ESPN ended its 20-year association with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan as the voices of ?Sunday Night Baseball? on Monday. They declined to renew Morgan?s contract and have asked Miller if he wants to stay on as the radio voice of the Sunday night games. Discussions are ongoing.
?We?ve decided to make a change and introduce new voices and new perspective,? said Norby Williamson, an executive vice president of ESPN. He added: ?Twenty one years is an eternity in this business. And today is about acknowledging the contributions they made to the franchise.?
Each announcer is a Hall of Famer. Morgan entered as a player in 1990 and Miller received the Ford C. Frick Award from the hall earlier this year in recognition of broadcasting excellence.
It is nearly certain that Miller will be replaced by Dan Shulman, who will be joined by Orel Hershiser, whom ESPN added to ?Sunday Night? last season. Bobby Valentine might be the third voice if he does not get a managing job. Williamson declined to talk about the new team.
Miller is the lead play-by-play voice for the San Francisco Giants, calling games on radio and TV. He could take ESPN?s offer and shift to radio (where he has been calling the postseason for years) or increase his workload on Giants games. Miller?s decision could be delayed because he is on vacation.
Ron Shapiro, Miller?s agent, said, ?Jon is away. We?ve talked briefly. ESPN has offered him a radio package with some breadth to it, and he?ll think things over. He just has to think it through.?
In his acceptance speech at the Hall of Fame, Miller said that the seminal moment of his life came at age 10 when his father and godfather took him to his first Giants game at Candlestick Park. He was pleasantly amused to see through his binoculars that the visiting team?s announcer was munching on big handfuls of french fries during the play-by-play.
?And as a 10-year,? he said, ?I sat there and said, ?That is the life for me.? ?
