Garrett Mitchell Paid An Awesome Tribute To Karl Ravech And Gave Him His Flowers During An In-Game Interview During Ravech's Final ESPN Broadcast
Another piece of our childhood was ripped away last night as Karl Ravech signed off from the ESPN airwaves for the final time. The voice we all grew up listening to, especially the last few weeks of August when we turned out attention to Williamsport and the LLWS, now rides off into the sunset after being told to hit the road from ESPN so they can shove more nonsense and screaming in our faces. Rico talked about it here a few weeks back about how Ravech would continue to call some games and programs for ESPN even though he was laid off, but last night was the last we'll hear from him on those ESPN airwaves. The four letter network let him finish out his tenure by calling the event he has become synonymous with, even though it was still a shitty way to lay off a guy who had been at the network and one of the top baseball personalities there since May 1993, 33 years and that was how they did Ravey. Legendary on "Baseball Tonight" and a truly awesome play-by-play guy.
We all think of Karl when this tournament comes on and it won't be the same without him and I'm sure a ton of the guys currently playing in the bigs grew up listening to that voice too. That's what made Garrett Mitchell's in-game interview so awesome, the way he ended it by paying tribute to Karl for all the years of entertainment he's provided us. Mitchell was mic'd up in the 2nd inning and even though it was a pretty awful interview because of the constant wind making it hard to hear, Mitchell made sure he let Ravech know how much he appreciated him and that it was an honor to share his final broadcast with him.
Honestly, I'm a little shocked ESPN didn't cut away and go to commercial. Seems like something they'd have done because of a hard out and they had to get to the ads, but good on the producer or director for sticking with it and letting Mitchell give Ravech his flowers. I'm sure it meant a lot to Karl and it's just nice to hear these guys praise a personality we all grew up with. Can't imagine how many hours of "Baseball Tonight" I stayed up late watching, thousands and thousands.
Chris Sale also took the time out of his in-game interview to thank Ravech and let him know what a staple he was in his living room while growing up. Ravech kind of sidestepped it but you could tell it meant a lot to him. Funny how we're hearing all these nice things from the players who truly appreciate him, but nothing from the commissioner of baseball who continues to run this game we love into the ground. Hope ESPN is paying attention to how the current athletes and generation are treating the people they're laying off, can guarantee you no one will be thanking Stephen A Smith or Monica McNutt or Dan Orlovsky like this when they're done at the network.
A great job with his sign off as well, a class act as always. Ravech deserves to go to a place that will treat him like he deserves. Some station (or blogging website) needs to hire him and basically just run back Baseball Tonight. Maybe he ends up at MLB Network with the insanely talented people over there, that would be a great move IMO, Ravech working at a place that actually ENJOYS sports and has an interest in highlights instead of people screaming at each other. What a novel concept that is. He truly is one of the best people we had on TV and I hope he's not done yet. I'm very happy he was able to see how many people appreciated him.
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From all the kids who grew up in the '90s waiting to hear the "Baseball Tonight" score update jingle, waiting for the Web Gems, watching the sickest pitches on "That's Nasty", and seeing who hit a homer that day during the "Going, Going, Gone" segment, we thank you Karl!