They are the people who provide the sounds of Minnesota sports, describing the action to fans unable to attend the game. Here's HSGN's list of the Top 10 Play-By-Play-Announcers of All Time.
1. Ray Christensen: Name a team prior to the advent of the Wolves, Wild and Lynx and chances are that Ray Christensen has called the action. In addition to calling the Twins, Minneapolis Lakers, Vikings, Millers and Saints, he's best known for his work over 50 years as the voice of University of Minnesota football and basketball. He was blessed with one of the best radio voices in this market and when you first tuned into the game, you could tell by the tone of his voice if the Gophers were winning or losing.
2. Herb Carneal: For 42 seasons, he was a familiar voice to baseball fans throughout the Upper Midwest as he described the day to day action of the Twins. Through three World Series in 1965, 1987 and 1991, Carneal was there calling the games in a simple, straightforward manner. No home run call and free of cliches, Carneal who joined the Twins in 1962 was a soothing and refreshing voice to many who tuned in along the Twins radio network.
3. Al Shaver: He came to Minnesota from Canada in 1967 to become the voice of the Minnesota North Stars. For 26 years, he brought knowledge, enthusiasm and a solid rhythm of the sport to hockey fans across the state. In addition to his North Stars duties, he was the play-by-play voice for KSTP-TV's coverage of the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament, earning outstanding reviews from John Carman in The Minneapolis Star. When the North Stars departed for Dallas in 1993, Shaver was hired by KSTP-AM to call Gopher hockey until he decided to retire to Vancouver Island. Shaver's legacy lives on with his son Wally as the current voice of Gopher hockey and grandson Jason is in the booth for thee AHL's Chicago Wolves.
4. Dick Bremer: For 38 years, Bremer has been the voice for televised Twins games, many of them with Bert Blyleven. He was a sports anchor at WTCN-TV (now KARE) and also the play-by-play man for KMSP-TV's coverage of the state basketball tournaments. He's currently the longest serving play-by-play announcer for a single team in this market.
5. Joe McConnell: A versatile broadcaster, McConnell has served two stints with the Vikings and also joined Carneal on Twins radio broadcasts. But wait, there's more. McConnell is also an outstanding basketball announcer. Though he never was a Wolves broadcaster, he was the lead voice of the team's produced NBA Radio coverage that included the All Star Game that was held at Target Center. Though he frequently got excited after a big play, he was everything a radio play-by-play man is supposed to be, the eyes of the listener.
6. Kevin Harlan: The original radio and TV voice of the Wolves before going on to bigger opportunities calling basketball and football for CBS and the NBA on TNT. But his masterpiece is his work on Westwood One's coverage of Monday Night Football. He is the best national broadcaster for football because like McConnell, he paints an outstanding word picture for listeners. If you never heard him call a football game on radio, turn on 100.3 FM on Monday nights. You will be impressed.
7. Ted Robinson: Another broadcaster with a Twin Cities resume' that has gone national. He also is a very versatile broadcaster, calling the Twins, Gophers and the state basketball and hockey tournaments. He also filled in on a Wolves radio broadcast while Harlan did the TV portion. He later went on to do Olympic diving, speedskating and baseball for NBC as well as a sport he has described for more than 30 years, tennis. He has been the voice for the French Open and Wimbledon and currently calls matches for The Tennis Channel.
8. Halsey Hall: One of the earliest sportscasters in the Twin Cities, Hall was the long-time voice of the Minneapolis Millers as well as Gopher Football. When the Twins came from Washington in 1961, he was one of the original broadcasters along with Bob Wolff and Ray Scott before Carneal replaced Wolff in 1962. He was the first broadcaster to use the phrase "Holy cow!" before Phil Rizzuto and Harry Caray. Hall's legacy lives on as the name sake of the local chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (where the author of this blog has been actively involved since 1985.)
9. Dave Lee: Best known as host of the morning show on WCCO Radio. What a lot of people probably don't know about Lee is that he is an outstanding sportscaster. When Christensen retired after a 50 year career on Gopher football and basketball, Lee replaced him. He was the anchor of the best radio broadcast team in this market, working with Dave Mona and former Gopher running back Darrell Thompson before Learfield Sports broke up the team and hired Mike Grimm. In addition to calling St. Thomas football games, Lee has broadcast the state basketball tournaments and Prep Bowl for KSTC-TV. He's a broadcaster who never dominates the game and has good chemistry with his on-air sidekicks.
10. Sloane Martin: An up and coming broadcaster, Martin is on this list because she is a groundbreaker in Twin Cities sports broadcasting. She's the first female voice for a major league sports team and the first to broadcast the state hockey tournaments as well as the Prep Bowl. She has an outstanding future ahead of her in this market but she is to this area as Beth Mowins and Pam Ward are to ESPN. A bright future of Martin.
Those are the 10 best play-by-play voices of all-time in the Twin Cities. It was a tough choice to pick seven of the ten but these are soe of the greatest broadcasters in Twin Cities sports.
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