Rating the Yankees Announcers

A few weeks ago, my aunt suggested doing a blog rating the YES Network broadcasters from best to worst.  I'm not one to shy away from taking suggestions, and frankly, that was a better idea than anything I can come up with on my own, so I've decided to give my reading audience what they want.

These rankings only reflect those who do games on YES, as well as the Yankees' radio team of John Sterling and Suzyn Waldmann.  It doesn't include any national broadcasters (who are we kidding, Tim McCarver would rank first on any list of "Worst Broadcasters," so I've decided to give him a break for some reason).  Nancy Newman, Kim Jones and Jack Curry also get a break, since none of them actually call any game action.  (Although, if they were included in the list, Nancy and Kim wouldn't rank too high.)  Besides, I think anyone who's ever played for the Yankees, is retired, and doesn't have some sort of other baseball-related job is a YES analyst, so I had to draw the line somewhere.  With all that being said, it's time for the rankings (in reverse order).

9. Suzyn Waldmann-Suzyn Waldmann made history when she became the first female to become a regular in a Major League Baseball team's radio booth.  Why?  She isn't good.  Her "analysis" is about equal to the insight provided by our friend Tim McCarver, and she essentially just agrees with everything John Sterling says.  In other words, she lends nothing to the broadcast.  Well, that's not entirely true.  She does the out-of-town scoreboard!

8. Bob Lorenz-I've got nothing against Bob Lorenz.  In fact, I think he's a tremendous studio host.  But for the West Coast games that Michael Kay doesn't want to do and Ken Singleton isn't scheduled for (as well as every game in Toronto, which is wierd.  Is Kay not allowed to leave the country or something?), they put Lorenz in the booth, usually with John Flaherty.  He tries, but he's just not the best play-by-play guy.  His style is too dry, which is why it lends itself to the studio.

7. Michael Kay-Yes, Michael Kay gets annoying.  I don't deny that.  The games that he takes off are usually a welcome treat.  He relies too much on shitck and often gets waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too poetic, but when you push all that stuff aside, he actually becomes tolerable (in small doses).  Even if he doesn't always know what's going on.  And it's absolutely hilarious when he's in the booth with O'Neill or Flaherty and they just make fun of each other the whole time!  Besides, it's not possible for any regular Yankee broadcaster to rank lower than Suzyn Waldmann.

6. Paul O'Neill-To be fair, Paul O'Neill was one of my favorite Yankees when he played, and I think No. 21 should be put on the wall in Monument Park.  To be fair, I think the Kay-O'Neill-Leiter team lends to some of the most entertaining YES broadcasts (mainly because they're only home games and they usually include one of those awesome weekday afternoon games).  But other than serving as Michael Kay's punchline, he isn't really a great analyst.  At least he's funny.

5. David Cone-Coney comes in slighlty ahead of Paulie because he's never dragged down by Michael Kay.  Of course, I can't really hold the fact that YES schedules him to work with Singleton instead of Kay against O'Neill, but there are other reasons why he gets the nod.  Mainly, the perspective he gives as a former pitcher and his overall baseball knowledge.

4. John Sterling-I know most of you probably think that John Sterling's ranking is a little too high.  Well, part of it is because of how nicely he treated me when I got to be a guest in the booth during a game in Baltimore a couple years ago, but that's beside the point.  Yes he makes things up.  Yes his style can get incredibly obnoxious.  But remember the days when the radio announcer WAS the team to a lot of people?  OK, I don't, but the point remains.  John Sterling IS the Yankees for a lot of people.  And the catchphrases that you know ("It is high.  It is far.  It is gone.") ("Yankees win!  Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win!") are all his.

3. John Flaherty-Flash has a promising future.  For somebody who's still a broadcasting novice, he's got all the tools.  Other than the Kay-O'Neill-Leiter games, the Singleton-Flaherty games are the best ones.  In fact, those are probably the best ones if you're looking for a set of broadcasters who are straight-forward, fair, honest and knowledgeable, as well as both extremely talented.  Flaherty even gives play-by-play a whirl.  He's not there yet as a play-by-play guy, but he is as an analyst.  Bringing on Flash was one of the best moves YES ever made.

2. Al Leiter-Al Leiter is so good that he does national telecasts in additon to Yankees games.  He's easily the most talented pure analyst on the network.  Leiter showed what he can do early (he was a guest analyst for FOX's ALCS coverage when he was still playing), and he's just as good in the studio (he sometimes does MLB Tonight on MLB Network) as he is in the booth.  Pitchers and catchers tend to make the best broadcasters because of all that goes into what they do on the field, and Leiter is no exception.  In fact, he's among the very best.

1. Ken Singleton-This selection was an easy one.  It's an absolute joy to listen to Ken Singleton call a baseball game.  The best duo/trio YES can put out there is Kay and Singleton, because Kay is the best play-by-play guy they've got and Singleton is their best analyst.  Ken Singleton knows the game and he knows how to talk about it.  He's a seasoned broadcaster, which obviously helps, but that's far from the only thing that makes him good.  It says a lot about how talented a broadcaster is if they're able to transition from calling play-by-play to doing color (which are completely different things).  It's not as easy as it might seem.  Or as easy as Ken Singleton makes it look.  My only complaint about Ken Singleton is that he doesn't do more games.