Brickhouse’s Death a Jolt to Ken Brett

In the same week that former Angel announcer Bob Starr died of lung fibrosis, baseball has lost Chicago broadcasting legend Jack Brickhouse.

Brickhouse, the voice of the Chicago Cubs for nearly four decades, died early Thursday at a Chicago hospital. He was 82.

Cardiac arrest was given as the cause of death.

Brickhouse underwent brain surgery March 3 for a two-centimeter tumor doctors discovered after his leg gave way while he was getting dressed to attend the Feb. 28 funeral of Harry Caray, who replaced Brickhouse in the Cubs’ television booth in 1982.

The deaths of Starr and Brickhouse were particularly unsettling for another baseball announcer, Ken Brett, who now lives in the coastal community of Cayucos, Calif.

Brett, who along with play-by-play announcer Drew Goodman will work Saturday’s Boston-Texas game for the FX cable network, was a colleague of Starr with the Angels and, like Brickhouse, was the victim of a brain tumor earlier this year.

For Brett, 50, the first sign that something was wrong was a tingling in his right toes and fingers. When the feeling hit him while he was driving, he decided it was time to find out what was wrong.

“My family was in the car, and I had to grab the wheel with my left hand,” Brett said. “I told my wife, ‘That’s it, I’m going to a doctor tomorrow.’ ”

He first went to his family doctor, David McBride in nearby Cambria, who sent him to a neurologist in San Luis Obispo, Phillip Kissel, who discovered the tumor.

“My first thought was, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” Brett said. “I was blown away.”

Less than a week later, on April 30, Brett had brain surgery and a tumor a little smaller than a golf ball was removed. After a three-day hospital stay and a five-week recovery period, Brett went to work for FX on June 6.

“I told my doctor that I’d been out of broadcasting for two years and it was very important that I start my new job on time,” Brett said.

Brett has since gone through radiation treatments--27 days’ worth, every weekday for five-plus weeks. His last treatment was Monday, the day Starr died.

“Mine is a good story because I’m not going to die,” Brett said. “I lost some hair, but I can live with that.

“I know [the tumor] can come back. I have to get an MRI about every six months or so. But I was lucky. My tumor was a Grade II. My friend Dan Quisenberry has a Grade IV.”

Quisenberry was a teammate of Brett for two seasons with the Kansas City Royals and a longtime teammate of Brett’s brother, George, with the Royals.

The news of Brickhouse’s passing, coming on the heels of Starr’s death and Quisenberry’s illness, has Brett reexamining his life.

“It’s all a reminder of just how much we should all enjoy life,” Brett said. “I seem to find more time for my family now. I hug my kids [twins Casey and Sheridan, 11] a lot more than I did before, probably more than they want me to, and I bought myself a ’92 Porsche.”

SHORT WAVES

Because L.A. remains without an NFL team, Fox Sports West 2 will televise four Charger exhibition games, beginning with Saturday’s 7 p.m. contest against the San Francisco 49ers. Fox Sports West 2 is picking up the feed from San Diego’s Channel 8. Dan Fouts is the play-by-play announcer and broadcasting newcomer Stan Humphries the analyst. Fox Sports West 2 is not seen in San Diego because Dodger telecasts would have to be blacked out there.

Humphries also will be part of Channel 2’s new locally produced NFL show, which makes its debut Sept. 6. Other cast members will be co-hosts Jim Hill and Bret Lewis; XTRA’s Steve Hartman, a regular on Channel 2’s “Sports Central,” and correspondent Lisa Guerrero, a former Raiderette who appears on the NBC soap opera “Sunset Beach.” Why is Guerrero part of the show? Well, it has nothing to do with her NFL expertise.

Channel 2 will televise a two-hour edition of “Sports Central” on Saturday, with the second hour serving as a lead-in to the Oakland Raider-Dallas Cowboy exhibition game at 6 p.m. Hill will report from Dallas, with Hartman reporting from San Diego, site of the Charger-49er game.

At CNN-SI, Vince Cellini and Bob Lorenz are trading places. Beginning Monday, Cellini joins Fred Hickman as co-host of CNN’s nightly “Sports Tonight” program, while Lorenz becomes host of CNN’s “NFL Preview” and “College Football Preview.” . . . TNT, better known for its pro wrestling shows, has announced its entry into boxing with three title fights from Madison Square Garden on Sept. 22. The card will feature Pomona’s “Sugar” Shane Mosley, who will defend his International Boxing Federation lightweight title against No. 1 contender Eduardo Morales.

Goodwill Games ratings on TBS finished with a 1.6 average, up from a 1.4 in 1994. . . . Peter Liguori, who this week was named the new president of FX, comes from a sports background. As senior vice president of marketing for the Fox/Liberty networks, he helped launch Fox Sports Net. Liguori replaces Mark Sonnenberg, who was named head of Fox/Liberty ventures.

A moving report on former Detroit Red Wing Vladimir Konstantinov, still paralyzed from the injuries suffered in a limousine accident last year, was shown on the syndicated TV show “XTRA” this week and will be repeated on Saturday’s show at 7 p.m. on Channel 4. Reporter Rick Schwartz was given access to Konstantinov’s therapy session at the Detroit Medical Center. . . . Shaquille O’Neal chose sides in the Jim Rome-Joe McDonnell petty quarrel by saying, “Jim Rome really wants to be like Big Joe. Rome is not that good. Big Joe is the man.” Of course Shaq said that on Big Joe’s show on Thursday. Wonder what he would have said if he’d been on Rome’s show?

IN CLOSING

Of all the Bob Starr tributes this week, possibly the best comes from Bob Costas, a one-time colleague at St. Louis’ KMOX who still lives in St. Louis. “He was the best radio announcer I’ve ever heard,” Costas told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dan Caesar. “He was a good baseball announcer, but a great football announcer. Bob Starr was a warm and decent man.”

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Aug. 1-2, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Baseball: Dodgers at New York Mets 5 4.6 10 Pro football: Pittsburgh vs. Tampa Bay 7 4.0 9 Baseball: Boston at Angels 11 3.6 10 Auto racing: NASCAR Brickyard 400 7 3.0 9 Goodwill Games: Boxing, figure skating 2 2.6 8 Golf: FedEx St. Jude Classic 2 2.2 6 Auto racing: IROC at Indianapolis 7 1.8 5 Pro basketball: WNBA, Cleveland at Houston 4 1.4 4 Cycling: Tour de France 7 0.8 3

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Cable Network Rating Share Pro football: Green Bay vs. Kansas City ESPN 2.8 6 Goodwill Games: Beach volleyball, swimming TBS 2.0 4 Goodwill Games: Boxing HBO 0.9 4 Golf: Senior Utah Showdown ESPN 0.7 2 Tennis: Mercedes-Benz Cup, first semifinal FSW 0.7 2 Golf: USGA Curtis Cup ESPN 0.5 1 Golf: LPGA du Maurier Classic ESPN 0.4 1 Baseball: Chicago White Sox at Texas TBS 0.2 0 Tennis: Mercedes-Benz Cup, second semifinal FSW 0.2 0 Soccer: MLS All-Star skills competition ESPN 0.2 0 Pro football: Hall of Fame inductions ESPN2 0.1 0 SUNDAY Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Baseball: Dodgers at New York Mets 5 5.5 15 Golf: FedEx St. Jude Classic 2 3.1 9 Soccer: MLS All-Star game 7 2.3 6 Goodwill Games: Boxing, figure skating 2 2.0 5 Triathlon: Ironman World Championship 4 1.8 5 Cycling: Tour de France 7 1.0 3 Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: New York Yankees at Seattle ESPN 1.3 3 Drag racing: NHRA Northwest Nationals ESPN2 0.6 1 Goodwill Games: Figure skating, swimming TBS 1.6 3 Tennis: Mercedes-Benz Cup final FSW 0.6 1 Golf: Senior Utah Showdown ESPN 0.7 2 Boxing: Drake Thadzi vs. John Scully ESPN2 0.5 1 Golf: LPGA du Maurier Classic ESPN 0.4 1 Golf: USGA Curtis Cup ESPN 0.3 1 Golf: USGA Curtis Cup, early coverage ESPN2 0.2 1 Auto racing: NASCAR Craftsman Trucks TBS 0.2 1 Baseball: St. Louis at Atlanta WGN 0.2 1

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Note: Each rating point represents 50,092 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.