Jon Miller, the longtime broadcast voice of the San Francisco Giants, will be the featured speaker Sunday at a fundraiser for Simpson University’s community baseball field project.
“An Evening with Jon Miller” will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. inside Simpson’s gymnasium at 2211 College View Drive. Tickets, at $30 each, are on sale until noon Friday. Call (530) 226-4750 or visit www.simpsonu.edu/jonmiller.
In addition to tales from the affable Miller and anecdotes from the Giants’ world championship seasons in 2010 and 2012, the evening will include silent and live auctions. Items up for bid include four Giants’ Club Level tickets at AT&T Park—complete with a tour of the press box where Miller calls the action on KNBR—and a two-night stay at the majestic Muse Family Retreat in Mount Shasta.
Proceeds benefit the Redding Community Baseball Field, a regulation-sized field being built on eight acres of the Simpson campus for area youth and collegiate teams, including the Simpson Red Hawks, Redding Vipers and the Colt .45s.
Roger Janis, a longtime Redding businessman who is heading up Simpson’s fundraising campaign for the ballpark, said credit for securing Miller’s services goes to project supporters like former Major League ballplayers Greg Caderet and Rick Bosetti (a Redding City Council member) and Boyce Muse, the owner of Muse Concrete.
It didn’t hurt that Miller’s parents and his brother all live in Redding. Despite a tight schedule and fast-approaching spring-training baseball responsibilities in Arizona, Miller graciously agreed to set aside an evening to speak at Simpson, Janis said. “Jon Miller has been exceedingly generous with his time,” he added.
An avuncular play-by-play broadcaster who is not averse to treating his listeners to a spot-on imitation of fellow broadcasting legend Vin Scully, Miller has been the voice of Giants’ radio broadcasts since 1996.
Prior to settling in San Francisco, Miller worked with the Baltimore Orioles from 1983 to 1996 and also had stints with the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox. For 21 seasons, he criss-crossed the country as the play-by-play commentator for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts.
In 2010, Miller was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as the Ford C. Frick award winner for baseball broadcasting excellence.
Jon Lewis is a freelance writer living in Redding. He has more than 30 years experience writing for newspapers and magazines. Contact him at jonpaullewis@gmail.com.
