Michael Kay on Suspended Orioles Broadcaster’s Statement: ‘Like a Hostage Tape’

Orioles play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown released a statement ahead of his return to the air on Friday, citing a good working relationship between he and the Baltimore front office.

The statement came after reports circulated for a week that Brown was suspended for reciting facts about the Orioles’ struggles at Tropicana Field, the home of the Rays, over the last three seasons. Nothing Brown said was out of line, and he didn’t deserve to be suspended. As such, Brown received widespread support across the baseball community as fans and media alike flamed Orioles owner John Angelos.

Add Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay to the fold, who fried Brown’s statement ahead of his return to the booth, not believing for a second that Brown was able to express his true thoughts in the very team-friendly release.

“I know for a fact what happened,” Kay said on his radio show on Friday. “But I don’t blame Kevin for releasing that statement, what’s he supposed to do? Say, ‘They’re a bunch of complete dolts here. What they did to me was unfair?’ He’d lose his job. That was a statement that was obviously vetted by the Orioles and their senior vice president. I don’t blame Kevin for putting that out there because he didn’t deny what happened. He said, ‘Don’t listen to that noise.’ The noise is true. There’s not a second that anybody who reported that or talked about it believes it wasn’t true. He got yanked off the air because he read a stat that they thought was negative and it was quite positive…That was a classic case of putting lipstick on the pig of a situation. What’s he supposed to say?”

When Kay’s co-host Peter Rosenberg asked if he thought the Orioles had a hand in the statement, the Yankees play-by-play announcer didn’t have a doubt in his mind.

“Of course,” he replied. “It’s like a hostage tape.”

This is not the first time that Kay has addressed the situation surrounding Brown and the Orioles. Kay voiced his support for his colleague earlier this week on the Yankees’ telecast.

“If you don’t want Kevin Brown, there are 29 other teams who do,” Kay said.

The Orioles come out of the situation looking worse and worse, and Kay wasn’t about to let that statement from Friday when it came to Brown and Baltimore slide.