Bernstein & Holmes were not happy with what they saw on Peacock on Sunday. The duo took Jim Palmer and MLB Sunday Leadoff’s coverage of the Chicago Cubs’ loss to the Baltimore Orioles to task on their Monday show.
Bernstein said that the 77-year-old former pitcher sounded wildly out of touch as one of the analysts on the broadcast.
A listener sent a tweet to the 670 The Score studio and asked how many people watching the game on Peacock even knew who Palmer was. Bernstein said it was a good question. Palmer is in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and is a three-time Cy Young Award winner, but he retired nearly 40 years ago.
“I wonder what makes an analyst relevant with a majority of the audience,” Laurence Holmes responded. “Do their credentials as a player even matter if they’re not good at explaining the game that’s in front of them?”
Bernstein said that the on field accomplishments of the people in the broadcasting booth do not matter. He pointed to Tom Verducci and Doris Burke as great examples of people that did not play in the leagues that they cover, but that give truly insightful analysis.
Holmes said that ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian is another example that fits that bill.
“He loves the game and if that to me, can trump everything else. If I’ve got someone who’s in the booth that’s enthusiastic about the game, I’ll let go of some of the the ticky tack broadcaster stuff.”
Holmes added that he wonders if it is possible that Major League Baseball doesn’t see things that way. Is using Jim Palmer and other analysts that still talk about the game like it is exactly the same one they played in the 80s and 90s a strategic move?
“I just don’t know if baseball thinks still that that means something, you know? Like, does having the older guys in there mean something because they know what their average audience age is? It’s in the sixties.”
