Don Sutton leaving Braves broadcast booth

[jal41]

Longtime Braves announcer Don Sutton is leaving Braves radio and TV broadcasts

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2006/10/05/1006sutton.html

Apparently, he is looking to stay on at TBS for their LCS coverage starting in 2008.

This will be a loss for Braves fans (I am not a sports fan myself).

 

[atlradiofan3]

That is ashame. Don Sutton brought my family a great deal of joy. His insight is irreplaceble. The broadcasts just got a lot dumber.

and worse now we are stuck with grumpy... don't step on daaawwwwwuuuuunnnnnddddd power lines.

 

[knowsnews1]

Good.

Whatever pleasantness he displayed on the air did not match the way he is in person.

Difficult, arrogant, and self centered. Suttn is all these and more.

 

[starboy]

Since when does "off-air" demeanor have to do with a performance on air? What bothers me here is that it was another TSN lame budget cut; no regard for the fan. I liked Don in the booth. I wish he and his family well.

 

[RTibbs]

This probably has a lot to do with the fact they will be airing less games. Fox has picked up a ton of games with thte TurnerSouth acquisition. You do not need 5 announcers to do 50 TV games and radio. Don probably decided he could make more money elsewhere.

 

[troone]

Both Carays and PVW are safe from any kind of cost-cutting hatchet IMO...but was a little surprised it was Sutton and not Joe Simpson that got the boot. Not that I disliked either, but it seemed like Simpson was the more expendable.

Might have been a personality clash, who knows? After 15 years of working together, the Turner Sports people had "no comment". That speaks volumes about any goodwill between the parties.

 

[toombs44]

Sorry to hear Sutton is a difficult person to work with. There are a ton of those in this business.

However, he was my favorite Braves announcer. His play-by-play style is quite unique. He does color and play-by-play all at the same time. In other words he will anaylze while he is calling a play. Most play-by-play announcers call a play and then break it down. Sutton did both at the same time and did it well.

 

[trhodes96]

Good.

Whatever pleasantness he displayed on the air did not match the way he is in person.

Difficult, arrogant, and self centered. Suttn is all these and more.

I disagree!

Don came on with us when 96rock landed the Braves. He didn't know us, but the guy was unbelievable to us. Yeah, he was getting paid, but he was open, cordial, gracious, and willing to talk to us above and beyond what was expected. We would call him on his cell when he was on vacation, working out, on the golf course, or shopping at Publix, and the guy would take time to humor us. He never said no, and even called us a few times just to bs on the air.

Don is a class act, and a blast to talk too. His baseball stories are legendary, and he will be SORELY missed in the booth.

 

[troone]

Just seems odd that after 15 years, there wouldnt have been a nice Braves send-off or PA announcement during the last game, etc. The AJC couldnt even get the Braves spokesman to say "Don was great. We'll miss him, etc."

Heck, even with all the drama Skip has provided the Braves behind-the-scenes, you know he'll get a nice send-off a la Ernie Johnson.

Must have been a bad split.

 

[FloydB]

Not a bad article. However, I don't think it was a bad split. I think Don was on the short end of the stick, though, since his contract just so happened to end when they needed to make a cut in the broadcast staff. I'd be sure to watch and see who's the next to go. As Fox takes over more games, they'll bring in their own announcers, and the new owners of the Braves, of course, will want to find announcers with much lower salary requirements. Hmmmmmm......sounds eerily close to an Atlanta radio station. ???

 

[Surfer]

Maybe Don's going to go broadcast next year for his old team the Dodgers?!? ???