The Seattle Post Intelligencer
(January 17, 2013) The Mariners have hired Aaron Goldsmith as a full-time radio broadcasting partner for play-by-play man Rick Rizzs, the team announced Thursday.
Goldsmith, 29, has risen quickly through the baseball broadcasting ranks. A St. Louis native, after graduating in 2006 from Principia College in Elsah, Ill., he became the No. 2 broadcaster for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs (that’s Portland, Maine) three years ago, according to the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America. He had a stint as the PR manager for the Double-A Frisco Roughriders in 2011, then last season was the lead voice of the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.
“It’s a great opportunity for a young man who deserves it,” Rizzs said in the Mariners’ announcement. “We had an exhaustive search and he was selected from a very talented group of baseball broadcasters. He’s going to make a great contribution to our broadcast team, and I am confident the fans will enjoy his work.”
Goldsmith will step in as the No. 2 to Rizzs. Since radio legend Dave Niehaus died after the 2010 season, the Mariners have been partnering several personalities with Rizzs in the broadcast booth, though none of them was full-time. Dave Sims and Mike Blowers will continue announcing on TV.
Rizzs just finished his 27th year with the organization, and has been the team’s main radio announcer since the 2011 season began. For two years, the M’s rotated different guys through the second seat in the booth, including Jay Buhner, Mike Curto, Ron Fairly, Dave Henderson, Ken Levine, Dave Valle, Dan Wilson and Ken Wilson. Curto and Buhner did it a few times each, and the rest were on a regular rotation, the Mariners said in October.
Ryan Divish of the Tacoma News Tribune reports that Curto, the voice of the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, was not one of four finalists. It was not immediately known whether any of the others above were finalists for the full-time gig.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining the Seattle Mariners broadcast team,” Goldsmith said in the M’s announcement. “The idea of contributing to an organization with such a rich tradition on the radio is a tremendous honor and a standard I look forward to upholding. I’m eager to start working alongside Rick Rizzs and contributing to the Mariners both on and off the air.”
Read more at the Seattle Post Intelligencer where this story was originally published.