Matt Vasgersian

Matt Vasgersian (born September 28, 1967) is an American sportscaster and television host. Vasgersian is a host for the MLB Network and has served as an announcer for NBC Sports' coverage of the Olympics, and on Fox Sports' MLB coverage. He formerly called play-by-play for the Milwaukee Brewers and the San Diego Padres.

Early life and career

Vasgersian started his media career as a child actor. A member of the Screen Actors Guild at age seven, he appeared in an episode of The Streets of San Francisco and the movie The Candidate. A native Californian of Armenian descent, Vasgersian graduated from the University of Southern California where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity. While a student at USC, he appeared on The New Dating Game, winning a trip to Telluride, CO.

Major League Baseball

Vasgersian has worked in baseball since 1991, starting with a six-year stint in the Minor Leagues as a play-by-play announcer. He began his career as a sportscaster with the Chicago Cubs Rookie league affiliate in Huntington, West Virginia on radio station WKEE-AM 800 and was the voice of the High Desert Mavericks (Seattle Mariners affiliate) on radio station KAPL. He moved up the minor league baseball ranks over the next several years, working for various clubs in a number of different organizations, ending with the AAA Tucson Toros in 1996.

Vasgersian was 29-years old when he became the play-by-play voice for the Milwaukee Brewers, where he stayed for five years before filling the same role for the San Diego Padres. Vasgersian was with the Padres for seven seasons when it was announced he would be joining MLB Network.

On November 1, 2008, during a broadcast of the San Diego CIF High School Football Game of the Week, Channel 4 announced that Vasgersian would not be returning as a Padres announcer for the 2009 season, having chosen to pursue other opportunities. Later that week, it was reported that Vasgersian had signed a deal with MLB Network to become that channel's first studio host.^[1]

MLB Network

Vasgersian has been a studio host at MLB Network since its debut on January 1, 2009, appearing regularly in-studio and on-site at the All-Star Game and World Series on "MLB Tonight," the network's Emmy Award-winning live nightly studio show, as well as “Quick Pitch,” “The Rundown,” and MLB Network’s Spring Training series “30 Clubs in 30 Days.” Throughout the MLB regular season, Vasgersian calls play-by-play for MLB Network’s Thursday Night Baseball game package.

Other ventures

Vasgersian first gained national prominence doing play-by-play for the doomed XFL football league in 2001. From 2006-2008, Vasgersian had been a regular on Fox NFL telecasts, teaming with J.C. Pearson. In previous years, he had done select games for the network. Vasgersian's football seasons have culminated with calling the 2007 Orange Bowl and the 2008 and 2009 Fiesta Bowl for the BCS on Fox]. He has done regional MLB telecasts for the Fox Game of the Week, teaming with a variety of analysts, and also lent his voice for NBC's broadcast of the 2006 Winter Olympics by being the play-by-play announcer for the ski jumping event.

He has hosted several TV shows, including the game show Sports Geniuses (2000), Game Show Network's World Series of Blackjack (2004), and Celebrity Blackjack (2004), the National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC and the first season grand final of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. He has also emceed various sports specials and other programs, such as the International World Championships of Rock Paper Scissors (2004).^[2]

Vasgersian has also worked on an Ultimate Fighting Championship broadcast, filling in for Mike Goldberg, the usual announcer. Goldberg was working on Fox Sports Net's college football telecast on the night of UFC 56, so Vasgersian provided play-by-play alongside regular color commentator Joe Rogan.

Vasgersian is the voice of MLB '06: The Show and MLB 07: The Show for PlayStation 2 and PSP. In addition to his work on MLB '06, Vasgersian was the "host" for several PS1 Sony sports titles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, specifically for 989 Studio sports games. He returned to the broadcast booth in 2008 for MLB 08: The Show, for the PlayStation 2, PSP, and PlayStation 3, a position he holds to this day.

Vasgersian served as a host for NBC Sports coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics.^[3]

Vasgersian is also a regular feature on the Dave & Carole morning show at 96.5 WKLH in Milwaukee [1].

References

1. ^ "MLB Network signs Vasgersian". MLB.com. 2008-11-05. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article_entertainment.jsp?ymd=20081105&content_id=3665541&vkey=entertainment&fext=.jsp. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
2. ^ "Heads-Up on NBC". NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship web site. National Broadcasting Company. 2006. http://www.nbcheadsup.com/announcers.html. Retrieved 2007-08-07. 
3. ^ Medium Well: Your NBC Olympics lineup - A blog on sports media, news and networks - baltimoresun.com

External links

• Biographical note on Matt Vasgersian
• MLB Network bio
• Matt Vasgersian at the Internet Movie Database

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Name	Vasgersian, Matt
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Date of birth	September 28, 1967
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