After 15 years, Jim Powell no longer is a member of the Braves’ radio booth.
Powell, a Roswell native, announced the news on X, formerly known as Twitter. His departure from the Braves was not his decision.
“I have zero regrets,” Powell wrote in his post. “On the contrary, I am so very grateful to have made so many great friends at Turner Field and Truist Park. I feel like I have benefitted from knowing so many great professionals through this experience. I literally have friends from the basement of the stadium to the rafters. I’ll miss seeing you all every day.”
In recent years, Powell, once a staple of the club’s radio booth, had worked fewer and fewer games.
The Braves’ main radio announcers are Ben Ingram and Joe Simpson. Ingram, who last year was named the National Sports Media Association’s Georgia Sportscaster of the Year, is entering his 14th season with the Braves Radio Network. Simpson, who formerly called the games on television, has spent 32 seasons as a Braves broadcaster.
When he spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday afternoon, Powell had just gotten breakfast with a college buddy before going to Costco in the rain. He had peeked at his post on X and saw all the comments.
“They all are exceedingly kind,” Powell said. “They make me really proud and very grateful. I’ve always felt the great support from the Braves fans, the listeners to the Braves Radio Network, dating from the first day Don Sutton and I walked into the booth in Turner Field to work games up until my last game with the Braves. My wife would never believe this, but I’m actually at a loss for words in ways to describe how I feel and how grateful I am for so many kind messages.
“I’m overjoyed that people seem to enjoy my work so much that they would say such nice things in a world where, especially with online social media, 90 percent of it usually is negative for most people. But throughout my time in Atlanta, I’ve had almost unwavering great support and positive comments from the fans. I don’t know how to put that into perspective, honestly, because it blows me away.”
Powell, who had the honor of calling games for his hometown team, is a member of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Before being hired to call Braves games in 2009, he was a member of the Milwaukee Brewers’ broadcast team and worked with Hall of Famer Bob Uecker. He called games on the radio, but was a member of the television booth during the 1990 and 2000 seasons.
Powell began his major-league broadcasting career with the Minnesota Twins in 1993. Before that, he was the play-by-play man for the Charlotte Knights (1990-91, 95) and Columbia Mets (1987-89, 1993-94).
Powell, a University of Georgia alum, worked at WRFC in Athens while he attended the school. Then he worked in Columbia, South Carolina, where he spent time with a TV station and then a radio station.
In 1991, Powell was hired by WSB-AM. He worked weekends for the station, and covered the Braves, Georgia Bulldogs and Falcons for two years.
Then he received his first opportunity to call MLB games as a reserve in 1993 and 1994.
Eventually, he lived out a dream calling games for his hometown Braves.
