Silence in Oakland

I learned today that one of my favorite baseball broadcasters, Bill King, passed away yesterday. I've been a little down since I heard the news. Who, you say?

Bill King has been the voice of the Oakland A's for the last 25 years. He also called games for the Oakland Raiders, and the Golden State Warriors, and did all three for a couple of years. I never got to hear him call basketball or football games, but had the pleasure of listening to him and Lon Simmons do A's games on the radio while I was living in the Bay Area. Simmons was inducted into the broadcasters wing of the baseball hall of fame this year, and many will say that Bill King was better.

My memories of A's baseball while I was out there include some great baseball, and some great A's teams, with Canseco, McGwire, Weiss, Steinbach, Stewart, Welch and Eckersley. The Oakland Coliseum was still a decent ballpark, before the monstrosity called Mt. Davis was erected in center field. But I think what I remember most about those times were the voices. The deep voice of Roy Steele, still the A's public address announcer, the baritone voice of Lon Simmons on the radio, and the unique, sometimes staccato, always crisp tenor of Bill King.

I loved how he described the game- smooth and steady, often painting a picture for you. Plenty of humor, with personal anecdotes that never seemed to get in the way of the action on the field. When things got exciting, you never quite knew what he would say, but you knew it would be classic, and would describe the situation perfectly. No matter what, you got the sense that he was really enjoying what he was doing, and who he was working with, which made it all the better.

His most famous call was with the Raiders, the famous "Holy Roller" forward fumble of the early 70's. He capped off his description of the frantic play with "Nothing is real anymore, The Oakland Raiders have won the game!" My best memory of him was a call for a Jose Canseco home run I heard one night. After hearing the crack of the bat, he rattled off in about three seconds: "That one is high! That one is deep! That one is gone!" Then, after a second or two, his trademark "Holy Toledo!" followed by a more detailed description of the homer. Simple, eloquent, and capturing the raw power of the Bash Brothers.

It is often said that fans develop a special attachment to their team's broadcasters, because they hear them so much, because they represent the team, and especially because radio can be such a personal medium. Here in Norfolk, I've enjoyed the last couple of years with Jeff McCarriger calling our Tides games. But the truly great broadcasters stick with you, even when you don't listen regularly. Luckily, thanks to the internet and satellite radio, I have been able to tune in to the A's broadcasts every once in a while over the last couple of years, and listen to Bill King. I think it was almost more important that I was listening to him call the game than that I was listening to the A's game. Next year, I'll be able to tune in and listen to Vin Scully, Bob Uecker and Marty Brennaman, but it just won't be the same without Bill King, one of the best.


Here is a great tribute to King written by Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/19/SPGD1FANUT1.DTL