Orioles Owner to Rest of World: Don't Root For Our Team

In the midst of the best season of Baltimore baseball in a generation, the Angelos family suspends the team's beloved broadcaster for doing his job.

Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos stares into the abyss. (Photo by Rob HiCarr/Getty Images)

Hi friends-

Two quick bits of housekeeping before we dive into today’s newsletter:

1. I’ve emailed every “founding member” asking where I should send the personalized, signed copy of my book on the Dodgers. If you’re a founding member of the Long Game and you have not received an email, please respond to this newsletter and let me know. Similarly, if you would like a signed and personalized copy of my Dodgers book for yourself or as a gift for someone else, email me!

2. L.A. People: Save Tuesday, Sept. 12, on your calendars for an event at Chevalier’s Books on Larchmont with me and Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur, celebrating the release of Joe’s new book, Why We Love Baseball! I’m not sure what time it will take place, but I will let you know about the time and the ticket situation when I find out! Joe will be signing copies of his book, and you can also bring your copy of my book if you’d like me to sign it. I’ll also have a few copies for sale as well. <3

If you’ve been reading the Long Game this year, you know how much I’ve been preaching the gospel of the resurgent Baltimore Orioles. I’ve been telling anyone who will listen (and even those who refuse to) that if the team they root for is abysmal and unwatchable this year, they should jump ship for the summer and tune in to Orioles or Reds games (depending on conflicts of interest.) Those two teams may not have the the best records in the AL and NL all summer respectively, but the vibes have been immaculate.

Well, leave it to Orioles CEO and noted mid-Atlantic nepo baby John Angelos to wreck the era of good feelings around his club. Earlier this week, fans began to notice that the Orioles’ television broadcaster Kevin Brown (not to be confused with the former MLB pitcher) has mysteriously been off the airwaves since July 24. Now, many broadcasters take a week of vacation around the All-Star break, so a seven-day absence wasn’t conspicuous. But as Brown’s hiatus stretched into a fortnight, the website Awful Announcing looked into the matter, and determined that Brown had been suspended indefinitely for accurately telling viewers that the Orioles have beaten the Tampa Bay Rays more times this season than in the past two seasons combined.

But Brown wasn’t just freelancing in his remarks or stating his opinion. He was reading from a graphic that was made from factual game notes compiled by the Orioles’ PR department.

Here is the video that got Brown put in broadcaster jail: