Oh, My!

Announcers used to be known by their catchphrases.  With Red Barber, it was “Oh, Doctor!”; Jack Brickhouse, “Hey!  Hey!”; Harry Caray, “Holy Cow!”; and Hawk Harrelson, “You can put it on the board, yes!”  Nowadays, good announcers are content to sound smart.  The rest just try to sound like Bob Costas.

Dick Enberg, who died last week at the age of  82, belonged to that older group of announcers, as evidenced by his signature “Oh, my!”  Enberg called just about everything in sports but seemed to like baseball most of all.  According to his obituary in the New York Times, he grew up wanting to play right field for the Detroit Tigers.

Enberg was good enough to receive the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame for his work.  “I loved acknowledging the subtle arrogance of Hall of Famer Rod Carew’s drag bunt,” he told a Cooperstown audience in the summer of 2015.  “The sleight-of-hand of Brooks Robinson magically reducing doubles into 5-3 putouts.  The towering arc of a Ted Williams mortar shot deposited in the bleachers high.  The classic confrontation of the best hitter against the best pitcher and the immaculately executed ballet of a double play.  I love the double play.”

Oh, my.  Yes.