On the Smiling Side of the Scoreboard: George Grande Calls it a Career

After 17-years of broadcasting Reds baseball with the “crafty lefthander,” Chris Welsh, George Grande has decided to retire. George surprised everyone in Redsland with the news that Sunday would be his last game as a full-time employee of Fox Sports Ohio, thus bringing the longest active broadcast partnership in Major League Baseball to an end.

While many, including myself, have been critical of George Grande over the years, citing his annoying and inane remarks for which he is best known, he will certainly be missed. George can be aggravating at times, but I will contend that he is better than many in the baseball broadcasting business.

Who is George better than, you might ask?

 

1. Tim McCarver: Tim McCarver is terrible. If you want to watch a game and not learn one thing about baseball, just listen to a Tim McCarver broadcast. I’ve tried and I can’t do it. 

2. Joe Buck: Talk about the antithesis of George Grande, Joe Buck is an arrogant A-hole and a far cry from the broadcaster his father was.

3. Chris Berman: The sole reason I can’t watch the Home Run Derby. Stick to football, Boomer.

4. Rick Sutcliffe: If you want to watch a baseball game between the Brewers and the Cardinals, but hear about the Red Sox and the Yankees or some other team the entire time, tune in to a Sutcliffe game (or really any ESPN game).

5. I’ve tuned into a great deal of broadcasts and listened to other personalities call games and not many are as good as George Grande. 

With that said, I’m not necessarily going to miss the guy. It wasn’t my favorite thing to watch a Reds game in which they’re down eight runs and hear George talk with a rainbow shooting out of his… well, you know what I’m talking about. 

Moving on, who might the Reds select as George’s replacement? My money is on Jim Kelch of the Louisville Bats. In his time as a fill-in on the radio and on TV: Kelch has done a fine job and is very knowledgeable about the game. Jim works well with Chris, and I don’t think FSOhio or the fans would miss a beat if he came on board.

Of course, you won’t hear Jim Kelch say “Six, four, yessirree three!” And that’s not exactly a bad thing.