White Sox first year home play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti is getting a chance to continue his dream. He will call the Dodgers-Nationals game on ESPN tonight. The game will start at 9:00 CT. The White Sox game should be over by then.
Jason Benetti’s underdog story will continue when he announces the Dodgers-Nationals game on ESPN Wednesday night. Benetti was hired by the White Sox this off-season to handle the home games. White Sox legendary announcer Ken “Hawk” Harrelson took a step back this season. He is handling only the road games, and will also announce the White Sox games at Wrigley Field.
Benetti will ironically be announcing the game with former Cubs Rick Sutcliffe and Doug Glanville. Benetti has been announcing for ESPN since 2011, but this will be his first MLB game. Per ESPN Benetti has “called college football, college baseball, and college lacrosse telecasts along with high school football and Little League baseball telecasts” He has also worked for Fox Sports, Westwood One and Time Warner.
Benetti is a native of the Chicago area. He grew up a White Sox fan and graduated from Homewood-Flossmoor High School. He went on to the broadcasters farm team at Syracuse University where graduated from in 2005. He earned a law degree from Wake Forest University in 2011.
Benetti’s story is inspirational. He was affiliated with cerebral palsy as a newborn. According to a story on Benetti in the NW Times of Indiana, Benetti was born 10 weeks premature and his parents had to wait three months to bring him home from the hospital.
"“Benetti was born 10 weeks premature. He contracted a virus and lung disorder that required the aid of an oxygen machine, and his parents, Rob and Sue Benetti, didn’t know if they’d be able to bring him home from the hospital. When they did, it was a struggle.”"
WGN-TV’s Josh Fryman had an excellent story on Frydman last month.
The cerebral palsy causes Benetti to walk with a limp and he has a lazy left eye. He had overcome his physical disabilities and is making a name for himself as a top play-by-play announcer.
Homewood-Flossmoor is where Benetti found his niche. After a stint as a tuba player didn’t work out, he became the play-by-play announcer for the band. That led to sports play-by-play, sports updates and a sports talk show.
Tonight Benetti, Sutcliffe, and Glanville will be a part of the ESPN global game series. The focus tonight will be on Mexico. They will have an assortment of guests to celebrate the night and Mexico.
Next: White Sox Pitching Thwarting Red Sox Offense
Benetti will return to the White Sox Friday when they begin a six-game home-stand against Toronto with Minnesota next week.