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Morgan is leaving after 21 seasons.

Jon Miller may also not return.

I'll miss Morgan even though I didn't think he was great (although I didn't think he was anywhere near as bad as some suggested).

First, I loved it when he refused to acknowledge that the Yankees of the late 90s were better than the Big Red Machine (so he was a homer, big deal). The fact that he often brought up the comparison, without prompting, was a classical representation of the "doth protest too much."

Second, I loved it that he annoyed stat geeks and Boston Red Sox fans.

Say what you want, I liked the Miller/Morgan combo.

Thank goodness.

Morgan was putrid.

I like Jon Miller. I am not a fan of Morgan at all, good riddance.

Miller has an awesome voice for commentary, but Joe was an idiot.

Good riddance Joe Morgan. I don't have time to link it right now, but it's been proven that many stories he told during his broadcasts were complete fabrications. He's probably not the first "storyteller", but to have someone like that on the national broadcast is pretty pathetic.

We'll read about Morgan dying of dementia in ten or fifteen years.

Miller is my absolute favorite commentator. I fondly remember his days of commentating for the O's. His voice is dreamy.

93henfan wrote:Good riddance Joe Morgan. I don't have time to link it right now, but it's been proven that many stories he told during his broadcasts were complete fabrications. He's probably not the first "storyteller", but to have someone like that on the national broadcast is pretty pathetic.

We'll read about Morgan dying of dementia in ten or fifteen years.

Morgan got nailed a number of times telling stories which didn't add up -- so many times that everytime he told a story, some reporters would research it to see it the story was true.

The one I remember was that he told a story about Don Wilson's no hitter. Morgan claimed that with one out to go, he jogged to the mound to advise Wilson to pitch around Hank Aaron. Wilson grunted at Morgan, told Morgan to get back to 2d base, and then threw three straight strikes past Aaron.

Only problem with the story: Morgan didn't play that night.

JoltinJoe wrote:

93henfan wrote:Good riddance Joe Morgan. I don't have time to link it right now, but it's been proven that many stories he told during his broadcasts were complete fabrications. He's probably not the first "storyteller", but to have someone like that on the national broadcast is pretty pathetic.

We'll read about Morgan dying of dementia in ten or fifteen years.

Morgan got nailed a number of times telling stories which didn't add up -- so many times that everytime he told a story, some reporters would research it to see it the story was true.

The one I remember was that he told a story about Don Wilson's no hitter. Morgan claimed that with one out to go, he jogged to the mound to advise Wilson to pitch around Hank Aaron. Wilson grunted at Morgan, told Morgan to get back to 2d base, and then threw three straight strikes past Aaron.

Only problem with the story: Morgan didn't play that night.

It seemed like every time he called a Phillies game he would say something that wasn't true. It doesn't suprise me at all to hear that he did it with other teams as well.

BlueHen86 wrote:

JoltinJoe wrote:
Morgan got nailed a number of times telling stories which didn't add up -- so many times that everytime he told a story, some reporters would research it to see it the story was true.

The one I remember was that he told a story about Don Wilson's no hitter. Morgan claimed that with one out to go, he jogged to the mound to advise Wilson to pitch around Hank Aaron. Wilson grunted at Morgan, told Morgan to get back to 2d base, and then threw three straight strikes past Aaron.

Only problem with the story: Morgan didn't play that night.

It seemed like every time he called a Phillies game he would say something that wasn't true. It doesn't suprise me at all to hear that he did it with other teams as well.

A lot of folks got pissed at him over the bogus stories. For some reason, though, I found it kinda funny and charming in its own little odd way. The guy's a friggin Hall of Famer and one of the greatest 2b to ever play the game, and he found it necessary to make up stories like a JV wannabe.

JoltinJoe wrote:

BlueHen86 wrote:
It seemed like every time he called a Phillies game he would say something that wasn't true. It doesn't suprise me at all to hear that he did it with other teams as well.

A lot of folks got pissed at him over the bogus stories. For some reason, though, I found it kinda funny and charming in its own little odd way. The guy's a friggin Hall of Famer and one of the greatest 2b to ever play the game, and he found it necessary to make up stories like a JV wannabe.

It wasn't just the stories, it was stuff that he would pass off as fact, but wasn't. He didn't do his homework and it showed. I also didn't find him to be charming.

Lindsay Nelson would make a lot of mistakes and be charming. Phil Rizzuto was charming.
Joe was just a legend in his own mind.

BlueHen86 wrote:I also didn't find him to be charming.

That's an understatement. His eyes looked like he did at least 20 bong hits before the show every night.

93henfan wrote:

BlueHen86 wrote:I also didn't find him to be charming.

That's an understatement. His eyes looked like he did at least 20 bong hits before the show every night.

I wonder if he pumps his arm when taking a bong hit?

BlueHen86 wrote:

93henfan wrote:
That's an understatement. His eyes looked like he did at least 20 bong hits before the show every night.

I wonder if he pumps his arm when taking a bong hit?

BlueHen86 wrote:

JoltinJoe wrote:
A lot of folks got pissed at him over the bogus stories. For some reason, though, I found it kinda funny and charming in its own little odd way. The guy's a friggin Hall of Famer and one of the greatest 2b to ever play the game, and he found it necessary to make up stories like a JV wannabe.

It wasn't just the stories, it was stuff that he would pass off as fact, but wasn't. He didn't do his homework and it showed. I also didn't find him to be charming.

Lindsay Nelson would make a lot of mistakes and be charming. Phil Rizzuto was charming.
Joe was just a legend in his own mind.

I agree that Morgan didn't do the prep work other color analysts did, and essentially relied on his general knowledge. In a big game, Morgan could never tell us what a pitcher said to him before the game about his approach that night, because he didn't do those interviews.

On the other hand, the area where I thought Morgan was good, and never got any credit, was his in-game intuition. He offered opinions on the way a manager, a pitcher, or a batter was thinking in a critical situation or count, and would make predictions about what pitch a hitter was sitting on, or what move a manager would make next, and what pitch (type and location) was on the way, given what kind of stuff the pitcher had that night. He was very often right. I suppoe for a guy like Morgan this intuition came naturally and wasn't something he needed prep work. I think this is whay ESPN tried adding a second color commentator, like Steve Phillips, to the booth, in order to add that pre-game prep perspective that Morgan didn't do.

JoltinJoe wrote:

BlueHen86 wrote:
It wasn't just the stories, it was stuff that he would pass off as fact, but wasn't. He didn't do his homework and it showed. I also didn't find him to be charming.

Lindsay Nelson would make a lot of mistakes and be charming. Phil Rizzuto was charming.
Joe was just a legend in his own mind.

I agree that Morgan didn't do the prep work other color analysts did, and essentially relied on his general knowledge. In a big game, Morgan could never tell us what a pitcher said to him before the game about his approach that night, because he didn't do those interviews.

On the other hand, the area where I thought Morgan was good, and never got any credit, was his in-game intuition. He offered opinions on the way a manager, a pitcher, or a batter was thinking in a critical situation or count, and would make predictions about what pitch a hitter was sitting on, or what move a manager would make next, and what pitch (type and location) was on the way, given what kind of stuff the pitcher had that night. He was very often right. I suppoe for a guy like Morgan this intuition came naturally and wasn't something he needed prep work. I think this is whay ESPN tried adding a second color commentator, like Steve Phillips, to the booth, in order to add that pre-game prep perspective that Morgan didn't do.

That is a fair assessment.

On a side note, I am often amused at how often Tim McCarver is wrong when he tries to think along with a manager.

Official Retirement of the Guy with the Chicken-Wing Swing!