MLB Rangers Broadcaster To Undergo Medical Evaluation After On-Air Mishap

MLB Rangers play-by-play announcer Dave Barnett "won't return to the Texas Rangers television booth until at least Friday so that he can undergo a medical evaluation to determine what caused an on-air mishap Monday night that had gone viral" on the Internet by yesterday morning, according to Jeff Wilson of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. The incident occurred in the eighth inning of Monday's Rangers-Padres game when Barnett "started to describe the game situation, but stopped briefly and started to utter a few nonsensical sentences." He said, "It's a 2-1 game with the tying run at second, a leadoff single by Chase Headley. The go-ahead run ... is at fifth on what Adams is insisting on calling it a botched robbery. What actually happened was his henchman took a piece literally out of ... ." There was a "significant stretch of dead air, though Barnett's microphone was not cut off." He then "regained his composure and resumed with a normal broadcast." Barnett was scheduled to return to Texas this morning "to meet with doctors for recurring migraine headaches, which he said might have been the cause for the strange incident." Rangers radio analyst Steve Busby replaced Barnett yesterday, and he will "be back alongside" TV color commentator Tom Grieve for the final game of the series today (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 6/20). In Ft. Worth, Mac Engel noted Rangers pre- and postgame radio host Bryan Dolgin "will join Eric Nadel on the radio broadcasts for the rest of the series" (STAR-TELEGRAM.com, 6/19).