(December 8, 2017) For someone who aspires to one day be the voice of the Chicago Cubs, Brendan King is taking a strong next step. An STAA member, King is joining Chicago’s Class-A affiliate, the South Bend Cubs, as a Media Relations/Broadcasting Assistant.
“I’ve been a die hard Cubs fan since attending my first game at Wrigley Field when I was two years old,” says King. “To be joining the Chicago Cubs organization as a whole is an honor and both myself and my family are thrilled.
Besides being affiliated with King’s favorite childhood team, there is another irony in his joining South Bend.
“The owner of the SB Cubs, Andrew Berlin, works in the same industry as my dad and they work for companies that directly compete against one another. I’ve met Andrew before and in college he always told me to keep him updated on what I was doing in broadcasting. Now that I’m going to be with South Bend, it has really come full circle.”
King is a 2017 graduate of Butler University in Indiana. His baseball broadcasting experience includes the Cape Cod League and the Class-A short season Boise Hawks, where he spent last season. Several factors made the decision to move from short to full-season baseball an easy one for King.
“The first [reason] is obviously more practice and more reps with almost double the games played from short-season A ball,” King says. “But what they are doing in South Bend is fantastic. The attendance at Four Winds Field is electric every summer. They love their Cubs in Northern Indiana. The Cubs also broadcast their games both on radio and TV in South Bend, so that gives me a ton of exposure for fans and listeners.”
In pursuing the Cubs job, King made strategic use of his references and contacts.
“Mike Monaco is a guy that has had this same position before, so I made sure to reach out to him and get his thoughts on the matter,” says King. “He was extremely helpful and supportive. Then my closest MLB contact is Ken Korach, who is the radio play-by-play announcer of the Oakland A’s. Ken is always very gracious and generous with his time and spends a lot of time on the phone with me to give me tips and advice, and to just talk about the industry. We talked a lot before and after my interviews. To have that support was fantastic.”
South Bend is less than 100 miles from Chicago. Literally and figuratively, the King’s move to the Northwest Indiana city gets him closer to his ultimate goal.
“My dream is to one day broadcast games at Wrigley Field as the play-by-play man for the Cubs,” he smiles.
(Visit Brendan’s website).