Sportscasters – Now I've Heard Everything

One Of The Great Voices Of Baseball Broadcasting: Jon Miller

October 25, 2025Bill Thompson

You may have heard that old saying “Find a job that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

If that’s true, Jon Miller has never “worked” a day in his life. Now of course he is one of the hardest working broadcasters in all of sports, but it’s a job he has literally loved since he was a child.

Picture this: the young Jon Miller sitting In the stands at Candlestick Park in San Francisco watching the Giants play, and glancing up at the pressbox, watching the broadcasters do what they do.

He was so inspired that later at home he would recreate baseball games and tape record the play by play, complete with audience sounds and even commercials.

He broke into actual broadcasting in the early 1970s. And for over 50 years now he has been doing what he loves.

In 1998 Jon Miller wrote a book called Confessions of a Baseball Purist. His publisher put him out on a book tour just as spring training was getting underway, and he carved out a few minutes to speak with me.

And what you’re about to hear is an interesting snapshot of Major League Baseball 27 years ago, so the names will bring back memories, and some of the concepts may now seem a little quaint.. And oh yes, this was before Barry Bonds.

So here now, from 1998, Jon Miller.

Jon Miller turned 74 a couple of weeks ago. He lives near San Francisco.

Sports, Marriage & Parenthood: The Life of ESPN’s Mike Greenberg

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

In the popular TV sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” the character Ray Barone was a popular and very successful sports writer. But at home his wife thought he was an idiot.

Now let’s turn the channel back to real life. Mike Greenberg is a popular and very successful sportscaster on ESPN and ABC. But according to his 2006 book his wife thinks he’s an idiot.

Actually his book was called Why My Wife Thinks I’m An Idiot. It was his first book, and one of his most popular, Perhaps because it is not only about sports, buts about the challenges of being a spouse and a parent.

As one review at the time noted, Greenberg’s was a book about a man tryling to grow up before his children do.

We both had a great time doing this interview in the spring of 2006.

So here now, from 2006, Mike Greenberg.

Mike Greenberg will be 58 later this summer. You can hear him on his podcast #Greeny.

A Lifetime of Sports Memories: TVs Warner Wolf

February 24, 2025Bill Thompson

TV sportscasters, just like the athletes they covered, come and go.

But a few established themselves as stars, remaining popular for years, even decades.

Meet televisions Warner Wolf. He actually started on the radio in 1961, before moving to TV in 1965 in his hometown Washington DC.

By 1976 he had moved on to New York City, were he further cemented his reputation as a sportscasting star.

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Along the way Warner Wolf popularized two catch phrases: “Gimme a break!” and “Let’s go to the videotape.”

Eventually Wolf wrote two books, each titled after one of those catchphrases. I met him in 2000 on publication of Let’s Go To The Videotape.

Be sure and stick around for his predictions, and see how many of them actually came true.

So here now, from 2000, Warner Wolf.

Warner wolf levt TV in 2016. He’s 87 now, and can be heard weekly on New York’s WOR radio.