Where else would a Sox broadcaster have wanted to be on Sept. 24?
The team’s magic number to clinch its first playoff berth in five years was one. A September slog finally would wreap a reward with one more victory, and only the lowly Royals stood in the way. It had the makings of a momentous day.
For Sox TV voice John Schriffen, it would’ve been the capstone on a season that was a broadcaster’s dream, filled with home-run calls and dramatic finishes. Like Chicagoan and former NFL coach Marv Levy always said, “Where else would you rather be?”
To Schriffen, the answer was Las Vegas for a UFC Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu event.
Connor McKnight filled in alongside Steve Stone and did a fine job calling the clincher. But Schriffen’s absence had to touch a nerve with Sox brass. Even though he was contractually allowed to take a certain number of games off, did he have to take that game off?
With Schriffen’s three guaranteed years winding down and the chances of him returning seeming slim, perhaps being in the booth that day wouldn’t have mattered. But the Sox couldn’t have liked the optics of its TV voice choosing to be elsewhere than at a potential clincher.
If Schriffen wanted to return, missing that game couldn’t have helped. He declined to comment.
One of the reasons the Sox hired Schriffen before the 2024 season was his willingness to be available. That became a sticking point with his predecessor, Jason Benetti, who had expanded his profile nationally. Now, here was Schriffen, giving a side hustle priority.
And shouldn’t he have wanted to be there? After enduring one season with an MLB-record 121 losses and another with 102, this was a chance for Schriffen to celebrate something with the Sox. Criticize his broadcasting all you want — and I have — he earned that game.
I know what you’re thinking: Pick a lane, Agrest! You wanted Schriffen fired after last season, and now you’re complaining that he missed a game? What’s wrong with you?
To answer the second question first, plenty. The first question is fair, and I stand by that column. I would write most of it again today. As a baseball broadcaster, he’s not my cup of tea.
But while I filled in on the Sox beat this season, we got to know each other. Schriffen actually initiated it, approaching me in the team’s dugout before a game in Minnesota in June. I felt everyone in the dugout, mostly media, staring at us, waiting for a blowup.
It never happened.
It could have. He could’ve lit into me like a firework and made a scene that would’ve made Billy Martin blush. Instead, he simply reintroduced himself — we had talked before during Zoom and phone interviews — and started a conversation.
It opened a line of communication that hadn’t existed before and helped me understand him better. It didn’t change my opinion of his broadcasting, mind you, though his third season was his best.
He’s just not a baseball broadcaster. He didn’t have much experience before this job, and his style is more suited for the UFC than MLB. A longtime broadcaster told me that an announcer needs to give his voice somewhere to go. If you’re screaming for every home run, your voice has nowhere to go to indicate significance. The little homers blend with the big homers.
To me, it’s like Michael Buffer calling a baseball game. It’s all hype. But that’s what Schriffen likes. We agree to disagree.
Schriffen’s contract has an option for next season. If the Sox don’t pick it up, what will they do? That could depend on how much of a season there is next year, with a lockout looming. If it looks like Opening Day will be delayed significantly, they could hold off for a year on hiring someone and put someone already on the payroll in the booth. That likely would be McKnight.
If by some miracle it looks like much or all of the season will be played, there are plenty of good fits for the Sox, some with local ties. Connor Onion, a La Grange native and Chicago resident, is a rising star in the industry. He calls baseball on Fox and FS1. Wayne Randazzo, a Berwyn native who also lives in Chicago, calls the Angels and Apple TV’s “Friday Night Baseball.”
The Sox also could scour the minor leagues for the next big name. Whatever they do, they need a baseball broadcaster. With a team on the rise, they need a TV booth to match. And before anyone gets any ideas, Len Kasper is not walking through that door. He’s living his best life on the radio with Darrin Jackson. Besides, there’s no sense filling one spot and opening another.
And the way things look now, there probably will be a spot to fill in the Sox’ TV booth. If I could give candidates one piece of advice, it’d be this: tell the Sox that they’ll make sure to be at any and all potential clinchers, conflicts be damned.
Northwestern’s football game at 11 a.m. Saturday at Michigan State will air on Peacock and NBC Sports Network. Paul Burmeister and analyst Yogi Roth have the call.
• Northern Illinois’ game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Wyoming will air on WGN 9. Jack McMullen, analyst Cody Kessler and reporter Marshall Newhouse will call it.
• Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will call the Bears’ game at the Falcons at noon Sunday on Fox.
