Herb Carneal, longtime voice of Twins, dies at 83

Summer nights on the Northern Plains listening to the Twinkies of Carew, John Castino, Bombo, Roy Smalley, Larry Hisle, the late Lyman Bostock, Jerry Koosman, Mike Marshall ...

Have a couple ice-cold Hamm's with Halsey Hall, Herb.

 

RIP Carneal.

Since the Cards left KMOX, I do very little baseball listening on the radio. KRLD 1080 carries the Rangers, but their signal is hit-and-miss outside of the Metroplex. KOA 850 out of Denver carries the Rockies. Other than those, picking up the clear-channel blowtorches at night is dicey at best.

 

Two quick stories about Halsey:

1. He hated to fly. He'd walk up to the airline counter and say, "One chance to Chicago, please."

2. He always carried a flask of booze with him. One time one of the players asked him why he did that, considering they were in big cities that had plenty of bars.

Halsey said, "You never know when you might run into a local election."

They were giants in those days.

 

I went to college in the Cities and was a senior when the Twins won it in 87. Herb's call on the final out is one I'll always remember. One of the beer companies up there, I think it was Schmidt, ran a tv ad that consisted of beer being poured into a Schmidt glass with that call as the audio. It was a really cool commercial.

 

I have always considered myself blessed to have grown up listening to some of the true characters of the past century. Herb distinguished himself by being one of God's true gentlemen to everyone he met — including a snot-nosed high school freshmen who waited in the parking lot of the old Met to ask questions of him.

Somewhere in the attic is a Q&A with him in my high school neewspaper, circa 1963.

All of our lives should be as good.

 

I guess I have an obligation to chime in here, but I would have regardless of handle.

Herb was one of the all-timers. Living in the Upper Midwest in 1987 gave me a chance to listen to him and Gordon a lot. There's nothing quite like baseball on the radio, and there's nothing quite like those old-timers who still do play by play.

As said earlier, appreciate guys like Scully, Brennaman, etc., while you can.

On a slight tangent: Does WNAX have the strongest transmitter in the universe? I swear, you can hear that station from eastern Iowa to central Montana during the day. They used to do weather for the Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wyoming four times an hour. By the time they got done with one report, it almost was time for the next one.

 

They have one of the strongest, if not the strongest transmitters in the country during the day, Lyman. I have to add WLW to the list as well with a strong transmitter at night when listening to Brennaman.

 

When you consider all that flat land the WNAX signal covers, it might not take much to go a long way. "Your Big Friend in the Midwest," indeed.

With WCCO and KDKA out of the baseball biz this year, the number of powerhouse stations doing ballgames is getting low. KOA, WGN and WLW are three I can think of off the top of my head. Are the Rangers on WBAP?

 

And Bob Casey just announced Herb's entry. Haven't seen Rosie on this thread. Pour some Leinie's out for ol' Herb, Rosie.

RIP to another one of the greats.

 

Premium.

Leine's is Sconnie beer.

 

I almost feel obligated to post, well that's not quite the right way to put it. As a college senior I knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before Herb and John either retired or passed away, but I know that listening to those two on the radio helped to spur me to where I am today, getting ready to gradute and hopefully be half the talent that they are.

Last year when Kirby passed away I was absolutely devestated, I don't quite feel the same know but listening to him on WCCO led to my first sentences being about the Minnesota Twins. You touched us all Herb Carneal, you really did touch us all.

 

No, Lyman. They are on KRLD 1080. They have been on there since moving into the Ballpark at Arlington. KRLD's studios, IIRC, is in the Ballpark facilities.