Behind the Mic: 2008 World Series Champion Ryan Howard Joins Baseball Tonight; MSG Duo To Call Three Games in 24 Hours

Behind the Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, Ryan Howard joins Baseball Tonight, MSG’s Kenny Albert and Joe Michetti will call three games in 24 hours, NESN announces their Boston Red Sox broadcast team, and the lineup for FS1 PBC Fight Night: Dirrell vs. Yildirim is revealed.

ESPN has signed former World Series Champion and three-time All-Star Ryan Howard to a multi-year agreement. Howard will serve as a Baseball Tonight analyst, further bolstering ESPN’s MLB coverage.

“I’m very excited to join ESPN’s baseball coverage and contribute across their various platforms,” says Howard. “Can’t wait to get started next month.”

Howard will debut in early March during ESPN’s coverage of spring training. He will regularly appear on Baseball Tonight, SportsCenter, Get Up!, ESPN Radio, and other prominent ESPN platforms.

“We’re excited to have the charismatic Ryan Howard join ESPN,” says Phil Orlins, senior coordinating producer, ESPN. “He had a terrific playing career and we know he is a smart, insightful individual who loves the game of baseball. He will help strengthen our MLB coverage across platforms.”

Howard has won the National League Rookie of the Year and the NL Most Valuable Player. He led the league in runs batted in three times and home runs twice. The first basemen played 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies before retiring in 2016…

…Popular hockey broadcasters Kenny Albert and Joe Micheletti will each execute a rare hockey hat trick this coming weekend – broadcasting 3 NHL games in 3 different cities over a 24-hour period for both MSG Networks and Westwood One/NBC Sports Radio.

The spectacular broadcasting feat will start at Madison Square Garden on Saturday at 1 pm with the Rangers/Devils game. Micheletti, in his 13th season as Rangers in-game analyst on MSG Networks, will be joined in the broadcast booth by play-by-play announcer Sam Rosen. And Albert, now in his 23rd season as the radio voice of the Rangers, will simultaneously call the play-by-play action on ESPN 98.7, the radio home of the Rangers, alongside analyst Dave Maloney.

Following the game, Albert and Micheletti will then go straight to Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and team up to broadcast Westwood One/NBC Sports Radio’s national radio coverage of the NHL Stadium Series matchup between the Penguins and Flyers on Saturday night at 8pm. Throughout the season, Albert and Micheletti serve as Westwood One/NBC Sports Radio’s lead NHL broadcast crew and will be on the call together for select playoff games this year, including their 4th straight season calling the Stanley Cup Final.

After the game, the duo will then complete the hat trick by traveling down south to Washington, D.C. for MSG Networks’ television and radio broadcast of the Rangers/Capitals game on Sunday at 1230pm at Capital One Arena. Micheletti will be joined again in the booth by Rosen, with Albert on the radio call with Maloney…

…NESN announced changes to the network’s lineup of Red Sox broadcasters for 2019. NESN plans to employ a three-man booth up to 30 times this season featuring Red Sox Hall of Famer Jerry Remy and Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley working alongside play-by-play announcer Dave O’Brien. The first three-man booth is scheduled for the home opener on Tuesday, April 9th when the Red Sox host the Toronto Blue Jays.

Former Red Sox players and MLB veterans Carlos Pena and Jarrod Saltalamacchia will be joining NESN this season to serve as color analysts for select games during both Spring Training and the regular season.

Studio host Tom Caron returns for his 16th season hosting NESN’s pre and post-game shows. NESN Sports Today anchor Adam Pellerin will also pitch in as a studio host again this year.

Returning studio analysts include Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice, Red Sox Hall of Famer Tim Wakefield, television veteran Steve Lyons, and former pitcher Lenny Dinardo. Joining this season will be former Red Sox pitcher and Hyde Park (MA) native Manny Delcarmen, who served as an analyst on NESN’s news programs in 2018.

Guerin Austin will return for her 5th season as a Red Sox sideline reporter along with Jahmai Webster who enters his 3rd season on the network’s Red Sox broadcast team…

… Fox Sports announces newly crowned IBF Super Middleweight World Champion Caleb Plant joins International Boxing Hall of Famer Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and host Chris Myers to call FS1 PBC Fight NightL Anthony Dirrell vs. Avni Yildirim on Saturday, Feb. 23 (10:00 PM ET). In addition, Jordan Hardy reports and interviews fighters, while Ray Flores and Marcos Villegas, join the show as ring announcer and unofficial scorer, respectively. On Fox Deportes, blow-by-blow announcer Adrian Garcia Marquez is joined by Jaime Motta to call the fights in Spanish.