Durham, N.C. — For the second time in three years, the American Association lost a valuable member of their fraternity to melanoma. Scott Miller, the voice of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks passed away in late February and Brian Rose, the bench coach for the Wichita Wingnuts, passed away in late January, 2013. The league will honor these two men with the Brian Rose/Scott Miller Man of the Year Award.
The award will represent what these two men stood for: dedication to their craft, hard work and determination, kindness and community service. Each of the 12 American Association teams will nominate one player from their team that exemplifies these characteristics. The players will be those that play within the rules of the game during the season, give it their all game-in-and-game-out plus give back to their community through charitable work and community appearances during the season. Each of the 12 representatives will be revealed during the August 2 All-Star Game in St. Paul. The league office will then narrow these 12 representatives down to three finalists. The three finalists will appear on the Post-Season award ballot that goes out to all the teams and will be voted on by two representatives from each team: the manager and a media representative. The voters will be aided with a short bio describing what the finalists did during the season to deserve the Brian Rose/Scott Miller Man of the Year Award.
With the passing of Miller this past off-season the American Association broadcasters will honor him by wearing a lapel pin all season long. The pin is a baseball diamond with a microphone extending from home plate to second base and a black band across from first base to third base with Miller’s initials “S.M.” written in white letters over the black. At the bottom of the pin near home plate is Miller’s famous catchphrase “MY OH MY.”
Miller will have the press box at Newman Outdoor Field named after him during the RedHawks opening night, May 27 against Rose’s former team the Wichita Wingnuts. He began as the RedHawks play-by-play voice in 2006 and was also the voice of the North Dakota State Bison football, calling five straight FCS Championship seasons, and men’s basketball, including three NCAA Tournament teams.
The American Association season begins on Thursday, May 19.