Dave O’Brien is in his second year alongside Joe Castiglione in the Red Sox radio booth.
O’Brien is another New England native, having grown up in both NH and Massachusetts. He broke into broadcasting in 1990 with the Atlanta Braves, and then was the voice of the Florida Marlins from 1993 to 2001. In 2002 he joined ESPN, where he has had a variety of assignments for the network. During 2003-2005, he was the television voice of the New York Mets.
His arrival in Boston last season was celebrated in some circles simply because it meant the end of the Jerry Trupiano era, but O’Brien quickly became a favorite with his strong presence on the broadcasts. He was still doing a large number of games for ESPN, a number which has shrunk this season, allowing him to be in the Red Sox booth more often.
There have been a couple of recent bios on O’Brien in New Hampshire papers such as the Portsmouth Herald and Nashua Telegraph.
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Popularity: 25% [?]
In case you were wondering, rankings as of a few days ago…
Mike Gorman 97.0%
Dennis Eckersley 96.4%
Tommy Heinsohn 93.5%
Chris Gasper 91.4%
Bob Ryan 91.2%
Steve Bulpett 89.3%
Mark Murphy 89.1%
Kathryn Tappen 88.7%
Sean Grande 88.3%
Tom Caron 87.5%
Rob Bradford 87.0%
Sean McAdam 86.9%
Joe Castiglione 86.6%
Stephen Harris 86.4%
Gordon Edes 86.1%
Michael Silverman 85.7%
Mark Spears 85.6%
Don Orsillo 85.4%
Michael Holley 84.4%
Mike Lynch 84.2%
Fluto Shinzawa 83.9%
Dan Roche 81.1%
Jackie MacMullan 80.0%
Mike Dowling 79.8%
Laura Behnke 79.1%
Amalie Benjamin 78.3%
Ryen Russillo 78.2%
Kevin Paul Dupont 76.6%
Hazel Mae 74.3%
Karen Guregian 74.0%
Jon Wallach 73.4%
Jack Edwards 71.0%
Bob Lobel 68.2%
Nick Carfardo 59.5%
Peter May 56.2%
Greg Dickerson 55.6%
Bill Burt 55.4%
Mike Adams 54.1%
Steve DeOssie 53.6%
Glenn Ordway 50.2%
Joe Amorosino 49.8%
Mike Felger 46.8%
Eddie Andelman 46.4%
Pete Sheppard 44.3%
Gary Tanguay 43.6%
Chris Collins 40.8%
Fred Smerlas 36.9%
Larry Johnson 35.4%
Steve Burton 31.1%
Gerry Callahan 30.6%
Tony Massarotti 29.3%
Andy Gresh 27.8%
John Dennis 27.2%
Dan the Shank 24.8%
Jason Wolfe 21.7%
John Meterparel 20.5%
Butch Stearns 18.5%
John Tomase 12.3%
There is some serious ballot box stuffing if Ordway gets 50%, Callahan 30% and Tomase and Shank aren’t in single digits.
I hear you!
Ordway tittering on 50%. Ugh!
There’s something appropriate about that- the ultimate fence sitter sitting right in the middle of the approval/disapproval fence
Great list – thanks. Would be great to get a final tally after this project wraps up.
Where do you get some of these photos? O’Brien looks like he just spent the last two months inside doing nothing but eating donuts.
Approve. Good set of pipes, consummate pro and ready to take over as Sox’ lead radio PxP man when Joe decides to hang up the mic.
It’s all about the pipes.
He gets a little too “yukky” throwing that voice around, but I’ll still take that over the feeble efforts of the Meterparels and Geffners of the world.
Approve
BORING…
Where’s Craig Mustard?
positives- he is not Glenn Gefner, knowledge of NL clubs adds to interleague play broadcasts. works well with Joe Castigliano…better than Trupe
negatives – he’s a blantant shill for his side business, ATEC decks. he refers to the baseball as “she” on home run calls as if the ball were a boat or a corvette
APPROVE
What is his connection with Azec Decks?
They pay him to read ad spots which are heard during the game broadcasts.
As long as he doesn’t engage Uncle Joe in any “All Animal/Bird Name” teams then I APPROVE!
When it was Trupiano and Castiglione I wondered why a big league town had minor league announcers. We are now half way to rectifying that issue.
“Can you believe it!?” (aka the worst tag-line in the history of broadcsting)
What’s his take on the Bruins draft?
Ozzyface
Highly approve!! Phenomenal set of pipes, does a great job calling the game. I hope Obie stays a long time.
If only the Sox would get rid of the ATROCIOUS Joe Castiglione. Castiglione MUST have blackmail photos of Lucchino; it’s the only reason I can figure out why he is still there.
Approve. Great voice. Calls a nice game. Relatively gimick-less. Trupe was just too tough on these ears. His over-the-top “WAAAAAY BACK!!!” screams for what, nine times out of 10, ultimately resulted in long foul balls was annoying as hell.
Love the tabulation of rankings at the top of this thread. If you COMBINE the approve scores of the ‘EEI morning train wreck that is Metergerbil, Fatty, and the Forehead they add up to 78.3, which puts them collectively as a team in the Amalie Benjamin/Ryen Russillo neighborhood. It took three of those jamokes to equal the results generated by only one person.
I am also personally disappointed that the scores for Metergerbil, Tomase, Dangerous, Shank, and Fraudway were all not lower. Unless there was some serious ballot box stuffing going on by family and friends of those slugs (always a possibility), I don’t even know some of you people any more.
Yes, he occupies Trupiano’s former seat but I still give a hearty “Approve!”
i’m worried about the mole on his right check. i’d have a dermatologist take a look. although it may just be a shard of brownie.
I hate to say it, but Joe sounds like a minor leaguer compared to O’Brien and his smooth delivery and great pipes. Could they get away with reducing Joe’s role to the one now held by Jon Rish and hire a true color analyst (Eckersley)?
If it is Wednesday, it must mean Dale Arnold with Joe tonight. O’Brien has cut back to just Wednesday night baseball on ESPN.
Is it necessary to include Jon Meterparel in every comment? Give the guy a break.
Mid range approval.
I liked Jerry Trupiano much better…but O’Brien’s decent. Above average. He seems like any average play by play man you’d find working for a MLB team. Nothing more nothing less.
From his years doing games for ESPN he’s polished and professional, and he’s MUCH better than Geffner. I’m glad that guy’s long gone.
To quote Michael Bluth, “Guy’s a pro” … Approve!
His last name isn’t ‘Entwistle.’ Approve.
Gets the job done. Approve.
I for one miss Trup. O’brien just doesn’t have that chemistry with Joe like trup did. Having a booming voice is not all its about. Joe is a classic & i miss his repatee with Trupiano. Oh by the way…if its wednesday no way in hell am i listening on the radio. Dale grates on my nerves like he used to with the bruins. is he THE biggest SHILL of all-time. No backbone at all. EDDIE A of course was right about him!
Chemistry between Stig and Trup? People who would know have told me that the two of them detested each other.
Dave O’Brien is Gil Santos in his prime. I’ve listened to a lot of MLB announce teams, probably close to half, and Obie is one of the better ones. Very polished, doen’t miss much, knows when he has time to read to the promos and most importantly calls the action as it happens unlike Geffner who watched the play then told you what was going on. It was like listening to a 7-second delay.
I don’t know how anyone can disapprove of this guy after hearing Trupiano and Geffner for the last couple of years. Someone said it earlier – it really is all about the pipes because of how much dead time they have to fill on the radio. OB not only has the pipes, he knows his stuff and he doesn’t come across like he’s reading straight from the freaking media guide, like Uncle Joe always does. Also agree that it’s time for Castig to go to pasture, and I sincerely hope Dale Arnold doesn’t get any more air time than he already gets (he is ATROCIOUS). Though I will miss his ’swing and a pop-up’ calls.
Agree that Joe’s “Can you believe it?” call was lame. Trupe’s “Way baaaack on Troy O’Leary’s homer in Cleveland in ‘99 was the absolute best (have it on a keychain – still gives me goosebumps).
Not all of us were happy to see Trupiano go. I liked Trup a lot and O’Brien is still an ESPN guy to me.
And quit all this bashing of Castiglione. He is not minor league. Seeing Bob Kurtz on the Remy tribute reminded me of how minor league he was. Kurtz made you think you were watching Pawtucket. Castiglione gives you no such feeling.
OBTW about “pipes” and “booming voices”…
I don’t know why people think O’Brien has a “booming voice” and “great pipes”. The Red Sox aren’t really famous for hiring “boomers” (other than those who play first base), save for perhaps Bob Starr. People like Lon Simmons, Paul Carey, Harry Kalas, Chuck Thompson, Herb Carneal, those guys had “booming voices”. People like Ned Martin, Ken Coleman, Curt Gowdy, Jon Miller, Ernie Harwell, Joe Angel, they have “great pipes”. O’Brien has neither, he is more of a vanilla announcer who is perfect for ESPN. O’Brien does a great job at ESPN, but I do think some people out there are overrating him on the Sox radio.
I will say that he is far better than either Arnold or Geffner.
Just good to be able to listen to Sox games on the radio again now that Geffner is gone. I literally could not listen to his up talking.
“This one time?”
“At band camp?”
“Manny hits it over the monster?”
Obie is awesome! Big time talent, big thumbs up approval.
I always liked Joe Castig and Trupe, but O’brien is so much better that Jerry ever was. Joe sounds much more alive with Obie in the booth, and they make a terrific team. Voice quality is vital to a great baseball announcer, and O’brien has one of the best voices I have ever heard, in any sport. He is also incredibly descriptive. I hope he stays forever.
O’Brien is partial to some teams and should not be in the Red Sox booth with Joe C. Bring back a member of RSN to the booth and some good reporting.
As an aside O’Brien and Orsillo fit the same bill, a couple of SUITS looking to be on Mational TV and never played the games. I bet if you asked the remdawg is confidence he would agree.