Aaron Goldsmith

Aaron Goldsmith
Born	(1983-08-29) August 29, 1983 (age 41) Wichita, Kansas
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Principia College (IL)
Sports commentary career
Genre	Play-by-play
Sport(s)	Major League Baseball, College football, College basketball, National Football League

Aaron Goldsmith (born August 29, 1983, in Wichita, Kansas) is an American sportscaster who leads play-by-play on selected games for Root Sports Northwest for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball.^[1] In the off-season, he provides play-by-play for Pac-12 basketball on Fox Sports 1.

Early years

Goldsmith was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He obtained a History degree from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois.^[2]

Career

Upon graduation, Goldsmith began play-by-play broadcasting as an intern for Gateway Grizzlies games. In 2007, he provided 2-innings of play-by-play for each home game.^[3] Goldsmith followed this up with an unpaid internship with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and then a similar position with the Portland Sea Dogs. In all cases, he called select games or innings,^[4] and often found himself starving after calling games.^[5]

After a brief time with the Sea Dogs, Goldsmith worked as the play-by-play voice for the Frisco RoughRiders. He also served as the team's manager of broadcasting and public relations. Goldsmith remained with the RoughRiders for two seasons.^[6] During his time with the RoughRiders, Goldsmith proposed to his wife, Heather, and she accepted.^[5]

In 2012, Goldsmith was hired to be the play-by-play voice for the Pawsox Radio Network, provided play-by-play for every game that season, a first for himself. Goldsmith admits he joined the PawSox because of their history of producing big-name announcers; he knew that was not guaranteed.^[6]

In 2013, Goldsmith joined the Mariners announcing team alongside Rick Rizzs. Goldsmith and his family now live in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland. Goldsmith's play-by-play style is often attributed to an adaptation of Vin Scully,^[7] but Goldsmith attributes his style to his work with Eric Nadel and Dave O'Brien.^[6] On December 26, 2021, he was a last-minute substitution for Gus Johnson, teaming with Aqib Talib for an NFL on FOX game in Seattle between the Chicago Bears and the Seattle Seahawks. Goldsmith has yet to win the Washington State Sportscaster of the Year award, three times losing out to famed former Mariners Broadcaster Dave Sims.^[8] In January 2023, Goldsmith elected to remain with the Mariners after being the St. Louis Cardinals' top candidate for their lead TV job.^[9] During a 2023 Spring Training interview, Goldsmith's broadcast partner Gary Hill revealed that Goldsmith plans to debut the catchphrase "How do you do?!" for big calls during the season, although he's yet to use it.^[10]

References

1. "Severe weather delays Mariners' arrival in Texas". seattletimes.com. April 27, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
2. "PawSox Broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith to join Mariners". MiLB.com. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
3. "Meet new Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith". Retrieved January 17, 2013.
4. "Mariners tab Goldsmith as radio play-by-play man". Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
5. "Mariners add Aaron Goldsmith to broadcast team: Aaron Goldsmith, 29, who broadcast games of the Class AAA Pawtucket Red Sox last season, will team with Rick Rizzs in the radio booth". Archived from the original on January 4, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
6. "Getting 'the call' to make the calls: Mariners tap PawSox's Goldsmith as radio broadcaster". Retrieved February 8, 2013.
7. "M's rookie announcer Goldsmith has what it takes: But how far does describing the game go in a city where the franchise itself is the real story?". Archived from the original on August 20, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
8. "Washington".
9. Cardinals narrow field of play-by-play candidates to two. One has a metro-east tie.
10. "Gary Hill (M's Radio Network) on his early Spring standouts - Bump and Stacy".

External links

• Seattle Mariners Archived August 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine – Broadcasters