Cameron Maybin is diving head-first into his broadcasting career, signing up to call New York Yankees broadcasts for YES Network while also joining Marquee Sports Network and MLB Network as a studio analyst.
But the Yankees were the first team to give Maybin a shot at broadcasting, auditioning him with Michael Kay and drawing raves for his tryout. (Fellow YES Network play-by-play broadcaster Ryan Ruocco echoed those sentiments.)
Kay invited his new on-air partner on The Michael Kay Show to talk about the decision to retire and his ambitions in broadcasting. Is Maybin comfortable with the idea that if he’s good at this and has a long career in the booth, more fans might remember him as a broadcaster than a player?
“Absolutely. One thing that I said when I decided I wanted to try my hand at this is, I don’t want to be another guy,” Maybin said. “I want to win awards, I want to win Emmys, I want to bring recognition to the club, to the YES Network. I want to grow my brand, as well.”
“I was never an All-Star, I played 15 years, and I said let me give myself a chance to be an All-Star at something else,” he continued. “I’m not saying it’s going to happen right out of the gate, but I’m surrounding myself with great people that I can rely on, get advice from, bounce ideas off of, and learn from. I’m a very teachable guy.”
Kay brings up an intriguing point about athletes becoming more known as broadcasters. Maybin has a long way to go before that, of course, but if he does become established and well-known with YES Network viewers and Yankees fans (or a different network and fanbase), that could define his career to later generations.
Chris Broussard and Rob Parker touched on that same subject when discussing Mark Jackson and Charles Barkley. How many know Jackson as a star for St. John’s, the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers. Barkley is a Hall of Famer, one of the greatest players in league history. But how many current NBA fans watched him play?
Maybin, only 34, feels he still has the athleticism to play at the major-league level, but was disheartened by only getting minor-league offers (albeit it from 22 teams). So why not try something else, something he could be good at and achieve a level of notoriety and stardom? He begins his YES Network broadcasting career with Kay this weekend.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
