Joe Garagiola’s career as a baseball announcer had nothing to do with being well trained or slick or having a beautiful baritone. He was a regular guy, a not-so-great ballplayer with a terrific sense of humor that revolutionized sportscasting. He could make you laugh with a phrase that skewed standard baseball speech or make you sit up to listen to some new insight. As a catcher, he had a complete vision of the field.
“He had an Everyman quality,” said Mike Weisman, a former executive producer at NBC Sports. “People could relate to him. They knew he was Good Old Joe.