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

[3and2Fastball]

I continue to be in the minority in thinking that Block is a very good announcer. I enjoy listening to him

[greeg35]

I thought I was the only one who liked him. To each their own I guess

[jmeks23]

I actually am a little different in that I think he has more of a TV play-by-play voice, not really radio. His delivery is definitely choppy though, but I just don't think he's quite adjusted to the job yet.

 

Rock is still bad, but he was real awful when he first started.

[rluzinski]

I think he does fine with the play-by-play calling but he just so... generic. And he's not very good at pretending to root for the Brewers either. There really isn't much difference between him calling a Brewer HR and an opponent's HR.

[Oldcity]

I agree with Russ. I think he's grown on me a bit more, but his calls of big plays often leave something to be desired. I agree I like him "filling in" on Uecker's innings, and I like his willingness to use some more stats than RBI and wins.

[fondybrewfan]

Thats the only complaint I have about him; he just doesn't bring enough excitement and enthusiasm to big plays. He calls them just like any other play. I definitely hasn't found a good HR call yet.

[Warning Track Power]

Thought I would bring this item back up a year + into Joe Block's tenure...

 

I am sitting at my desk right now listening to the Twins-Braves game and man Provus sounds good. Informative and engaging, yet never missing a beat on the game. I am listening to Provus over Powell right now but love the style they both brought. Additionally, I still love listening to Pat Hughes call of Cubs games. I can't believe how fortunate we have been to have had Ueck and Hughes, Ueck and Powell & Ueck & Provus from 1984-2011. I bring this up only because Joe Block is still so darn boring to listen to and I am not sure it will ever change. With Ueck being 78, I am hopeful that Block either improves soon or the Brewers look to someone else when that time comes when Ueck isn't doing Brewer games anymore.

 

Has Joe Block improved in your opinion?

[crossface21]

He's improved very, very little. Still very boring, monotone, unintersting. It's to the point that when he's announcing, I tend to let my mind wander and do other things until Uecker is back on. We were lucky with Powell, he was awesom. I even liked Provus. I was pretty young when Hughes was around, but I always remember him getting excited for the other team at times, but still a good announcer and a good partner with Uecker. I shutter at the thought of Block being Uecker's successor.

[1992casey]

Getting "excited" for the other team is OK if the announcer is acknowledging good play. I think I latched onto Provus when he had to do all the play by play for a few weeks. I'm still pretty neutral on Block.

[JohnBriggs12]

He's improved very, very little. Still very boring, monotone, unintersting. It's to the point that when he's announcing, I tend to let my mind wander and do other things until Uecker is back on. We were lucky with Powell, he was awesom. I even liked Provus. I was pretty young when Hughes was around, but I always remember him getting excited for the other team at times, but still a good announcer and a good partner with Uecker. I shutter at the thought of Block being Uecker's successor.

 

 

I couldn't agree more. He's still awful. His only attribute is a nice vocal tone. That's it. Put a script in front of him and he'd be fine. His delivery is choppy and he doesn't verbalize the action as it's happening very well. It's to the point, I have trouble following the action. He's not the least bit interesting in his asides either and those aren't delivered very well either.

 

With television, there's always the mute button when the conversation in the booth gets annoying. If you are forced to listen to a game on radio to follow it, you are out of luck.

[TheCrew07]

Well to be fair Uke hasn't exactly set the world on fire describing the action the last handful of years. He's clearly slipping from a quality standpoint as well. He's still very entertaining but sometimes he just plain forgets to talk about what is happening on the field.

[JimH5]

Joe Block = vanilla.

 

And not Small Batch, Organic, Hand Crafted Full Flavor Vanilla. . .but more like vanilla ice milk served in a paper carton with a wooden paddle spoon.

[502 to Right]

Vanilla is fine with me. Listen to most of the clowns doing MLB radio and you will have a better appreciation of Joe. If I was a Yankee fan I'd want to rupture my own eardrums. John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman? Yikes.

 

I think a play by play guys first rule should be "do no harm." Joe follows that rule nicely.

[RockCoCougars]

I personally think that he's improved a lot in the past year. That said, he will never make people forget Hughes or Powell. I've listened to a lot of White Sox games in my life, and for whatever crazy reason, Block always seems like an 80's Sox radio guy to me.

[TooLiveBrew]

Vanilla is fine with me. Listen to most of the clowns doing MLB radio and you will have a better appreciation of Joe. If I was a Yankee fan I'd want to rupture my own eardrums. John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman? Yikes.

 

I think a play by play guys first rule should be "do no harm." Joe follows that rule nicely.

I agree that some are being far too critical of Block. I actually like him.

[MadScientist]

Vanilla is fine with me. Listen to most of the clowns doing MLB radio and you will have a better appreciation of Joe. If I was a Yankee fan I'd want to rupture my own eardrums. John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman? Yikes.

 

I think a play by play guys first rule should be "do no harm." Joe follows that rule nicely.

 

Part of the problem is that a plain vanilla play by play guy does not fit the format for the Brewers radio broadcast. It works if you have a good color guy with him, but in the Brewers format, the pbp guy does pbp and color at the same time. Uke is great a mixing the two, but the innings he is not doing pbp, he is gone.

 

Block has improve greatly from last year, but I'm not sold on him in this format.

[RobDeer 45]

I like Block. He's extremely vanilla, but I guess I'm ok with that. To me it's a good mix with Bob, a little up and down. I can't handle too much crazy like other posters have said.

[502 to Right]

Most MLB radio teams do it the Brewers way. The Cubs way is the exception, which I'm sure was prompted by the fact that there was zero chance Ron Santo could do play by play.

[1992casey]

When the Brewers adopted the idea of play by play guys completely disappearing, it was at Uecker's request and was considered unusual. Are more teams doing that now? My impression has been that most teams had two play by play guys, but that both would be in the booth almost all the time. That's the "traditional" way.

 

The Yankees use Joe Sterling for play by play and Suzyn Waldman for color, although I've heard Waldman do play by play in the past.

[Vgmastr]

The second post on this page lists all of the radio crews for each team and what innings they do. Looks like most teams use the Brewers model.

[502 to Right]

The given reason for why most radio teams don't have strict p-b-p and color roles is because the p-b-p guy has to talk so much on radio as compared to TV. He needs a break every few innings.

[1992casey]

TV used to typically have two play by play guys too. I think the proliferation of ex-jocks who'd be totally unqualified to do play by play has changed that.

[PKBadger]

I like Block. He's extremely vanilla, but I guess I'm ok with that. To me it's a good mix with Bob, a little up and down. I can't handle too much crazy like other posters have said.

 

 

Nobody is asking for "crazy", though. I doubt that anyone would characterize Powell or Provus that way. But they did have some semblance of a personality and vocal inflection rather than doing a Ben Stein impression.

[Baldkin]

I like Block. He's extremely vanilla, but I guess I'm ok with that. To me it's a good mix with Bob, a little up and down. I can't handle too much crazy like other posters have said.

 

 

Nobody is asking for "crazy", though. I doubt that anyone would characterize Powell or Provus that way. But they did have some semblance of a personality and vocal inflection rather than doing a Ben Stein impression.

 

He has gotten amazingly more passionate as this season has gone on, but admittedly, it has to be tough to consistently bring personality and passion to the broadcast when nothing good happens for the Brewers.... well... ever.

[RobDeer 45]

What's our take on block these days? Thought I'd bring this thread up with the signing of the new radio guy taking over for Ueck on road games he doesn't travel to.