Orioles broadcaster Jim Palmer has COVID, leading to another MASN shake-up – The Denver Post

It’s been a tumultuous week for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

Shortly after Wednesday’s Orioles game against the Houston Astros got underway, MASN color commentator and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer tweeted that he was missing from the broadcast because he has COVID-19.

“At home, sick with Covid,” Palmer tweeted. “It’s hit me hard!With you in spirit, Birdland.”

Palmer called Tuesday’s 7-6 loss alongside play-by-play announcer Geoff Arnold and fellow Orioles Hall of Famer Mike Devereaux. All three were absent from Wednesday’s television and radio broadcasts, with Melanie Newman and Dave Johnson on the call for MASN and Scott Garceau and Steve Melewski announcing for the Orioles Radio Network.

MASN drew national attention this week after reports that Kevin Brown, the network’s lead play-by-play announcer for Orioles games, was pulled from broadcasts in late July. Brown’s exodus began a day after a July 23 pregame segment in which he pointed out that the Orioles, a team that held one of baseball’s five worst records each season from 2018 to 2021, had struggled on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays and had a chance to win a series at Tropicana Field for the first time since 2017.

Brown is scheduled to rejoin MASN’s broadcasts Friday, when the Orioles begin a series at Seattle.

Palmer, 77, won three American League Cy Young Awards and three World Series titles with Baltimore, a franchise for which his 268 wins are a record. He was among the members of the 1983 team, the Orioles’ last to win a World Series, honored this past weekend.

The COVID-19 diagnosis is Palmer’s second publicized health scare this season. He underwent a procedure for melanoma in April.

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