Voice of the Giants Jon Miller with his wife, Janine. They met in Hayward -- Janine lived across the street and would babysit Jon, who is five years younger.
Jon Miller, the announcer for the champion San Francisco Giants, was honored by the Hayward City Council earlier this month. You can watch the video of the Dec. 14 meeting, which had Miller talking about the city where he grew up and developed his announcer voice.
Miller said it all started with Strat-O-Matic Baseball, a table-top game that uses dice and charts to replicate ballgames.
“I found it was a lot more fun if I broadcast the games. I would while away the hours in my bedroom, playing Strat-O-Matic Baseball. Everybody I knew was out doing things you did in summertime in California. Friends would say, ‘Let’s go to Half Moon Bay, do a little surfing,’ And I’d say, ‘I’d love to but I got the Cards playing the Cubs, after that it’s the Giants-Dodgers series and I’ve been waiting for that series for weeks.’”
He even offered the Council a demonstration of how he’d run the games, playing the part of the announcer, a cheering crowd, the PA guy, even the ballpark organist.
Miller grew up off Highland Boulevard, and attended Hillcrest Elementary School before graduating from Hayward High. He said it was the first time he’d been to Hayward City Hall since he was 15, when he was on an all-star little league team that won the pennant for the area.
“What a team we had,” he said. “The mayor, a fellow by the name of Jack Smith, invited our team to city hall, the other city hall, down the street, and they took a photo of our team and the mayor on the steps of city hall, and put it in the Hayward Daily Review. Somewhere, in a box somewhere, deep down inside of a box of things I haven’t looked at in years, is that photo.”
It’s a fun presentation, worth a look and a listen. Starts at the 9 minute mark. Also, the Chron had a pretty nice profile on Miller when he was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this year.
