He showed me around Louisville Slugger Field, which is a stone's throw from I-64 as it winds its way through the downtown area. What a gem! It ranks up there with the best the International League has to offer. Matt's press b
ox perch is outstanding and you can tell how much he is enjoying life just a rung away from the Big Leagues. In fact, his partner on the air, veteran announcer Jim Kelch, has spent a great deal of time this season with the parent club, the Cincinnati Reds, filling in when they've needed help on radio and TV. That's left Matt as the sole play-by-play guy on those dates and I'm sure that the Louisville audience appreciates him more than ever.While living in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky, Matt has also done basketball for the men's and women's teams at Morehead State University. He may be adding football for the Eagles to his resume this fall. One of his recent thrills, he told me, was doing the Morehead State NCAA tourney play-in game this past spring in Dayton, which the Eagles won. He then got to announce the next sectional game as part of a doubleheader, which included his alma mater, Ohio State. Unfortunately, neither of his favorites made it past that venue.
It was fantastic getting a chance to get caught up with Matt. He is one of the true class acts, of any job description, that has graduated from his time in the Frontier League to increasingly good things. He certainly laid the groundwork for FL broadcasters to move up the affiliated ranks. As I've mentioned in this blog before, three other alums, Scott Leo and Ryan Mitchell (Columbus) and Jason Benetti (Syracuse) are currently working in the IL.
When the Frontier League has a day off, or your favorite team isn't in action, you should dial Matt up on the Internet and listen to his call. You'll be as impressed as all of us were when he was describing the action at V.A. Memorial Stadium.
