Triple-A All-Star Game telecast team announced
Published on June 22, 2006 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1) News Release
Triple-A Baseball and ESPN today announced the 19th Annual Triple-A All-Star Game will be televised live across the ESPN2 network on Wednesday, July 12 at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. ESPN baseball analyst Buck Martinez will be returning for his fourth Triple-A All-Star Game and will be joined in the booth by play-by-play commentator Jon Sciambi, with Duke Castiglione reporting from the field. ESPN Deportes, ESPN's Spanish language network, will also carry the Triple-A All-Star Game live for the third consecutive season.
The 2006 Game, to be played at Fifth Third Field, home of the International League's Toledo Mud Hens, marks the twelfth straight season Triple-A Baseball's mid-summer classic has been televised live on ESPN2. (The first two Triple-A All-Star Games were shown on ESPN in 1988-89). Launched in October of 1993, ESPN2 now reaches 90 million homes. The network provides coverage of a wide range of sports including Major League Baseball, the NBA, college baseball/basketball/football, tennis, including Wimbledon and the French and Australian Opens, World Cup & Major League Soccer, the NFL Draft, auto racing, boxing, and the X Games & Winter X Games, among others.
This year's Triple-A All-Star Game will be the ninth consecutive showdown in which teams representing the International League and Pacific Coast Leagues have faced off in the mid-season event. The PCL leads the series five games to three, winning last year's contest 11-5. The first ten Triple-A All-Star Games were played in a National League affiliates versus American League affiliates format. This year also marks the first time fans have been able to go online and vote for the lineups of the Triple-A All-Star Game. Online voting concludes tomorrow night at 11:59 p.m. eastern time.
COMMENTATOR BIOS
The honor of calling play-by-play at the Triple-A All-Star Game will go to ESPN's Jon Sciambi. John is now in his second year calling play-by-play for ESPN baseball telecasts, which have included regular season and spring training Major League games, as well as action from the inaugural World Baseball Classic. Before joining ESPN, Sciambi spent eight years as part of the Florida Marlins Radio Network. Serving as host of the Marlins pre and post-game radio shows, Jon also provided play-by-play action from 2001-04. Sciambi's talents extend beyond the world of baseball. He has been a play-by-play broadcaster for college football and basketball for College Sports TV and Westwood One Radio. Sciambi also hosted Westwood One's special coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
For the fourth straight year, former Major League catcher Buck Martinez will serve as an analyst at the Triple-A All-Star Game. Martinez has been busy since last season's tilt. In addition to working his fourteenth season as an analyst on ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball telecasts, Buck also managed the United States squad in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Martinez has been with ESPN continuously since 1992, except for the 2001 campaign in which he managed the Toronto Blue Jays to an 80-82 record in his only season as a Major League skipper. In addition to his work at ESPN, the 57-year-old currently calls televised games for the Baltimore Orioles on Comcast SportsNet. He also has radio experience that includes the World Series, ALCS, and Major League All-Star Game for Telemedia Radio Network (1982-88). Martinez played for Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Toronto during a 17-year Major League career (1969-86).
Duke Castiglione is in his first full season as an ESPN baseball reporter. He has already served as a game reporter for ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball, both spring training and regular season games, as well as for coverage of the World Baseball Classic.
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ESPN2 began carrying the Triple-A All-Star Game in 1995. That year's contest saw manager Chris Bando's American League squad defeat Grady Little's National League team 9-0 at Lackawanna County Stadium in Moosic, Pennsylvania, home of the IL's Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. The 8th Annual Triple-A All-Star Game was the first shutout in the history of the event. American League starter Pat Ahearne (Toledo) tossed two hitless innings to pick up the win, while rookie sensation Jason Isringhausen (Norfolk) was saddled with the loss.
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