Bill Brown (born September 20, 1947) is an American former sportscaster. After spending several years calling

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

broadcasts, Brown worked for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

from 1987 to 2016.

Biography

Brown did play-by-play for the

Cincinnati Stingers The Cincinnati Stingers were an ice hockey team based in Cincinnati that played in the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979 and in the Central Hockey League during the 1979–80 season. Their home arena was Riverfront Coliseum. They are ...

Television Network for the 1975-76 season and the

Television Network from 1976 to 1982. He worked four years with

Ken Coleman Kenneth Robert Coleman (April 22, 1925 – August 21, 2003) was an American radio and television sportscaster for more than four decades (1947–1989). Early life Coleman was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1925, the son of William (a salesma ...

and another four years with Ray Lane. Brown also called

Xavier Musketeers The Xavier Musketeers are the 16 teams representing Xavier University in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The Musk ...

and

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. Though they will move to the Big 12 Conference (XII) the teams are currently a part of the American Athletic Conference (The American), which from 1979 ...

basketball and

Cincinnati Swords The Cincinnati Swords were an American Hockey League team that played at the Cincinnati Gardens in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1971 to 1974. They were owned by and the affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. History The Swords ...

hockey early in his career, and was a senior producer and anchor of the

Financial News Network The Financial News Network (FNN) was an American financial and business news television network that was launched November 30, 1981. The purpose of the network was to broadcast programming nationwide, five days a week for seven hours a day on t ...

's SCORE programing and sports director of the

Sports Time Sports Time was a regional sports network in the United States of America. It was owned by a limited partnership headed by Anheuser-Busch and was launched on April 2, 1984. Sports Time was available in 15 states from Colorado to West Virginia. ...

Cable Network. He was sports director of Home Sports Entertainment in Pittsburgh. Brown became an announcer with the Houston Astros in 1987. With the Astros, Brown was often called "Brownie" by his play-by-play partner

Alan Ashby Alan Dean Ashby (born July 8, 1951) is an American former professional baseball catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) and current radio and television sports commentator. A switch hitter, he played for the Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, ...

. He often played the straight man to former partner

Jim Deshaies James Joseph Deshaies (born June 23, 1960), also known as "JD", is an American former professional baseball left-handed starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for six teams, over the course of 12 big league seasons. He is c ...

' humorous asides. Brown retired on September 28, 2016, after the final Astros home game of the 2016 season and was succeeded by

Todd Kalas Todd Harry Kalas (born December 31, 1965) is an American sportscaster, employed since 2017 as a television play-by-play announcer for Houston Astros baseball. Education Kalas graduated from Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public ...

, He cited his reason to retire due to feeling that his performance on the air was slipping. However, he returned to call games for the Astros from May 1–4, 2017 due to the death of Kalas's mother, and Brown would work on a part time basis in community outreach with the Astros; Brown went into the announcing booth again in 2018 to fill in as the radio play-by-play for a three game series in june in place of Steve Sparks. He lives in Houston with his wife, Dianne. They have a daughter and three grandchildren. He was a member of

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...

fraternity at the University of Missouri (Columbia, Missouri). Brown was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame on November 12. 2004. In 2011 Brown was inducted into the Media Wall of Honor at Minute Maid Park. The Texas Italian-American Sports Foundation presented him with a community service award. The Houston baseball media presented him with the Fred Hartman Award for Long and Meritorious service in 2012. In 2013 Brown was voted Texas Sportscaster of the Year by the Texas voters in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (now the National Sports Media Association) in Salisbury, N.C. On January 21, 2023, the Astros announced that Brown was to be inducted into the Houston Astros Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2023 with former second baseman Bill Doran.

Notable Calls

June 28, 2007 – Brown was the play-by-play announcer for

Craig Biggio Craig Alan Biggio (; born December 14, 1965) is an American former second baseman, outfielder and catcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career from 1988 through 2007 for the Houston Astros. A seven-time National League (NL) All ...

's 3000th hit game in the

2007 Houston Astros season The 2007 Houston Astros season was the 46th season in team history. After finishing 1½ games behind for the NL Central to the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, the Astros elected to a select amount of subtractions and additions to comp ...

for the now defunct

Fox Sports Houston Fox Sports Houston was an American regional sports network that was owned by Fox Cable Networks, a unit of the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of News Corporation, and operated as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. The channel, which operat ...

, where Craig Biggio got his 3000th hit in the bottom of the 7th inning to tie the game at four.

LINE DRIVE, RIGHT CENTER FIELD! THAT'S NUMBER 3000! AND HE DRIVES IN A RUN, AND HE'S GOING FOR SECOND, TAVERAS WITH THE THROW... he's out, but that's 3000 hits for Craig Biggio.

June 28, 2007– Brown also called

Carlos Lee Carlos Noriel Lee (born June 20, 1976), nicknamed "El Caballo", is a Panamanian former professional baseball first baseman and left fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999–2012 with the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, ...

's game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the 11th inning. Brown's call of the home run:

Fly ball, Left Field! THIS COULD BE A GAME-WINNING GRAND SLAM! AND CARLOS LEE HAS... DONE IT!!! AN UNBELIEVABLE NIGHT IN HOUSTON, TEXAS! Carlos Lee with his second walk-off homer of the season.

. August 21, 2015– Brown called

Mike Fiers Michael Bruce Fiers (; born June 15, 1985) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics. Fiers has ...

' no hitter on August 21, 2015.

133 pitches, well beyond the point most starting pitchers are in the game these days. AND HE GOT IT!! A NO-HITTER FOR MIKE FIERS!!!

May 2, 2017– Brown replaced current Astros play-by-play announcer

due to Kalas' mother passing away. He was calling the Astros-Rangers game when Marwin Gonzalez hit a go-ahead grand slam off

Keone Kela Keone Cole Kela (born April 16, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates and San ...

Deep drive, Right Field! This is gonna soar but will it be fair?!! MARWIN GONZALEZ HAS HIT A GRAND SLAM!!!! And the late inning magic continues at Minute Maid Park, a grand slam by Marwin Gonzalez. And with two outs, on a 2-1 pitch here in the bottom of the 8th inning, the Astros have taken their first lead of the game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Bill 1947 births Living people American Hockey League broadcasters American television sports announcers Cincinnati Reds announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Houston Astros announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Sportspeople from Sedalia, Missouri University of Missouri alumni World Hockey Association broadcasters