by
Jason Benetti
Jason Benetti, the popular Tigers play-by-play TV announcer, told NBC's Today Show that because of cerebral palsy he contracted as a child, he had this fear:
"I was always fearful of two things: not getting a job because of how I look and getting a job because of how I look."
The piece, done about a month ago by NBC reporter Ann Thompson, formerly of WDIV, came in wake of NBC hiring Benetti to be a broadcaster for Sunday Night Baseball, in addition to his duties as a Tigers announcer.
Thompson asks Benetti, 42, who is known to have a good sense of humor, if he ever runs out of words.
"Some people wish," he says.
A native of the Chicago area, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a toddler and underwent years of physical therapy and two surgeries to improve his ability to walk. His physical challenges dashed his hopes of playing the tuba in the marching band.
But the high school band director made Benetti the halftime announcer for the band’s marching events. He said he was very grateful for the opportunity.
Benetti graduated from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in 2005 and later graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2011. He went on to be the Chicago White Sox announcer for eight years before being hired for the Tigers job in late 2023.
He talks about his Sunday night gig on NBC:
"If you said to people in high school, 'We're going to pick one of your classmates, and we are going to put them in between two athletes who are new every week, and it's going to be their job to get the most out of those athletes—who would you pick?' I don't think I would have been on the medal stand."
Watch the full segment below.
