This is a big day for San Francisco Giants fans. Their team is in Arizona with their ace on the mound. But that isn't the headline of the day. The big news is that the voice of the franchise is being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Giants announcer Jon Miller, 58, is not behind the mic today. Instead he is in Cooperstown with his family and friends by his side for a day he will never forget. Specifically, he's receiving the Ford C. Frick Award for major contributions to the game.
Miller is a master at the craft of storytelling. His prose center around one of the country's most treasured past-times: baseball.
Miller has been calling Giants games for 14 years. Getting the gig was a homecoming of sorts. Miller grew up a Giants fan and says he used to practice play-by-play in the Candlestick Park bleaches as a high school student.
Miller is nationally known for his work on ESPN and Sunday Night Baseball, but he clearly cherishes his work on the radio side the most. "Television is a passive experience," Miller said. "We're not absolutely essential to the telecast. They could do the whole thing without us. On radio, the fans are engaged with you, because they're turning your descriptions into visual images that are strictly their own. At the same time, you can tell a good story."
Ken Levine was his partner in Baltimore. He wrote in the Huffington Post that Miller is the best of anyone under 82 years old (Vin Scully reference).
USA Today writes about how former President Bill Clinton stole one of Miller's moments of glory during Cal Ripkin's record-breaking season.
The Chronicle's Bruce Jenkins calls him the old soul in the Giants' broadcast booth.
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Here's some Q&A with Miller courtesy of KNBR.
Miller said recently of his speech which he will give Sunday, "I've written a speech in my head about 50 times, sitting on a long flight or driving home from the ballpark," Miller said, adding dryly, "A few of them I know were really, really good." See NBC Bay Area raw video of Giants celebration of Jon Miller here.
More:
Mercury News Headline: Entertaining style earns Giants announcer Jon Miller a spot in Hall
New York Times: More Than Just a Game for Jon Miller
