Oakland A’s lead TV play by play announcer Jenny Cavnar of NBC Sports California has received support after it was learned a petition was being circulated in an effort to have her fired for what some say poor announcing. (photo from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and @NBCSAthletics)
By Jerry Feitelberg
Oakland A’s and Major League Baseball’s first full time lead TV play by play female announcer Jenny Cavnar is under an avalanche of scrutiny from viewers of A’s televised games as announced by Cavnar. A petition is being circulated that as of Tuesday had over 620 signatures that demand the Oakland A’s fire Cavnar forthwith.
Some of the signers cite that she has no emotion in her home run calls, that she’s not a voice for baseball, that she went against former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf because Schaaf didn’t do anything to get a ballpark built in Oakland for the A’s at the time Schaaf was mayor.
Others who wrote on Awful Announcing’s X platform quoting RichDT “She really is not good. She needs more experience somewhere else. She hardly starts conversations during the game. Her calls of HR’s for the A’s are not good. Chris Caray does a better job in my opinion and comes from a legendary broadcasting family.” also JWP303 wrote, “No excuse for outright misogyny but she’s always been a tough listen as a broadcaster. As a reporter, calling games, in the studio… never was a fan in CO. Doris Burke, she is not.”
Those who criticize Cavnar showed one video one of her calling an RBI double hit by he A’s Abraham Toro that went over Orioles centerfielder’s Ryan McKenna’s head in Baltimore scoring Brent Rooker from second and her saying “over his head it goes and coming in home, how about we have ourselves and even up game.”
Cavnar who is in the broadcasting wing of the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for becoming the first lead full time play by play announcer in MLB history just completed her first month of announcing in that role. Cavnar has been defended by other media outlets namely the San Francisco Chronicle who said basically it’s Cavnar’s first year as a full time announcer in the lead role maybe she needs some time to review and improve on some her calls.
From all appearances some say Cavnar is being criticized because she is a woman, she doesn’t know how to make the right calls on home runs and that she has no emotion and some said she was just awful. The Chronicle would argue regarding Mayor Schaaf was what the criticism of Schaaf was at the time when anything on an Oakland ballpark seemed stalled and that Cavnar’s home run calls are fairly standard.
To have a petition now after her first month of work is premature take a look at her work after the entire regular season has been completed. Fans demanding that she should be fired doesn’t seem really fair. She’s in a new job, a new market, and yes maybe she made some tough calls at the mic but Cavnar should be given the chance to work on some things rather than blow it up now.
There are some rough patches but if Cavnar puts her shoulder into it she can make the necessary improvements. Also there is no way that team president David Kaval or owner John Fisher will let go of Cavnar they stand behind her and are proud to have a pioneer like her who represents the team in the Hall of Fame.
Jerry Fetielberg is an Oakland A’s beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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