Biography

Call 1.800.966.1380 to contact Jon Miller booking agent, publicist, manager, pr firm, representative and management company if you would like to hire Jon Miller for a speaker appearance, autograph signing, endorsement deal, tradeshow, convention, VIP meet and greet, licensing deal, print advertising, social media marketing campaign, television commercial or corporate event. Here you can find Jon Miller speaker & appearance fees, booking costs, availability and schedule information. Contact our booking agency for more details. Sporstcaster, Jon Miller, was born on October 11, 1951 in San Francisco, California. Jon Miller is known primarily for his MLB broadcasts. He is currently employed as a play-by-play announcer by the San Francisco Giants and ESPN.

Jon Miller worked as sports director for KFTY television in Santa Rosa. In 1974, he landed his first baseball play-by play job, calling that year's World Series champion Oakland Athletics.

For a brief period in the 1970s, Miller broadcast for the California Golden Seals of the National Hockey League. He also spent the early part of his career announcing University of San Francisco as well as University of the Pacific basketball (1976–1980), the Golden State Warriors of the NBA (part-time, 1979–1982), and the original San Jose Earthquakes of the North American Soccer League.

Jon Miller's first network exposure came in 1976, when he was selected by CBS-TV to broadcast the NASL Championship Game. From 1974–1976, Miller did play-by-play for the Washington Diplomats of the NASL. He also announced the Soccer Game of the Week for nationally-syndicated TVS from 1977-1978.

Miller was dismissed by the Athletics following the 1974 season. After brief stints with the Texas Rangers (1978-79) and the Boston Red Sox (1980-82), he was hired in 1983 by Baltimore's WFBR Radio, which at the time served as the flagship station for the Baltimore Orioles.

After the 1982 season, Chuck Thompson moved from the radio booth to do TV broadcasts full time, and WFBR's president Harry Shriver brought in Miller to handle radio play-by-play duties with fellow broadcaster Tom Marr. In his first year in Baltimore, Miller called the Orioles' championship run:

“ Everybody else is in muted silence. The pitch! Line drive! Ripken catches it at shortstop! And the Orioles are champions of the world! - Miller calling the final out of Game 5 of the 1983 World Series. ”

He eventually signed a contract directly with the Orioles and, while the broadcast rights eventually moved to another station, Miller remained their primary announcer through 1996. At the end of that season, new Orioles owner Peter Angelos, displeased with Jon's often candid commentary of the Orioles play, declined to renew his contract, citing a desire for a broadcaster who would "bleed more orange and black".[1] As one of the most accomplished radio and TV announcers in baseball, Jon had plenty of options available to him, and thus was able to return to the Bay Area and join his beloved hometown Giants.

Since 1997, Miller has been the primary play-by-play voice of the San Francisco Giants (replacing Hank Greenwald), calling games on KNBR radio as well as KTVU (1997-2007) and KNTV (2008-) television. In February 2007 he signed a six-year extension to remain the voice of the Giants through at least the 2012 season.

In 2003, during a game between the Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, Miller called a play involving two defensive errors by the Diamondbacks and at least three separate baserunning mistakes by Giants outfielder Ruben Rivera. When Rivera was finally thrown out at home plate trying to score what would have been the winning run, Miller declared,

“ That was the worst base running in the history of the game! ”

The phrase was repeated numerous times on sports radio and highlight shows such as SportsCenter, and quickly became one of the most famous calls of Miller's long career. He did a similar call on the radio during Game 3 of the 2004 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals, when Jeff Suppan made a baserunning mistake.

On August 7, 2007, Jon Miller made the call of Barry Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run on KNBR. His call of the historic home run will likely go down in history as the voice of the moment:

“ Three and two to Bonds. Everybody standing here at 24 Willie Mays Plaza. An armada of nautical craft gathered in McCovey Cove beyond the right field wall. Bonds one home run away from history. (crack of the bat) AND HE SWINGS, AND THERE'S A LONG ONE DEEP INTO RIGHT CENTER FIELD, WAY BACK THERE, IT'S GONE!!! A HOME RUN! Into the center field bleachers to the left of the 421 foot marker. An extraordinary shot to the deepest part of the yard! And Barry Bonds with 756 home runs, he has hit more home runs than anyone who has ever played the game! ”

From 1986-1989, Miller did backup play-by-play for NBC's Saturday Game of the Week telecasts, paired with either Tony Kubek or Joe Garagiola. He also called regional telecasts for The Baseball Network in 1994-1995.

Since 1990 he has done national television and radio broadcasts of regular-season and postseason games for ESPN, most prominently alongside Hall of Famer Joe Morgan on the network's Sunday Night Baseball telecasts. Among his assignments to date, he has called 11 World Series for ESPN Radio.

Jon Miller has received numerous honors for his ESPN work, including a Cable ACE Award and several Emmy Award nominations. The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1998.

Miller's delivery is notable for his easygoing, sometimes-humorous manner and measured use of hyperbole compared to other sportscasters. He livens up some of his broadcasts with a few Hawaiian and Japanese phrases spoken with impeccable pronunciation. It is notable that Miller pronounces non-Anglo-American names with the correct pronunciation. Many American broadcasters "Americanize" foreign players' names.

Miller will occasionally quote lines from Shakespeare plays during radio broadcasts. He is perhaps most well known for his foul ball call, "That ball is fooooul", and his emphatic cries of "Safe!" on close plays and "Two!" for a successful double play. Early in his career, Miller would punctuate home runs with the signature call, "Tell it goodbye!" (in emulation of longtime Giants announcer Lon Simmons), although he has eschewed this in recent years.

Miller is noted in baseball circles for his impersonation of Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully. Miller is also known to do imitations of Harry Caray, Chuck Thompson, Jack Buck, Al Michaels, Babe Ruth, Bob Sheppard, and Harry Kalas among others.