Ex-Orioles Announcer Jon Miller Is Glad His Heart And Mic Are In San Francisco, And Not Baltimore

The Baltimore Orioles recently suspended play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown for more than two weeks for telling the truth. But at least, he got to return to the booth on Aug. 11.

Former Orioles play-by-play man Jon Miller has basically been on suspension for 27 years from Baltimore for the same thing, but he's loving every minute of it.

Miller has been the voice of the San Francisco Giants since 1997 and completed 20 years on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball in 2010. A native of the Bay Area, Miller won the Baseball Hall Of Fame's Ford Frick Award in 2010 and remains one of the best baseball broadcasters in history. And Baltimore let him go.

San Francisco Giants announcer Jon Miller (left) interviews former Giants manager Bruce Bochy (Getty Images).

"Even though I wanted to stay in Baltimore, and was not happy about leaving when I went to San Francisco, it was the best thing that ever happened to me," Miller told OutKick in an exclusive phone interview on Thursday. He is SAFE, one of his patented calls, at home.

"They did me a favor. It's been great that I moved out to San Francisco, and I've never looked back," he said.

Until he saw what happened to Brown for simply explaining the Orioles' sudden success at Tampa on July 23 after losing 18 of 21 there from 2020-22. Brown pointed out that the Orioles' three wins over Tampa in their first five games this season equaled their win total over the Rays the three previous seasons.

And Orioles owner John Angelos suspended him for 16 television games between July 24 and Aug. 10 and 13 games on radio between July 27 and Aug. 10. He returned to all TV and radio broadcasts on Aug. 11.

Jon Miller Can Relate To Kevin Brown's Suspension By Orioles

Angelos' dad, previous owner Peter Angelos, did not renew Miller's contract after the 1996 season because Miller "didn't bleed Orange and Black enough." That is what Peter Angelos said of Miller, according to Miller's agent Ron Shapiro.

Angelos had asked Shapiro, "Why are we paying so much money to someone who's negative about the team?"

Then later, the Orioles changed their tune, according to Miller.

"They basically denied saying that they were unhappy with me," Miller said. "They said, 'Of course, we wanted to re-sign him.' And that's fine. I don't care now."

Miller, 71, has heard no such criticism from the Giants, who have won World Series with Miller at the microphone in 2010, '12 and '14. He also called Barry Bonds' 756th career home run on Aug. 7, 2007, that broke the Major League Baseball record of 755 held by Henry Aaron.

"I'm assuming that they've been pretty happy," Miller said. "They keep re-upping me. I just started a new contract this year."

Maybe the dichotomy aspect of Brown's comments on July 23 confused the younger Angelos. Brown did discuss a previous negative while being positive.

"It's been a minute," Brown began before the Orioles game at Tampa that Sunday afternoon to end a four-game series. Baltimore beat the Rays the previous Thursday and Saturday with a loss on Friday. And the Orioles split two games at Tampa in June.

Kevin Brown Read What Orioles' PR Staff Gave Him

"They had lost their last 15 series here at Tropicana Field," Brown continued. "You have to go back to June 25, 2017 - the last time the Orioles won a series here. Already up 3-2 at the Trop this year after winning three of 18 the previous three years combined. It is a stark difference. And it is not a bad Rays team. They've led this division every day but two. And the Orioles are once again back alone in first place."

So negative, saying your team is in first place.

And what Brown discussed appeared on a graphic on the Orioles' MASN television network under the title, "TROP-ICAL Depression." The facts Brown discussed also appeared in the Orioles' game notes put together by the team's media relations staff. Media relations staff members tend to be overly positive.

"There was nothing negative about what Kevin said," Miller said. "It was baffling to me. Suspended for that? He was commenting about a graphic that was from a note published by the Orioles. It all sounds preposterous. It doesn't add up. This whole thing sounds like an outrage. He was underscoring how well the Orioles were doing against a team that had been a nemesis. Apparently, they (the Orioles' management or Angelos) didn't even understand how you can create context."

Questions remain unanswered despite Brown's return more than two weeks after the July 23 "negative" comments.

"Maybe it was poor reporting, I don't know," Miller said. "Whoever got that information from the source should have asked a few more questions to expand on what it was that the Orioles were claiming. It made no sense."

Orioles Had Been Upset With Brown Before Suspension

No one from the Orioles has ever publicly commented on the suspension. But a source told OutKick that Brown was not suspended for the comments before the July 23 Rays' game alone. Instead, those comments were "the last straw" after previous negative, or less positive, comments that apparently did not "bleed enough Orange & Black."

Being a homer for a team goes against everything Miller believes the voice of a team should be.

"The idea that some people think the broadcaster is supposed to be reflecting some party line or whatever, I think shows a lack of understanding of the actual value to a team of a broadcast," Miller said. "Number one, be entertaining and fun. The other part is give them the good and the bad. You have to do that to build up the sense of trust between you and the audience, so they can totally depend on what you're telling them. If they don't trust that, then of what value are you to the team?"

Announcers can't constantly say the sky is blue, Miller says. Or that every new prospect is great.

"If the people are like, ‘Oh, here he goes again. Every guy they bring up is the second coming of the Babe himself,' that's not good," Miller said. "If that’s their response, it's because they don’t trust you. Well, then what good are you? Trust is essential for any broadcaster. People have to totally trust what you're saying - good or bad. And to me that’s what it's really all about."

Such a overly positive mentality also talks down to the listener or viewer.

"I think any notion that things have to be colored a certain way is wrong," Miller said. "People are not ignorant. People who follow the team know the team intimately. You're painting a picture - good and bad."

And Kevin Brown, 33 and in his fifth year with the O's, does that well in Miller's opinion.

"It sounds to me that he was won their trust," he said. "I think the fans really like him. And they like him because he's all those things I just said. He sounds like Joe Buck (MLB and NFL announcer formerly at FOX, now at ESPN). There are a lot of similarities between the sound of his voice and his style and that of Joe, which I think is a pretty good compliment."

The Orioles may be wise to not let another great one go.