Orioles broadcaster Kevin Brown will never live down the viral clip that got him suspended from broadcasting Orioles games in 2023.
Brown, who was taken off air by Orioles ownership in a public relations nightmare for the team shortly after he pointed out that Baltimore had won just three games in Tropicana Field from 2020-22, was reminded of the event less than a year later.
“The important thing is you win six out of eight games,” Palmer began Tuesday while recapping the Orioles’ prior four-game sweep of the Rays. “And you go to Tampa Bay, where you used to have trouble, as you know, winning … and now all of a sudden, they win four in a row.”
Brown seemed to nearly choke on his own breath after Palmer decided to bring up old memories, grinning through the shock.
His original comment from last year was inconspicuous enough, as the broadcast team built accompanying graphics to reaffirm some of the Orioles’ poor history in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“It’s been a minute,” Brown said in a pregame segment on July 23, 2023. “The Orioles split a two-gamer with the Rays in June. They had lost their last 15 series here at Tropicana Field. … Already got three and two at the Trop this year after winning three of 18 the previous three years combined.”
His comment reportedly infuriated then-owner John Angelos, who pulled him from broadcasts afterward.
The collective sports world reacted with outrage, including Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay, who added that Brown’s ensuing statement read like a hostage situation.
Brown attempted to downplay the situation.
“O’s fans – I’m a storyteller. And never want to be a part of the story. The most compelling story in baseball right now is the story of the league-leading Baltimore Orioles – the best, most exciting young team in the American League,” Brown wrote on X in his first public comments since disappearing from the MASN airwaves in late July.
“Unfortunately, recent media reports have mischaracterized my relationship with my adopted hometown Orioles. The fact is that I have a wonderful relationship with the organization, and our ownership and front office has fully supported me since 2019 when I first came aboard.
“I ask that everyone disregard the distracting noise of the past few days. I have worked closely with O’s SVP Greg Bader for the past four years, and John Angelos and I have a solid dialogue based on mutual respect. We are all good here in Birdland!
“I am proud to be an Oriole and call Baltimore home, and there is no place in baseball I’d rather be now and for the long haul. Go O’s!”
Brown returned to Airwaves in August and team ownership seemed to acknowledge that they had handled the situation poorly.
After Brown’s initial statement, the situation was dropped entirely as the team attempted to put it past them.
The Angelos sold the Orioles at the start of the new year, so the situation is much less tumultuous than it was just 10 months ago when chants of “Free Kevin Brown” were radiating off of the rafters of Camden Yards.
