Ousted MLB Red Sox Voice Gets Fan Support

Don Orsillo

Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner, in his first public comments about the ouster of Don Orsillo as the play-by-play broadcaster on NESN telecasts after this season, said that the chance to replace him with Dave O’Brien was too good to pass up, reports ESPN.

“I think when the opportunity to bring Dave aboard came to us, after a lot of thought we decided, you know what, he’s one of the premier broadcasters in the country and we thought he’d be a great addition to the team,” Werner told Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley in a phone conversation Saturday.

Werner told the Herald that O’Brien is “well known for bringing out the nuances of baseball strategy, sharing insights about players. It was nothing against Don. It was the opportunity to bring on Dave.”

Werner’s explanation is unlikely to mollify the supporters of Orsillo, who have taken to social media by the thousands to express their unhappiness with the decision to drop him after 15 seasons with the club.

Tweets by @KeepDonOrsillo

An online petition asking Red Sox principal owner John W. Henry to keep Orsillo at NESN had received over 46,000 signatures as of late Saturday night. Orsillo’s longtime partner, Jerry Remy, was tearful Tuesday night when he spoke of Orsillo’s impending departure.

“He's terrific at what he does, he's been absolutely fabulous to work with. I love him,’’ said Remy, who expressed distress at losing both his partner and a close friend.

Orsillo was told about the decision to replace him within the past two weeks, according to a source, and was asked not to divulge the fact that NESN was not going to renew his contract. But news that he was being dropped was broken by WEEI’s Gerry Callahan on Tuesday morning, and the network issued a release late Tuesday night announcing O’Brien as Orsillo’s replacement.