New Mariners announcer thankful for shot at the big leagues

Heading into his first season as a major league baseball broadcaster, new voice of the Mariners Aaron Goldsmith tells Seattle’s Morning News there are no signature catch phrases in his repertoire yet.

“The catch phrase is a kind of hit or miss thing,” says Goldsmith. “If you have a great one – and goodness knows there’s some people in this town who have had some great ones – then you run with it. But what if you pick a dud and nobody wants to hear it?”

Part of what he’s still working out is trying to figure out just what to say based on all the factors involved in each call. Goldsmith says all big plays are different and there’s tons to consider, like flight of the ball, how far it’s hit, the situation in the game, if it’s the first inning or bottom of the ninth.

“One of the many fun challenges of this profession is trying to be in the moment and knowing what is the right thing that I am supposed to say right now. I have no warning that this ball is about to get hit 420 feet, but that is the challenge that I’m given, is to come up with those words right then and there,” says Goldsmith. “Sometimes it’s been terrible, sometimes it’s been pretty good. I’m hoping for more of the pretty goods than the terribles.”

After years of minor league broadcasting, Goldsmith says he’s thankful to have landed his major league position, or what he calls “the job,” in Seattle.

“Like hundreds of other people in my same position, we all want to get to the big leagues, and you put a CD in the mail with a resume and a cover letter. You cross your fingers and you just hope that somebody listens to it,” says Goldsmith. “Fortunately they heard it, they wanted to talk to me, and then the interview process started and I could not be more thankful to be in Seattle now.”

Goldsmith will be a permanent fixture beginning in the 2013 season, after the Mariners went two seasons with a rotation of announcers working alongside Rick Rizzs, following the death of Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus. Rizzs will remain the team’s lead radio announcer.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.