/2007 1:30 PM
Hey, I like a good slice of it every now and then, but if I have it night after night after night, I'm eventually going to get sick of rhubarb!
By
Chris Needham, at 3/13/2007 1:33 PM
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