Jason Benetti ‘fulfilled’ to be first person with cerebral palsy in top MLB booth

Syndication: The Enquirer

When Jason Benetti was hired as the top MLB announcer for NBC Sports’ new package earlier this year, baseball fans rejoiced.

From his time calling local White Sox and Tigers games through his years at Fox, Benetti has long been a fan (and industry) favorite. Getting the Sunday Night Baseball job was his coronation.

But it was also a groundbreaking hire given that Benetti lives with cerebral palsy. So while Benetti has long worked to get the opportunity to be a top announcer, he recently acknowledged that he had serious doubts about whether a network would give him that chance.

In a recent interview on the Effectively Wild podcast, Benetti opened up on those doubts, even admitting to disagreements with friends over the years about whether the disorder would get in the way of his career aspirations.

“I had never been this before. And so to look myself in the mirror and say, ‘This has been a successful career,’ I can truly tell you both that I’m good now, in terms of the earthly needs of broadcasting,” Benetti said.

“I would have wondered, would somebody put a person with cerebral palsy in the lead chair? However many of my friends text me and say that’s wrong, you don’t have to think about it, you wouldn’t have had to think about it, that’s BS. Because nobody’s done that before. And so now that that’s happened, I am fulfilled in that regard.”

Benetti has always offered a refreshingly human perspective on life and sports, one that seems to have helped as he patiently awaited his chance at a job like .