A Jim Deshaies Soundboard
I was surprised, at the completion our offseason crowdsourcing project, to find that FanGraphs readers had ranked Houston Astros broadcasters Bill Brown and Jim Deshaies fourth overall among the league’s 31 television broadcast teams.
Of course, I could also be excused: there has been little reason for anyone to go out of his or her way to watch the Astros over the last couple-few years.
With a new, data-driven front office in place, however, and a team that’s currently ranked 10th in FanGraphs’ totally infallible SI.com power rankings, there are reasons to watch the Astros at the moment.
What I didn’t expect before turning on Sunday’s game between Houston and St. Louis was the degree to which Brown and, in particular, Deshaies could augment a fan’s viewing experience. The duo are both genuinely entertaining (not just “entertaining for baseball broadcasters”) and responsible with the numbers.
By way of illustration, here are five brief sound clips of Deshaies — literally all of them from the first three innings of that Sunday game against the Cardinals.
1. Famine or Pestilence
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2. Sample Size
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3. Data
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4. Fielding Independent Pitching
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5. Pretty Good
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Credit to reader joser who drew my attention to the quality of the broadcast in these early innings.
These clips leave me wanting more. Much, much more.
i love jim deshaies. that is to say, i want to marry him and have his babies.
You have wit, and baseball knowledge to entertain and educate through the game. I’m definitely spoiled to have them and forget they are different than the rest…until I listen to another team’s broadcast.
Overall, seems like they’re pretty, pretty, pretty good.
He’s no Hawk.
Lucky
“Data” was my favorite.
If you time it right you can make him say ‘pretty pretty pretty good data’!!!!!1111
As a kid, he always reminded me of Mahoney’s replacement in the later Police Academy movies…
this guy: http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsM/11512-15046.gif
Lloyd Braun? Serenity now!
Glad to see a national audience starting to discover what Astros fans have know for years; it doesn’t get any better than Brownie and J.D. in the booth.
I wish Jerry and Don quoted Larry David more…
J.D. and Brownie are great. One of the game’s best kept secrets.
They educate and entertain for sure.
As a counterpoint, I present a Hawk Harrelson soundboard:
http://www.csnchicago.com/pages/soundboard
Yay! This post made me so happy! I met J.D. last year at an Academy in suburbia (while getting Bud Norris and Jeff Bagwell autographed baseballs). He was nice. I love him, them, this.
The Astros say they are looking for a former player to replace the retiring (finally!) Milo in the TV booth for next year. Either JD or former Astros catcher (and current Blue Jays announcer) Alan Ashby would be great choices.
Sorry, I meant radio obviously….