The BEST baseball in the nation covered by the BEST team in the business! Tune in for all of the action from the diamond on the flagship station of the Atlanta Braves: 680 The Fan!
Don Sutton
Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton returned to the Braves broadcast team in 2009 after a two-year stint with the Washington Nationals television broadcast team. Sutton previously spent 18 years, beginning in 1989, broadcasting Braves games. He joined Turner Sports as an analyst for Braves telecasts on TBS after a stellar playing career that spanned 23 seasons.
He has also served as a course reporter on TBS’s professional golf coverage, working the Hawaiian Open, PGA Championship and PGA Grand Slam of Golf, as well as TNT’s coverage of the Sarazen World Open Championship.
Sutton’s network broadcasting experience included pre- and post-game analysis for NBC’s 1987 League Championship series coverage.
His Major League Baseball pitching career was highlighted by 324 wins with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and California Angels. Sutton spent 15 seasons with the Dodgers, beginning in 1966. He joined the Astros as a free agent in 1981. Sutton was traded to Milwaukee in August 1982, where he pitched three seasons before being traded to Oakland in December 1984. He was traded to California in September 1985 and retired in January 1988.
One of the most durable pitchers of the modern era, appearing in more than 750 games and completing nearly 180 during his career, Sutton’s personal bests included 21 wins (1976), 293 innings pitched (1969), 41 games (1969), 2.21 ERA (1980 – led NL), 40 starts (1974), 217 strikeouts (1969) and 18 complete games (1972), all with the Dodgers.
Sutton ranks seventh on baseball’s all-time strikeout list with 3,574. He was 4-1 with a 2.02 ERA in seven League Championship Series games, and 2-3 with a 5.26 ERA in eight World Series games. In the 1974 postseason, he was 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 25 strikeouts in four games. He also posted a 1-0 record in four All-Star appearances without allowing a run.
Sutton was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998. He was named National League Rookie-of-the-Year by Sporting News in 1966, and was named the Texas League Player-ofthe-Year in 1965 at Albuquerque.
Born in Clio, Ala., Don, his wife Mary and their daughter, Jacqueline, reside in Sandy Springs. Don has two other adult children, Daron and Staci.
Jim Powell
The 2015 Major League Baseball season marks Jim Powell’s 7th year in the Atlanta Braves radio booth working alongside Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton. Powell spent the previous 13 seasons as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers broadcast team, teaming with another Hall of Famer, Bob Uecker.
Powell joined the Brewers in 1996 and was named the 1998 Wisconsin Sportscaster of the Year. In addition to his radio duties, he spent time as a member of the Brewers television team during the 1999 and 2000 seasons.
Powell began his Major League broadcasting career with the Minnesota Twins in a reserve role in 1993 and 1994. Prior to this, he accumulated extensive experience at the minor-league level, serving as play-by-play announcer for the Charlotte Knights (1990-91, 1995) and the Columbia Mets (1987-89, 1993-94).
Powell has also worked at the collegiate level, taking on play-by-play duties for the University of South Carolina baseball program in 1989 and 1994, as well as the University of Georgia baseball team in 1985 and 1986.
Before going into baseball full-time, Powell had received national exposure through play-by- play for CBS Radio for several college football games, including the 1997 Sun Bowl. He has also worked on Host Communications telecasts, calling University of South Carolina football action in 2000. He served as the color analyst for the South Carolina football and basketball programs from 1993-95 and hosted the coaches’ shows for those two sports on television. Powell also did play-by- play for Davidson College basketball in 1990.
An internship in the newsroom and sports office at WGST-AM while Powell was in high school started his broadcasting career. He then worked at WRFC in Athens while attended the University of Georgia, followed by a job after graduation with at WVOC radio in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1991, Powell was hired by WSB-AM to work weekends, where he covered the Braves, Georgia Bulldogs and Atlanta Falcons for two years.
Powell and his wife Emmy have been active members of their community, serving on the Board of Directors for the Child Abuse Prevention Fund for several years. He spends his winters coaching youth basketball and is also an avid tennis player.
A native of Roswell, Ga., Powell attended the University of Georgia as a National Merit Scholar. He and his wife, also a Georgia native, have three daughters, Allie, Sabrina and Julia.
Ford Leadoff Show Broadcasters:
Ben Ingram
The 2015 Major League Baseball season marks Ben Ingram’s fifth year with the Atlanta Braves Radio Network. Before joining the Atlanta Braves Radio Network, Ingram spent seven seasons doing play-by-play in the minor leagues, including the last four with Atlanta’s double-A affiliate in Mississippi.
Ingram’s work in radio dates back to 1998 when he was a commentator on Junior College football broadcasts at the age of 18. His first full time play-by-play opportunity would come while he was a student at Mississippi College in Clinton, MS. During his sophomore year, Ingram was named voice of Mississippi College athletics, a position he would hold until graduating in 2003. That next year, Ingram earned his first job in professional baseball as the radio broadcaster for the Jackson Senators of the Independent Central League. In 2005, Ingram landed his first job in affiliated baseball when he was named radio broadcaster for the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League.
Ingram joined the Braves organization in 2007, serving as the secondary broadcaster for the double-A, Mississippi Braves radio broadcasts. In 2008, he was given the lead play-by-play job for the Mississippi Braves. That season, Mississippi went on to win their first ever Southern League Championship, with current big-leaguers Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlin, Jonny Venters and Jordan Schaffer leading the way. In 2009, while in just his second season as the lead broadcaster in Mississippi, Ingram was named Southern League Broadcaster of the year by his peers. Ingram was with double-A Mississippi through the 2010 season and was also part of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network during network during Spring Training of 2010.
Born in Meridian, MS. and a native of Madison, MS., Ingram now calls Atlanta, Ga. home.
Mark Lemke
Lemke was drafted in the 27th round of the 1983 amateur draft by the Atlanta Braves. Lemke decided against attending Purdue University and spent the next four years in the Braves’ minor league system, spending time with these teams: Gulf Coast League Braves, Anderson Braves, Sumter Braves, Durham Bulls, Greenville Braves and Richmond Braves. He made his major league debut on September 17, 1988 when the Braves called him up from AAA when the roster expanded to 40 players. In 1988, Lemke won the Hank Aaron Award as the top offensive player in the Braves’ minor league system. Lemke split time between the minor and major leagues until 1990.
In his 11-year career, Lemke played in 62 post season games and appeared in four World Series (1991, 1992, 1995, 1996). He won a World Series with the Braves in 1995, and he led all Braves players with a .417 batting average in the 1991 World Series. He also was the last out in the 1996 World Series, when the New York Yankees won their first World Series in 18 years.
Lemke is the all-time record holder for most career plate appearances without being hit by a pitch.
Chris Dimino
Chris Dimino is about to embark on year 21 on Atlanta Radio. A caller back in 1993…to 680 The Fan..he was hired as full time host in a TOP 10 market without any previous radio experience. Chris has joked that his “training” for the job occurred before he arrived in town as a bartender in NJ..and before that fighting his way to the “Adult Table” at Holidays by being able to verbally spar with the elders.
He finds the circle coming complete this many years later as he rejoins Atlanta’s Sports Leader.
Chris has won multiple awards and was the recipient of the Furman Bisher Award. Previous winners have included Larry Munson..Pete Van Wieren and Skip Caray. “It’s the only visible thing in my house that would let you know what I do for a living”
Favorite part of his job – “Other than ALL of it? I guess its being able to talk to people who have made impacts. Some of the greatest stories in sports have been told to our audience…first person…by some of the greatest participants. And I love “Credential Day”. I get Christmas multiple times of the year when I get mine. Never have taken that for granted”
Father of daughters Ava & Brooklyn (Maris is her middle name. Go figure) and married coming up on 15 yrs – “Met her at a radio station. The fates and Gods at work” – to wife Carrie..he has said his favorite 2 hours a week are the hours watching them play soccer (the kids…not his wife)
Chris can be found at a ballpark…stadium…practice or press conference near you in about 15 minutes from now…
Kevin McAlpin
Originally from outside Philadelphia in Havertown, PA, I am a proud alum of the oldest radio station in the country, WHHS. WHHS was the springboard into my major in Communications at Temple University and then onto 97.5FM The Fanatic as the Philadelphia Phillies beat reporter. Most recently I’m apart of the team at 680 The Fan as the Atlanta Braves beat reporter.
I have had the honor of learning from some of the best in the broadcasting business; the late Hall of Fame Phillies announcer Harry Kalas and the current Philadelphia Eagles play-by-play announcer Merril Reese. I have always looked up to Harry and I credit him for sparking my interest in radio listening to summertime games as a kid. It was at WBCB 1490AM in Levittown, PA where I had the privilege of working side by side with Merril.
Besides working with 680 The Fan, I am always up for a concert or sporting event and I count myself among the thousands of Parrotheads across the world. Living in Atlanta with my beautiful wife and our two cats, I can’t wait to see what’s next.
