Sunday Night Baseball is on ABC this week, and to mark the occasion Al Michaels dropped by for a long remote visit with Matt Vasgersian and Alex Rodriguez.
Michaels, of course, was the long-time voice of ABC’s Monday Night Baseball coverage, appearing on that broadcast from 1976-1989 (and as the lead voice starting in 1983.)
Obviously Michaels is now an NBC employee, famously having been “traded” by Disney for cartoon rights when Michaels wanted to become the voice of NBC’s Sunday Night Football in 2006. But despite being known primarily to younger audiences in 2021 as an NFL broadcaster, Michaels was a baseball fixture for decades, and it was nice having him back tonight for the visit.
He even got to call a few moments of baseball play-by-play for the first time in a while as a strikeout interrupted a tribute to Vin Scully:
In addition to Scully, Michaels told a fantastic story about when he and Howard Cosell met Bob Costas:
Michaels wasn’t just there to be positive and nostalgic, though, especially about his former employer. With Vasgersian setting him up for a few notes about ABC’s baseball innovation, Michaels shook off the signs and said they had done nothing of the sort when he was there:
And finally, here’s Michaels talking about the short-lived executive career of fellow Ford C. Frick Award winner Hawk Harrelson, the legendary White Sox broadcaster:
Amazing. You can’t ask for much more from a cameo appearance, and at this stage of his career, Michaels clearly doesn’t mind blowing up a few narrative setups for entertainment purposes.
About Jay Rigdon
Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.