News of Kevin Brown’s temporary removal from Baltimore Orioles television broadcasts on MASN stole headlines throughout Monday and caught the attention of sports media personnel. Over the course of the 11-game slate, most broadcasters made mention of the situation and expressed their opinions on the matter, siding with Brown for a relatively innocuous remark. During a broadcast open against the Tampa Bay Rays, Brown spoke about how the Orioles have struggled against the Rays over the years but were entering the contest with a winning record against them on the season.
He was obviously trying to demonstrate the improvement the Orioles are having, especially being the American League’s best team with a bevy of emerging talent. Instead, team owner John Angelos reportedly suspended Brown and then moved him onto the radio broadcast after that broadcaster was suspended for neglecting to wear team attire while on the air.
Awful Announcing had the exclusive story of the suspension, and sources told The Athletic he will be back on the air this Friday, Aug. 11. In Chicago, Ill., 670 The Score’s Bernstein & Holmes afternoon show recounted the incident and discussed how it makes them feel as broadcasters.
“Leave it to MLB play-by-play broadcasters in the various TV booths around baseball to unionize for a cause,” Dan Bernstein said. “I’ll be honest – when I first saw the video that got rising star Kevin Brown of the Baltimore Orioles suspended, I had to watch this 52-second video twice because I didn’t get it. I literally said, ‘What am I missing? Is there some reference?’”
“It’s one of those things where, especially [since] we’re older, folks were like, ‘Did he slip something in there that we didn’t catch? Maybe we’re behind the times and the Orioles were totally on top of it? Was he trying to be too smart by a half or whatever?,’” added Laurence Holmes. “No, that’s not what was happening.”
The entire situation is disheartening to many people within the industry, amassing reactions both on the air and on digital platforms. Jason Benetti, the television play-by-play voice of the Chicago White Sox, mentioned a statistic about his own team against the Orioles and then sardonically expressed how he hoped the Orioles would not suspend him. Gary Cohen, the longtime voice of New York Mets baseball on SNY, conveyed his indignation by directly addressing Orioles management and mentioning its previous firing of Jon Miller. Across the country, radio hosts lambasted the Orioles for the decision, including Michael Kay and Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo.
“I’m waiting to see if there’s a statement today,” Bernstein said. “….Every major league broadcast last night had something to say about the injustice perpetrated against Kevin Brown.”
The team’s media notes pamphlet, which is produced and distributed to reporters and broadcasters before every game, stated verbatim, “The Orioles have won three of the first five games at The Trop this season after winning three of the 21 games played in St. Petersburg from 2020-22.” From that information, MASN built a graphic and implemented it into the broadcast open, trying to demonstrate the steady progression of the team over the last several years.
“Baltimore’s having such a great season,” Holmes said, clearly vexed by the situation involving Brown. “It’s been building; people started to see it at the beginning of last year. You’re having this incredible season – why would you do something that would deflect attention away?”
Holmes returned to NBC Sports Chicago towards the end of the last NFL season to reprise his duties as host of the Football Aftershow and frequently discusses the Chicago Bears on the airwaves. He made mention how Bears owner George McCaskey does not have a stake in the network, giving them slightly more freedom to discuss the team in a critical manner. Additionally, the duo discussed how they could see Jerry Reinsdorf doing something similar for coverage of the Chicago White Sox since he owns a 50% majority stake in the regional sports network.
Teams restricting the conduct of media members and on-air personnel through intrusive practices and strict public relations departments has the potential to engender a culture of suppression. Now that the Orioles were thrust into the public spotlight in this sense, Holmes believes it undoubtedly erodes a level of credibility and trust of the broadcasts.
“It just seems like you couldn’t do something more vanilla than this, and to be punished for that, where does that leave you when it comes to trying to sell your message to your audience?,” Holmes said. “I would argue that Kevin did a great job of selling the message of the improvement of the Baltimore Orioles.”
“The whole point was, ‘Look how far we’ve come,’” Bernstein added. “That was the essence of it.”
