Baseball Nation: Why Are Buck and McCarver Still Calling the World Series?

From SABR member Al Yellon at Baseball Nation on October 25, 2011:

Fox Sports has decreed that they must give us Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as announcers for national baseball telecasts, which include every game of the World Series. And it seems that during every game, one or the other, or both, say something intended to be smart and clever, only it comes out either tired and lame, stupid, head-scratching, or some combination of the three.

Here’s last night’s:


McCarver says Napoli, Murphy hits “equally” important. We’ll go with @FanGraphs instead: http://t.co/4oNuoNyg. (Hint: Napoli’s was.) 


 

McCarver was clearly trying to show everyone how baseball-smart he is by claiming that David Murphy’s well-placed infield single was “equally” important to Mike Napoli’s two-run double.

No, Tim, no. FanGraphs is right, obviously, and it should be obvious to even the most casual fan of the game. Napoli’s double won the game for the Rangers; Murphy’s hit helped set that up, but Napoli’s was the play of the game.

The real question is why Fox continues to foist McCarver on a national audience. There are many capable and competent announcers who know more about modern baseball than McCarver, who turned 70 last week.

Read the full article here: http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/10/25/2512679/joe-buck-tim-mccarver-world-series-fox-sports



Originally published: October 25, 2011. Last Updated: October 25, 2011.