Even as he assumes his new post as lead play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast, Dan Shulman is hardly ready to leave his Canadian roots behind him.
“Toronto is home for me,” he said. “It’s where I met my wife, it’s where my kids grew up. That will never change.”
The 46-year-old, who was recently tabbed for the much-coveted sports broadcast position previously held by Jon Miller, has retained his Canadian citizenship and continued to reside in his Thornhill home while gaining increasing prominence and critical praise on both sides of the border.
In fact, it was Shulman’s hometown that served as a platform for his rise in sports media, as he broke in with the Fan 590 radio station (then known as CJCL) and later transitioned into a job at TSN. The University of Western Ontario graduate first gained national recognition as the play-by-play voice of Blue Jays baseball, alongside analyst Buck Martinez, whom he credits with helping his development in the industry.
“I owe a great deal to Buck,” said Shulman. “I was a raw rookie in the early going, and he taught me a ton about the industry and the sport, itself, and was tremendous to work with during our six years together.”
Just as Martinez would go on to a big league managerial job with the Jays, Shulman was destined for bigger things ahead. After working part-time with ESPN during his TSN days, he moved full time to the network, which is based in Bristol, Conn., to cover baseball, NCAA basketball and the NBA.
Shulman’s broadcast career has seen him cover a wide range of marquee sporting events such as the 1994 Winter Olympics, the World Series, the MLB all-star game and the NCAA March Madness tournament. Not bad for someone who got his degree in actuarial science.
Shulman’s rapid rise was perhaps best recognized by Sports Illustrated. Referring to him as a “pro’s pro,” the celebrated weekly sports magazine named him its top national play-by-play announcer of the 2000s, ahead of the likes of Al Michaels, Joe Buck and Miller.
“To just be included among some of the greatest talents in our industry was an honour,” Shulman recalled. “To actually be seen as the best was something else.”
Clearly ESPN would agree with SI’s choice. Shulman broke the news about the Sunday Night Baseball job on Bob McCown’s Prime Time Sports (yet another example of his strong local roots), and is thrilled to step into what he views as a much-revered position.
“Somebody I work with said to me, ‘You’re replacing Cal Ripken,’” Shulman said in reference to taking the position that Miller held for 21 years. “I never thought of it in those terms, but I’m replacing a guy who’s the only guy who’s ever held the job. I’m only the second guy to get this job.”
Shulman will share the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast booth with former manager Bobby Valentine and former Cy Young-winner and longtime close friend Orel Hershiser. Shulman and Hershiser won’t need much time to adjust to one another, having been paired together for the past two seasons on the network’s Monday Night Baseball broadcast.
“Orel and I have known each other for a long time now, and I think we play off of each other really well,” Shulman said. “He’s one of the smartest people I know, and I can’t wait to see what he, Bobby and I can produce.”
Neither can Shulman’s many fans, both north and south of the border.
