Study Quantifies White Sox' Harrelson As Most Biased MLB TV Announcer

White Sox TV announcers Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone make "more nakedly biased statements during a single game than every other TV broadcast team in the American League combined," according to a study of the local bias of all 30 MLB team's broadcasters cited by Jared Diamond of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The paper "decided to watch one nine-inning game played by every major-league team to evaluate its local broadcasters for bias." The study was "prompted by" Harrelson's "unabashed homerism." During the July 5 Rangers-White Sox game, "made a whopping 104 biased statements." Indians broadcasters Matt Underwood and Rick Manning "ranked second with just 23 biased comments." Meanwhile, 24 of the 30 teams "had fewer than 10." Harrelson, when told of his place in the bias standings, said, "You just made my day. That's the biggest compliment you could give me, to call me the biggest homer in baseball." Diamond noted five MLB broadcast teams "made it through their games without a single biased comment." Broadcasters in larger markets were "generally less biased." SportsNet N.Y. Senior VP/Production & Exec Producer Curt Gowdy Jr. said that in "a 'highly opinionated' market like New York, the fans wouldn't take well to their announcers being blatant homers." Gowdy: "The 'we' and 'our' cannot be in the vocabulary" (WSJ.com, 9/24).

TEAM	BIASED COMMENTS	ANNOUNCERS
White Sox	104	Ken Harrelson, Steve Stone
Indians	23	Matt Underwood, Rick Manning
Pirates	20	Greg Brown, Steve Blass
Astros	15	Bill Brown, Jim Deshaies
Marlins	15	Rich Waltz, Tommy Hutton
D'Backs	12	Greg Schulte, Mark Grace
Orioles	9	Gary Thorne, Mike Bordick
Nationals	9	Bob Carpenter, F.P. Santangelo
Phillies	9	Tom McCarthy, Chris Wheeler
Twins	9	Dick Bremer, Bert Blyleven
Padres	9	Dick Enberg, Mark Grant
Cardinals	8	Rick Horton, Al Hrabosky
Tigers	7	Mario Impemba, Rod Allen
Reds	7	Thom Brennaman, Chris Welch
Rockies	7	Drew Goodman, George Frazier
Royals	6	Ryan Lefebvre, Jeff Montgomery
Athletics	6	Glen Kuiper, Ray Fosse
Rangers	6	Steve Busby, Tom Grieve
Braves	5	Chip Carey, Joe Simpson
Rays	4	Dewayne Staats, Brian Anderson
Cubs	3	Len Kasper, Bob Brenly
Mariners	2	Dave Sims, Mike Blowers
Brewers	2	Brian Anderson, Bill Schroeder
Angels	2	Victor Rojas, Mark Gubicza
Giants	1	Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow
Blue Jays	0	Buck Martinez, Pat Tabler
Yankees	0	Michael Kay, Ken Singleton, Paul O'Neill
Red Sox	0	Don Orsillo, Jerry Remy
Dodgers	0	Vin Scully
Mets	0	Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez