Screen capture from episode 1 of Awkward Moments with Jason Benetti.”
With Major League Baseball’s (MLB) opening day set for March 25, this week’s Take 5 highlights Jason Benetti, lauded broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers who will also call the play by play for Sunday primetime games on NBC and its Peacock streaming service.
Benetti, who has cerebral palsy, worked with the Cerebral Palsy Foundation to create the animated series “Awkward Moments with Jason Benetti,” made during his tenure with his beloved Chicago White Sox. Episodes include the disability blurt-out (1:58 run time), the disability lookaway (1:44), and the disability talk-down (1:28), which featured Benetti being weirdly praised at an airport for knowing how the security pre-check lane worked.
Benetti’s departure from the White Sox booth prior to the 2024 season was named the top Chicago sports-media story of 2023 by the Chicago Sun-Times. And while his new NBC appointment was lauded by many, including Easterseals CEO Kendra Davenport — who said the news was “an exciting moment for sports broadcasting and for disability representation” — we’ll give our own Executive Editor Bob Holly the final word.
“As a die-hard White Sox fan, I was spoiled to have Jason Benetti as our play-by-play TV announcer for multiple years,” Holly said. “Jason’s knowledge of the game, sense of humor and ability to engage different segments of the White Sox fanbase was so impressive. As somebody in media, what I respected most about Jason, too, was how clearly prepared he was. He did his homework, and he helped me evolve my appreciation for the game of baseball.”
