149: What It’s Like Being the NY Yankees Play-by-Play Announcer w/ Michael Kay, YES Network [Main T4C episode]

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Michael Kay is the Emmy Award-winning Yankees play-by-play announcer for the YES Network who also hosts the network’s CenterStage series. The 2019 season is his 28th year broadcasting Yankees baseball: the first 10 years on radio, the latter 18 on YES.  Michael won the 2015 New York Emmy Award as the best play-by-play announcer for his work on YES’ Yankees telecasts, and won a 2017 New York Emmy for his CenterStage hosting duties. In addition, The Michael Kay Show, a sports talk show heard weekdays on ESPN Radio 98.7 FM in New York which Kay co-hosts with Don LeGreca, has been simulcast live weekday afternoons on YES since February 2014.  In November 2016, Michael was inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in October 2018. The following month, he was awarded the Lou Gehrig Sports Award by the Greater New York Chapter of the A.L.S. Association.  Michael received the Vin Scully Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting from WFUV Radio in November 2018; WFUV is the radio station for Fordham University, Kay’s alma mater. Previous recipients of the Vin Scully Award include Dick Enberg, Ernie Harwell, Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Verne Lundquist, Pat Summerall and Mike “Doc” Emrick.   Press play on this T4C episode to learn how Michael turned his dream of becoming the Yankees play-by-play announcer when he was 9 years old, into a reality!

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

• What a typical day in the life of a professional MLB play-by-play announcer is really like
• Why reading books is critical to become a better sports journalist
• Why Michael believes hard-work is more important than natural talent
• How much preparation goes into getting ready for a MLB game
• Why you should chase your dreams and have a plan B at the same time
• Why it’s so important to get involved in extracurriculars at school if you want to go into professional sports reporting