Brewers hire Joe Block as new radio play-by-play announcer (Latest: Jeff Levering joins radio broadcast team for 2015)

[Invader3K]

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers and NewsRadio 620 WTMJ today announced that Joe Block has been named as play-by-play announcer on the Brewers Radio Network. Block will join Hall of Fame lead announcer Bob Uecker in the booth, replacing Cory Provus who joined the Minnesota Twins broadcast team last month. Block, 33, comes to the Brewers with more than 10 years of broadcasting experience. He has called the action for more than 900 professional baseball games, including the Jacksonville Suns (2003-2006), Great Falls White Sox (2007) and Billings Mustangs (2010), among others. He also handled play-by-play for select games during the Expos final two seasons in Montreal (2003-04). “We had a tremendous number of qualified candidates interested in this position, and the process for finding the right person for this role was very comprehensive,” said Brewers Chief Operating Officer Rick Schlesinger. “Joe is someone who brought a unique skill set and background to the table. His play-by-play work is terrific, he has a quick wit and as a Midwestern native he has a genuine love for the area. We think the fans will enjoy his work alongside Bob very much.”

[fondybrewfan]

Obviously never heard of the guy. His audience in his first game will be larger than the entire audience of all his previous jobs put together. I had completely forgot about Provus even leaving; I guess there has been some other news going on

[Invader3K]

Provus will be tough to replace. I really enjoyed his work with the Brewers. Uecker in particular is very effusive about Block in that article, so hopefully this is just a continuation of the Brewers bringing in quality radio voices.

[areacodes]

Here is a link to him doing some play-by-play from his website.

 

Joe Block Radio

[greeg35]

At first I read Joe BUCK and almost had a heart attack. I've learned to trust their radio hires over the years. They've all been great imo

[Invader3K]

He is on twitter: @joe_block

[hawing]

He is on twitter: @joe_block

He stands at 1193 followers as of 9:05 AM Friday. We'll see how much that increases over the next few days. Maybe less due to Christmas.

 

The clip in the link above sounds promising. I winced just a bit upon seeing he's a Michigan State grad, but hey, we did all right with an avowed Cubs fan. Welcome, Joe! (in case you take a peek)

 

Edit, Friday afternoon: over 1700 followers, six hours later.

[RightFieldCoder]

Crud, 33 years old? That just makes me sadder that I'm 32 and still don't have a job in MLB.

 

Best of luck Joe.

[Schlitz001]

Huh, I was living in Billings while he was calling Mustang games, but I never tuned in. Congrats Mr. Block and good luck. I trust the Brewers to pick the right guy.

[MadScientist]

Seems promising, but he'll need a year to grow into the role. The first year of a new announcer is always rough, with them feeling the way with a new team and us adapting to the new guy. Hope Uke does not have any health problems this year.

[Team Canada]

Here is a link to him doing some play-by-play from his website.

 

Joe Block Radio

Page is down now, with just this message on the front page:

 

"I am thrilled to be making our home in Milwaukee. My wife, Bethany, and I keep talking about how wonderful we hear the people are, how cool SummerFest is and, of course, how exciting Brewers games are with a packed house every night.

 

Thank you to the Brewers and WTMJ for bringing us to our new home. We're Midwesterners and miss a little snow around the holidays.

 

To the kind folks in L.A., the Dodgers and KABC, thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk baseball with you last season. I felt a genuine camaraderie with Dodgers fans I can only hope to replicate in Wisconsin.

 

It's going to be a lot of fun working with and learning from Bob Uecker and Kent Sommerfeld in the Brewers booth. This is a lifelong career goal of mine, and I have many people to thank for helping me reach it. And I will get to every one. Until then,

 

Thanks for checking in."

[hawing]

Oh, man, Brewers nation broke Joe's website! I hope he takes this for what it is: a sign of an engaged and eager fanbase.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Oh, man, Brewers nation broke Joe's website! I hope he takes this for what it is: a sign of an engaged and eager fanbase.

I love it! I got a chance to listen to him call that Dodgers game that was listed on his website before it went down, and came away very impressed. I can't wait to hear him and Uecker interact on the Radio. That will be a true test for him.

[brettac1]

Did he work with Vin Scully at all?

[PrinceFielderx1]

here is a cool Interview of Joe Block that I found, (dated march 26th)

 

link

[hawing]

Did he work with Vin Scully at all?

Well, the beginning of that formerly-linked clip above was an intro from Vin : "You're listening to Joe Block on KABC." So I'd be surprised if their paths never crossed.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I'll wait until the season starts to judge this hire, because I have no idea who this guy is.

[Cracked Bat Collector]

Crap, why does the link have to be down, I really want to hear what this guy sounds like!

[Jim Goulart]

WTMJ Interview This AM

[RWeeksFan23]

I hope he's better than Provus, I know i'm in the minority, but I never warmed up to Provus, something about him just annoyed me.

[ilovebeer]

Welcome to Milwaukee, Joe. Joe now has 1,829 followers on twitter.

[Team Canada]

"We kept hearing that Wisconsin is the Louisiana of the north." Really? I'm not even sure what that means.

[hawing]

Wisconsinites party like they're in NOLA? We need tristarscoop to chime in on this one.

[GAME05]

Crud, 33 years old? That just makes me sadder that I'm 32 and still don't have a job in MLB.

it could be worse. you could be 34.

[Baldkin]

"We kept hearing that Wisconsin is the Louisiana of the north." Really? I'm not even sure what that means.

The Home Opener is kind of like Mardi Gras.