The Twins might have an entirely new TV home next season with the expiration of their Bally Sports North contract.
Dick Bremer, Twins TV broadcaster for 40 years, retires to become a team ambassador
With 40 years behind the microphone, Dick Bremer is the longest tenured play-by-play TV announcer with one team in MLB.
October 31, 2023 at 10:15PM
They definitely will have a new TV play-by-play voice.
Dick Bremer, voice of the Twins for the past 40 seasons, will leave the broadcast booth and join the team's front office as a special assistant, the Twins announced Tuesday.
He retires as the longest-tenured television broadcaster for a single team in Major League Baseball.
Bremer's new role will include being a team representative at Twins community and fan events.
His departure from the booth comes at a time of overall uncertainty. The Twins are assessing their broadcasting options for next season as Diamond Sports, parent company of Bally Sports North, works through bankruptcy. Their 12-year deal with Bally Sports North, which paid them close to $55 million in 2023, expired at the end of this season.
In a news release, Bremer said, "In those 40 years, I broadcast 4,972 Twins games. Over the last year or so, I thought it would really be cool to make it to 5,000. Then, I thought to myself, how selfish would that be? A broadcast should NEVER be about the announcer. It should ALWAYS be about the game and those who play it.
"I hope in my final season, I proved that 'I've still got my fastball,' a goal I set when I started with the Twins in 1983."
In the release, Twins President and CEO Dave St. Peter said, "What I am most thankful for … is who Dick is as a person — insightful, witty and a true professional who excelled at bringing a fan's eye and passion to the broadcast booth."
Bremer, 67, was born in St. Paul and raised in Dumont, Minn. He started his Twins broadcast career with Spectrum Sports from 1983 to '85, and his journey is reflective of the many iterations of Twins broadcasts.
After a year's absence, he rejoined the crew in 1987 and stayed on the call as the Twins' TV rights went through Twinsvision, Midwest Sports Channel, Fox Sports North, Victory Sports and Bally. Bremer filled in on MSC for Ted Robinson from 1989 to '92, then took over as the main TV play-by-play voice in 1993 when Robinson departed for the San Francisco Giants.
"I honestly felt like I was never going to get a chance to do Twins baseball again," Bremer said in a 2013 Star Tribune profile while talking about 1986, the last year he didn't call Twins games. "I did whatever I could to pay the bills, hoping I could get involved with them again. I know it sounds corny, but I believe I was meant to do this."
Bremer was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2013 and is a cinch to join the Twins Hall of Fame someday as well.
The eight Twins headed for arbitration are Royce Lewis, Joe Ryan, Jhoan Duran, Bailey Ober, Ryan Jeffers, Willi Castro, Griffin Jax and Trevor Larnach.
