Does Bill King belong in the HOF? Of course. But the thing is, were Bill alive today, he'd be laughing and saying, "enough, please, just enough," along with a few other coarse things not appropriate but we won't go there.
I was fortunate to get to know Bill and beyond being just a great broadcaster, a real announcer, Bill King was one of nicest people in the business. He was gracious, kind, had an incredibly terrific sense of humor and was the consummate professional in and out of the booth. A gentleman.
Awards are great. But Bill King not being elected to be in the HOF doesn't mask the affinity nor diminish Bill's legacy in the history of the play-by-play business. All of us who listened to him courtside doing the Warriors; the Raiders, the A's, Bill being Bill was good enough for us. We don't need, nor did Bill, any superficial award--his work transcended any sort of award. Bill is up there in heaven looking down and laughing. I'm pretty damn sure.
The HOF needs Bill King more than Bill King needed the HOF.
*Follow me on Twitter
I wont say its all anti semitic (If he was Jewish),but Bills look must rub the midwest and eastcoast voters wrong. They KNOW how the bay area feels about King. Yet,Jon Miller gets in and not Bill?. Not that Miller doesn't deserve it,just if he gets in...and Jon would I bet agree.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. Kinda like the Munchkin who reads the death certificate.
DeleteTrivia: This is the longest Rich has gone (almost 2 months!) has gone between his Bill King posts.
Blaming this on Antisemitism when Bill King ISN'T EVEN JEWISH is idiotic, even for Stan. Stan, if you have no idea what you're writing about, why write anything?
ReplyDeleteBecause A: He's not in the HOF. B: Some Texas Ranger announcer is. C: I should have included the South voters as seeing Bill as some SF-Oakland radical.
DeleteAnd,I did say "IF" he was. If I'm not sure? THEN,chances are the anti semite's all over the country aren't giving Bill a pass. So,on that I could still be right.
And..where did you read his religion? You didn't, right?
Also anonypuss,Tell us then why he isn't in the HOF?
DeleteYOU PEOPLE love to tell me I'm wrong,but you never have a better answer then mine. Because ..you don't know,and I do.
Lon Simmons is in the HOF. Milller also. Geddit?
DeleteHey Stan, you forgot to mention your favorite excuse, RACISM. Maybe racism is to blame for Bill King not getting in. About as stupid as blaming it on Antisemitism and all your other senseless comments.
DeleteAs I said 200,you have no ideas. But your sure I'm wrong. Cabron. Like I told you..post on my blog so we can go at it. You wont, coward. And why I'm the bigger,smarter, man then you.
DeleteBetter looking too!
Stan thinks Bill King was Jewish and is a victim of antisemitism? AMAZING - both stupid and ignorant!
Deletewow 859,Twice I said IF. And once said- show me where you read he isn't. And you just repeated the line of the idiotic.
DeleteI answer your worst vacuous arguments all the time. And you never have an answer,but I do.
And people here see that all the time.
Stan please go back to your own blog and quit cluttering this comments section with your thoughts. You generate a negative reaction, yet deny it with "But, but , but Rich reviews and approves my 'posts' so it is right. And anyway all the people see that I am right." You (and Rich) are conceptional wrong on this topic. No broadcaster gets into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually to a broadcaster for 'major contributions to baseball'. There is no inductee, rather recipients.
DeleteGreat post Rich! You 'hit the nail on the head,' with regard to Bill King. While he certainly wouldn't have minded getting the honor, Bill never broadcast games for the money or the recognition. He did it because he loved sports, loved the spoken word, and thrilled at the chance to create word pictures for his audience.
ReplyDelete"If through my words I can somehow tie a knot in the stomach of an individual listener, then I have a day's satisfaction," King in 1969
You hit the nail on the head, Rich. "The HOF needs Bill King more than Bill King needed the HOF."
ReplyDeleteWe long-time Bay Area sports fans know the true worth of Bill King. He kept us glued to the radio, no matter what sport he called. The knowledge, the experience, the style, the passion, the voice.....brilliant. I miss him like crazy.
- Greg from SF
"He kept us glued to the radio,.."
DeleteWell, football and basketball at least. Baseball not so much, why he isn't in.
BASHOF?? Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteCooperstown? No. Bill King was a "regional" guy. As great an announcer as King was, there are hard-core sports fans in NYC, Boston, Chicago and cities east of Lake Tahoe who have no idea who he is or was.
I agree. He was great in football and basketball (except he complained too much about the refs). He wasn't as good in baseball.
DeleteI agree w/9:43pm.
ReplyDeleteI've lived in SF for 22-years...and came to appreciate the smooth style of Bill King.
BUT...
I grew up in San Diego...and equally LOVE the Padres' legendary broadcaster Jerry Coleman. He too has his ardent following--yet I bet most people in the Bay Area have never heard of him.
Coleman was good before he became senile. Some of his mis-calls are legendary.
DeleteHe is also in the BASHOF for his baseball career, growing up in SF he went to Lowell.
so coleman was senile from the day he walked into the booth? because most of his legendary mis-calls and malapropisms come from the 70s
Deletejim healy, another legend who should be in some hof, loved playing coleman's mis-calls
san diegans love him because they are as goofy as he
coleman is in the hof cuz he is a war vet...not because he was a brilliant broadcaster
He's in the BASHOF because if sports, not his military career.
DeleteHe was an all-star second baseman and rookie of the year while playing for the Yankees, later a manager (of a really bad team) and announcer.
Being selected to the Baseball HOF means more to his fans that it would have ever meant to Bill King, himself.
ReplyDeleteIronically, baseball was his "third best" sport. I'm old enough to remember Bill in his first Bay Area job: in '58 with Russ Hodges & Lon Simmons on Giants' games. But his was calling Warriors' games that set him apart and got the attention of Bay Area sports fans.
The Raiders became "my team" and Bill King then became the announcer for the ages. Was there anyone more articulate and artful in describing a sporting event? I would have heavy duty travel and I routinely delayed my flights or came home early just so I could turn the radio on & turn down the TV sound to listen to Bill.
I lived for many years in LA and also came to appreciate Chick Hearn ... both were terrific but Bill must have held the record in the fast-paced sport in DWM (Descriptive Words Per Minute) ... nobody did it better.
Maybe next year ....
Since you can only reply so many times before you count is up. The more you say I m not read,the more it proves I am,you imbeciles. And to say Bill's A's years weren't great to A's fans and the whole bay area is pure idiocy. Is it based on quantity or quality?
ReplyDeleteI generate a negative reaction to the conservatives. No ethnics ever write and say "The local media is fair and balanced"..Certainly no local media person of ethnic descent has written in to say I'm wrong.
They aren't rushing to defend Radnich with a signed post either!
Hey!,I'm a rock star from..eh,that's been used already.
Rich, please follow other blogs and ban Stan from your comment's section. He hi-jacks and clutters your great media blog. Can I get an amen?
DeleteYou can get a go to hell 248-lol. I'm not sure why the whining of yours 248 gets posted. Who wants to read that?
DeleteI move the needle. Look at how many topics BASG has with not one answer. I dont give away pizza and I can top that.
You know how beautiful woman don't need to be told they are? They know it. Same with me and talent. Just all charisma...
Amen!
DeleteStan is either mentally ill or extraordinarily stupid. He's turning this blog into The Gong Show .
Prove me wrong. Get Rod Brooks to write in to 415 media and say KNBR is fair in hiring people of color hosts. So simple.
ReplyDeleteAnd it will never happen.
'Stan' or whoever this pea-brain is, happens to be a dysfunctional, semi-literate, insecure person who is craving for attention, much like 'Christine.' At first, he's mildly amusing, but his off-the-wall comments and poor punctuation are not only annoying and distracting but unnecessary. I agree with 3:48 and 4:13 anon. Stan is either mentally ill or extraordinarily stupid. But I guess he loves the attention because here I am giving him more of it!
ReplyDeleteAnon@10:15, allow me to just add that Stan's thought process is alarmingly confused. "get Rod Brooks to write in to 415 media" HUH?
DeleteCould Stan be Baltimore Dave aka Salty in Clovis aka now Salty in Sacramento?
ReplyDeleteDoubt it. That guy is actually reasonably intelligent. 'Stan' or whatever the hell this guy's real name is, is far from intelligent!
ReplyDeleteStan continues to get blasted. Hey Stan, can you read? "But I am right and you are a Republican intern anonyopuss." Get a clue.
Delete'Stan' or whatever the hell this guy's real name is also mentally ill, entirely delusional about his own self-importance and imagined relationship with real life celebrities
ReplyDeleteLol,Crazy? Is that your last line? As always no proof I'm wrong,and everybody knows Radnich knows of me. The same from you,as if anybody is that dumb to think he doesn't know of me. The man who admits he reads all the blogs,who mentions this blog over and over.
ReplyDeleteBut,if it makes you happy,Rich wont post why I want an apology from Radnich. And he does omit some of my best comebacks...
Stan is one of those crazy stalker/trolls who obsess about public personalities and mistakenly believe the person is a real part of their lives.
ReplyDeleteRadnich doesn't know Stan except as a generic pest and Stan's desperate hope to the contrary is both pathetic and troubling.