T Dog’s Think Tank: White Sox announcer John Schriffen is a disgrace to baseball

The newest White Sox PBP is as unprofessional as it comes. So why is he there?

I’ve tried to hold my tongue for the last two months and give the new kid a chance, but here’s my verdict on new White Sox play-by-play man John Schriffen.

He sounds like ass. 

But you probably knew that already, given the ridiculous, over-the-top stupidity he displays on the air – and off the air too as he’s proven to be a complete asshole.

In all my years of watching baseball – a dying sport run by an idiot commissioner that skews the oldest of all the four majors and can’t seem to draw viewers under the age of 50, I’ve never seen a childish, juvenile person be so unprofessional in any profession outside of shock jocks not named Howard Stern. 

The White Sox hired Schriffen after previous play-by-play voice Jason Benetti left to take a similar role with the Detroit Tigers. Since then, Schriffen has been criticized by the local media for numerous gaffes, including mispronouncing Bill Veeck’s name, miscalling plays, calling people “haters”, and being an overall jerk on the air. 

But Schriffen has hit back at his critics. A few weeks ago calling a game against the New York Yankees after commentator Gordon Beckham (filling in for Steve Stone) flubbed a sponsor read, Schriffen said “If any of those radio losers clip it and try to make fun of you, nobody cares about them anyway,” referring to several hosts on Audacy’s 670 The Score (WSCR-AM), who haven’t been kind to him. 

Late last month during a telecast at home against the Baltimore Orioles, Schriffen went ballistic after a game-ending infield fly, talking about needing to “keep his job” after a rant. And on Sunday after the White Sox’s Tommy Pham couldn’t pull his best Chennedy Carter imitation and knock the Milwaukee Brewers catcher off at home plate, Scrhiffen said this masterpiece: “We ain’t taking that. We ain’t taking that from the Brewers. I don’t care how many L’s we have this year, we ain’t taking that!”

Yes, a team that’s 15-45 and by far the worst team in baseball against one that’s first place in their division. Did Schriffen seem to forget the Brewers haven’t been in the American League since 1997? 

This bullshit is courtesy of 88-year-old Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who hand-picked his successor to Benetti, proving he had no business making this decision. Even before the season began, local and national media ripped him for everything that’s wrong with the Bulls and White Sox, given he’s trying to extort billions in public money to build a new ballpark in the South Loop to replace the aging Guaranteed Rate Field, which has been ripped by fans and media alike since it opened in 1991. White Sox fans say he should sell the team; he should’ve done so years ago. The White Sox as of this writing lost eleven in a row and are the biggest joke in sports.

The White Sox lose another game thanks to this brain-dead idiot, Tommy Pham.

Reinsdorf is trying to launch a new regional sports network called Stadium, using the IP he owned with his Silver Chaice Sports but the company isn’t launching the new venture. Instead, he contacted Standard Media, a little-known station group based in Nashville to launch the project as the Bulls, White Sox, and Blackhawks’ venture with NBC Sports Chicago is ending in October. So far, there has been no announcement or even a plan for how to launch this network. Given that cord-cutting is on the rise, there is no guarantee any carrier – cable or vMVPD would carry the network, this launch in this day and age is dumb given several RSNs have gone under and Bally Sports is trying to get out of bankruptcy. 

Don’t be surprised if Reinsdorf changes his mind again, and ditches Standard Media for Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, who knows how to cut corners and run things cheap – it shows in the crummy product he puts on the air. Yes, Reinsdorf is THAT stupid -he’s not only the worst owner in all of professional sports, he’s now angling for the title of worst media executive, competing with Allen, David Zaslav, and Bob Iger for the dishonor.

But perhaps the upsetting thing is Schriffen’s comments about “radio losers”. Yes, the Score crew aren’t the brightest bulbs in the toolshed (if you read this blog for the last eighteen years, then you know how stupid local radio can be.) But Schriffen made those comments the same weekend Alpha Media laid off people at several clusters, including two in the Chicago suburbs. These employees work very hard for uncaring mega conglomerates and management who don’t appreciate them, with many working for low pay and even worse benefits and are being replaced by voice-tracking, syndication, or even AI as the industry is moving more toward nationalization, eliminating “local” radio altogether. Schriffen’s “losers” comments – whether he meant the Score personalities or those who work in radio, were ill-timed and inappropriate. I’m not sure if Schriffen even understands – or cares.  

This latest embarrassment is yet more continuing frustration for Chicago sports fans, with endless embarrassing incidents and whose teams haven’t won a playoff series in the last three years, since the Sky won the WNBA championship in 2021 (speaking of THAT team, they invented their own kind of media disrespect this weekend – they’re lucky anyone in local media is even paying attention to them to begin with), while greed continues to run rampant in sports as the leagues continue to move games to streaming services where you’ll have to shell out even more money to see your team play. 

It also shows to the world that Chicago continues a tradition of patronage when it comes to important positions despite their lack of qualifications, as evidenced by Mayor Brandon Johnson – who runs the city like our sports teams, trying to appoint the Rev. Ira Acree to a position on the RTA board, despite his lack of knowledge on transit issues. We have a phrase for it – oh yes, “The Chicago Way”. Acree’s comments on why he decided not to take the job were just as asinine as anything Schriffen says, so as a Black man writing this, I suppose I’m one of the “enemies of African-American advancement and empowerment.” Nice. 

Look, I want to root for the kid. But the way Schriffen is carrying on like a babbling idiot, it’s hard for me to do so. Perhaps the worst part is that Schriffen is bland and boring – the worst sin in broadcasting. He brings no innovation to the game and what he does in the booth isn’t interesting or inspiring. His hire is a product of the ridiculous and idiotic circumstances this city, its sports teams, and its media is known for. The last thing anyone expected was John Schriffen to become the Mancow Muller of baseball broadcasting. 

And coming from me, you know goddamn well that is far from a compliment as you can even imagine. 

[Editor’s Note: An earlier draft misspelled the last name of Gordon Beckham. T Dog Media apologizes for the error. – T.H.]

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12 thoughts on “T Dog’s Think Tank: White Sox announcer John Schriffen is a disgrace to baseball

    • I swear, if I hear them talk about how amazing that stupid Sox milkshake is they’re selling at the park, I’m gonna scream.

    • Wow lol…the Southsiders managed to find someone worse than Hawk Harrelson calling games. I don’t believe I’ve seen a White Sox telecast so far this year (via MLB.tv, as I live in California), but I’ll take your word for it. Benetti was very well-liked, this I do know, and I enjoy his broadcasts even on the national level.

      • I have only seen some clips on Awful Announcing and X. Thus far, John is sounding like Hawk Harrelson 2.0.
        I only say that in the kindest of terms, because Chicago sports fans know all too well–we either like them or they will get run out of town. And with the new Chicago Sports Network taking over in the fall, with the Sox making their debut next year, there comes that fine line. How much can fans put up with this continued losing and depending on the carriage deals, would you continue to watch in the future with NBC Sports Chicago scheduled to go dark on or around October 1.

    • Amazing that this bozo got the job over Will Fleming, who does part time work on the Red Sox Radio Network when Hall of Famer Joe Castiglione is off. Fleming is polished, has a bit of wit, and understands the rhythm and tenor of calling a game properly.

    • So who wrote the above piece? Was pretty good.

    • But perhaps the upsetting thing is Schriffen’s comments about “radio losers”. Yes, the Score crew isn’t the brightest bulbs in the toolshed.

      If you’re gonna call someone stupid you shouldn’t write a sentence with multiple errors including mixing metaphor’s. It’s either tools in the shed or bulbs in the chandelier and “aren’t” the brightest bulbs

    • Can we add the North Side announcers, too? I don’t even know who’s doing color but he just saw the late Cedric Benson juggle a ball in the infield.

    • Schriffen is a SNL parody.
      #insufferable

    • Yes, Schiffren is the very worst. He acts like a jerk and is shallow and uninformed about the game of baseball. He truly is a disgrace. I can’t listen to him for more than two minutes. I turn to the Cubs game instead. I won’t be able to watch Sox games untiol Schiffren is gone.

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