Melanie Lynne Newman (born May 27, 1991) is an American radio and television

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

broadcaster for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) and previously did national ''

Friday Night Baseball ''Friday Night Baseball'' is a live broadcast of Major League Baseball (MLB) games on Apple TV+, which debuted during the league's 2022 season. The weekly broadcast is produced by MLB Network, featuring a doubleheader with pregame and postgame ...

'' broadcasts on

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

. She is the first woman to be a play-by-play announcer for the Orioles and one of only four female play-by-play broadcasters active in MLB.

Career

Newman began her broadcasting career while as a student at

Troy University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. It was one ...

, where she majored in broadcast journalism. She was the play-by-play announcer for Troy's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team, as well as calling

baseball 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 ...

and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

games as a student. She graduated in 2013. She called games in

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

for several years, including at

High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

and Double-A. Newman worked as a sideline reporter for

Fox Sports Southwest FanDuel Sports Network Southwest is a Texas-based regional sports network owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) and operated as an affiliate of FanDuel Sports Network. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of profe ...

and served as play-by-play announcer 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. Based in Frisco, Texas, the team is named aft ...

. In 2019, she joined Suzie Cool as part of the first all-female broadcast team in professional baseball when she served as play-by-play broadcaster for the

Salem Red Sox The Salem Red Sox are a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB), based in Salem, Virginia, Salem, an independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia. The team competes at the Single-A level in the Car ...

. In 2020, the Orioles announced that Newman had joined their broadcast team. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

delayed the start of the MLB season, and so she made her debut on August 4, 2020, becoming the first woman to ever call a regular-season Orioles game when she was part of the radio broadcast team. Newman also served as a sideline reporter and a studio host for Orioles' television broadcasts. On July 20, 2021, Newman was the play-by-play announcer as part of the first all-female broadcast team, who called the

vs.

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

game for

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. On September 29, 2021, Newman teamed with

Jessica Mendoza Jessica Ofelia Mendoza (born November 11, 1980) is an American sportscaster and former softball player. Currently, she serves as an analyst for ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball and Los Angeles Dodgers coverage on Spectrum SportsNet LA. ...

to call a game between the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

and

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. It marked the first time that an all-female broadcast team called a nationally televised Major League Baseball game. For the 2022 MLB season, Newman was a play-by-play announcer for

''. In 2023, Newman was one of three commentators for the BBC's coverage of MLB's London Series. On September 8, 2024, Newman was half of the ROKU Sunday Leadoff baseball broadcast booth between the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles.

Personal life

Newman grew up in

Woodstock, Georgia Woodstock is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 35,065 as of 2020 according to the US Census Bureau. Originally a stop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Woodstock is part of the Atlanta metropolitan a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Melanie 1991 births Living people American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Baltimore Orioles announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters Mass media people from Atlanta Troy University alumni Women baseball announcers