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Tom Grieve on Dave Barnett's on-air Rangers ramble: I thought, 'I'm not sure where he's going with that'

Rangers Hall of Famer Tom Grieve talked Wednesday with BAD Radio on The Ticket in Dallas about the unusual on-air comments by his TV broadcast partner Dave Barnett from Monday night's game between the Rangers and Padres. Barnett was heard referencing "fifth base" at one point, a "botched robbery" and a "henchman" while the game was being delayed by a conversation at the mound.

"When you're on the air for three hours, there are times where you daydream, or where you're watching a play, and you're not paying perfect attention to everything that your partner is saying," Grieve said. "And so it kind of caught me by surprise because his voice didn't change. It was just a normal conversation, and I caught it, and I thought to myself 'I'm not sure where he's going with that, and because I like him and he's my partner, I was thinking, 'well, maybe he's into a story about the player, and I just didn't hear it for the first part of it.'  And then, you know, he caught himself and I don't know if he realized when it was over exactly what he said. I really don't know.

"And after that," Grieve continued, "we finished the game, we walked back from the ballpark to the hotel, and he felt fine, he looked fine, and everything was great. ... I really have not sat down and talked to him after that night, so I don't know exactly what he thought about it."

Grieve made sure to point out that Barnett has a significant broadcast resume that should not be tarnished by people who have only discovered the longtime announcer through the Monday night excerpt.

"He's a good guy," Grieve said. "He's a professional broadcaster. It's been his whole life, and I hope people, before they throw the potshots out there, will remember his reputation, who he's been, what he is, and refrain from those kind of comments until they know exactly what the problem is. I think that's the only fair thing to a good guy like that."

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