Len Kasper is an American sportscaster. As of 2021 he is the radio

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

, teaming with

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

Darrin Jackson on ESPN 1000 and the Chicago White Sox Radio Network. From 2005 to 2020, Kasper worked alongside analysts

Bob Brenly Robert Earl Brenly (born February 25, 1954) is an American baseball sportscaster and a former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played the majority of his Major League Baseball career as a catcher with the San Francisco Gian ...

and

Jim Deshaies James Joseph Deshaies (born June 23, 1960), also known as "JD", is an American former professional baseball left-handed starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for six teams, over the course of 12 big league seasons. He is c ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

telecasts. He also joined the team's

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many ( simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) t ...

for the fifth inning of games that were televised nationally (including playoff games), working with regular radio announcers Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer.

Career

Kasper first worked for

WTMJ-AM WTMJ (620 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Owned by Good Karma Brands, the station has a news/talk radio format. Its sign-on dates back to 1922 and for most of its history it was owned by ''The Milwaukee Journal'' ...

(620) from 1994 to 2002 in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

as the host of the station's daily sports show, hosted pregame and halftime shows for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...

, and was a co-host on a

hot stove league ''Hot Stove League'' () is a South Korean television series that aired on SBS TV from December 13, 2019, to February 14, 2020. The series stars Namkoong Min, Park Eun-bin, Oh Jung-se, and Jo Byeong-kyu. It revolves around a baseball team named ...

show on the Brewers' radio network. After realizing he would need experience calling baseball games, he started working with

Brett Dolan Brett Dolan is an American radio sportscaster who is the voice of Touchdown Radio's game of the week. He previously served as the play-by-play announcer for the Houston Astros. Before joining the Astros, he served as the play-by-play announcer f ...

on the weekends in the late 1990s calling several innings at a time for the

Beloit Snappers The Beloit Sky Carp are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Beloit, Wisconsin, and play their home games at ABC Supply Stadium. They previously played at Harry ...

. In 1999, he was then asked to do fill-in TV work with the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

for

Matt Vasgersian Matt Vasgersian ( '; born 1967) is an American sportscaster and television host. Vasgersian is a play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Angels, as well as a studio host for MLB Network and FOX Sports. In the past, he has served as an an ...

who started to get work on the national stage. Kasper continued to work alongside Bill Schroeder as a fill-in for Vasgersian on Brewers telecasts through 2001. In 2002, Kasper was hired as a full-time TV play-by-play announcer to work alongside

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

Tommy Hutton for the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

and worked for Florida through the 2004 season until being hired for the Cubs in 2005. Kasper received the

Harry Caray Harry Christopher Caray (; March 1, 1914 – February 18, 1998) was an American radio and television sportscaster. During his career he called the play-by-play for five Major League Baseball teams, beginning with 25 years of calling the games ...

Sportscaster of the Year Award from the Pitch and Hit Club of Chicago in 2011. On Friday, December 4, 2020, it was announced that he would be leaving the Chicago Cubs TV broadcasting booth to go to the Chicago White Sox lead radio announcing booth for WMVP 1000 AM and fill-in TV work for

NBC Sports Chicago NBC Sports Chicago (formerly Comcast SportsNet Chicago) is an American regional sports network that broadcasts regional coverage of professional sports teams in the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as college sports events and original sports- ...

for the 2021 season. He was replaced by Jon Sciambi.

Personal life

Kasper grew up in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. His broadcasting influence was the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

' radio broadcasters,

Ernie Harwell William Earnest Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the actio ...

and Paul Carey. He graduated from Shepherd High School. He graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of ...

with a degree in public relations in 1993. He and his wife, Pam, have one son named Leo.

References

External links

Chicago Cubs Broadcasters at Comcastsportsnet.comAsk Len and Bob at Comcastsportsnet.comChicago Cubs Broadcasters at Cubs.com

Len & Bob's baseball blog at WGN Sports.comLen & Bob play Summertime Blues.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasper, Len Living people American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Chicago Cubs announcers Chicago White Sox announcers Florida Marlins announcers Green Bay Packers announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Marquette University alumni Milwaukee Brewers announcers Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Football League announcers Year of birth missing (living people)