Baseball Can Be Simplified Into a Basic Game of Throw the Ball, Hit the Ball and Catch the Ball
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Sports Baseball can be simplified into a basic game of throw the ball, hit the ball and catch the ball. Yet pleasant baritones perched above stadium decks call such sequences as if they were poetry in motion. Their artistic dialogue has bridged the gaps between generations much like the game’s glorious history does. Fans recognize the voices of Scully, Harwell and Buck telling stories about Koufax, Kaline and Musial better than their relatives. Baseball and its broadcasters blissfully eased Americans into turning the sport into the nation’s pastime. Matt Vasgersian is a product of the greats on and off the diamond. Today, he shares a host of stories on MLB Network and FOX as a play-by-play announcer. Text Manouk Akopyan | Photo Armen Poghosyan here are hegemonies in sports broadcasting. However, there was an unfulfilled benchmark on his The Bucks, Careys, Alberts, Kalases, and Brennemans credits list – calling a baseball playoff game. Last Tare just some of the notables among them. Their October, he took care of that by announcing game children were raised on sports, brushing shoulders with two of the Divisional Series between the Detroit legends before learning to brush their hair. Getting a job Tigers and Oakland Athletics. in the business was a foregone conclusion – they were After centerfielder Coco Crisp dropped a fly ball that successors synonymous with the surname. would have preserved a lead, Vasgersian yelled, “...and Matt Vasgersian didn’t have such luxuries. he can’t make the catch! Two runs will score and the He was the successor to his Boston Red Sox-loving Tigers have taken the lead! Santa Maria!” father, Ed – a former Marine who spent a career in Santa Maria is the occasional euphemism Vasgersian San Francisco’s law enforcement. Ed schooled his drops for his “Holy ----!” moments. Oakland Athletics-loving son on baseball. Fans have known the witty Vasgersian well before his Vasgersian was born in 1967, a year before the A’s postseason debut; his professional ascent has played relocated from Kansas City. After a World Series out to plenty of satisfying Santa Maria’s. He currently three-peat from 1972-74, Matt was hooked and spent calls games and hosts a variety of shows for the MLB his formative years at Oakland–Alameda County Network. He’s also the play-by-play guy for FOX’s Coliseum as a diehard fan, listening to Bill King. Saturday Baseball Game of the Week and the voice The late King called A’s, Golden State Warriors and behind Sony Playstation’s MLB The Show since 2005. Oakland Raiders games, all of Matt’s favorite teams. He previously worked as the play-by-play man for “I always knew that I wanted to be in broadcasting, the Milwaukee Brewers for five years and the San but I never knew if it would actually happen,” says Diego Padres for seven, but before the big leagues Painting Vasgersian, who was also a child actor. and national audiences, he toiled in small-time radio Well, it did happen. across every stage of the minors. Today, Matt Vasgersian is 45 years old, looks 25, “It’s going to sound like false humility, but I’ve and has been a baseball announcer for half his life. been in the right places at the right time,” says the He estimates calling over three thousand games Vasgersian. “Even if you’re not everyone’s cup of tea, and has broadcast everything from the Olympics to at the very least you hope that you are respected. I the NFL and college sports to blackjack and poker feel that I’ve worked hard enough for that and to be programming. deserving of the opportunities that I was given.” 84 | March/April 2013 Pitch 2013 March/April | 85 Sports Matt Vasgersian Matt Vasgersian is currently an MLB ‣ Major Leagues: Milwaukee ‣ Football ‣ Other Credits Network play-by-play announcer, Brewers (1997-2001), San Diego FOX NFL Sunday (2005-2008), USC Trojans basketball anchor and studio host. Since the Padres (2002-2008), FOX Sports Toyota Gator Bowl (2001), (2004-2006), network’s launch in 2009, he’s Net’s Baseball Thursday, FX’s FedEx Orange Bowl (2007), Sony Playstation’s Backdoor Slider regularly appeared on MLB Network Baseball Saturday Night Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (2008, 2009) MLB The Show (2005-Present), In order to be a play-by-play man, you need to be an could be a part of it. He’s always been thankful, but Showcase, MLB Tonight, Hot Stove, ‣ Minor Leagues: Single-A UFC 56 (2005), artist. It requires methodical consistency while being he doesn’t have to be.” Quick Pitch as well as other feature (Cubs, 1991), Single-A (Padres, ‣ Olympics FX’s Toughman World Championship able to speak with the comfortable rhythm of the Vasgersian’s rise through the minors between programming. He also serves as the 1992), Double-A El Paso (Brewers, 2004 Athens Games (baseball Series (three-seasons) ocean at night. And yeah, you also need thick skin. 1991-96 covered a stop at every level, where he play-by-play announcer for MLB 1993-1994), Triple-A Syracuse and softball), 2006 Torino Games The National Heads-Up Although Matt was born in Berkeley and raised a successfully doubled as an advertising agent, a on FOX. Baseball has always been (Blue Jays, 1995), Triple-A Tucson (ski-jumping), 2008 Beijing Games Poker Championship, half-hour away in Moraga, he did not get into Cal or common occurrence in the minors. Being a dual at the center of his career, but he’s (Astros, 1996), ESPN2's (daily studio coverage), 2010 Poker Superstars, Stanford, he says, so he moved to Southern California threat asset allowed him to climb through the ranks. worked across other sports. Baseball Across America (1995) Vancouver Games (ski-jumping) Celebrity Blackjack on GSN in 1985 to attend USC. By 1989, he graduated “Organizations had to justify having a broadcaster as a communications major, and was working at on payroll. I had to sell outfield fence signs and radio Universal Studios in Hollywood as a tour guide. He commercials. I didn’t enjoy it, but I was successful at it.” then got a PA job, but was nowhere close to getting Thanks to Michael Jordan’s midlife crisis that his foot into broadcasting. At 22, he simply didn’t was minor league baseball and the eventual know how to do it. craze that ensued, ESPN launched game-of-the- Then as fate would have it, he caught a break week programming. It was a low-paying gig through the Western Diocese of the Armenian that established guys didn’t want and a perfect Apostolic Church’s summer camp. Vasgersian, opportunity for Vasgersian to have time away from an ordained sub-deacon at Oakland’s St. Vartan’s radio and build a TV tape reel. Church, attended the annual camp both as a child With that, on April 1, 1997, the 29-year-old Matt and young adult, where he took on such roles as Vasgersian was called up to the majors. campfire coordinator and counselor. He was now the play-by-play man for the Milwaukee That’s when Vasgersian met Dr. Jim Amerian, who Brewers. “There isn’t a moment where I don’t expect him to say something funny. I have to be very careful that I am not eating something that could come out. He had me choking on a pretzel once,” says John Smoltz, Vasgersian’s game analyst at MLB Network. The Natural owned a 20% share of a minor league team in West Whether it’s video gamers incessantly playing to Matt Vasgersian Virginia. After night-long conversations about the sound of his voice, baseball die-hards watching alongside analyst baseball, the two became fast friends. A few months him year-round, or his 98-year-old grandmother who MLB Network Harold Reynolds later, Amerian called with a promising opportunity – follows him without understanding baseball, Matt the team’s announcer was leaving, and he asked Vasgersian has a legion of fans. Vasgersian to send in his reel. What gives him the it factor is his charismatic smartass by nature. But being honest with myself, Outspoken and clever by nature, it’s exactly the Matt went to the third deck of Dodgers Stadium, personality, the moments where he pushes the envelope there are moments where I should be straighter.” reason why Vasgersian can’t be found on the loaded recorded a demo-tape and sent it to Amerian, who by not resisting the temptations of innocuous humor. Analyst John Smoltz tells Yerevan Magazine that gun known as Twitter, a platform where fan feedback shared it with his partners. Soon Vasgersian was headed In today’s DVR culture, every broadcaster’s blunder Vasgersian’s unique ability to balance a broadcast with is either flattering or borderline susceptible to filing to Huntington, West Virginia to call short-season is magnified. Viewers wait to point out mistakes his humor has made the former eight-time National a police report. Single-A ballgames for the Chicago Cubs affiliate. just as much as they anticipate the final outcome League All-Star’s transition into TV much smoother. “I don’t trust myself on Twitter,” says Vasgersian, “It was a low-risk move. Even though I made $500 of a game. A garden variety of Vasgersian’s gaffes “There isn’t a moment where I don’t expect him to frankly. “I’m not particularly comfortable with a month, I would have worked for free,” remembers have landed him on watchdog websites in the past.