Jon Miller

For the musician, see Jon Miller (guitarist).

Jon Miller (born October 11, 1951 in San Francisco, California) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball.

A popular and respected broadcaster, Miller has received numerous honors for his play-by-play work, including a Cable ACE Award and several Emmy Award nominations. Among his assignments to date, he has called nine World Series on ESPN Radio.

Early career

After graduating from the College of San Mateo, Miller became a Santa Rosa television sports director. In 1974, he landed his first play-by play job, calling that year's World Series champion Oakland Athletics.

For a brief period in the 1970s, Miller broadcast for the California Golden Seals of the National Hockey League. He also spent the early part of his career announcing University of San Francisco as well as University of the Pacific basketball (1976-1980), the Golden State Warriors of the NBA (part-time, 1979-1982), and the original San Jose Earthquakes.

Jon Miller's first network exposure came in 1976, when he was selected by CBS-TV to broadcast the North American Soccer League Championship Game. From 1974-1976, Miller did play-by-play for the Washington Diplomats of the North American Soccer League. He also announced the Soccer Game of the Week for nationally-syndicated TVS from 1977-1978.

Baseball career

After one year with the Oakland Athletics and brief stints with the Texas Rangers, and the Boston Red Sox, he was hired by the Baltimore Orioles (succeeding the legendary Chuck Thompson) in 1983. In his first year in Baltimore, Miller called the Orioles' championship run:

Everybody else is in muted silence. The pitch! Line drive! Ripken catches it at shortstop! And the Orioles are champions of the world! - Miller calling the final out of Game 5 of the 1983 World Series.

He remained the Orioles' primary announcer through 1996, before returning to the Bay Area and joining his beloved hometown Giants.

From 1986-1989, Miller did backup play-by-play for NBC's Saturday Game of the Week telecasts, paired with either Tony Kubek or Joe Garagiola.

Since 1997, Miller has been the primary play-by-play voice of the San Francisco Giants (replacing Hank Greenwald). He signed a six-year extension to remain the voice of the Giants through at least the 2012 season in February 2007.

Since 1990 he has done national television and radio broadcasts of regular-season and postseason games for ESPN, most prominently alongside Hall of Famer Joe Morgan on the network's Sunday Night Baseball telecasts.

In 2003, during a game between the Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, Miller called a play involving two defensive errors by the Diamondbacks and at least three separate baserunning mistakes by Giants outfielder Ruben Rivera. When Rivera was finally thrown out at home plate trying to score what would have been the winning run, Miller declared with mock indignation,

That was the worst baserunning in the history of the game!

The phrase was repeated numerous times on sports radio and highlight shows such as SportsCenter, and quickly became one of the most famous calls of Miller's long career. He did a similar call on the radio during Game 3 of the 2004 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals, when Jeff Suppan make a huge baserunning mistake.

In 1998, Miller wrote a book with Mark S Hyman entitled, Confessions of a Baseball Purist: What's Right—and Wrong—with Baseball, as Seen from the Best Seat in the House (ISBN 0-8018-6316-3) where he expounds on the current state of the sport.

Jon Miller once began a telecast by saying

I'm Jean Millay joined as always by my esteemed colleague Hosephey Morgone.

Trivia

• Jon Miller is noted in baseball circles for his dead-on impersonation of legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully. Miller is also known to do imitations of Harry Caray, Chuck Thompson, Jack Buck, and Harry Kalas among others.

• Jon Miller's call of the 2002 Giants' National League-clinching run:

  So a base hit to the outfield could make the Giants National League Champions. Bell, the possible winning run at second base. Here's the pitch. Lofton swings, line drive, base hit, right field! Here comes Bell, rounding third, heading home. Here comes the throw. And it's wide! And the Giants have won the pennant! The Giants are the champions of the National League, and they come pouring out of the dugout! Kenny Lofton, the man they love to hate in St. Louis, knocks in the winning run, and knocks a stake through the heart of the Cardinals. The Cardinals are dead; the Giants are going to the World Series! ... Fireworks are going off over San Francisco Bay from a barge in McCovey Cove. The Giants are in a standup pile out near second base as the celebration begins, and Kenny Lofton, on the first pitch he saw from Steve Kline, ripped a base hit into right field, and J. D. Drew had little chance to throw out David Bell, and then no chance, as his throw sailed fifteen feet wide of home plate and the Giants are the National League Champions for the first time in 13 years. They are headed to the World Series.

• Jon Miller seems to take pride in pronouncing the names of players correctly. For example, when pronouncing Carlos Beltrán, he tends to put the majority of emphasis on the "A" of Beltrán, as the accent denotes. Instead of following how most announcers would pronounce foreign names, Miller takes the time to ask the player how his name is pronounced so that he can say it with the correct pronunciation.

External links

• Jon Miller Wows Hall of Fame Audience