I like Milo.........

[AstroNut]

I know plenty folks around here don't care for Milo. I love listening to the 'Stros on radio and Milo, even with his occasional errors and omissions, is the voice of the Astros for me. Perhaps I am letting nostalgia get in the way, but he adds stuff (experience and memories), that the new guys can't. Maybe it's just the voice.

[MRaup]

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I know plenty folks around here don't care for Milo. I love listening to the 'Stros on radio and Milo, even with his occasional errors and omissions, is the voice of the Astros for me. Perhaps I am letting nostalgia get in the way, but he adds stuff (experience and memories), that the new guys can't. Maybe it's just the voice.

I love... lamp.

Anyone that actually enjoys listening to loud whooping and inarticulate noises  instead of actually knowing whats going on in the game should just bang two pots together for the 3 hours the Astros or playing.

You'll take about the same amount of game information away from the pots banging together.

[WulawHorn]

I love the voice he has- it says baseball to me.  The rest of the Milo experience I could do completely without.

[JimR]

Gene Elston is the voice of the Houston Astros.

Milo is just a voice, and he can no longer even see the games, much less describe them.

[Taras Bulba]

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I know plenty folks around here don't care for Milo. I love listening to the 'Stros on radio and Milo, even with his occasional errors and omissions, is the voice of the Astros for me. Perhaps I am letting nostalgia get in the way, but he adds stuff (experience and memories), that the new guys can't. Maybe it's just the voice.

Milo has a great voice and can still make a great call every now and then.  But as Jim R. pointed out, his sin is that he just got old.

For me, listening to Brownie and Jim D. on the telecasts is something that I enjoy even when the team is playing poorly.  They have good chemistry together and Deshaies goes far beyond just pointing out the obvious.

[OldBlevins]

I liked the Barbara Bass thing.  And Kevin's (at least I think it was Kevin's) description of Milo's meeting with Florence Henderson was one of the funniest things I've ever read.  You won't get that with no Brett Dolan.

[HurricaneDavid]

I listened to Milo over the Internet for about 8 years before getting Extra Innings and hearing Bill Brown & JD.  At first I missed Milo's voice, but I quickly got over it.  I hope Bill & JD continue to handle the TV duties for many years to come.

[Fredia]

hey i have to weigh in on the ash. he was gold at filling in when milo went  of to wherever it is he goes

[JimR]

no, Taras, you wiseass MF, everyone gets old, and it is not a sin. his sin is that he will not acknowledge that he can no longer keep up and will not retire gracefully. in addition, he is an abusive person and embarrasses and humiliates his coworkers repeatedly. that might be an additional sin.

[pravata]

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I liked the Barbara Bass thing.  And Kevin's (at least I think it was Kevin's) description of Milo's meeting with Florence Henderson was one of the funniest things I've ever read.  You won't get that with no Brett Dolan.

Dolan, or was it Raymond?, there's a problem right there, told a story about Springer's first appearance back from the suspension.  The one where he gives up the 2 homers in DC.  He says he's getting into a crowded elevator at the hotel after the game and he sees Springer in the back.  As the doors close the elevator gets quiet, and from the back he hears Springer's Louisiana drawl, "whhoooo boy, that place's a band box aint it."

[OldBlevins]

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Gene Elston is the voice of the Houston Astros.

Milo is just a voice, and he can no longer even see the games, much less describe them.

So why did they can him, and when? It was before I started paying attention to the Astros.

[Gizzmonic]

Maybe it was just my imagination, but either Dolan or Raymond (I think it was Dolan) really seemed to be rooting for the Cubs.  Maybe it was just my imagination-did anyone else get that impression during the Cubs series?

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I liked the Barbara Bass thing.  And Kevin's (at least I think it was Kevin's) description of Milo's meeting with Florence Henderson was one of the funniest things I've ever read.  You won't get that with no Brett Dolan.

Dolan, or was it Raymond?, there's a problem right there, told a story about Springer's first appearance back from the suspension.  The one where he gives up the 2 homers in DC.  He says he's getting into a crowded elevator at the hotel after the game and he sees Springer in the back.  As the doors close the elevator gets quiet, and from the back he hears Springer's Louisiana drawl, "whhoooo boy, that place's a band box aint it."

[JimR]

surely you jest. this is the biggest break of their lives. don't be silly.

McMullen did not think Elston was homer enough.

[Rod]

Speaking of Milo, he just said the Astros were dead "ass" last in some category over the air....He caught himself just before he finished ass, but it was too late.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I'm not caring much for Brett Dolan. I find his voice annoying. Milo has turned into a goddamn self parody. I don't get home 'til 8:15 so I have to listen to those bastards the first hour or more of most games. Dave Raymond is okay.

[Texifornia]

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McMullen did not think Elston was homer enough.

Fuck that Jersey-ass MFer.

I really miss Gene. He painted a crystal clear picture of the game.

His sidekick, Lowell Passe (sp?) was like Milo, except nice and he did occassionally say what was going on in the game. He was a shameless homer with more signature lines than a check forger.

But Elston was a real professional. Equaled only by Scully, Barber, and maybe Buck Sr. He would still be better than Milo if he had a mouthful of marbles and Mr. Magoo's vision.

I think I've only bragged about once buying Gene Elston a beer a couple of hundred times....

[HudsonHawk]

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McMullen did not think Elston was homer enough.

Fuck that Jersey-ass MFer.

I really miss Gene. He painted a crystal clear picture of the game.

His sidekick, Lowell Passe (sp?) was like Milo, except nice and he did occassionally say what was going on in the game. He was a shameless homer with more signature lines than a check forger.

But Elston was a real professional. Equaled only by Scully, Barber, and maybe Buck Sr. He would still be better than Milo if he had a mouthful of marbles and Mr. Magoo's vision.

I think I've only bragged about once buying Gene Elston a beer a couple of hundred times....

Milo used to be a top notch announcer, on par with anyone, IMO.  But he's way past being tolerable.  He just needs to let go.

[cc]

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surely you jest. this is the biggest break of their lives. don't be silly.

McMullen did not think Elston was homer enough.

I remember thinking at the time that Elston had started to sound like he was mailing it in, that he had crossed under the line of journalistic objectivity and had become bored.  My brother and I listened all the time and both felt the same way back then.  Not that he was ever a homer, nor would we want him to be one.  We did want him to at least sound like he was happy to be calling the game, but for some reason to us his voice projected a certain amount of ambivalence.

I realize many feel otherwise, but that was our impression at the time.  When I heard him many years later on CBS radio he sounded like he had recaptured the energy he had lost.  Maybe having to deal with McMullen drove it right out of him for a period of time.  I had the old 45 with all the great plays in Astros history, with Elston on most of the calls.  "Seven double plays!!" was one that still rings in my ears.  Where had *that* Gene Elston gone?

[WulawHorn]

I never heard Elston as I moved to H-town in 1990 or so. I used to always listen to the radio falling asleep when I was a kid b/c my parents had my bed time at like 8:30 or 9:00.  Milo was ok when I started listening, and even up to when I went to college in 96 or so, but he has been intolerable for the last 5 years at least.  I think he said he wants to do home games for another 5 years to have more time with the Astros then Elston.  Ugh, five more years of Milo is brutal.

Haven't warmed up to the new guys yet.  Also, I can't tell who is who yet, which is not what the Stros are going for I don't think.  TV crew is greatness.

[Navin R Johnson]

Milo's calling of a game is now on par with Pat Summeralls calling of a Madden football game on Playstation.  

Milo was good when i first started listening to him, early 80's.   And i do like his voice, and still do enjoy him when he is actually into the game (about 2% of each game).

I concur with all the comments above on JD and BB.   They are fantastic.

[JimR]

i like Raymond ok but not Dolan because of his sing-song delivery. they both have a bland cookie-cutter style.

Capps should have gotten the job. hiring two Iowa Cubs guys instead of him is a travesty.

[Taras Bulba]

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i like Raymond ok but not Dolan because of his sing-song delivery. they both have a bland cookie-cutter style.

Capps should have gotten the job. hiring two Iowa Cubs guys instead of him is a travesty.

Capps had too much baggage from his association with the Express' first year color man.  Some things just follow you forever.

[BizidyDizidy]

Explain?

[MRaup]

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Explain?

Express's first year color man = your old crush, the infamous JimR.

[BizidyDizidy]

Sorry I missed that. . .

[JimR]

he put up with me with good cheer, although the shame alone from my being a mere HS coach in a AA booth would kill a mere mortal.

Capps is a great guy and a good friend. he gave me that opportunity, which was a great time in my life. alas, like many other things, it ended.

he deserved the job with Houston. he earned it. i hope better things are ahead for him.

[UpTooLate]

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he put up with me with good cheer, although the shame alone from my being a mere HS coach in a AA booth would kill a mere mortal.

Hilarious.  Why did you not continue beyond the first year?

[JimR]

man, i wanted a lifetime gig! Mike told me the second year that the Ryans wanted ex-major leaguers in the booth with him. so, i was out because of my lack of an MLB pedigree, and they went with Spike Owen, until he became a coach, Bruce Ruffin, and now Kirk Dressendorfer. Keith Moreland worked the first year, but KVET entered into an exclusive arrangement with him the second year. Bill Mercer, legendary broadcaster and a former voice of the Cowboys and the White Sox does a few games with Mike on the road.

i hope that really was the reason. i took that job very seriously and worked very hard both to be good in my estimation and to cause Mike to think i was. it was more fun than a little bit.

[WulawHorn]

I did color games for a prospect league team up in Minnesota that I worked for the summer after law school. (probably heard by like 10 people aggregate over the entire year), but it was an absolute blast.  I tried to do it well but I'm pretty sure I was horrible.  Something special about getting behind the mike that I can't explain.

The coaches made a tape of me one night and we listened to it together and were howling- they thought I was decent so that was kinda cool.  

Very cool to do something like that.  Mine obviously wasn't as serious as yours- I made the same jokes on air my friends and I make watching ball games.  That's what had the staff laughing.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

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i like Raymond ok but not Dolan because of his sing-song delivery. they both have a bland cookie-cutter style.

Capps should have gotten the job. hiring two Iowa Cubs guys instead of him is a travesty.

Aint that the truth. I listen to every Express game that doesn't conflict with the Astros games and think Mike Capps is a pretty darn good PBP man. Quite a bit superior to the new guys and could have brought so much more background info on the players with his familiarity of the organization. My choice would have kept Ashby and added Capps.

[MusicMan]

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he deserved the job with Houston. he earned it. i hope better things are ahead for him.

My understanding was that this is a one-year trial for the new guys... perhaps he gets a shot next year.

[Limey]

They had Yvette in the radio booth this Sunday.  That's completely missing the point.  Two points, actually.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

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Bill Mercer, legendary broadcaster and a former voice of the Cowboys and the White Sox does a few games with Mike on the road.

More importantly, Mr. Mercer was the voice of World Class Championship Wrestling from the Sportatorium in Dallas.

[JimR]

Ashby torpedoed himself and may have taken Mike down with him. i think the plan going in was--or should have been--Capps and Ashby. two people who know, however, said Ashby got just what he deserved after the interview process was over. Mike got screwed.

there is not a nicer, sweeter man in this world than Bill Mercer. one of the bonuses of the year i spent with Mike was getting to know Bill.

[Holly]

I've heard nothing but good about Capps, but haven't yet heard him myself, unfortunately. So Jim, you think the only way Capps was due to be in the Houston booth this year was if he were paired up with Ashby?

Agreed about whatshisname's sing-song voice. It's kind of distracting, and I have noticed that he goes into this kind of laconic stroll and then hits this triplet-bump of syllables that makes the listener stop and try to figure out what he just said. It's a little... odd. Still, he's at least informative, unlike someone else in the booth, who sounds as though he thinks he's in a vaudeville production where he occasionally addresses the audience offstage or sotto voce.

[drew corleone]

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Bill Mercer, legendary broadcaster and a former voice of the Cowboys and the White Sox does a few games with Mike on the road.

More importantly, Mr. Mercer was the voice of World Class Championship Wrestling from the Sportatorium in Dallas.

Man, those were the days. I got a "Best of the Von Erichs" DVD from NetFlix a few months back (I was feeling nostalgiac when my grandmother died, as I spent many a Saturday night with her as a youngster watching the Von Erichs battle the Fabulous Freebirds) and sure enough, there was Bill Mercer doing the intro.

[JimR]

i really do not think that they were tied together going in, and i do not know what actually happened. Mike had so much going for him, personally and professionally, and he had the overwhelming support of the Ryans. his not being selected was even more inexplicable than the two persons who were.

btw, Mike was nominated for an Emmy for his coverage of the Branch Davidian standoff for CNN, and he won the Peabody Award for the SMU recruiting scandal story while he was at Channel 8 in Dallas. he is a broadcast PROFESSIONAL who does baseball because he loves it.

[Holly]

Ahhh... there's a reason I thought he name was familiar outside of these discussions. I watched a lot of the Branch Davidian CNN coverage in archive for a grad skool project in 1994. Thanks! See, I just figured he was a baseball man, as most in the biz seem to be. No idea this was not his primary career. Hopefully he'll be given a shot soon.

[JimR]

Mike does have a baseball background as a player through at least junior college, and he wrote a book about and with Red Murff, legendary scout. first and foremost, he is a professional broadcaster. he is a great combination of the two attributes needed, and he has a great voice. it will be a crying shame if he does not get to MLB, and i am not going to forgive McLane for denying him the job he earned. i hope he rights this wrong eventually.

[HudsonHawk]

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I have noticed that he goes into this kind of laconic stroll and then hits this triplet-bump of syllables that makes the listener stop and try to figure out what he just said. It's a little... odd.  

That sounds like Ashby to me.  He would sit there dead silent for 2 minutes, then start some babbling right at the action started and had to cram everything into 2 seconds......"*2 minutes of silence*....The Astros have turned 23 double plthere'sasmachonthegroundtothird".  Drove me nuts.  I for one did not like Ashby at all, not even a little, and am glad he did not get the PBP job.

[mihoba]

Happy Cake Day, Holly.

[strosrays]

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surely you jest. this is the biggest break of their lives. don't be silly.

McMullen did not think Elston was homer enough.

I remember thinking at the time that Elston had started to sound like he was mailing it in, that he had crossed under the line of journalistic objectivity and had become bored.  My brother and I listened all the time and both felt the same way back then.  Not that he was ever a homer, nor would we want him to be one.  We did want him to at least sound like he was happy to be calling the game, but for some reason to us his voice projected a certain amount of ambivalence.

I realize many feel otherwise, but that was our impression at the time.  When I heard him many years later on CBS radio he sounded like he had recaptured the energy he had lost.  Maybe having to deal with McMullen drove it right out of him for a period of time.  I had the old 45 with all the great plays in Astros history, with Elston on most of the calls.  "Seven double plays!!" was one that still rings in my ears.  Where had *that* Gene Elston gone?

Elston was very professional and, all right, low-key; which is not the same as dispassionate.  He was not at all dull, and you could hear the genuine enjoyment and excitement in his voice, but he did not overplay it as some do.

I don't normally pimp his site, but Kerby's AD has some terrific sound clips of Elston calling Astro's games.  One of my favorites is the last inning of Dierker's no-hitter vs. Montreal in 1976.

I tend to think the last part of his tenure, when Elston had Dierker and Dwayne Staats around, were the best.  Those guys worked very well together.

I don't remember the chronology exactly, but around the same time Elston was perhaps having issues with McMullen (and in your view, "mailing it in"), he also had some serious health problems, i.e., a problem getting run over by a car while out jogging.  I know he missed quite a bit of time, and back then I felt like McMullen saw that as his opening, which may have been entirely inaccurate.

Recently when there was a chance Bonds would hit #714 vs. Houston, Charlie Steiner and Richard Justice and others wondered if Milo had the historic call already prepared and on index cards he carried with him to the booth.  There has always been the thought that this is exactly what Milo did back in Atlanta in 1974, when Aaron broke Ruth's record.

I don't know if A.) any of this is true, and B.) if it is necessarily a bad thing, if so.  Surely every announcer, if he had an idea a historic call might be coming up, would at least be thinking about what he/she might say.

Even Elston... but in his case, it might be hard to tell.  I will never forget his call on the last groundout of the 163rd game of the 1980 season, out in LA, which the Astros won and thus went to the post season for the first time in their history.  Instead of some monumental poetic statement, Elston said something very simple, basically, "That's it!"

It wouldn't surprise me at all if he had thought about it beforehand, and decided this was what he wanted to say for posterity.

[HudsonHawk]

Quote:

Recently when there was a chance Bonds would hit #714 vs. Houston, Charlie Steiner and Richard Justice and others wondered if Milo had the historic call already prepared and on index cards he carried with him to the booth.  There has always been the thought that this is exactly what Milo did back in Atlanta in 1974, when Aaron broke Ruth's record.

Milo has said many times that he had a call prepared for Aaron's 715th, but when it happened, he decided to just be silent and let the crowd roar.  That's all well and good, except that he didn't.  Milo rambled through the entire thing and didn't shut up until Aaron had already rounded the bases and there was a celebration at home plate.  I can recite Milo's call of Aaron's 715th verbatim from memory.

[strosrays]

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Ashby torpedoed himself and may have taken Mike down with him. i think the plan going in was--or should have been--Capps and Ashby. two people who know, however, said Ashby got just what he deserved after the interview process was over. Mike got screwed.

there is not a nicer, sweeter man in this world than Bill Mercer. one of the bonuses of the year i spent with Mike was getting to know Bill.

I saw an interview with Ashby not too long after he recieved the "shock" of being booted out of the booth by Houston.  Up to that point I had viewed him in all this as something of a sympathetic character; but the interview I saw took care of that.

If he went through the interview process with anything like the attitude and reasoning he had just afterward, I agree that he got what he had coming.

[strosrays]

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Recently when there was a chance Bonds would hit #714 vs. Houston, Charlie Steiner and Richard Justice and others wondered if Milo had the historic call already prepared and on index cards he carried with him to the booth.  There has always been the thought that this is exactly what Milo did back in Atlanta in 1974, when Aaron broke Ruth's record.

Milo has said many times that he had a call prepared for Aaron's 715th, but when it happened, he decided to just be silent and let the crowd roar.  That's all well and good, except that he didn't.  Milo rambled through the entire thing and didn't shut up until Aaron had already rounded the bases and there was a celebration at home plate.  I can recite Milo's call of Aaron's 715th verbatim from memory.

You know, I watched that game on NBC (and heard Curt Gowdy's relatively low-key call), and of course have seen the replay many times afterward.  The most striking thing to me out of all of it was that several fans ran onto the filed and basically "accompanied" Aaron from about shortstop the rest of the way home.

Those guys would've been maced if they tried that now.

[Holly]

Minus the lapses of silence, he's pretty much an Ashby replacement with a little lilt, IMO. At least he enunciates, though, without being 100% theatrics about it.

And, thanks Mihoba! Feel free to cut yourself a slice

[Ty in Tampa]

IIRC, he was a reporter at Channel 2 in Houston for a number of years.

[JimR]

yep. that's him.

Milo was not supposed to be on the air when Aaron came to bat in that game. it was his partner's inning, but he refused to leave the mike--at least that is what i have read.

[Holly]

Not that it matters, because I haven't watched much of Channel 2 since the late 80s, but... which "him" are you talking about?

[JimR]

Capps, of course. did you have so much cake that you nodded off?

HBD, Holly.

[Ty in Tampa]

Mike Capps. I remember him from the late '70s, early '80s.

Happy Birthday, by the way.

[HudsonHawk]

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You know, I watched that game on NBC (and heard Curt Gowdy's relatively low-key call), and of course have seen the replay many times afterward.  

I don't recall Gowdy's call.  I've heard Vin Scully's call, as he was the Dodgers' announcer.  His call was relatively low key too.

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The most striking thing to me out of all of it was that several fans ran onto the filed and basically "accompanied" Aaron from about shortstop the rest of the way home.

Those guys would've been maced if they tried that now.

I saw an interview with those guys a few years ago on the 30th anniversary of the record breaker.  They're in their late 40's at this point, and it was pretty funny.  They said they didn't know what possessed them to do it, just ran out on the field to pat Hank on the back and ran back to the stands.

[Holly]

Capps, OK, thanks. Maybe I should switch to the threaded view... I couldn't tell which post he was responding to (about Capps or Dolan)

No cake, but sifting through 3 years' worth of invoices from dozens of vendors in the 1990s is kind of nod-inducing. Wouldn't mind some sugar right now, though. Thanks!