The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT May 12, 2010

Not so long ago, the golden age of baseball was alive and well.

No talk of steroids, not much talk about gambling and when you turned a game on, it was usually perfectly described by a Hall of Fame announcer.

These days, you can't turn a television on without hearing of a player and why they are struggling on and off the field.

AS A kid, my summers included finding a Chicago Cubs game and listening to whatever pearl of wisdom was going to come out of Harry Caray's mouth next.

Sometimes, I wasn't sure he was watching the same game or just rambling, but it was always entertaining.

Once Caray got sick, the games didn't have the same entertainment value and the Cubs haven't been the same since.

When Caray passed away in 2002, the Cubs finally looked like a team that could make a run toward the World Series, and nearly did.

Since then, I'm not sure where to find them on television outside of the occasional ESPN game.

LAST WEEK, baseball lost another one of those golden voices when longtime Detroit Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell passed away.

Harwell, who was diagnosed with cancer last year, was admired in the Detroit area - maybe the entire world for his calls of Tiger baseball games.

Throw in the passing of former Philadelphia announcer Harry Kalas a week after opening day last year, and most of those voices that I listened to as a kid are slowly fading away.

It wasn't until recently that I started watching/listening to Mariner games on television consistently, but the calls of Dave Niehaus during some of the key moments in the team's history have kept him in the discussion for one of the best around.

But announcers that called games before the steroid era and 1996 lockout didn't have to worry about getting fans back to the games.

They didn't have to worry about trying to convince fans to come back to the ballpark and those 400-foot home runs that hitters were being hit were the product of hard work during the offseason, not something they took in the morning with their breakfast.

The sport of baseball has changed since that year's lockout.

KEEP IN mind, the Montreal Expos led their division before that year's labor stoppage. Now, they are playing in Washington, D.C., as the Nationals.

Also, you can't turn on ESPN or FSN without an in-depth analysis of why a team is struggling and what announcers think they need to do to fix it.

To me, the less I know, the better.

As much as I enjoy watching the game right now and will continue for years to come, I'd settle for a "Holy Cow," instead of a breakdown of why an emotional problem can prevent you from hitting a baseball.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-0239 or via e-mail at jelliott@cdapress.com.