December 4, 2025 • 29 mins
(This episode was recorded in 2022). We’re curating the most downloaded episodes for new listeners discovering Lost Ballparks. If you’re a longtime listener, thank you for being part of this incredible community!
Jon Miller, the longtime voice of the San Francisco Giants has been broadcasting major league baseball games for nearly 50 years. For 2 decades he and Joe Morgan called the ESPN Sunday Night Game of the Week. Naturally, after a career of that length, he has been to many old Lost Ballparks and he is sharing his first hand experiences on this week's episode.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mike Koser (00:14):
Show Open
Jon Miller (00:28):
Very pleasant Good afternoon, everyone, wherever
you may be.
And more than 50,000 of you areright here at Memorial Stadium.
We know that for sure.
Announcer (00:35):
Show Open
Mike Koser (01:09):
He's been broadcasting major league
baseball games for nearly fivedecades.
Andsince 1997 has been the much beloved voice of the San Francisco Giants. The one and only, Jon Miller.
Jon Miller (01:13):
Game audio
The unmistakable voice of Jon Miller on the Giants flagship station, KNBR. Jon let's start in 1962, you're 10 years old, you and your Dad are going to Candlestick Park to watch Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda and the SF Giants, .
So in 62, was that your firstMajor League Baseball game?
(01:52):
Yes, I went to Candlestick in April of 62 with
my dad and my godfather.
The Giants played the Dodgers.
It was the Giants Dodgers'first matchup of that season at
Candlestick, what ended up beinguh just an an amazing season.
And the Giants beat the Dodgers19-8, and it made such an
(02:13):
impression on me.
I not only remembered the finalgame totals and the winning and
losing pitchers and who hithome runs, I even remembered the
the paid attendance for thatgame.
And Billy Odell pitched acomplete game 15 hitter threw
172 pitches, by the way.
Uh when people tell you thatthey never kept track of pitch
(02:34):
counts in those days, don'tbelieve them.
They did.
Billy Odell went into the ninthinning with a 19-3 lead, and
the Dodgers got five runs in theninth, and the Giants actually
got their bullpen busy.
And the Hall of Fame baseballwriter Bob Stevens, who was
covering the Giants for theChronicle, actually asked Alvin
Dark if he was a little bitirritated that in a monumental
(02:55):
blowout he had to get hisbullpen busy in the ninth
inning.
And he said, No, no.
I know that Billy was justtrying to throw strikes and get
the game over with.
That's all that was going onthere.
He wasn't tired because he hadonly thrown a hundred and fifty
pitches.
And that was a a a direct quotein the in the chronicle.
And that meant he'd thrown ahundred and fifty pitches
(03:18):
through eight innings going intothe ninth inning.
He had thrown a hundred andfifty, and that's why he knew he
wasn't tired.
He threw twenty-two more inthat ninth inning.
So a lot of crazy things aboutthat game, but uh that made such
a huge impression on a aten-year-old kid sitting in the
upper deck who was freezing todeath, by the way.
It was a cold, foggy night atat the stick.
Mike Koser (03:41):
So w walk me through it.
What were your firstimpressions as you walk through
the gate and get to your seatsat uh at candlestick?
Jon Miller (03:49):
I was mesmerized at just how perfect the the grass
looked.
It was so well manicured atcandlestick and candlestick, uh,
I I did uh read in the papersthe World Series, of course,
took place at Candlestick andYankee Stadium later that year,
after the Giants won thepennant, and the Yankee
infielders, uh Bobby Richardson,Clete Boyer, and uh Tony Kubek
(04:12):
and whatnot, all commented aboutwow, the the the grass is just
perfect.
So well manicured, you couldnot have a better infield than
this.
And that is exactly the way itlooked to me when we first
walked in into the upper deck,and then there it was under the
lights, and the game had alreadystarted.
We were in such a long line oftraffic on the Bayshore Freeway
to get to candlestick, and thenhad to wait in uh the ticket
(04:34):
line to get tickets.
Uh the Giants got the basesloaded in the first inning,
which we were listening to on mydad's transistor radio while we
were waiting to get tickets.
Announcer (04:42):
First time between the San Francisco Giants and the
visiting Los Angeles Dodgers.
Jon Miller (04:46):
And then we finally got up there in the second
inning.
That was the originalcandlestick layout.
Mike Koser (04:51):
Yeah, that's right, because in 62, the outfield is
wide open.
Jon Miller (04:54):
Yeah, the uh in right field they had three big
bleacher sections like highschool football stadium
bleachers, and that's all thatwas in, and they were more
toward right center field, andin left field there was a a wire
fence, but behind that generaladmission seats, so they weren't
bleacher seats, but uh therewere actual seats out there.
(05:16):
But kids would jump down fromthe seats to go chase home run
balls when they would clear thefence.
Uh when Candlestick firstopened in 1960, it was much
deeper to center field and leftcenter than it became later on.
And the Giants hit so few homeruns that they said, Well, wait
a minute, this is not theGiants.
Willie Mays only hittwenty-nine home runs that year.
(05:38):
And, you know, Willie'd alreadyhad one year over fifty home
runs and he would have another alittle bit later on.
So it was it was too hard tohit home runs because the the
wind generally knocked ballsdown to left field anyway.
Willie actually told me yearslater, when I got to to know him
so well, seeing him at theballpark all the time when I
came to the Giants to broadcastthe games, that uh he changed
(06:00):
his swing to uh take balls thatnormally you would try to pull,
balls on the inside part of theplate, and he would go with an
inside out swing trying to hit'em to right field where you
could get up into the jet streamand and a ball could get
pushed.
So that's how he started totake advantage of of the
peculiarities of of CandlestickPark.
Mike Koser (06:18):
Okay, so fast forward eight to ten years, I
think, and you're still going togames at Candlestick, only now
you're taking your tape recorderwith you and recording yourself
doing play-by-play.
Is that right?
Jon Miller (06:28):
Yes.
So I usually sat in the upperdeck somewhere where I could uh
you know be alone, and when theA's came out in 68, I would sit
in the bleachers at the Coliseumand usually bring a buddy, and
we broadcast the games together.
I had been at a small TVstation in Santa Rosa,
California, Channel 50, thatwent broke, and I'd been doing
all the sports and play by playand whatnot.
(06:49):
So when they went off the air,I got one of our technicians who
brought a b a bunch of audioequipment, and we actually sat
in an empty booth at Caddlestickfor a Giants Phillies game on a
Tuesday night.
I broadcast the game into thetape recorder, uh, and it turned
out to be a really good game.
And that was the tape thatMonty Moore heard when the A's
(07:10):
needed an announcer uh after the73 season going into 74.
And then and then he offered methe job.
Mike Koser (07:16):
So uh 22 years of age in 1974.
Here you are, uh part of theOakland A's broadcast team.
Jon Miller (07:23):
Bellanger beat the A's this year with a suicide
squeeze bunt.
He's swinging away at this one,hits a drive to left center
field, long run for Billy North,and he makes the catch.
Going back to first base isEtchebarren and Billy North, who
is playing in right centerfield after a long run to left
(07:44):
center, made an amazing catch totake one away from Marc
Bellanger.
Mike Koser (07:50):
I mean, such poise for a 22-year-old.
Jon Miller (07:53):
Well, I was just a such a kid, and when the A's job
came up, I thought, well,Charlie Finley is the owner of
the team, lives in Chicago.
He's never gonna hire me, andhe makes all those decisions
himself.
But then I thought, well,obviously, if I don't send a
tape to him, of course I won'tget the job.
And I probably don't have anychance of getting it even if I
do, but I I just should go aheadand send it.
(08:15):
Anyway, so it was an incredibleopportunity for me to say the
least.
Mike Koser (08:19):
Well, yeah, what a team.
Jon Miller (08:21):
What a team, a great team, and you know, one of the
great teams of all time.
They won the World Series thatyear for the third consecutive
year, and truly one of the greatteams of all time.
And they played the game insuch a sound, fundamental way,
it was the the perfect spot fora a a young guy like me who knew
nothing to learn the game.
(08:41):
It was like getting mypostgraduate degree in baseball,
how the game is played.
I I could not have been in abetter spot, and I I uh you
know, thank my lucky stars tothis day.
Mike Koser (08:51):
Okay, so I gotta ask, uh in 74, was Harvey the
rabbit, the mechanical rabbit,was he still at the Coliseum?
Jon Miller (08:59):
I don't remember that he was there in 74, but I r
I remember being at theColiseum the night that he made
his debut.
There were two differentthings.
There was Harvey the rabbitwould pop up out of the ground.
He was sort of hidden beneaththe ground, just off the dirt
circle around home plate.
When the umpire needed uh uhmore baseballs, he could step on
this button and the rabbitwould pop up.
(09:21):
The rabbit had a basket on hishead and he could pull out all
these the the new baseballs thathe needed.
Uh there was another buttonthat he could push that would uh
activate these little uh bitsof uh air jets in the middle of
home plate, you know, dust offhome plate without the umpire
having to get out his uh littlewhisk broom to do it.
I don't know that that everactually worked.
(09:42):
I think there'll be a this bigcloud of dust at home plate, and
then all the dust would settleright back down on home plate.
But uh I remember being therethat night and uh public address
announcer uh Roy Steele wasreading the script to introduce
it, and he said, Now, ladies andgentlemen, uh, direct your
attention to the area by homeplate, and here is Little
Harvey.
(10:02):
And and Little Harvey not onlycame up, but he he had lights on
him and they were flashing andand whatnot.
Charlie was always looking forthings to uh promote the team.
Mike Koser (10:10):
Yeah, honestly, that's what I love about these
old ballparks is that each oneof them had their own unique
features or characteristics.
So speaking of which, I'd loveto run through some of the
ballparks that you've been toover your nearly fifty-year
career, starting in Minnesotawith uh Metropolitan Stadium,
where the twins played fromsixty-one to eighty-one.
Jon Miller (10:28):
A very unique ballpark because it was a
multi-purpose stadium.
They had three decks of seatsthat basically just went from
maybe almost third base andaround to almost first base, and
then two decks of seating thatwent the rest of the way down
the right field line to thecorner, and then the decks ended
(10:50):
before you got to third basegoing down the left field line,
and they had a big section ofbleachers that were just added
in, because it had originallybeen a minor league ballpark.
In left field they had a doubledeck because that was part of
the football configuration inleft field behind the left
field, and they sold those asbleacher seats, and they had the
big old timey scoreboard inright field, and the twins, of
(11:10):
course, it was an outdoorballpark, and I you know, I it
it seemed like every time wewent there there was always a
rain delay.
And they used to have uh theseuh flamethrowers that they would
bring out to try to dry off thedirt on the infield after the a
rain delay had ended.
That's the only place I've everseen that.
They had these flamethrowerstrying to help dry off the
(11:31):
infield dirt, so they had agreat press room down deep
within the catacombs of theballpark.
And man, that was the best onein in in the American League.
The food was just great, andyou get a full hot meal, and you
know, one night a week wassteak night, Fridays were you
know fish night, and uh and itwas just great stuff.
So and the people who ran thatfor them, the waiters and the
(11:55):
chef and whatnot, they werethere for years, and then when
they moved into the Metrodome inthe early 80s, uh they all
moved over there.
So uh uh anyway, we we got toknow all those people really
well.
Just just great people.
Mike Koser (12:08):
What did you think of Comiskey Park?
Jon Miller (12:10):
Comiskey Park.
I used to love Comiskey Parkbecause that was real old-timey
baseball.
I used to love going there, andthey had the the great organist
who was one of the first realorganists who was part of the
scene.
You know, baseball had playedmusic in ballparks for a long
time.
There were having an organistbetween innings entertainment
and pregame and all that was notunusual.
(12:32):
But Nancy Faust was part of thescene there, and she had
certain songs for differentplayers when they walked up to
the plate, and then she had, youknow, the White Sox had hit a
home run.
And even though, you know,maybe I wasn't happy to see him
do it, because better broadcastfor me and my audience, if my
team was hitting home runs, theplace would go nuts, and then
(12:54):
she'd play this uh song on theorgan that the fans would sing
along to.
Uh, you know, na na, hey, hey,goodbye.
Or when a pitcher got removed,a visiting team pitcher got
knocked out of the box, themanager go out and remove him,
and then she'd play Nana Hey HeyGoodbye there too.
And uh and they'd sing goodbyeto that pitcher as he walked off
the field.
It was just a great scenethere.
(13:15):
I think I secretly, probablylike just about everybody else
in baseball, had a crush on her.
She certainly knew how to uhentertain and put on a show, and
that's what made going to uhComiskey Park at that time
special.
And and they had a great pressroom that it was called the
Bards Room.
And you know, you always uh Iremember going in there, there
(13:36):
was a big fireplace in there,and you'd see Bill Veeck, uh 74
my first year.
Bill Veeck owned the White Sox,and uh so you'd see him down
there, and when the game wasover, we'd go back down there.
It was like a post-game clubfor the media and some of the
executives with the White Sox,and that was just kind of a cool
spot.
And to hear Bill Veeck tellstories and whatnot after games
(13:57):
was was a great treat.
Mike Koser (13:58):
So and you were at Tiger Stadium when it was still
ballpark green, because theydidn't they didn't paint it uh
blue and orange, that didn'thappen in I think '77.
Jon Miller (14:05):
Yeah, that my first year it was uh still a dark
green.
My first year in 74 at thebroadcast booths, Ernie Harwell
and Paul Carey, the Tigersbroadcasters, they were over
sort of above the visitingteam's on deck circle.
And the visiting booth was sortof above the Tigers on deck
(14:26):
circle, and we kind of lookedstraight up the first base and
right field lines from ourvantage point.
So we were separated, uh, thevisiting booth and the the home
team booth.
And uh the only way you couldget into those booths was to get
up into the upper deck, walkdown to the first row, and then
you'd climb down there was alike a little hatch door, like
you were going into a submarine.
You'd open that up, and thenyou'd walk down these this
(14:49):
ladder to get down in there.
Usually about the fifth inning,uh an usher would come in and
open your hatch shell betweeninnings and ask if you uh ask us
if we wanted anything, and he'dtoss some hot dogs down, like
it was feeding time at the zoo,you know.
He'd toss some hot dogs down tous, and then if if we wanted a
coke or something, he'd dropdown a couple of cokes to us and
(15:11):
uh but in seventy-nine they haddone a sort of a remodel of the
the broadcast levels and put itall together in one big new
booth complex right behind homeplate.
I mean, and these booths wereso close.
You know, you were right atthat point, we were right on the
backstop.
You could get killed by a foulball coming back.
(15:32):
That's what was so specialabout broadcasting a game at
Tiger Stadium.
It was an historic park and areally cool park with
asymmetrical dimensions.
You had the home run porch inright.
The upper deck was overhangingthe lower deck.
It was about ten to twelve feetcloser to home plate, the first
row of the upper deck, than thefirst row of the lower deck.
(15:53):
I remember having thisdiscussion with Alan Trammell
years ago, just asking him, Isaid, Do you think that there
are more home runs because ofthat overhang in the upper deck
at right field?
And he said, He said, No, II've always felt if you hit a
ball that either hit the facingof the second deck or landed in
the first row, that that stillwould have landed in the seats
(16:15):
in the lower deck.
So I don't think that it does.
But then he said there was onenight with a strong wind blowing
out to right field, and LouWhittaker hit a high fly ball,
one where the second baseman wasracing out as if for a pop-up,
and the ball got up in the windand the right fielder started
going back, and then got underthe ball, and then the ball hit
(16:37):
the facing of the second deck.
And he thought maybe that wasone where the wind, the ball was
dropping straight down andwould have been caught, but the
wind caused it to uh to hit offthe second deck.
But as a broadcaster, andespecially a radio broadcaster,
it gave dimension to how well aball was hit as you described
it.
There's a deep drive to right,way back there, he's at the
(16:57):
wall, gone into the lower deck,deep to right field, and it's
off the facing of the seconddeck, or you know, it's halfway
up into the second deck.
That's a long one, or it hitsthe rooftop.
Whoa! Whereas, say, FenwayPark, which had so many
distinctive features to it,there's a ball, a home run to
right, right center, into thebullpen, it clears the bullpen
(17:20):
into the bleachers or way backinto the bleachers.
That's all you had, you know,to to try to give uh you know
scope to how well a ball washit.
But Tiger Stadium did all ofthat really for you.
So the uh that was w one one ofmy favorite parks as a
broadcaster, because you alsocould hear what was going on at
home plate.
I remember Frank Robinson gotupset with an umpire.
He came out, and I I could hearexactly what he was shouting at
(17:43):
the umpire.
Frank was complaining that theumpire had told Lance Parrish
not to throw the ball to firstbase.
The uh runner was not eligibleto run on strike three that had
bounced away from Parrishbecause there was a runner at
first at the time with less thantwo out.
And uh so he told us, No, hecan't he can't run.
And Parrish, you know, Parrishhad raced after the ball to his
(18:05):
right and slid over onto hisknees to get it, and was had his
arm cocked ready to throw tofirst, and the umpire said, No,
he can't run.
And so Parrish didn't throw.
So then Frank came out, and youknow, any other ballpark you'd
see Frank come out and you wyou're kind of wondering what
what's he talking about?
But I could hear Frank say, uh,what are you doing telling him
(18:26):
not to throw?
And the guy says, Well, therunner can't run.
I was just telling him.
He says, Well, what are you, acoach for the Tigers?
If he wants to throw it, lethim throw it.
If he doesn't know the rule,uh, why do you have to coach
him?
Maybe he'll throw a wild one orsomething.
And uh and I thought, well,that's a good point.
So what is he telling him notto?
Because and I heard the umpiretell him not to throw.
(18:48):
So uh you were just so close tothe action.
It was always such adisappointment you'd leave Tiger
Stadium after a series andyou'd be back in any other
ballpark, and how far away youwere.
To me, that was the greatestplace to broadcast the game that
there ever was.
Mike Koser (19:03):
Uh in 1980, by the way, you're invited to be part
of the Boston Red Sox broadcastteam.
What an honor.
And uh I so I'm just curiousabout your impressions.
Uh uh you had been to Fenway atthat point before, but now
broadcasting games for theBoston Red Sox and historic
Fenway Park must have beensomething else.
Jon Miller (19:20):
Well, that that was a thrill.
Uh and I I remember the firstgame I ever did, it was the A's
first trip, and here they were,you know, they're the two-time
defending world champions.
And the Red Sox were in firstplace in the East, so these were
big games, and the Fenway wassold out.
And the Red Sox won that game,and I had to go down to do an
interview with a star of thegame. Yastrzemski had a couple
(19:40):
of hits and I don't know, threwout a guy in the bases from left
field and whatnot.
So I decided, well, I want toget Carl Yastrzemski.
Everywhere else, what you didis there was a line set up and
some earphones and a microphoneset up in the corner of your
dugout, the visiting team dugouton the road.
And you'd take that playeracross the field to the other
team's dugout and you do theinterview.
(20:01):
But we had a union thing goingat Fenway where the union was
saying, if we wanted to do that,we had to have a second
engineer.
We hired a guy who engineeredthe game from up in the booth,
and then they wanted to uh haveus pay for a second engineer for
just for that post-game thing.
Our station was a little toocheap to do that, and the
(20:22):
engineer strung a microphonecable down the screen.
They had a backstop, a lowbackstop, and then a screen that
protected the people behind thescreen at Fenway at that time.
And the booth was a lot lowerdown at the top of that screen
than it is now, and he tied offthe microphone down on the
backstop.
(20:42):
So I had to take Yastrzemskiover to the backstop.
Uh but I'll never forget,here's Carl Yastrzemski the you
know, the great Yastrzemski, andwe start out, we're going over
to the backstop.
He says, Where are we going?
I says, Oh, uh sorry, the it'sa union thing, but we have to I
have to get the microphone therein the backstop, and we're
gonna do it right there.
So there were all these fansstill in the stands, you know,
(21:04):
and and they wanted Yaz'sautograph.
So he did it, and I pulled thatmicrophone back as far away
from the backstop as it wouldgo.
You know, so we're we're justnot right there where where the
fans can reach out and touchhim.
And it was like a studioaudience.
Uh I say, Carl Yastrzemski,Monty, uh, two doubles, and he
threw out uh Billy North tryingto stretch a single into a
double.
Another great night for thelegendary Yastrzemski.
(21:26):
And then the people all cheeredand uh applauded like I was
doing the Oprah show orsomething.
Welcome, please welcome CarlYastrzemski.
And uh and and I thanked himprofusely, and he then he had to
walk over to the corner of thebackstop and start signing
autographs for all these people,because what was he gonna do?
He's now you know, I I'd hadhim out there and he's gonna
(21:48):
look bad if he didn't do it, youknow.
So uh you could never sayanything bad about Yastrzemski
to me.
Because there I was twenty-twoyears old and interviewing the
the great Yaz, and uh and hedidn't have to he could as soon
as I told him where we weredoing it, he could have just
turned, oh, I'm not going outthere, come on, forget it.
But he did and and and gave mea thoughtful, very good
(22:09):
interview, and uh and it wassuch a thrill decades later when
all of a sudden MikeYastrzemski shows up in a giant
uniform at uh Oracle Park andhis grandson.
And I was just so thrilled anduh later on when I did Red Sox
games with Ken Coleman, youknow, Yaz by that time, 1980,
(22:30):
81, 82, when I was in Boston,uh, he was older by far than any
of his teammates.
Mike Koser (22:36):
Yeah, I think in 1980, I think he was forty.
Jon Miller (22:38):
Yeah, he was he was forty years old.
So a lot of times if we had anight off in a city, then Carl
would go out to dinner with meand Ken Coleman and maybe one of
the writers or whoever wasavailable.
And uh, you know, so we wespent a lot of time with him on
the road because we weregenerally speaking, except for
me, we we were much more his agethan uh than his teammates
(23:02):
were, you know.
So but and I remember seeingMike's dad at the ballpark and
uh and Carl's dad was at everygame, sat in uh Mrs.
Yawkey's uh private box atFenway Park.
So i it was always kind of aYastrzemski family affair in
those days.
Mike Koser (23:16):
And fast forward to 1983, and you are now
broadcasting for the BaltimoreOrioles, and what a what a year
to join the team.
Jon Miller (23:23):
game audio
Mike Koser (23:48):
One of the things that I loved about Memorial
Stadium was how perfectlysituated it was in a
neighborhood.
I remember someone once sayingthat it felt like going to like
a local neighborhood pub.
Did you have that feeling toowhen you broadcast games from
there?
Jon Miller (24:00):
Well, there was a writer, a columnist at the
Baltimore Sun named DanRodericks, who also later had a
talk show on the station thatcarried the games, uh, WBAL.
And when the Orioles were aboutto leave Memorial Stadium and
and m move to their theirbeautiful new ballpark downtown,
Camden Yards, uh, he wrote anessay that he delivered on the
(24:20):
on the radio, and he he quoteduh some philosopher uh who had
written something aboutneighborhood taverns, that every
neighborhood, every communityneeded what the philosopher
called that great good place togather a sense of community, uh
rubbing elbows with goodfriends, uh becoming good
(24:44):
friends, uh a a place for peopleto just get together and that's
what helped make a community acommunity.
And so then he extended the thewhole notion of that to
Memorial Stadium.
That that's what it was, thatgreat good place in the Waverley
section, the Waverleyneighborhood of Baltimore.
(25:05):
You know, m Memorial Stadium itwas uh a unique ballpark and it
was built, you know, they hadthe big pillars that supported
the upper deck, so on a selloutcrowd night you could be one of
those people who were behind apillar who had an obstructed
view of the game.
But I think the neighborhoodaspect of the Orioles was all
about who theywere. You know it was a town of neighborhoods. It had that sort of second city feeling. They were so close to Washington DC and suffered in the comparison to Washington DC the way Brooklyn did to Manhattan.
(25:25):
There was a this little feelingof uh uh inferiority complex uh
in Baltimore.
But uh I I really loved mywhole time in Baltimore, and it
(25:49):
was one of the great things thatever happened to me.
And Memorial Stadium, you know,Rex Barney was the the old
Dodger pitcher, was the publicaddress announcer, and uh when
there was a foul ball into theseats if a fan made the catch on
it, which always brings a cheerfrom the crowd, then he would
shout on the PA system, givethat fan a contract.
And then an usher would rundown with a contract, and and
(26:12):
and give him the they had theselittle contracts made up.
Or if a fan conversely droppeda foul ball, Rex would say, Give
that fan an error, and the fanswould cheer again.
So uh anyway, uh it that was alot of fun at that ballpark.
Mike Koser (26:28):
So by 1997, you begin your tenure with the San
Francisco Giants, and I imaginefor a kid who saw his first
Major League Baseball game in1962 at ten years old at
Candlestick Park, coming back toofficially broadcast as a
member of the San FranciscoGiants broadcast team had to
feel pretty special.
Jon Miller (26:45):
Well it was very exciting for me, and they had a
great classic pennant race withthe Dodgers that year.
Eleven games left in theseason.
They were two games behind bythe Dodgers, and they had a
two-game series at Candlestickon a Tuesday and a Wednesday,
night game and a day game,respectively.
And they really needed to winboth of them.
Although Dusty Baker wasavoiding trying to just was
trying not to have to say that,because of what what if they
(27:07):
lost a game?
Then what are you gonna say?
But they they clearly havetheir best shot to overtake the
Dodgers, they needed to win themboth.
And they did.
Barry Bonds hit one into theupper deck in right field, which
as a kid there was no upperdeck in right field.
At Candlestick in the 49ersstadium configuration, that was
just a a spectacular clout.
And it was a two-run homerfirst inning of the game, and
(27:29):
they won the game two to one.
So now game two, they'rethey're down by one game, and
they blew a five to one lead,and the game went extra innings,
and then Brian Johnson hit ahome run against the wind to
left field to uh end the game,walk-off home run.
Those are moments that in agreat historic rivalry that you
savor and that you'll neverforget.
(27:50):
What could be the a betterscenario for a guy to come back
home in his first year as abroadcaster for the Giants than
to be in right in the middle ofa Giants Dodger classic pennant
race.
So uh so I'll never forgetthat.
Mike Koser (28:04):
Well, after nearly 50 years of broadcasting, John,
you've experienced a lot ofbaseball history.
And you know what?
I just I feel honored that uhyou have spent some time with
us, revisiting that historytoday.
Jon Miller (28:15):
I consider myself to be the really uh as lucky as
anybody could ever possibly be,and and I really miss a lot of
the old classic ballparks, andit's always such a thrill to do
a game at Fenway even today,still as classic a ballpark and
as much fun of a ballpark as thea as it ever was, and to go to
(28:35):
Wrigley Fields for the for thesame reasons.
But uh I I think that uh therehave been some great new
ballparks that I really enjoygoing to as well, but uh to have
been at Tiger Stadium and beenat that previous incarnation of
Yankee Stadium and some of thoseballparks, Comiskey Park.
Uh I uh for me that's somethingthat uh I I've always
considered uh a a greatblessing.
(28:57):
And and and something thatthose kind of ballparks helped,
I think, made a lot of fans andhelped make baseball the the the
special kind of a sport that itis.
I think that's part of theattraction of the game.
So uh and why I like yourInstagram feed so much.
Mike Koser (29:11):
Thank you, John.
I really, really appreciate it.
Thank you for listening to thepodcast.
Show Open
Jon Miller (00:28):
Very pleasant Good afternoon, everyone, wherever
you may be.
And more than 50,000 of you areright here at Memorial Stadium.
We know that for sure.
Announcer (00:35):
Show Open
Mike Koser (01:09):
He's been broadcasting major league
baseball games for nearly fivedecades.
Andsince 1997 has been the much beloved voice of the San Francisco Giants. The one and only, Jon Miller.
Jon Miller (01:13):
Game audio
The unmistakable voice of Jon Miller on the Giants flagship station, KNBR. Jon let's start in 1962, you're 10 years old, you and your Dad are going to Candlestick Park to watch Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda and the SF Giants, .
So in 62, was that your firstMajor League Baseball game?
(01:52):
Yes, I went to Candlestick in April of 62 with
my dad and my godfather.
The Giants played the Dodgers.
It was the Giants Dodgers'first matchup of that season at
Candlestick, what ended up beinguh just an an amazing season.
And the Giants beat the Dodgers19-8, and it made such an
(02:13):
impression on me.
I not only remembered the finalgame totals and the winning and
losing pitchers and who hithome runs, I even remembered the
the paid attendance for thatgame.
And Billy Odell pitched acomplete game 15 hitter threw
172 pitches, by the way.
Uh when people tell you thatthey never kept track of pitch
(02:34):
counts in those days, don'tbelieve them.
They did.
Billy Odell went into the ninthinning with a 19-3 lead, and
the Dodgers got five runs in theninth, and the Giants actually
got their bullpen busy.
And the Hall of Fame baseballwriter Bob Stevens, who was
covering the Giants for theChronicle, actually asked Alvin
Dark if he was a little bitirritated that in a monumental
(02:55):
blowout he had to get hisbullpen busy in the ninth
inning.
And he said, No, no.
I know that Billy was justtrying to throw strikes and get
the game over with.
That's all that was going onthere.
He wasn't tired because he hadonly thrown a hundred and fifty
pitches.
And that was a a a direct quotein the in the chronicle.
And that meant he'd thrown ahundred and fifty pitches
(03:18):
through eight innings going intothe ninth inning.
He had thrown a hundred andfifty, and that's why he knew he
wasn't tired.
He threw twenty-two more inthat ninth inning.
So a lot of crazy things aboutthat game, but uh that made such
a huge impression on a aten-year-old kid sitting in the
upper deck who was freezing todeath, by the way.
It was a cold, foggy night atat the stick.
Mike Koser (03:41):
So w walk me through it.
What were your firstimpressions as you walk through
the gate and get to your seatsat uh at candlestick?
Jon Miller (03:49):
I was mesmerized at just how perfect the the grass
looked.
It was so well manicured atcandlestick and candlestick, uh,
I I did uh read in the papersthe World Series, of course,
took place at Candlestick andYankee Stadium later that year,
after the Giants won thepennant, and the Yankee
infielders, uh Bobby Richardson,Clete Boyer, and uh Tony Kubek
(04:12):
and whatnot, all commented aboutwow, the the the grass is just
perfect.
So well manicured, you couldnot have a better infield than
this.
And that is exactly the way itlooked to me when we first
walked in into the upper deck,and then there it was under the
lights, and the game had alreadystarted.
We were in such a long line oftraffic on the Bayshore Freeway
to get to candlestick, and thenhad to wait in uh the ticket
(04:34):
line to get tickets.
Uh the Giants got the basesloaded in the first inning,
which we were listening to on mydad's transistor radio while we
were waiting to get tickets.
Announcer (04:42):
First time between the San Francisco Giants and the
visiting Los Angeles Dodgers.
Jon Miller (04:46):
And then we finally got up there in the second
inning.
That was the originalcandlestick layout.
Mike Koser (04:51):
Yeah, that's right, because in 62, the outfield is
wide open.
Jon Miller (04:54):
Yeah, the uh in right field they had three big
bleacher sections like highschool football stadium
bleachers, and that's all thatwas in, and they were more
toward right center field, andin left field there was a a wire
fence, but behind that generaladmission seats, so they weren't
bleacher seats, but uh therewere actual seats out there.
(05:16):
But kids would jump down fromthe seats to go chase home run
balls when they would clear thefence.
Uh when Candlestick firstopened in 1960, it was much
deeper to center field and leftcenter than it became later on.
And the Giants hit so few homeruns that they said, Well, wait
a minute, this is not theGiants.
Willie Mays only hittwenty-nine home runs that year.
(05:38):
And, you know, Willie'd alreadyhad one year over fifty home
runs and he would have another alittle bit later on.
So it was it was too hard tohit home runs because the the
wind generally knocked ballsdown to left field anyway.
Willie actually told me yearslater, when I got to to know him
so well, seeing him at theballpark all the time when I
came to the Giants to broadcastthe games, that uh he changed
(06:00):
his swing to uh take balls thatnormally you would try to pull,
balls on the inside part of theplate, and he would go with an
inside out swing trying to hit'em to right field where you
could get up into the jet streamand and a ball could get
pushed.
So that's how he started totake advantage of of the
peculiarities of of CandlestickPark.
Mike Koser (06:18):
Okay, so fast forward eight to ten years, I
think, and you're still going togames at Candlestick, only now
you're taking your tape recorderwith you and recording yourself
doing play-by-play.
Is that right?
Jon Miller (06:28):
Yes.
So I usually sat in the upperdeck somewhere where I could uh
you know be alone, and when theA's came out in 68, I would sit
in the bleachers at the Coliseumand usually bring a buddy, and
we broadcast the games together.
I had been at a small TVstation in Santa Rosa,
California, Channel 50, thatwent broke, and I'd been doing
all the sports and play by playand whatnot.
(06:49):
So when they went off the air,I got one of our technicians who
brought a b a bunch of audioequipment, and we actually sat
in an empty booth at Caddlestickfor a Giants Phillies game on a
Tuesday night.
I broadcast the game into thetape recorder, uh, and it turned
out to be a really good game.
And that was the tape thatMonty Moore heard when the A's
(07:10):
needed an announcer uh after the73 season going into 74.
And then and then he offered methe job.
Mike Koser (07:16):
So uh 22 years of age in 1974.
Here you are, uh part of theOakland A's broadcast team.
Jon Miller (07:23):
Bellanger beat the A's this year with a suicide
squeeze bunt.
He's swinging away at this one,hits a drive to left center
field, long run for Billy North,and he makes the catch.
Going back to first base isEtchebarren and Billy North, who
is playing in right centerfield after a long run to left
(07:44):
center, made an amazing catch totake one away from Marc
Bellanger.
Mike Koser (07:50):
I mean, such poise for a 22-year-old.
Jon Miller (07:53):
Well, I was just a such a kid, and when the A's job
came up, I thought, well,Charlie Finley is the owner of
the team, lives in Chicago.
He's never gonna hire me, andhe makes all those decisions
himself.
But then I thought, well,obviously, if I don't send a
tape to him, of course I won'tget the job.
And I probably don't have anychance of getting it even if I
do, but I I just should go aheadand send it.
(08:15):
Anyway, so it was an incredibleopportunity for me to say the
least.
Mike Koser (08:19):
Well, yeah, what a team.
Jon Miller (08:21):
What a team, a great team, and you know, one of the
great teams of all time.
They won the World Series thatyear for the third consecutive
year, and truly one of the greatteams of all time.
And they played the game insuch a sound, fundamental way,
it was the the perfect spot fora a a young guy like me who knew
nothing to learn the game.
(08:41):
It was like getting mypostgraduate degree in baseball,
how the game is played.
I I could not have been in abetter spot, and I I uh you
know, thank my lucky stars tothis day.
Mike Koser (08:51):
Okay, so I gotta ask, uh in 74, was Harvey the
rabbit, the mechanical rabbit,was he still at the Coliseum?
Jon Miller (08:59):
I don't remember that he was there in 74, but I r
I remember being at theColiseum the night that he made
his debut.
There were two differentthings.
There was Harvey the rabbitwould pop up out of the ground.
He was sort of hidden beneaththe ground, just off the dirt
circle around home plate.
When the umpire needed uh uhmore baseballs, he could step on
this button and the rabbitwould pop up.
(09:21):
The rabbit had a basket on hishead and he could pull out all
these the the new baseballs thathe needed.
Uh there was another buttonthat he could push that would uh
activate these little uh bitsof uh air jets in the middle of
home plate, you know, dust offhome plate without the umpire
having to get out his uh littlewhisk broom to do it.
I don't know that that everactually worked.
(09:42):
I think there'll be a this bigcloud of dust at home plate, and
then all the dust would settleright back down on home plate.
But uh I remember being therethat night and uh public address
announcer uh Roy Steele wasreading the script to introduce
it, and he said, Now, ladies andgentlemen, uh, direct your
attention to the area by homeplate, and here is Little
Harvey.
(10:02):
And and Little Harvey not onlycame up, but he he had lights on
him and they were flashing andand whatnot.
Charlie was always looking forthings to uh promote the team.
Mike Koser (10:10):
Yeah, honestly, that's what I love about these
old ballparks is that each oneof them had their own unique
features or characteristics.
So speaking of which, I'd loveto run through some of the
ballparks that you've been toover your nearly fifty-year
career, starting in Minnesotawith uh Metropolitan Stadium,
where the twins played fromsixty-one to eighty-one.
Jon Miller (10:28):
A very unique ballpark because it was a
multi-purpose stadium.
They had three decks of seatsthat basically just went from
maybe almost third base andaround to almost first base, and
then two decks of seating thatwent the rest of the way down
the right field line to thecorner, and then the decks ended
(10:50):
before you got to third basegoing down the left field line,
and they had a big section ofbleachers that were just added
in, because it had originallybeen a minor league ballpark.
In left field they had a doubledeck because that was part of
the football configuration inleft field behind the left
field, and they sold those asbleacher seats, and they had the
big old timey scoreboard inright field, and the twins, of
(11:10):
course, it was an outdoorballpark, and I you know, I it
it seemed like every time wewent there there was always a
rain delay.
And they used to have uh theseuh flamethrowers that they would
bring out to try to dry off thedirt on the infield after the a
rain delay had ended.
That's the only place I've everseen that.
They had these flamethrowerstrying to help dry off the
(11:31):
infield dirt, so they had agreat press room down deep
within the catacombs of theballpark.
And man, that was the best onein in in the American League.
The food was just great, andyou get a full hot meal, and you
know, one night a week wassteak night, Fridays were you
know fish night, and uh and itwas just great stuff.
So and the people who ran thatfor them, the waiters and the
(11:55):
chef and whatnot, they werethere for years, and then when
they moved into the Metrodome inthe early 80s, uh they all
moved over there.
So uh uh anyway, we we got toknow all those people really
well.
Just just great people.
Mike Koser (12:08):
What did you think of Comiskey Park?
Jon Miller (12:10):
Comiskey Park.
I used to love Comiskey Parkbecause that was real old-timey
baseball.
I used to love going there, andthey had the the great organist
who was one of the first realorganists who was part of the
scene.
You know, baseball had playedmusic in ballparks for a long
time.
There were having an organistbetween innings entertainment
and pregame and all that was notunusual.
(12:32):
But Nancy Faust was part of thescene there, and she had
certain songs for differentplayers when they walked up to
the plate, and then she had, youknow, the White Sox had hit a
home run.
And even though, you know,maybe I wasn't happy to see him
do it, because better broadcastfor me and my audience, if my
team was hitting home runs, theplace would go nuts, and then
(12:54):
she'd play this uh song on theorgan that the fans would sing
along to.
Uh, you know, na na, hey, hey,goodbye.
Or when a pitcher got removed,a visiting team pitcher got
knocked out of the box, themanager go out and remove him,
and then she'd play Nana Hey HeyGoodbye there too.
And uh and they'd sing goodbyeto that pitcher as he walked off
the field.
It was just a great scenethere.
(13:15):
I think I secretly, probablylike just about everybody else
in baseball, had a crush on her.
She certainly knew how to uhentertain and put on a show, and
that's what made going to uhComiskey Park at that time
special.
And and they had a great pressroom that it was called the
Bards Room.
And you know, you always uh Iremember going in there, there
(13:36):
was a big fireplace in there,and you'd see Bill Veeck, uh 74
my first year.
Bill Veeck owned the White Sox,and uh so you'd see him down
there, and when the game wasover, we'd go back down there.
It was like a post-game clubfor the media and some of the
executives with the White Sox,and that was just kind of a cool
spot.
And to hear Bill Veeck tellstories and whatnot after games
(13:57):
was was a great treat.
Mike Koser (13:58):
So and you were at Tiger Stadium when it was still
ballpark green, because theydidn't they didn't paint it uh
blue and orange, that didn'thappen in I think '77.
Jon Miller (14:05):
Yeah, that my first year it was uh still a dark
green.
My first year in 74 at thebroadcast booths, Ernie Harwell
and Paul Carey, the Tigersbroadcasters, they were over
sort of above the visitingteam's on deck circle.
And the visiting booth was sortof above the Tigers on deck
(14:26):
circle, and we kind of lookedstraight up the first base and
right field lines from ourvantage point.
So we were separated, uh, thevisiting booth and the the home
team booth.
And uh the only way you couldget into those booths was to get
up into the upper deck, walkdown to the first row, and then
you'd climb down there was alike a little hatch door, like
you were going into a submarine.
You'd open that up, and thenyou'd walk down these this
(14:49):
ladder to get down in there.
Usually about the fifth inning,uh an usher would come in and
open your hatch shell betweeninnings and ask if you uh ask us
if we wanted anything, and he'dtoss some hot dogs down, like
it was feeding time at the zoo,you know.
He'd toss some hot dogs down tous, and then if if we wanted a
coke or something, he'd dropdown a couple of cokes to us and
(15:11):
uh but in seventy-nine they haddone a sort of a remodel of the
the broadcast levels and put itall together in one big new
booth complex right behind homeplate.
I mean, and these booths wereso close.
You know, you were right atthat point, we were right on the
backstop.
You could get killed by a foulball coming back.
(15:32):
That's what was so specialabout broadcasting a game at
Tiger Stadium.
It was an historic park and areally cool park with
asymmetrical dimensions.
You had the home run porch inright.
The upper deck was overhangingthe lower deck.
It was about ten to twelve feetcloser to home plate, the first
row of the upper deck, than thefirst row of the lower deck.
(15:53):
I remember having thisdiscussion with Alan Trammell
years ago, just asking him, Isaid, Do you think that there
are more home runs because ofthat overhang in the upper deck
at right field?
And he said, He said, No, II've always felt if you hit a
ball that either hit the facingof the second deck or landed in
the first row, that that stillwould have landed in the seats
(16:15):
in the lower deck.
So I don't think that it does.
But then he said there was onenight with a strong wind blowing
out to right field, and LouWhittaker hit a high fly ball,
one where the second baseman wasracing out as if for a pop-up,
and the ball got up in the windand the right fielder started
going back, and then got underthe ball, and then the ball hit
(16:37):
the facing of the second deck.
And he thought maybe that wasone where the wind, the ball was
dropping straight down andwould have been caught, but the
wind caused it to uh to hit offthe second deck.
But as a broadcaster, andespecially a radio broadcaster,
it gave dimension to how well aball was hit as you described
it.
There's a deep drive to right,way back there, he's at the
(16:57):
wall, gone into the lower deck,deep to right field, and it's
off the facing of the seconddeck, or you know, it's halfway
up into the second deck.
That's a long one, or it hitsthe rooftop.
Whoa! Whereas, say, FenwayPark, which had so many
distinctive features to it,there's a ball, a home run to
right, right center, into thebullpen, it clears the bullpen
(17:20):
into the bleachers or way backinto the bleachers.
That's all you had, you know,to to try to give uh you know
scope to how well a ball washit.
But Tiger Stadium did all ofthat really for you.
So the uh that was w one one ofmy favorite parks as a
broadcaster, because you alsocould hear what was going on at
home plate.
I remember Frank Robinson gotupset with an umpire.
He came out, and I I could hearexactly what he was shouting at
(17:43):
the umpire.
Frank was complaining that theumpire had told Lance Parrish
not to throw the ball to firstbase.
The uh runner was not eligibleto run on strike three that had
bounced away from Parrishbecause there was a runner at
first at the time with less thantwo out.
And uh so he told us, No, hecan't he can't run.
And Parrish, you know, Parrishhad raced after the ball to his
(18:05):
right and slid over onto hisknees to get it, and was had his
arm cocked ready to throw tofirst, and the umpire said, No,
he can't run.
And so Parrish didn't throw.
So then Frank came out, and youknow, any other ballpark you'd
see Frank come out and you wyou're kind of wondering what
what's he talking about?
But I could hear Frank say, uh,what are you doing telling him
(18:26):
not to throw?
And the guy says, Well, therunner can't run.
I was just telling him.
He says, Well, what are you, acoach for the Tigers?
If he wants to throw it, lethim throw it.
If he doesn't know the rule,uh, why do you have to coach
him?
Maybe he'll throw a wild one orsomething.
And uh and I thought, well,that's a good point.
So what is he telling him notto?
Because and I heard the umpiretell him not to throw.
(18:48):
So uh you were just so close tothe action.
It was always such adisappointment you'd leave Tiger
Stadium after a series andyou'd be back in any other
ballpark, and how far away youwere.
To me, that was the greatestplace to broadcast the game that
there ever was.
Mike Koser (19:03):
Uh in 1980, by the way, you're invited to be part
of the Boston Red Sox broadcastteam.
What an honor.
And uh I so I'm just curiousabout your impressions.
Uh uh you had been to Fenway atthat point before, but now
broadcasting games for theBoston Red Sox and historic
Fenway Park must have beensomething else.
Jon Miller (19:20):
Well, that that was a thrill.
Uh and I I remember the firstgame I ever did, it was the A's
first trip, and here they were,you know, they're the two-time
defending world champions.
And the Red Sox were in firstplace in the East, so these were
big games, and the Fenway wassold out.
And the Red Sox won that game,and I had to go down to do an
interview with a star of thegame. Yastrzemski had a couple
(19:40):
of hits and I don't know, threwout a guy in the bases from left
field and whatnot.
So I decided, well, I want toget Carl Yastrzemski.
Everywhere else, what you didis there was a line set up and
some earphones and a microphoneset up in the corner of your
dugout, the visiting team dugouton the road.
And you'd take that playeracross the field to the other
team's dugout and you do theinterview.
(20:01):
But we had a union thing goingat Fenway where the union was
saying, if we wanted to do that,we had to have a second
engineer.
We hired a guy who engineeredthe game from up in the booth,
and then they wanted to uh haveus pay for a second engineer for
just for that post-game thing.
Our station was a little toocheap to do that, and the
(20:22):
engineer strung a microphonecable down the screen.
They had a backstop, a lowbackstop, and then a screen that
protected the people behind thescreen at Fenway at that time.
And the booth was a lot lowerdown at the top of that screen
than it is now, and he tied offthe microphone down on the
backstop.
(20:42):
So I had to take Yastrzemskiover to the backstop.
Uh but I'll never forget,here's Carl Yastrzemski the you
know, the great Yastrzemski, andwe start out, we're going over
to the backstop.
He says, Where are we going?
I says, Oh, uh sorry, the it'sa union thing, but we have to I
have to get the microphone therein the backstop, and we're
gonna do it right there.
So there were all these fansstill in the stands, you know,
(21:04):
and and they wanted Yaz'sautograph.
So he did it, and I pulled thatmicrophone back as far away
from the backstop as it wouldgo.
You know, so we're we're justnot right there where where the
fans can reach out and touchhim.
And it was like a studioaudience.
Uh I say, Carl Yastrzemski,Monty, uh, two doubles, and he
threw out uh Billy North tryingto stretch a single into a
double.
Another great night for thelegendary Yastrzemski.
(21:26):
And then the people all cheeredand uh applauded like I was
doing the Oprah show orsomething.
Welcome, please welcome CarlYastrzemski.
And uh and and I thanked himprofusely, and he then he had to
walk over to the corner of thebackstop and start signing
autographs for all these people,because what was he gonna do?
He's now you know, I I'd hadhim out there and he's gonna
(21:48):
look bad if he didn't do it, youknow.
So uh you could never sayanything bad about Yastrzemski
to me.
Because there I was twenty-twoyears old and interviewing the
the great Yaz, and uh and hedidn't have to he could as soon
as I told him where we weredoing it, he could have just
turned, oh, I'm not going outthere, come on, forget it.
But he did and and and gave mea thoughtful, very good
(22:09):
interview, and uh and it wassuch a thrill decades later when
all of a sudden MikeYastrzemski shows up in a giant
uniform at uh Oracle Park andhis grandson.
And I was just so thrilled anduh later on when I did Red Sox
games with Ken Coleman, youknow, Yaz by that time, 1980,
(22:30):
81, 82, when I was in Boston,uh, he was older by far than any
of his teammates.
Mike Koser (22:36):
Yeah, I think in 1980, I think he was forty.
Jon Miller (22:38):
Yeah, he was he was forty years old.
So a lot of times if we had anight off in a city, then Carl
would go out to dinner with meand Ken Coleman and maybe one of
the writers or whoever wasavailable.
And uh, you know, so we wespent a lot of time with him on
the road because we weregenerally speaking, except for
me, we we were much more his agethan uh than his teammates
(23:02):
were, you know.
So but and I remember seeingMike's dad at the ballpark and
uh and Carl's dad was at everygame, sat in uh Mrs.
Yawkey's uh private box atFenway Park.
So i it was always kind of aYastrzemski family affair in
those days.
Mike Koser (23:16):
And fast forward to 1983, and you are now
broadcasting for the BaltimoreOrioles, and what a what a year
to join the team.
Jon Miller (23:23):
game audio
Mike Koser (23:48):
One of the things that I loved about Memorial
Stadium was how perfectlysituated it was in a
neighborhood.
I remember someone once sayingthat it felt like going to like
a local neighborhood pub.
Did you have that feeling toowhen you broadcast games from
there?
Jon Miller (24:00):
Well, there was a writer, a columnist at the
Baltimore Sun named DanRodericks, who also later had a
talk show on the station thatcarried the games, uh, WBAL.
And when the Orioles were aboutto leave Memorial Stadium and
and m move to their theirbeautiful new ballpark downtown,
Camden Yards, uh, he wrote anessay that he delivered on the
(24:20):
on the radio, and he he quoteduh some philosopher uh who had
written something aboutneighborhood taverns, that every
neighborhood, every communityneeded what the philosopher
called that great good place togather a sense of community, uh
rubbing elbows with goodfriends, uh becoming good
(24:44):
friends, uh a a place for peopleto just get together and that's
what helped make a community acommunity.
And so then he extended the thewhole notion of that to
Memorial Stadium.
That that's what it was, thatgreat good place in the Waverley
section, the Waverleyneighborhood of Baltimore.
(25:05):
You know, m Memorial Stadium itwas uh a unique ballpark and it
was built, you know, they hadthe big pillars that supported
the upper deck, so on a selloutcrowd night you could be one of
those people who were behind apillar who had an obstructed
view of the game.
But I think the neighborhoodaspect of the Orioles was all
about who theywere. You know it was a town of neighborhoods. It had that sort of second city feeling. They were so close to Washington DC and suffered in the comparison to Washington DC the way Brooklyn did to Manhattan.
(25:25):
There was a this little feelingof uh uh inferiority complex uh
in Baltimore.
But uh I I really loved mywhole time in Baltimore, and it
(25:49):
was one of the great things thatever happened to me.
And Memorial Stadium, you know,Rex Barney was the the old
Dodger pitcher, was the publicaddress announcer, and uh when
there was a foul ball into theseats if a fan made the catch on
it, which always brings a cheerfrom the crowd, then he would
shout on the PA system, givethat fan a contract.
And then an usher would rundown with a contract, and and
(26:12):
and give him the they had theselittle contracts made up.
Or if a fan conversely droppeda foul ball, Rex would say, Give
that fan an error, and the fanswould cheer again.
So uh anyway, uh it that was alot of fun at that ballpark.
Mike Koser (26:28):
So by 1997, you begin your tenure with the San
Francisco Giants, and I imaginefor a kid who saw his first
Major League Baseball game in1962 at ten years old at
Candlestick Park, coming back toofficially broadcast as a
member of the San FranciscoGiants broadcast team had to
feel pretty special.
Jon Miller (26:45):
Well it was very exciting for me, and they had a
great classic pennant race withthe Dodgers that year.
Eleven games left in theseason.
They were two games behind bythe Dodgers, and they had a
two-game series at Candlestickon a Tuesday and a Wednesday,
night game and a day game,respectively.
And they really needed to winboth of them.
Although Dusty Baker wasavoiding trying to just was
trying not to have to say that,because of what what if they
(27:07):
lost a game?
Then what are you gonna say?
But they they clearly havetheir best shot to overtake the
Dodgers, they needed to win themboth.
And they did.
Barry Bonds hit one into theupper deck in right field, which
as a kid there was no upperdeck in right field.
At Candlestick in the 49ersstadium configuration, that was
just a a spectacular clout.
And it was a two-run homerfirst inning of the game, and
(27:29):
they won the game two to one.
So now game two, they'rethey're down by one game, and
they blew a five to one lead,and the game went extra innings,
and then Brian Johnson hit ahome run against the wind to
left field to uh end the game,walk-off home run.
Those are moments that in agreat historic rivalry that you
savor and that you'll neverforget.
(27:50):
What could be the a betterscenario for a guy to come back
home in his first year as abroadcaster for the Giants than
to be in right in the middle ofa Giants Dodger classic pennant
race.
So uh so I'll never forgetthat.
Mike Koser (28:04):
Well, after nearly 50 years of broadcasting, John,
you've experienced a lot ofbaseball history.
And you know what?
I just I feel honored that uhyou have spent some time with
us, revisiting that historytoday.
Jon Miller (28:15):
I consider myself to be the really uh as lucky as
anybody could ever possibly be,and and I really miss a lot of
the old classic ballparks, andit's always such a thrill to do
a game at Fenway even today,still as classic a ballpark and
as much fun of a ballpark as thea as it ever was, and to go to
(28:35):
Wrigley Fields for the for thesame reasons.
But uh I I think that uh therehave been some great new
ballparks that I really enjoygoing to as well, but uh to have
been at Tiger Stadium and beenat that previous incarnation of
Yankee Stadium and some of thoseballparks, Comiskey Park.
Uh I uh for me that's somethingthat uh I I've always
considered uh a a greatblessing.
(28:57):
And and and something thatthose kind of ballparks helped,
I think, made a lot of fans andhelped make baseball the the the
special kind of a sport that itis.
I think that's part of theattraction of the game.
So uh and why I like yourInstagram feed so much.
Mike Koser (29:11):
Thank you, John.
I really, really appreciate it.
Thank you for listening to thepodcast.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.