For all the recent unwanted publicity surrounding their proposed move to Las Vegas, the Oakland Athletics on Feb. 13 were happy to make a huge splash of another sort.
NBC Sports California, a broadcast partner of the American League baseball team, announced that former Colorado Rockies television personality Jenny Cavnar will be the primary play-by-play announcer on A’s telecasts this season.
Ms. Cavnar’s new role will make Major League Baseball history.
“I could not be more honored to sit next to the first woman to assume the role of [full-time] play-by-play announcer,” television color analyst and former A’s pitcher Dallas Braden said in a video posted to X. “It’s a great day for baseball. It’s a great day for women in baseball.”
Ms. Cavnar, who formerly did broadcast work for the San Diego Padres, as well as the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League and San Diego State University, has spent the past 12 seasons in various roles during Rockies regional telecasts. She worked as a backup play-by-play announcer, in 2018 becoming the first woman in 25 years to call a major-league game, as well as primarily handling host and reporter duties during pre-game, in-game and post-game coverage.
“Jenny is a very talented announcer with significant experience covering baseball,” NBC Sports California and NBC Sports Bay Area President and General Manager Matt Murphy said in a statement. “She’s been a groundbreaking professional who’s earned the admiration of fans and her peers throughout her career. We’re very excited for her to join our excellent team.”
Exactly how many games Ms. Cavnar will work is unclear. NBC Sports California disclosed only that she will call “a majority” of the A’s 162 regular-season games.
The club split television play-by-play chores between radio announcers Johnny Doskow and Vince Cotroneo most of last season, after firing longtime voice Glen Kuiper for using a racial slur during a live broadcast.
Oakland Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers (23), third baseman Aledmys Diaz (12), relief pitcher Jeurys Familia (31), and first baseman Ryan Noda (49) celebrate a victory over the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., on April 24, 2023. (Ashley Landis/AP Photo)
“It is a dream come true to join the broadcast team for the Oakland A’s and their rich baseball history,” Ms. Cavnar said in the NBC Sports California press release. “I have loved the game from a young age, along with the stories, history, and relationships the game provides.”
A native of Aurora, Colorado, and a graduate of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Ms. Cavnar grew up in a baseball family. Her father, Steve Cavnar, is a longtime high school baseball coach in Aurora.
Ms. Cavnar is a five-time Emmy Award winner and was the 2021 Colorado sportscaster of the year, as chosen by the National Sports Media Association. She has also called men’s and women’s college basketball games on FS1 and Pac-12 Networks, and has been a regular contributor to MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.
“Her depth and wealth of knowledge when it comes to the baseball diamond is going to be apparent from the first pitch,” Mr. Braden said. “You’re going to love her insight. You’re going to love her energy.”
Ms. Cavnar is a former lacrosse player at Colorado State and spent two seasons as an assistant lacrosse coach at UCLA.
Other female announcers in Major League Baseball include ESPN and Los Angeles Dodgers color analyst Jessica Mendoza, New York Yankees radio color analyst Suzyn Waldman, and Melanie Newman, who has done play-by-play, color commentary and sideline reporting for the Baltimore Orioles.
Across the Bay from Oakland, meanwhile, Renel Brooks-Moon has been a popular public-address announcer for San Francisco Giants home games since 2000. She succeeded Sherry Davis, who in 1993 had become the first woman in major-league history to fill that role on a full-time basis.
