“Santa Maria!”, when you hear it, you know you’re tuned into an MLB game with Matt Vasgersian on the mic. More on the catchphrase in a moment. Vasgersian is one of those guys that you seemingly see everywhere. Why? Because he’s pretty much everywhere. Turn on MLB Network, there he is. Tune into Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, yep, he’s there. Now, catch an Angels baseball game on TV and he’ll be there too.
Vasgersian has been around the baseball block since the early 90’s. He spent six-seasons as a Minor League broadcaster before being hired for his first MLB gig. Vasgersian was only 29 when he became the play-by-play voice of the Milwaukee Brewers. He worked in that booth from 1997-2001. Matt then took his skills to San Diego, being named the TV voice of the Padres in 2002. He stayed in America’s Finest City until 2008, leaving for the MLB Network after the season.
Along the way, the very busy Vasgersian held down several other positions in prominent broadcast locations. He joined Fox Sports in 2006, working NFL telecasts, MLB Game of the Week games and playoffs and some College Football BCS games. He joined ESPN in 2018 to take over the Sunday Night Baseball lead role, while continuing his role at MLB Network.
Did I mention he was a busy guy?
This year he took on more of a workload and became the new play-by-play man for the Los Angeles Angels’ telecasts succeeding Victor Rojas. Vasgersian will work remotely and will do as many Angels games as his national schedule allows.
He told the Angels media via Zoom the reasoning for taking on this job. “I kind of missed getting my skin in the game with a team,” Vasgersian said. “There’s a fine line between a national presentation of a product, when you’re doing a game for a fan base that knows more about their teams than you do, and doing a game as a team broadcaster where you are much more intimately informed as to what happened last night, and the night before and the personalities behind the game. I kind of missed that and kind of missed being involved with a team and rooting a little bit. The hope is that you appeal to the fan base as a friendly voice.”
When will this guy sleep?
BEST KNOWN FOR
Vasgersian first burst onto the national scene doing play-by-play for the original version of the XFL back in 2001. The league was new and Vince McMahon was in charge and wanted things done a certain way. Vasgersian’s time with the league was tenuous; during the first broadcast he said, “I feel uncomfortable” after a suggestive shot of the cheerleaders. McMahon didn’t like that very much and immediately demoted Vasgersian from the top telecast. NBC wanted Vasgersian back on the first team broadcast and he returned about halfway through the season.
He made a good impression on the higher ups at NBC which ultimately led to five Olympic assignments. Vasgersian called baseball and softball from the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, ski jumping from the 2006 and 2010 Winter Games and freestyle skiing from the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.
Now, about that catchphrase, “Santa Maria!”. It’s not a copy, it’s an original. Oh, and it has nothing to do with one of the ships that sailed to find America in 1492. Vasgersian explained the origin to MLB.com in 2018.
“Man, I wish there was a better story to this. [Laughing]. My family — and my sister, in particular, has one of her oldest friends — [from an] Italian family. My sister’s friend’s mother is a wonderfully animated Italian woman, who says “Santa Maria!” at a drop of a hat. For example, she goes to the grocery store and sees tomatoes are on sale. She will say, “Santa Maria, what a deal!” he explained. “I spent enough time around this wonderful lady for her to rub off on me a little bit. And I started saying “Santa Maria!” when there would be some kind of superlative moment on a baseball field. When I was in the Minors, you never want to sound gimmicky, but I try to keep it in my pocket for the right time. It’s kind of a sanctioned way of saying “Holy Blank.”
So, there you go, the explanation right from Vasgersian himself.
WHY IS HE SO GOOD?
Vasgersian has a way about him. Not too many broadcasters are able to showcase immense talent in describing action and adding personality, wit and a sense of humor in with it. He can do it. The style isn’t for everyone, but to me in watching a baseball game, I want to be entertained, I want to laugh a little too. All of this of course shouldn’t interfere with the game itself and for Vasgersian he makes that a priority.
He’s been known to get excitable on a broadcast, but not to the point where it’s out of bounds in a broadcast sense. Big plays happen and Vasgersian’s voice goes to a different level. He’s excited and you can sense it pretty easily. There’s a “smile” in his vocal range during a big moment, key homer, or great defensive play. In some announcers it seems forced, that’s not the case with Vasgersian at all.
Vasgersian clearly enjoys what he does for a living. It’s pretty obvious by the way he comes across in each broadcast. You could forgive a guy with as busy a schedule as his to sometimes sound less than interested, but that isn’t the case for Vasgersian. The more games, the merrier to him.
Along those lines, it can’t be easy to prep for so many games in a week. He does have the advantage of being very dialed into the baseball scene with his work on MLB Network. But still, its impressive the amount of information he’s able to work into a game without a ton of time to prepare.
It seems that everyone he works with enjoys being on a broadcast with him. Vasgersian keeps an analyst on his/her toes. He seemingly is able to work with anyone they throw at him. He works with Alex Rodriguez and that isn’t easy to do. Still, he’s able to navigate Baseball Road when A-Rod continuously wants to take him down A-Rod Avenue.
DID YOU KNOW?
Vasgersian started his career as a child actor? I didn’t know that and I worked with him for a couple of years in San Diego. Vasgersian appeared in an episode of “The Streets of San Francisco” and the movie “The Candidate” starring Robert Redford.
CONCLUSION
Vasgersian is a very talented guy, they just don’t give out high profile jobs to anyone. His success has been earned because he’s a hard-working person that constantly is honing his craft. His combination of pop culture, humor, sarcasm and wit are well balanced within his broadcasts, making them not only entertaining but informative. Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be all about anyway?
Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at Andy@Andy-Masur.com.
