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Steven Kenneth Zabriskie (born May 13, 1947, in Palo Alto, California) is an American former television sports announcer who is best known for calling Major League Baseball and college football.
Zabriskie was a television sports play-by-play announcer for 30 years, during which he was awarded three Television Sports Emmys. Zabriskie served as a TV voice of the New York Mets from 1983 through 1989. Among his broadcast partners for Mets TV broadcasts were Hall of Fame announcer Tim McCarver, former Major League Baseball great Rusty Staub, and Baseball Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner. He also called Boston Red Sox games in 1996 and 1997 and Major League Baseball and college basketball games for ESPN for four seasons.
He served as a play-by-play announcer on college football games for ABC Sports between 1976 and 1997. In 1980, he served as ABC's on-field reporter for the 1980 National League Championship Series. In addition to the Mets, Red Sox, ABC, and ESPN, Zabriskie called NFL and college basketball games for CBS Sports and was a play-by-play announcer for The Baseball Network. While working for The Baseball Network in association with ABC, Zabriskie and Tommy Hutton called Game 3 of the 1995 American League Division Series between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox.
He also broadcast baseball games for the California Angels and covered track-and-field for CBS and various Wide World of Sports events for ABC. On September 2, 1982, Zabriskie and Nellie Briles called a game between the California Angels and Detroit Tigers for the USA Network. And on June 18, 1988, Zabriskie and Kurt Bevacqua called a game between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds for NBC. Also worked for WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh as a Sports Announcer from 1976 to 1978, being known to Pittsburgers as "The Big Z".
Zabriskie retired from broadcasting following the 1997 baseball season and has had a successful career as a registered financial adviser.
Alan Richard Michaels is an American television play-by-play sportscaster for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on network sports television since 1971, with his most recent work being with NBC Sports after nearly three decades (1976–2006) with ABC Sports. Michaels is known for his many years calling play-by-play of National Football League (NFL) games, including ABC Monday Night Football from 1986 to 2005 and NBC Sunday Night Football from 2006 to 2021. He is also known for famous calls in other sports, including the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics and the earthquake-interrupted Game 3 of the 1989 World Series.
Sean McDonough is an American sportscaster, currently employed by ESPN and the WEEI Boston Red Sox Radio Network. McDonough has play-by-play experience for all four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.
Don Orsillo is an American sportscaster who is the play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres as well as for MLB on TBS. Orsillo was the television voice of the Boston Red Sox on NESN from 2001 to 2015. He was then hired by the Padres to replace broadcaster Dick Enberg upon his retirement at the end of the 2016 season.
Gary Francis Thorne is an American sportscaster. He was the lead play-by-play announcer for Baltimore Orioles games on MASN from 2007 to 2020. He has also worked for ESPN and ABC, including National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, college football, and the Frozen Four hockey tournament. He also worked for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he was the narrator for the WrestleMania Rewind program on its WWE Network streaming video service.
The Baseball Network was an American television broadcasting joint venture between ABC, NBC and Major League Baseball (MLB). Under the arrangement, beginning in the 1994 season, MLB produced its own broadcasts in-house which were then brokered to air on ABC and NBC. The Baseball Network was the first television network in the United States to be owned by a professional sports league.
The Major League Baseball Game of the Week (GOTW) is the de facto title for nationally televised coverage of regular season Major League Baseball games. The Game of the Week has traditionally aired on Saturday afternoons. When the national networks began televising national games of the week, it opened the door for a national audience to see particular clubs. While most teams were broadcast, emphasis was always on the league leaders and the major market franchises that could draw the largest audience.
David O'Brien, nicknamed "OB", is an American sportscaster who is a lead play-by-play announcer on the New England Sports Network (NESN) for telecasts of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB), and for college football and college basketball games aired on the ESPN Inc.-owned ACC Network. He has previously broadcast for MLB's Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins, and New York Mets, and has announced other sports including basketball, football, and soccer.
Major League Baseball on CBS Radio was the de facto title for the CBS Radio Network's coverage of Major League Baseball. Produced by CBS Radio Sports, the program was the official national radio broadcaster for the All-Star Game and the postseason from 1976 to 1997.
The following is a list of announcers who called Major League Baseball telecasts for the joint venture between Major League Baseball, ABC and NBC called The Baseball Network. Announcers who represented each of the teams playing in the respective games were typically paired with each other on regular season Baseball Night in America telecasts. ABC used Al Michaels, Jim Palmer, Tim McCarver and Lesley Visser as the lead broadcasting team. Meanwhile, NBC used Bob Costas, Joe Morgan, Bob Uecker and Jim Gray as their lead broadcasting team.
Thursday Night Baseball is the de facto branding used for live game telecasts of Major League Baseball on Thursday nights.
On December 14, 1988, CBS paid approximately $1.8 billion for exclusive television rights for over four years. CBS paid about $265 million each year for the World Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the Saturday Game of the Week. It was one of the largest agreements between the sport of baseball and the business of broadcasting.
In 1960, ABC returned to baseball broadcasting with a series of late-afternoon Saturday games. Jack Buck and Carl Erskine were the lead announcing crew for this series, which lasted one season. ABC typically did three games a week. Two of the games were always from the Eastern or Central Time Zone. The late games were usually San Francisco Giants or Los Angeles Dodgers' home games. However, the Milwaukee Braves used to start many of their Saturday home games late in the afternoon. So if the Giants and Dodgers were both the road at the same time, ABC still would be able to show a late game.
By 1969, Major League Baseball had grown to 24 teams and the net local TV revenues had leaped to $20.7 million. This is in sharp contrast to 1950 when local television brought the then 16 Major League clubs a total net income of $2.3 million. Changes baseball underwent during this time, such as expansion franchises and increasing the schedule from 154 games to 162, led to a wider audience for network and local television.
Sunday Afternoon Baseball is the de facto branding used for nationally televised live game telecasts of Major League Baseball games on Sunday afternoons during the regular season.