GQ Magazine recently did an article on the top and bottom five broadcast booths in baseball In a surprise to no one,  finishing last were the Chicago White Sox team of Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone.  Obviously, if you are not a White Sox fan, you don't get it.  But, as they say down South, "never get in a pissing match with a skunk."

Everybody hates a homer when it isn't yours.  I can't stand to listen to Dick and Bert do Twinkie games when they play the White Sox not because they are bad announcers, but because they are rooting for the Twins.  Same with Cleveland, Kansas City and especially Detroit.  Yet their fans enjoy their broadcasts, although I have to tell you the AL Central as a division probably has the weakest broadcasters as a division in the entire league.  Maybe it's a Midwest thing.

The writer of said article, Rafi Kohan obviously lives on the west coast, which is why three of his top five come from there.  Victor Rojas? You have got to be kidding me.  No disrespect, but Victor isn't top ten material at this point. I'll give him the other four, especially Boston where I crack up every time I hear Jerry Remy say "Pedroyer." 

So, I started thinking about who my top ten baseball announcers would be.  The list is based on my personal experience of having listened to them.  Now, realize three things that probably influenced my list: 

• I'm probably older than you are, so my tastes run more traditional and my memory goes back longer.

• I grew up in the Midwest, specifically in Chicago, and outside of six years in the South, I've lived my entire life in the Midwest.

• I am, myself, a professional broadcaster who has called hundreds of baseball games.  Broadcasters hear things differently than non-broadcasters do, it's a bias.  So, I'm giving you a heads up.

As the great man once said, now on with the countdown:

10) Vince Lloyd: A Chicago guy (I did warn you) and very, very underrated.  Called a great game on radio and worked well with a somewhat weak but knowledgeable partner in Lou Boudreau.  At the end of his career, he was forced into a three man booth with Milo Hamilton, which is surprising considering you can't get Milo's ego in a four man booth.  "Holy Mackenzie!" is an endearing phrase to Cub fans over 40.

9) Bob Costas: Okay, so he's the smartest kid in the room and he knows it, but no one will ever give you more information during a game than Bobby C.  He's also the smoothest out there, on a par with Scully and his passion for the game is that of legend.  I know the youngsters give him a bad rap, but the man is good at what he does.

8)  Skip, Pete and Joe: The Braves were awful in the 80's, but you didn't care if you had WTBS on your cable system. When the Braves were getting their teeth kicked in, they were at their absolute best.  And the cross promotions were all woven in there too.  "Murphy, strikes, out, the twelfth strike out for Gooden and speaking of twelve, it's the Dirty Dozen after the game tonight on TBS."

7)  Dave Niehaus: When the Internet was young, you didn't have to pay to listen to baseball.  You simply went to the web site of the team and took the stream for free.  I spent many nights listening to the Mariners and Dave Niehaus.  I really enjoyed it.

6)  Curt Gowdy/Tony Kubeck: I'll be honest with you.  As deadpan as people accused Curt Gowdy of being back in the day, he was terrific compared to some of the guys doing network broadcasts today.  Gowdy was a minimalist and that's okay, because on TV that's exactly what you need.  Kubeck was an astute observer and knowledgeable color man although he seemed terminally grumpy.

5)  Ernie Harwell: Great man both on and off the field and a great listen at night on WJR.  And that distinctive southern accent was awesome too.  I didn't really get to hear Mel Allen or Red Barber, so Ernie is my favorite deep south born announcer.

4) Jack Brickhouse: Because of the rewriting of Cub history, Brickhouse is just a faded memory for many Cub fans, especially those who became Cub fans after 1982.  In truth, Brickhouse was the most optimistic guy on earth.  If the Cubs were down by ten going into the bottom of the ninth, Brickhouse would encourage the Cubs to get something started.  In his career, he also did network assignments for Dumont, anchored sports on TV and covered political conventions.  The dude was old school.

3) Harry Caray: Don't judge him by the post stroke years with the Cubs, judge him by the entire body of his work, including his years
with the White Sox.  When he worked with Jimmy Piersall, he formed one of the absolutely hilarious duos in baseball history.  I have so many stories about Harry from when I was a kid watching him do the Sox games, I probably could write a book.  The best thing about Harry was there was no disguising who he was rooting for.  And many of the things Harry did back in the day, be a huge homer, complain about the umps, were things Hawk does now.  Harry was a lot just better at it.

2) Vin Scully: He's so smooth, it's criminal.  And he still works by himself.  He is a national treasure.

1)  Jack Buck:  He was the best.  His call of Kirk Gibson's home run in game one of the 1988 World Series is my favorite baseball audio of all time. "I don't believe what I just saw, I don't BELIEVE what I just saw!" His cadence, his signature phrases "and that's a winner!" "That's it for this time, until next time, so long" were easy to remember.  And, some of the nights, when he and Mike Shannon sampled a little too much of the sponsor's product were some of the funnier broadcasts I've ever heard.