Kenny Albert stands alone as the greatest play-by-play announcer of all time, at least when it comes to calling games.
Albert set a record for the most NHL, NFL, NBA, and MLB national broadcasts called by one play-by-play announcer when he called Game 4 of the first-round Penguins-Flyers Stanley Cup Playoff series on Saturday, April 25, for TNT Sports.
According to TNT Sports, Albert has called 1,545 such telecasts, surpassing legends including Dick Stockton (1,544), Kevin Harlan (1,510), Marv Albert (1,481), Gary Thorne (1,191), Mike Breen (1,188), and Joe Buck (1,155).
The GOAT @KennyAlbert has just broken the record for MOST NATIONAL BROADCASTS across the NHL, NFL, NBA and MLB
Albert is the only active play-by-play announcer to regularly call games for all four major American sports. He calls the NHL nationally for TNT, and the NFL and MLB nationally for Fox. He doesn’t call national NBA games, but does occasionally fill in on local Knicks telecasts for MSG Network.
All told, Albert has called 569 national NHL broadcasts, 530 national NFL broadcasts, and 446 national MLB broadcasts, according to Tony Miller of the website Unnecessary Sports Research.
“It’s somewhat surreal to see a lot of the other names that are on the list when you start looking at the numbers and where everybody ranks,” Albert told The Ringer prior to the broadcast.
If you name the sport, Albert has probably called it. He got his start with the American Hockey League’s Baltimore Skipjacks in 1990. In addition to the big four sports, Albert has also called boxing, college wrestling, and the Olympics.
Albert is unlikely to relinquish the record any time soon. “At some point we all slow down, but right now I love what I’m doing and [am] very fortunate to have bosses at the various networks that allow the jigsaw puzzle of the schedule to play out as it does,” Albert told The Ringer.
It seems that fans underappreciate Albert’s uniqueness. It is worth repeating that he is currently the only active play-by-play announcer who calls all four major American sports. But he is only the lead announcer for one sport, the NHL. He doesn’t even regularly call playoff games for the other three. He has also never won the prestigious Sports Emmy for play-by-play, though he was nominated in 2016.
But regardless of how many playoff games he calls or Emmys he wins, nothing can take away the fact that Albert stands alone in terms of games called.
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