Aaron Goldsmith (born August 29, 1983, in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

) is an American sportscaster. Goldsmith does some of the lead play-by-play on selected games for

Root Sports Northwest ROOT SPORTS Northwest (stylized as ROOT SPORTS Northwest) is an American regional sports network owned as a 60/40 joint venture between the Seattle Mariners and Warner Bros. Discovery respectively, the latter of which operates it through its spo ...

during the Mariners

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

season. Goldsmith also does selected

baseball game Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

s, primarily on selected Saturdays for

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...

. In the

off-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

, he also provides play-by-play for college football on

Sports USA Radio Network Sports USA Media is the largest independent sports broadcasting radio network in the United States, specializing in live broadcasts of American football, specifically of the NCAA football Division I-A and National Football League. In 2018, more th ...

and Pac-12 basketball on Fox Sports 1.

Early years

Goldsmith spent the early part of his childhood in

. He was a Royals fan. He attended his first game at

Kauffman Stadium Kauffman Stadium (), often called "The K", is a baseball stadium located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is home to the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). It is part of the Truman Sports Complex together with the adjacent Arrowhe ...

and it was stated that

Bo Jackson Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball and American football player. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both baseball and football. Jackson's el ...

George Brett George Howard Brett (born May 15, 1953) is an American former professional baseball player who played all of his 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman for the Kansas City Royals. Brett's 3,154 career hits are second-mos ...

, and

Bret Saberhagen Bret William Saberhagen (; born April 11, 1964) is an American former professional baseball right-handed starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, and Boston Red Sox fro ...

were some of his favorite players as a child. When his family moved to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Goldsmith became a

Cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

fan. Goldsmith has stated that legendary Cardinals announcer

Jack Buck John Francis "Jack" Buck (August 21, 1924 – June 18, 2002) was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. His play-by-play work earned him recognition from numerous hall ...

was a big influence to him and that he meant just as much to St. Louis as legendary Mariners announcer

Dave Niehaus David Arnold Niehaus (February 19, 1935 – November 10, 2010) was an American sportscaster. He was the lead play-by-play announcer for the American League's Seattle Mariners from their inaugural season in until his death after the 2010 season. I ...

meant to Seattle. When Goldsmith was attending

Principia College Principia College (Principia or Prin) is a private liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. It was founded in 1912 by Mary Kimball Morgan with the purpose of "serving the Cause of Christian Science." "Although the College is not affiliated wit ...

in Illinois working on a degree in history, he said that he woke up one morning, thinking that sportscasting might be a fun career. After graduating from Principia with his history degree, Goldsmith began taking classes at the Broadcast Center in St. Louis. Due to his history background, Goldsmith often found he was four years behind other students. It took 10 months for Goldsmith to graduate from The Broadcast Center.

Career

Upon graduation, Goldsmith began play-by-play broadcasting as an intern for

Gateway Grizzlies The Gateway Grizzlies are a professional baseball team based in the St. Louis suburb of Sauget, Illinois, in the United States. The Grizzlies are a member of the West Division of the Frontier League, which is a partner league of Major League Baseb ...

games. The year was 2007, and Goldsmith would provide 2-innings of play-by-play for each home game. Goldsmith would follow this up with an unpaid internship with the

Bourne Braves The Bourne Braves are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bourne, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Braves play their home games at Doran Park on the c ...

and then a similar position with the

Portland Sea Dogs The Portland Sea Dogs are a Minor League Baseball team based in Portland, Maine, playing in the Eastern League (1938–present), Eastern League. Established in 1994, the Sea Dogs are the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red ...

. In all cases, Goldsmith would be allowed to call select games or innings. During these stints, Goldsmith often found himself starving after calling games and realized he didn't even have a dollar to his name. After a brief time with the Sea Dogs, Goldsmith worked as the play-by-play voice for the

Frisco RoughRiders The Frisco RoughRiders (often shortened to 'Riders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. They are located in Frisco, Texas, and are nam ...

. He would also serve as the team's manager of broadcasting and public relations. Goldsmith would remain with the RoughRiders for two seasons. During his time with the RoughRiders, Goldsmith proposed to his wife, Heather, and she accepted. In 2012, Goldsmith was hired to be the play-by-play voice for the

Pawsox Radio Network The Pawsox Radio Network was the radio network of the Pawtucket Red Sox, a Triple-A minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. There were 12 stations (nine A.M. and three F.M.) and three F.M. translators in the network, including the flagsh ...

. Goldsmith would provide play-by-play for every game that season, a first for himself. Goldsmith admits he joined the PawSox because of their history to produce big name announcers, but he knew that was no guarantee. Finally in 2013, Goldsmith joined the Mariners announcing team alongside

Rick Rizzs Rick Rizzs (born November 17, 1953) is an American sportscaster and is the lead radio voice for Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners. Early life and career Rizzs is from Blue Island, Illinois, where he attended Eisenhower High School, and h ...

. Goldsmith and his family now live in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland. Goldsmith's play-by-play style is often attributed to an adaptation of

Vin Scully Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was best known for his 67 seasons calling games for Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, beginning in 1950 (when the franchise was located ...

, but Goldsmith attributes his style to his work with

Eric Nadel Eric Nadel (born May 16, 1951) is a sports announcer on radio broadcasts for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers baseball organization. In 2014, he was honored with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence by the National Basebal ...

and Dave O'Brien. On December 26, 2021, he was a last minute substitution for Gus Johnson teaming with

Aqib Talib Aqib Talib (born February 13, 1986) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at the University of Kansas, where he received consensus All-American honors, and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first ro ...

for an

NFL on FOX The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox broadcast network. Game coverage is usually preceded by ''Fox NFL Kickoff ...

game in Seattle between the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

and the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

. Goldsmith has yet to win the Washington State Sportscaster of the Year award, three times losing out to famed Mariners Broadcaster Dave Sims. In January 2023 Goldsmith elected to remain with the Mariners after being the St. Louis Cardinals' top candidate for their lead TV job.https://www.bnd.com/sports/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/article271476397.html

References

External links

Seattle Mariners
– Broadcasters {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldsmith, Aaron 1983 births Living people American radio personalities American sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Football League announcers Principia College alumni Seattle Mariners announcers Radio personalities from St. Louis Women's college basketball announcers in the United States