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Jason Benetti, diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age two, has been named NBC's lead play-by-play voice for *Sunday Night Baseball*, marking a significant return for the network after 26 years.
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Jason Benetti was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a group of permanent motor disorders that affect movement and posture, at just two years old, leaving him with an awkward gait, a lazy eye, and an upbringing where he had to navigate being so visibly different in a world that wasn’t designed to be accommodating for those differences.
Those things were not going to prevent him from achieving his goals.
This year, NBC nabbed Benetti to be its lead play-by-play voice for Sunday Night Baseball as it returns to national coverage of the sport for the first time in 26 years. Long before that, a 21-year-old Benetti, then a recent Syracuse University SI Newhouse School of Public Communications alumn, was sending out a CD of his play-by-play to other alumni, per Sport Business Journal’s Richard Deitsch.
After over two months of waiting, he received a call.
“This was before the time of spam bots, because I remember the number did not come up, like it was a restricted number,” Benetti said. “I answered because I thought it could be Verizon with me being late again on the phone bill. But no, it was Bob Costas.”
Costas alerted Benetti to a writing job that was opening up for his monthly HBO Show, Costas Now, and while he ultimately passed on the opportunity, it all came full circle. Last month, Costas hosted NBC’s new pregame show before a game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and after citing some of the network’s acclaimed MLB voices, including Red Barber and Vin Scully, he threw it to Benetti.
“It feels simultaneously surreal, impossible and full circle,” Benetti said. “I went to school at Syracuse because Bob was one of the people I wanted to be. He was the dream all of us ’90s sportscaster kids were chasing. When I went to Syracuse, a close friend of mine said to me on my last night at home before I left for school, ‘Go be Bob Costas.’ I’m not Bob, but he tossed to me. That feels really special.”
Jason Benetti faced challenges such as an awkward gait and a lazy eye, which made his upbringing difficult in a world not designed for those with visible differences.
Benetti began his broadcasting career by sending out a CD of his play-by-play work to alumni after graduating from Syracuse University.
Benetti's role as the lead play-by-play voice for *Sunday Night Baseball* is significant as it marks NBC's return to national coverage of the sport after 26 years.
Benetti has redefined broadcasting by overcoming personal challenges and achieving a prominent role in sports commentary, inspiring others with disabilities.
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Benetti, who has received acclaim as the lead TV voice of the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox, spent 11 years at ESPN and approximately four years at Fox, calling multiple sports, knows that this is what it has all been leading to, and some of his contemporaries told SBJ that they believe that he is the right man for the moment.
“He’’s one of the five smartest or funniest people I’ve ever met, all wrapped into the same person,” ESPN broadcaster and Toronto Blue Jays television voice Dan Shulman said. “He’s unbelievably quick with a movie reference, something historical or political, or a joke. He’s unbelievably well-read.
“He can talk about a million different things on the air. As for his broadcast style, he’ll take chances most of us won’t take. I don’t think I would have the guts or the ability to try to say some of the things that he does. But it’s his personality and it’s who he is off the air as well. In a sense, he is kind of redefining the position a little bit because it’s not just X’s and O’s with him. Now, he never misses the X’s or O’s, but he also can do a little improv and all these pop culture references.”
“I just could not be more proud of him. I think he’s a wonderful human being,” ESPN’s Joe Buck said. “He’s obviously been through a lot, but he’s never let anything stop him. He just keeps plowing ahead. He’s funny. He can laugh at himself. I think he’s on top of the action and mixes in humor brilliantly. He is as good as there is, and I would watch him call anything.”
“He’s a gifted broadcaster who has always held himself to an extremely high standard,” said Ian Eagle of CBS, Prime Video, and YES Network. “It may be validating from the outside, but within the business, there was never any doubt. It was just a matter of time and circumstance before he earned one of those spots. He’s already had an amazing career, and the best part is that now the whole country gets to enjoy his intellect, levity, and natural talent on baseball telecasts.”
“I’m so excited for Jason. I had a couple of people ask what I thought about Jason going to NBC and leaving Fox,” Fox’s lead MLB voice Joe Davis said. “I said I absolutely get it because it’s his chance to go be the guy somewhere. I’m also happy for us as baseball fans that we’re going to get to hear more of him, because I think he’s brilliant.”
For his part, it means a lot to Benetti that his role in the fan experience has been so well received.
“If I’m someone who has brought joy in whatever way I have, well, I’m proud to be able to have done that. And there’s reciprocal joy for me in that, too.”
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