Sunday Reading

EDIT: Added link to Seattle Times article about major league announcers and added a block quote format to the excerpt from the article.

The draft is near! So, Brett talks about draft day memories with David Asher and Bryan Sabatella over at RattlersReport.com. There are also notes on the recent mound appearances by Robby Hudson and Chao Kuan Wu; the umps getting back to work; and a certain Midwest League Radio announcer....No, not me, UW-Oshkosh grad and LumberKing announcer Dave Lezotte.

With the Brewers struggling, Tom Hardricourt leads off his column at jsonline.com with Bruce Froemming, who is approaching his 5,000th game as a major league umpire. It must have been a rough week, that takes up almost the whole article. There is a note about the front office not pushing the panic button and picking a college pitcher in the first round and rushing him to the big leagues.

That Johnny Cueto with the Dragons is a pretty good pitcher. The Dayton Daily News catches up with him taking English lessons at Fifth Third Field.

Go over to the Seattle Times Today. I don't know what brought this on, but Larry Stone has a big story today on major league radio announcers. How can you miss on a story with one paragraph that goes like this:

Melded, it creates what broadcasting historian Curt Smith calls "the hypnotic tapestry of radio on the air," what Bob Costas calls "the soundtrack of your summer" — all played out, as former baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti put it so memorably, "in the enclosed green fields of the mind."

Also at the Times today:

Ten Stops on the Radio Dial -- Enough announcer stories to make you want to be one, or least a better one.

Current Announcers and their catchphrases -- I don't see "Track it down, Marge!" anywhere on that list. (I'll explain on a day I have more time)

Former Announcers and their catchphrases -- I do see "Go to war, Miss Agnes" on this list. (I'll explain on a day when I have more time)

Not an announcer, but a classic Tommy LaSorda tirade about Dave Kingman is the lead-off hitter in the MLB Notes. High-larious.

I had this the other day, but if you did not see it, the sale of the Devil Rays is official. Midland, Michigan here they come.