Longtime Phillies TV Broadcasters OUT

Chris Wheeler, Gary Matthews (Comcast)

The Phillies have a new television contract with NBCUniversal — owner of Philadelphia’s Comcast SportsNet — a deal that reportedly will pay them $100 million per year for a quarter-century. Although there is some partnership between the team and the CSN in decisions, there is one area in which the Phillies have ceded most of the control to the network: The broadcasting team.

According to delcotimes.com, that became apparent Wednesday afternoon when word leaked to The Associated Press that NBCUniversal was removing longtime broadcaster Chris Wheeler and former Phillie Gary “Sarge” Matthews from the TV booth.

The Phillies and Wheeler put out statements on the move, with the organization stressing that both Wheeler, a 37-year veteran of the team’s broadcasts, and Matthews would remain with the organization in some capacity.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to be a part of the Phillies broadcast team for 37 years,” said Wheeler. “I certainly respect the decision that was made and I look forward to my new role in the Phillies organization.”

It could be premature to declare this the end of Wheeler’s broadcasting career, since the Phillies remain in control of their radio broadcasts. Although Larry Andersen and Scott Franzke remain the primary team on the radio, they had shared the duties with Flyers TV play-by-play man Jim Jackson for portions of the past several seasons. According to an organizational source, the role Wheeler, 68, will serve moving forward has not been firmly established.

What also remains unclear is who will step in and replace both Wheeler and Matthews alongside play-by-play man Tom McCarthy.

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Scott Franzke

According to philadelphia.cbslocal.com, many fans have speculated that the radio team of Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen, should move to television. Franzke has no desire for that to happen.

“You guys have seen me, you know I belong on the radio! I love doing radio and that’s really what my passion is,” Franzke told 94WIP’s Anthony Gargano and Rob Ellis. “It’s a different way to broadcast a game and to describe a game and that’s what I like doing and I happen to really like doing it with the guy that got seated next to me. So, yeah, no I don’t have any designs or desire to do anything like that. I really like what I’m doing.”

“No, I’m kind of anchored. I’ve got no desire to [leave]. I’ve got a great spot, great situation. We love it here, we’re really enjoying it. This is our home now. So, we really like it.”