Mets Announcer Tournament First Round: Lindsey Nelson vs. Gary Thorne

seeing as Nelson retired before I was born. But based on the fact that he was one of the Mets’ original broadcasters, I’ll give a nod to history here. Thorne was pretty good, but I’ve heard that Nelson was also good.

Two excellent broadcasters, both of whom spent a significant amount of time with the Mets. I don’t have any memory of Nelson doing Mets games but I’ve still got to go with him, I think. Sorry Garry, and keep up the great work on hockey.

I will throw in another vote against mccarver though.

Voted for Gary because we all know his Schilling Story was true.

So I’m voting for Gary, and not just be default. Thorne is really great to listen to on radio or TV, and not just for baseball. One of my favorite games he ever called was in the NCAA hockey tournament a few years ago when little Mercyhurst College nearly upset top-seeded Boston College. Gary’s enthusiasm made that game (and all the others he calls) great. I also love the “looking up!” right before a home run clears the wall.

A lawyer
A Mets broadcaster
A Friend of Maine Hockey

He’s got it all.

(Paid for by The Committee to Elect Gary Thorne)

…with this format is that the voting body is skewed younger, which will greatly benefit the more recent guys. Nelson, for instance, quit broadcasting the Mets five years before I was born (for the most part). The Mets have been lucky that they’ve had a remarkably consistent broadcasting team so it won’t really matter, but Nelson is the exception to the rule.

I think Nelson, a fabulous broadcaster honored by both the baseball and NFL Halls of Fame (not to mention 10—not an exaggeration—others), is largely forgotten by the most recent generation of Mets fans. Like Thorne he was remembered most for doing another sport, but Nelson was a phenomenal baseball play-by-play broadcaster. If you ever get the chance, which doesn’t come up very often anymore, listen to a game Nelson did—he’s a remarkable minimalist, and a consummate professional with a somewhat similar voice to Mel Allen or Red Barber, by which I mean a southern drawl that didn’t overpower. He was capable of banter and was funny, but he liked to save it for other opportunities. He often said, “The game is the important thing. The announcer should never get in the way of the game.”