Hall of Famer, and Best 3B in Baseball History, Mike Schmidt to Join Phils Broadcast Crew in 2014

Earlier this evening Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News reported that Mike Schmidt has agreed to join the Phillies broadcast crew for all 13 home games this season. "Sundays with Schmitty" will feature McCarthy as the play by play announcer, Schmidt, and one of either Jamie Moyer or Matt Stairs. Stairs and Moyer are scheduled to work together in the booth for 30 games, none of which will fall on a Sunday home game.

Schmidt will be the most seasoned of the new announcing crew, as he has previous experience as an in-game analyst for the long-defunct PRISM network, a role he held the year following his retirement in 1989.

The announcement comes as good news for those who may have been worried about Schmidt's health. He wasn't in Clearwater this week for the start Spring Training as he was forced to stay close to home to address health concerns. He's been a special instructor for more than a decade, so his medically induced absence was of some concern. News that he is apparently healthy enough to commit to a regular role on the broadcast team is, at the least, encouraging.

I, for one, am very interested in checking out the new makeup of the booth, and we'll see if his repartee with McCarthy is as entertaining as it was with Harry the K.

(h/t Bill Baer at Crashburn Alley)

I'm actually excited about this booth makeup (yes, I am a giant baseball nerd, why do you ask?), though I'll also admit to some reservations about the demographic homogeny of the broadcasters they've brought in. Even if the team turns out to be not so great feeling out the new broadcast crew will be entertaining in its own right.