Tom Kelly in the booth
Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:28 pm
I have the MLB package so I'm able to keep up with my Twins on TV. I really enjoyed the Seattle announcers last week, but now that they are back home I have to listen to Bremer and Kelly. I like them both, actually, and they do have some interesting baseball insight. But the problem is they are both naturally dull men, and together they play off of each other's dullness and become even more dull. Blyleven's playfulness is a much better match for Bremer, and I enjoy them more as a team.
I know I said above that Bremer/Kelly provide some interesting insight, but I actually think TK is highly overrated as a baseball strategist. If you listen to him, so many things he talks about are really quite obvious. He did win two World Series, but I think the same dull personality that makes him a bad announcer made him a good manager. Those Twins teams had some unusual characters...Puckett, Hrbek, Gladden, Gaetti, Reardon, even Viola was wound a little tight. Kelly's steady hand was just what that cast of characters needed. It didn't hurt to have the Metrodome and home field advantage either, along with a couple key injuries on what were already kind of mediocre opponents. I'm sure Kelly is the only manager in the history of baseball to win multiple World Series without ever winning a road game!
I know I said above that Bremer/Kelly provide some interesting insight, but I actually think TK is highly overrated as a baseball strategist. If you listen to him, so many things he talks about are really quite obvious. He did win two World Series, but I think the same dull personality that makes him a bad announcer made him a good manager. Those Twins teams had some unusual characters...Puckett, Hrbek, Gladden, Gaetti, Reardon, even Viola was wound a little tight. Kelly's steady hand was just what that cast of characters needed. It didn't hurt to have the Metrodome and home field advantage either, along with a couple key injuries on what were already kind of mediocre opponents. I'm sure Kelly is the only manager in the history of baseball to win multiple World Series without ever winning a road game!