Better Know A Broadcaster: Jesse Goldberg-Strassler

With baseball paused for the foreseeable future, Baseball America has decided to introduce you to some of the men and women who work as broadcasters for each club. Our first installment introduced you to Alex Cohen. 

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What Is Your Name?

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, proudly hyphenated.

Which Team Do You Work For? 

Lansing Lugnuts

Which Other Baseball Teams Have You Broadcasted For? 

Ithaca College Bombers, Brockton Rox (hosted the post-game call-in show! How many minor league teams have post-game call-in shows?), Montgomery Biscuits, Windy City ThunderBolts

What Other Sports Have You Broadcasted? 

Basketball, football, one game of hockey, one game of lacrosse. I’ve also done audio description for the visually impaired for live performances of “Jesus Christ: Superstar.” Does that count?

Who Is Your Favorite MLB Broadcaster Of All Time? 

Jon Miller circa his Baltimore Orioles days: descriptive, melodic and funny

Where Is Your Favorite Road City? 

Fort Wayne, Indiana, home of the apple dumpling a la mode and Cindy’s Diner.

What Is Your Career Highlight? 

Being named Ballpark Digest’s 2019 Minor League Baseball Broadcaster of the Year.

Hear Jesse Calling Two Games At Once Here:

 

What Unseen Parts Of The Job Do You Feel People Should Know About? 

All other duties as assigned is very true; I was the receptionist and mascot in Brockton for my first month in town. I’d say the biggest misconception is that if the game runs from 7 p.m. to 9:45 p.m., that’s pretty much our work day. (I work 13-14 hours on a normal 7:05 p.m. game day.) I’m involved with every other department, making sure our messaging and communication is clear—what should I be posting on social media, what should be foremost on the website, what should we promote in TV and radio interviews, what should I talk about on the broadcast that night? Everything is about cohesiveness. I also take pride in being the ambassador, walking between the worlds of the front office, the baseball team, the media, and the fans. I have to understand everyone’s priorities and do what I can for everyone. They all matter to me.

What’s Your Best Story From The Road? 

We pulled into Clinton, Iowa, at 2 a.m. The hotel rooms weren’t ready, even though they had said they were prepared when the athletic trainer called them an hour earlier. The athletic trainer, exasperated and tired, found another hotel for all of the players. The staff, including me, waited at the original hotel for our rooms to be prepared. At 3 a.m., I was given the green light to enter my room. I was awoken an hour or so later by the sound of a phone ringing. It wasn’t my cell phone, which I’d turned off. It wasn’t the room phone. This ringing was coming from… the bathroom. Half-awake, I made my way to the bathroom and found the source of the ringing. I answered it, why not? A voice at the other end asked, “Hey, what room is Matt in?” Through my bleary thoughts, I understood. I told the caller, “Hang on.” In my bare feet and pajamas (and blindly, too, since I had forgotten to put on my glasses in my tiredness), I went downstairs to the front desk. “It’s for you,” I told the guy sitting there. It was the front desk’s cordless phone. Hope that caller located Matt all right.