Ray Fosse: A Valuable Mainstay In The Oakland Athletics Broadcast Booth
In Support Of Ray Fosse
I have to admit I was taken aback by the Aug. 10 Swingin’ A’s piece title Former Athletics Player Eric Chavez Should Replace Ray Fosse Permanently In The Broadcast Booth. Instead, I took the side of article’s critics, who were in overwhelming support of the former A’s backstop.
As someone who has listened to and watched A’s games on radio or TV (starting off with Monte Moore and his plethora of partners from 1968 on, Lon Simmons and Bill King in the 80s and 90s, and now with Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo on the dial and Glenn Kuiper and Ray Fosse on the tube), I can say that having Fosse in the booth as a colorman is beneficial for A’s viewers, and he is as good as or superior to anyone else in the game.
Also Read: Is Former Oakland Athletics’ Slugger Mark McGwire a Hall-of-Famer?
Probably more known outside of A’s circles for getting bowled over by Pete Rose in the 1970 All Star Game when he was with the Indians, Fosse played with the A’s from 1973-1976 to win two World Series with the Mustache Gang before retiring after the ’79 season after brief stints with the Indians, Brewers, and Mariners.
In 1986, Fosse, who had served in other functions in the A’s front office, joined the broadcast booth with legends Bill King and Lon Simmons. While Fosse’s first year-or-so was rough and filled with moments of awkwardness, he’s become a mainstay, developing over the years to be one of the more pleasurable commentators. He brings not only a catcher’s perspective on pitch selection and defense, but delivers a smooth, knowledgeable insight into all aspects of the game.
More from White Cleat Beat
- Zach Logue yet another disappointing Oakland A’s trade return
- Luis Barrera heading to familiar foe in Los Angeles Angels
- Looking back at Ruben Sierra with the Oakland A’s
- San Francisco Giants showing Oakland A’s offseason could be worse
- Lucas Luetge what Oakland A’s need in bullpen
Being with the Oakland A’s over the course of five decades, Fosse is well versed in the team’s rich history following a multitude of players through the great years, developing years, and trying years like 2015. He worked under the ownership of Charles Finley as a player and broadcast for the A’s under the tenure of Walter Haas, Steve Schott, and Lew Wolfe. Fosse knows who signs his checks, and while he won’t badmouth the team (although he will give his unfettered opinion on the umpire) he has been known to utter a “wow” on those moments that have you questioning what the A’s did.
As a multiple Emmy Award winner, his pairing with Kuiper resulted in the duo being ranked seventh in a nationwide fan poll on MLB Local TV Announcer Rankings of 2014. Unfortunately, for the last three seasons Athletics’ Communications and Broadcast execs have felt the need to bring in a new face/voice to the booth, which so far has had disastrous results and was unnecessary.
In 2013, Scott Hatteberg was brought in for 20 games, and after discovering it was “incredibly hard” to play first base in 2002, he found out it was incredibly harder to do color-stumbling, with his “I mean” interjected in every-other sentence,. (Viewers also found that it was incredibly hard to stay tuned with him behind the mic.) A’s execs figured that a career minor leaguer who played a portion of one MLB season was the next experiment in 2014 with Shooty Babitt’s babble, that had fans turning off the volume and tuning into 95.7 in lieu of their TV audio. Now we have this season, with Eric Chavez, and while Chavez has fared better than Hatteberg or Babitt, his color can be jumbled with canned comments (leaving me to wonder how many of those comments are fed from the director). He offers no real insight into the strategy of the game. I loved Chavez as a player, but he is nowhere close to Fosse in the booth.
Also Read: Oakland Athletics’ Jake Smolinski Deserves to Be In Everyday Lineup
In comparison, I feel it’s better than the Kruk and Kuip clown show across the bay, with the “Gamer babes” and “Grab some pine, meat”, as well as other jabber that doesn’t have anything to do with the game. The “20-game experiment” broadcasts are only another reason to realize how good Fosse is. Many fans like me are not willing to give up the splendid CSN California broadcasts when Fosse and Kuiper are on A’s television.