Dream big, because you never know how things will turn out. Ryan Ruocco is living proof.
“If you look at my fifth-grade yearbook, under career goals, it says to play and announce for the Yankees,” Ruocco told the Daily News in 2023. “The playing didn’t work out, but the announcing has. I kind of knew it right away.”
Ruocco grew up idolizing Derek Jeter and several years later was covering the Yankees for the YES Network. Not bad for a kid from Fishkill, NY, which is a little over 60 miles north of Manhattan.
The dream began as a student at Fordham University. There, Ruocco called Rams football and basketball on WFUV. Ruocco’s path to doing play-by-play for a living, included working at YES as an intern and as an in-booth statistician. He gave ESPN Radio updates and was even an in-game host featured on the scoreboard at Yankee Stadium.
There was a method to his madness when it came to the road he followed.
“I just sort of had this natural progression where people got to know me for one thing, saw my work ethic, took an interest in me, then listened to my work and said, ‘Oh, we think Ryan’s pretty good.’ My whole mentality was if you crack the door open, I’ll kick it down,” Ruocco told the Daily News.
He’s doing just that.
PROFESSIONAL WORK
We almost have to split his work in the profession into local and national. The local part also seems like a national job because it’s the Yankees. He’s a busy guy.
ESPN
Ruocco joined ESPN in 2008 working in a variety of roles, including calling college basketball and football on ESPN Radio. He was also the host of ESPN Radio SportsCenter and later became one of the voices of The NFL on ESPN Radio, starting with the 2013 NFL season. Also, that year, Ruocco was named the lead play-by-play voice for the network’s coverage of the WNBA, a role he still holds today. He also serves as the lead play-by-play announcer for Women’s College Basketball, including the Women’s NCAA Tournament.
Last year, ESPN formed a second core NBA broadcast team for the season, with Ruocco as play-by-play and former NBA players Richard Jefferson and JJ Redick as analysts. The three called the NBA Sunday Showcase series on ABC and worked into the NBA playoffs.
YES Network
Ruocco joined the Nets broadcast team in 2011. He is one of the play-by-play announcers on the Nets’ telecasts. He’s also called select college basketball games on the network.
Along the way he’s hosted pre-/post-game shows for Yankees telecasts and This Week in Football for YES, which focused on the New York Giants and New York Jets.
Ruocco added Yankees’ play-by-play in 2015, when he called a series against the Astros. During the 2019 baseball season, he stepped up as the main voice of the team, when Michael Kay underwent vocal cord surgery. Ruocco also had the distinction of filling in for the legendary radio voice John Sterling in July of 2019. Sterling decided to take a day off for the first time since 1989, a span of 5,060 straight Yankees games.
WHAT MAKES HIM GOOD?
Ruocco’s voice is unmistakable. That’s a good thing, because he doesn’t sound like the prototypical, stereotyped play-by-play guy. He’s easy on the ears with a style that is smooth and energetic all at the same time. His energy is infectious and reels you into the game. I really enjoy his approach to games and big moments, which he’s been no stranger to of late.
Lately he’s been involved in many huge calls and has done some pretty big games of late. Most have been in the realm of the Women’s NCAA Tournament. The last two years have provided ESPN with some big audiences as the popularity of the sport continues to rise, right alongside Ruocco.
He had a widely appreciated final call of the South Carolina Gamecocks win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the NCAA Women’s Title game a couple of months ago. The setup to the call was as good as the actual call itself. Ruocco, in the final moments of the game, mentioned South Carolina’s undefeated season, and the redemption in beating Iowa after a loss to them in the Final Four last year. The viewer was then prepared for a simple, but meaningful final call.
“Perfection with a touch of sweet redemption!” Ruocco said. “Undefeated South Carolina has won its third national championship!”
A good lesson to other broadcasters, the call of a championship doesn’t have to be a screaming, over the top thing to be memorable and meaningful. Less is more, this call proves that notion.
Calling a number of games in a given week can prove to be a challenge for broadcasters. Especially when most are nationally televised. It’s a different type of preparation, which requires a little extra.
“I think the key to doing a national game is not sounding like you’re parachuting in,” Ruocco told BSM. “You need to sound like you have your finger on the pulse of what’s been happening with that team because any fan that watches that team regularly is going to sniff out you not really knowing what’s going on with their team very quickly.”
That kind of recognition is why Ruocco is good at what he does. The extra work makes the broadcast sound better and in turn the broadcaster. Fans can tell when a broadcaster has ‘mailed it in’. They also know when you’ve done the extra homework.
WNBA APPRECIATION
Ruocco has been associated with the WNBA for over a decade now, but he never imagined the run would go on as long as it has. He appeared on the The Awful Announcing Podcast last month and described the process of taking over the coverage of the league and how his thinking changed.
“When I was first asked about it, and I’ve been honest about this, I kind of was like, ‘OK, that’s cool, but I’m already doing NBA. Why is this such a great gig for me?’ And there were people inside ESPN…who said, ‘Trust us, you’re going to love this. You’re going to love working with Rebecca Lobo, and this league is awesome to work on.’” Ruocco said.
“People used to love to use the WNBA as a punchline, as a joke,” Ruocco said. “Now people understand the value, first and foremost of the basketball, and also of these women and how incredible they are as leaders in our society.”
He and Lobo are really good together on the air and again will be the featured announcing duo for ESPN’s coverage of the WNBA this season.
DID YOU KNOW?
On June 28, 2023, Ruocco called New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán’s perfect game against the Oakland Athletics.
Ruocco is the co-host of The Ringer’s R2C2 podcast on Spotify alongside former New York Yankees’ pitcher CC Sabathia.
In 2008, Fordham honored Ruocco as the winner of the prestigious Marty Glickman Award, named for the legendary play-by-play announcer.
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.
