The Boston Red Sox return to NESN as their lone local television outlet for the ninth consecutive season and as a broadcaster of televised Red Sox baseball in New England for the 30th year in a row in 2014. And like they have since 2001, Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy will bring you all the Red Sox action.
Red Sox baseball on NESN actually starts with a two half hour pregame shows Red Sox 1st Pitch airs 60 minutes prior to the game and Red Sox Game Day Live airs 30 minutes prior to the game. Both are hosted by Tom Caron with a crew of rotating analysts that include Hall of Fame writer Peter Gammons, Hall of Fame players Jim Rice, Dennis Eckersley and Tim Wakefield. It also includes segments with Boston Globe writers and Red Sox game analyst Jerry Remy. The broadcasts conclude with a pair of post game shows “Extra Innings Live” and “Red Sox Final” also hosted by the same cast of characters.
On Monday’s, the pregame show will be 90 minutes as well as Friday home games.
Don Orsillo, a New England native, is entering his 13th season as the play by play voice of the Boston Red Sox on NESN. “Announcer Boy” is a graduate of Northeastern University where he studied under Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione. Before he came to NESN, Orsillo was the play by play voice of the Springfield Falcons hockey team, the Pittsfield Mets and Pawtucket Red Sox. The two-time New England EMMY winner called a no-hitter for Hideo Nomo in his first game covering the Red Sox. In addition to his Red Sox duties he has called men’s college basketball and the Beanpot Hockey tournament for NESN. He has also called Big East basketball games for the Big East Network and works for TBS during the MLB postseason calling one of the division series every year since 2007.
Jerry Remy, the “Rem Dawg”, is entering his 26th season as the color analyst on Red Sox baseball. He missed significant time in 2013 leaving the booth in August after his son Jared Remy was arrested in connection with the murder of his girlfriend and mother of his young daughter. It was only recently that Remy decided to return to the booth for this season, much to the delight of Red Sox fans everywhere.
As a player with the California Angels and Boston Red Sox Remy spent 10 seasons in the major leagues but saw his career end due to bad knees. A Fall River native, he is also the first President of Red Sox Nation and owns three restaurants, RemDawgs, a hot dog stand outside Fenway and Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar & Grill behind Fenway Park on Boylston Street and a second location in Fall River MA. In addition he also has a successful website, the Remy Report, and is the author of “Watching Baseball” and five children’s books based on Wally the Green Monster. He is a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame having been inducted in 2006. In addition to his NESN work, which has won him 4 EMMY Awards, you will see Remy on occasion as a color analyst for regional MLB on FOX games usually involving the Red Sox.
Orsillo and Remy both now are the proud owners of three World Series rings having called the teams championship seasons in 2004, 2007 and again last year in 2013.
As of this publication no official decision from NESN has been made regarding the Red Sox field reporter replacement for Jenny Dell who was dropped from the broadcasts due to her relationship with Red Sox 3B Will Middlebrooks.
During the Spring Training Broadcast the network has been using both Sarah Davis and Elle Duncan in the field reporter capacity.
Tom Caron, a Maine native, is the Red Sox studio host for the pregame and post game festivities through the year with many of the pregame shows coming from outside Fenway Park amongst the sea of Sox fans. Caron who has been at NESN since 1995, has also hosted the Boston Bruins studio show, been the Red Sox field reporter and has done play by play for the Pawtucket Red Sox games on NESN as well as college basketball and college hockey. “TC” is a three-time New England EMMY winner and is also a frequent guest on sports talker, WEEI the Red Sox flagship station.
Peter Gammons is a Boston Sports Icon having started his career at the Boston Globe in 1969 covering Boston sports. He has also written columns for the Sporting News, been lead baseball columnist for Sports Illustrated and has been a baseball analyst for ESPN, the MLB Network and NESN. Peter has also written several books, is a three-time National Sportswriter of the Year and in 2004 was selected as the 56th recipient of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing, given by the BBWAA, and was honored at the Baseball Hall of Fame during induction ceremonies on July 31, 2005.
Dennis Eckersley is a NESN studio analyst since 2002. The Hall of Fame closer is only one of two players to have a 20-win and 50-save season in MLB history. Eck played for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals in a 24-year career. Eckersley also won the 1992 AL Cy Young Award and 1992 AL MVP Award becoming only the 8th player to win both awards in the same season. In addition to his NESN work, Eck works as a studio/game analyst with TBS during the regular and post seasons. He also was given his own dictionary by the Bleacher Report blog because of his own very colorful baseball vernacular, called The Eck-tionary.
Jim Rice is a NESN studio analyst since 2003 and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame after playing his entire career in Boston with the Red Sox from 1974 to 1989. The 1978 AL MVP in his career hit for a .298 average with 382 HR, 1451 RBI and 2452 hits. His #14 is retired by the Red Sox and sits on the right field facade at Fenway Park. Jim Ed is also heavily involved in community service with the Jimmy Fund and MLB’s RBI program.
Tim Wakefield will return as a NESN studio analyst for his third season. Wakefield retired at the end of the 2011 after a 19-year MLB career, spending 17 years as a popular member of the Red Sox (1995-2012). He ended his career with 200 wins, 186 of them with the Red Sox, which ranks third behind only Cy Young and Roger Clemens on the Red Sox all-time career win list. He was the American League Comeback Player of the Year in 1995, an All-Star in 2009, and a two time World Series Champion.
He was also a champion off the field as one of the most charitable players in the league. He was nominated eight times for the Roberto Clemente Award, and honored as the 2010 recipient of this prestigious award. His partnership with the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston allowed him to spend time with patients. He has also been active with New England’s Pitching in for Kids organization, the Touch ‘Em All Foundation and the Space Coast Early Intervention Center in Melbourne, Fla.
On a side note to the broadcasts the Red Sox will be featured this season as they have in the past on FOX Saturday Baseball and ESPN on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday evenings and now at times on FOX Sports One.
Some of these broadcasts will be blacked out regionally to protect the local broadcast rights or NESN and the Red Sox opponent. Other times, namely the Saturday FOX games and Sunday ESPN games, are national exclusives and not available to NESN to be broadcast.
In regard to the FOX Saturday games these games while exclusively available for national broadcast, are regionalized by FOX Sports usually in a group of three games. In the past, depending on where in the country you lived you may not have been able to see the game because FOX had chosen to show a more regional match up. Now these other regionalized FOX Saturday games will be made available to subscribers of the MLB Extra Innings package or through MLB.TV.
Lyons’ first appearance on NESN will be on Friday, April 4th during NESN’s two-and-a-half hour Red Sox home opener pre-game coverage beginning at 11:30 am. He’ll join studio host Tom Caron, Dennis Eckersley, Jim Rice and Tim Wakefield before the Red Sox take on the Brewers at Fenway Park.
