Wayne Hagin Fired - Rooney In

[mikebatchelor]

The St. Louis Cardinals have let go of Play by Play announcer Wayne Hagin, after a three year stint with the team. Hagin will be replaced by native Missourian John Rooney, who has spent the last 18 seasons with the Chicago White Sox. Before joining the Sox, Rooney handled Mizzou basketball, and sports hosting duties at KMOX.

 

[StevenGastreich]

The ironic thing here is that Hagin and Rooney use to work together on Whitesox broadcasts from 1989-91. In August, the team's web site asserted that it was a done deal that Wayne would be back. I wonder if Wayne will come back to Chicago to replace John. I visited this board just for this topic, and am surprised that nobody else is talking about this. What do you Cardinal fans think?> The St. Louis Cardinals have let go of Play by Play
> announcer Wayne Hagin, after a three year stint with the
> team. Hagin will be replaced by native Missourian John
> Rooney, who has spent the last 18 seasons with the Chicago
> White Sox. Before joining the Sox, Rooney handled Mizzou
> basketball, and sports hosting duties at KMOX.
>

 

[okoboji]

It's a step-up for the Cardinals. Rooney is outstanding. Wayne Hagin never "wowed" me. I found him to be no different than the dozens of other major league broadcasters out there. The Cardinals deserve better than ordinary. Rooney is definitely upper echolon.

 

[nwside7725]

Agreed. The spin shouldn't be "Hagin Fired, Rooney takes over".

It should read "Rooney was available, Hagin fired to make room".

Rooney may just be the one to fill the void left by Jack Buck.

In St Louis Jack Buck is deity. I'd like to think he was a human being, yes, a consummate professional, but a human consumate professional. To say there will never be another Jack Buck is just not true. All a legendary announcer needs is the time to build that relationship. Was Jack Buck a deity in 1954? 1967? 1973? 1982? When did this love affair begin? He had to build himself up to it.

I think Hagin could have done it over time, but maybe with Rooney, it's all the better. Perhaps he is that link that will bring Cardinal radio up there to where it was while Jack was still the man. Too bad no one living 5 feet east of the transmitter of the new affiliate will ever be able to hear him.

It also sounds like Hagin and Shannon didn't 'gel' so well. It's too bad, I liked both of those guys.

They should have transferred Hagin to TV. To fire Hagin from radio is to say he is the worst link to the Cardinal broadcasting Team. He may not be as good as Joe Buck, but maybe a little less arrogant. He's at the same level with Carpenter. But is he worse then Mc Laughlin? IS he worse than Horton? And he's darn sure not worse than Hrabosky (no one is able to be). So why not just make room for Hagin on Television? Cardinal TV really is BAD. I was really praying Cardinal TV would get to Steve Stone before ESPN did.

In Cardinal Country you mute the TV and turn on the radio. But now that you can't get the radio station, I don't know what you're going to do.

 

[adz]

There has to be something more to this than what the Post Dispatch has reported..

Rooney was made avaliable when the White Sox ownership pretty much told him he would not be making the move to a new flagship this summer..

I find it interesting that he was the number one choice to replace Buck..why then could he not just submit a resignation and go to where he was wanted to begin with?

I never understood what Hagin's role in the booth was to begin with..it sounded to me like Shannon had pretty much taken over the PBP duties, with Hagin only on about three innings or so..I could very well be wrong, but that was the impression I was getting..

To answer the question on when Buck became ''The Man''...it started for me when Harry Carey was fired, and Shannon left the playing field to take over the second mic..around 1970 or so..except for a short stint working for NBC, when Bob Starr took over for a couple of seasons before heading back to L-A..Buck was pretty much a constant in your home and car for over three decades..