Mets Announcer Tournament Final 4: Gary Cohen vs. Lindsey Nelson

by James Kannengieser on Mar 26, 2009 12:30 PM EDT Comment 26 comments

Yesterday's results: Bob Murphy (51.4%) def. Ralph Kiner (48.6%) in another nail-biter. As some readers noted, Murph-Kiner could have easily been the championship. You can view the updated bracket here. Today's matchup, featuring highly-respected announcers with very different accents and tastes in clothing:

Gary Cohen VS. Lindsey Nelson

TV Tenure (2006-Present) TV Tenure (1962-1981)

Poll

Amazin' Avenue Mets Announcer Tournament Final 4

Gary Cohen

268 votes

Lindsey Nelson

129 votes

397 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

It's over!

Cohen v. Murphy. Let the campaigning begin!!!!!!!!!!!

Cohen I love, and he has a great home run call and his younger voice lends more to his relatability. He’s also still around continuing to make an impression on younger Met fans.

Murphy I love, and his voice was a sense of comfort and routine for many years. I could set my life’s bearings on hearing him call a name. His game-ending call of the Mets winning 10-9 over the Phils (MARIO DIAZ!) is still legendary. He was also an original broadcaster.

It’s too tight. I hate to vote for either as it’s a vote against the other. I’d go 1/2-1/2. But, as much as I adore Gary Cohen and wish I could hear him more, I’m going to vo-….GAH I DON’T KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 2009 NY Mets: WE GOT K-ROD! OMG, Putz, too! Sign Lowe! Lowe's a Brave. Sign Manny! Tim Redding, WTF? Sign Manny! Sheets or Perez? SHEETS! Perez?? Oh, Sheets is hurt -- good job, Minaya! WTF?! SIGN MANNY!

by ZaBlanc on Mar 26, 2009 12:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Cohen rules

He’s been around longer than Nelson was around now (geez, I still remember when one Gary replaced the other Gary next to Bob Murphy in the radio booth), he calls the game extremely well, and he walks the fine line where it’s obvious he loves the Mets, yet at the same time is not an obnoxious homer.

I also love the double “outta here!” when a big HR is hit. Back in ‘06, I was at a game in which the Mets rallied from a 7-1 deficit to beat St. Louis 8-7 on a walk-off 2-run HR by Beltran. I got home to watch the highlights on the Mets website and thought to myself, "Gary must’ve done the double outta here". Sure enough, he did.

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on Mar 26, 2009 12:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You must be wrong.

Beltran doesn’t do walk-off homers. ;-) I’ve never heard the double outta here. Any YouTube of it?

by ZaBlanc on Mar 26, 2009 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agbayani 2000

My favorite double Gary outta-here was Benny Agbayani’s walk-off in the 13th inning of 2000 NLDS Game 3. The man must’ve had an aneurysm while making that call. I’ve never heard anyone more excited in my life. Can’t find it anywhere online, though.

by anonymous on Mar 26, 2009 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fonzie '99 NLDS 9th Inning Grand Slam

I feel like that got a double “outta here” (plus an incredulous “his second home run of the game!”).

by metsjetsnets on Mar 26, 2009 6:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was at that game too

Probably the best regular season game I’ve attended. Ravi describes it nicely below – you couldn’t write a better script for it. Plus it was like 80 degrees, not humid, no rain. Perfect.

by James Kannengieser on Mar 26, 2009 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I almost left after Pujols' slam

But I stuck around to see the bottom of the 5th just in case the Mets came back. As it turned out, that’s when Delgado hit his grand slam that almost left the ballpark entirely. I was there with a friend who roots for St. Louis 2nd (he’s a Yankee fan first, and yes, he’s still my friend). He just had this stunned look on his face after Beltran’s laser beam. I was jumping in circles. The whole walk down the ramp from the upper deck was filled with chants of "MVP’ for Beltran.

Good times, that whole season (I must’ve seen the Mets come from behind to win at least 6 times in person). Damn that NLCS!

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on Mar 26, 2009 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was with a friend visiting from St. Louis, big Cards fan obviously

I’ve seen 3 John Maine starts in person in my life, and in 2 of them he gave up a grand slam. The other was in 2007 vs. Brandon Phillips.

by James Kannengieser on Mar 26, 2009 5:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

video of the double "outta here"

I was at that game as well! Awesome.

I couldn’t find video of that specific Beltran walk-off HR, but I guess this one will have to do… (it gets a double “outta here”)

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200806112896091

batting helmets. batting titles. obp.

by Durelo on Mar 26, 2009 3:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wow, that is great.

That may have shifted my vote just a bit.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Mar 27, 2009 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Beltran hit 2 big walkoffs in 2006

1) The walk off solo shot off Ryan Madson sometime in May-June, in the bottom of the 16th (18th?) inning…Gary’s call “Abreu looks up, and we’re goin home!”

2) 2 run walk off mentioned above, vs. Izzy and the Cards. It was pretty much a battle between Delgado and Pujols, with Carlos connecting twice, including a grandslam, which was his 400th HR. Beltran stepped up in the 9th, where he could “win it with one swing of the bat”, according to Cohen, and on that very same pitch, Carlos did end it.

As for the tourny, a Cohen-Murph matchup is great, because Cohen idolized Murph….Bob is the voice of summer. However, now I think that it is Gary’s time to shine.

by Ravi33 on Mar 26, 2009 1:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Other Memorable "Double Outta Here"'s

Mike Piazza: Capping off the 10 run inning
Robin Ventura: Grand Slam Single
Todd Pratt: 1999 NLDS Winner (at least I THINK it was given “double” status)

by Ravi33 on Mar 26, 2009 1:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

one more

(I promise you, ZaBlanc, I’m not trying to break your balls)

Beltran’s go-ahead 2-out grand slam in the top of the 9th in Florida last summer.

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on Mar 26, 2009 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think another Double Outta here was

Edgardo Alfonzo’s grand slam of Bobby Chouinard in Game 1 of the 1999 NLDS. It is not mentioned as often as some of the other big Met home runs but to me that home run was one of the most exciting and memorable in Mets history .

by Endys Game on Mar 26, 2009 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He said "outta here" for Pratt at least 3 times

One call from Gary that I really miss now that he’s on TV is the one he made when the Mets ended the game with a strikeout: “Swing and a miss, he struck him OUT!” I lived for that. You kept hoping he’d say it, and when he did it was euphoria.

"One of the nice things about baseball is that there are no rules you can't break." - Jim Bouton

by Prince on Mar 26, 2009 3:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That was Bob Murphy. n/t

by ZaBlanc on Mar 26, 2009 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

that

was always my favorite murphy call, with his homerun call checking in right behind it…

“hiiiiigh fly ball hit deeeeeeeeep to right field….”

i can still remember the way he put the emphasis on the words in those calls.

"You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there -- always have." - Keith Hernandez

by OSUmets on Mar 26, 2009 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hee stuck heem out!

I think the 86 Series DVD set would be one million times better if it included radio calls that could be played instead of the NBC announcers. Oh crap that would be the best. I’d trade a hand for that.

"The people of Houston are spending money like oil's selling at $40 a barrel."

by IanB in MD on Mar 26, 2009 5:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

to be fair to the DVDs

that’s Vin Scully doing the broadcast on NBC, isn’t it? he’s another one of the all-time greats; not like your choices are Bob Murphy or a three-man booth with Joe Morgan, Rick Sutcliffe and John Kruk.

by JoshNY on Mar 26, 2009 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Indeed

But I’d love to have the ability to hear Murph’s calls from that series whenever I want. I listened to the bottom of the 10th of Game 6 on the radio (I was so upset that I could not watch it on tee-vee.) However, I don’t remember what was said or how it was said because I’ve seen the NBC footage so many times.

"The people of Houston are spending money like oil's selling at $40 a barrel."

by IanB in MD on Mar 26, 2009 6:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hey I have the Sportschannel produced '86 Mets video

Featuring calls from McCarver, Murphy, Thorne, Zabriskie. It’s awesome. No sign of Scully, it’s an awesome video but I think it’s out of circulation now.

by James Kannengieser on Mar 26, 2009 9:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I seem to remeber that call for the '86 NLCS Dykstra homer

One of my most exciting Mets baseball memory. I literally jumped all over my house. Murphy was the man, got my vote!

by MEX84 on Mar 26, 2009 5:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Cohen also said it

I can’t find any audio (there needs to be some kind of site for this), but he would yell “Swing and a miss, he struck him OUT!” Murph would say “Hee struck heem out!” like Ian said.

"One of the nice things about baseball is that there are no rules you can't break." - Jim Bouton

by Prince on Mar 26, 2009 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs