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Dan Shulman

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Not to be confused with American business executive Dan Schulman. For the musician, see Daniel Shulman (musician).
Dan Shulman
Shulman in 2022
Toronto Blue Jays
Broadcaster
Born: Daniel Shulman
(1967-02-09) February 9, 1967 (age 57)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Teams
As Broadcaster

Daniel Shulman (born February 9, 1967) is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN.

Shulman serves as the play-by-play announcer and the moderator for the Toronto Blue Jays telecasts on Sportsnet. During 2018 and 2020, he hosted the baseball-themed podcast, Swing and a Belt with Dan Shulman. He also serves as the lead announcer for ESPN's men's college basketball coverage (teaming with Jay Bilas), and previously called regular-season and postseason Major League Baseball on ESPN and ESPN Radio.

Previously, Shulman served as the play-by-play announcer for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball (with Aaron Boone and Jessica Mendoza), a position he resigned from at the conclusion of the 2017 season.[1]

Education

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Born in Toronto, Ontario, Shulman graduated from the University of Western Ontario in actuarial science but moved into a career in sports broadcasting.[2]

Broadcasting career

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Early career

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Shulman began his broadcasting career at the University of Western Ontario, becoming a main voice of university football and basketball for the Western Mustangs on CHRW radio in London, Ontario, and later at radio station CKBB in Barrie, where he volunteered for the local community television station.[3] During the early 1990s, he was hired by the Fan 1430 (a sports radio station in Toronto now known as Sportsnet 590 The Fan) and would go on to host Prime Time Sports.[4] He worked for CTV in its coverage of the 1994 Winter Olympics from Lillehammer, Norway, covering hockey, and the 1994 World Championships of Basketball.[5]

TSN

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In 1995, he became the play-by-play voice on TSN for their broadcasts of Toronto Blue Jays baseball games alongside former Blue Jays catcher Buck Martinez.[6] Shulman remained with the network for seven years, during which time he also worked as the network's secondary play-by-play voice for NHL hockey and secondary announcer for NBA basketball. He also covered CHL hockey games and backed up host Dave Hodge on TSN Inside Sports. Until 2007, Shulman continued to work with Buck Martinez for TSN during the World Series, filing daily reports. In 2011, he returned to TSN as an analyst and contributor.[7]

ESPN

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Shulman began working part-time for ESPN while still employed by TSN. In 2001, he moved to ESPN full-time to cover sporting events like baseball and college basketball.[8] ESPN signed Shulman to a five-year contract extension in 2007 and assigned him to call NBA games for the network.[9] Shulman remains the network's lead announcer for NCAA basketball.

On July 27, 2007, Shulman called Barry Bonds's 754th home run for ESPN.[10]

From 2002 to 2007, he served as the lead play-by-play announcer for ESPN Radio's MLB coverage, teaming with Dave Campbell to call the network's Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts as well as the All-Star Game, Home Run Derby, and select postseason games. In 2008, Gary Thorne succeeded Shulman as the lead Sunday Night Baseball voice; however, Shulman once again teamed with Campbell to call that year's All-Star and postseason events and continued to fill in on occasional regular season broadcasts. Shulman also teamed with Orel Hershiser to call Monday Night Baseball for ESPN television from 2008 to 2010 and with Hubie Brown to call ESPN NBA coverage from 2007 to 2012.

On December 1, 2010, ESPN announced that Shulman, Hershiser, and Bobby Valentine would be on the network's new Sunday Night Baseball crew for the 2011 MLB season.[11] During the Sunday Night Baseball telecast between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies on May 1, 2011, Shulman announced live to the ESPN audience that Osama bin Laden had died, a moment that has been compared to Howard Cosell's report of John Lennon's assassination on Monday Night Football in 1980.[12][13] Shulman told USA Today that he had learned of bin Laden's death from Valentine, who himself received the news via text. "I talked to the producer in the truck and asked if they knew what was going on. Or maybe they asked me," said Shulman. "I couldn't just say something on-air because of a text, I needed corroboration. It all happened in about 30 seconds."[14]

Shulman also teamed with Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine for the ESPN Radio broadcast of the 2011 World Series won in 7 games by the St. Louis Cardinals over the Texas Rangers.[15]

That same year, he teamed with Dick Vitale for the broadcast of the Indiana–Kentucky rivalry on December 10, 2011. His call for the game-winning three-pointer by Christian Watford was "Jones... Watford for the win… YES! YES!" with Vitale screaming "Unbelievable!" shortly after.

Shulman was named 2011 National Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, the first Canadian-born announcer to be so honoured.[citation needed]

One year later, ESPN hired Terry Francona to join Shulman and Hershiser for the 2012 MLB season in exchange for Bobby Valentine, who has hired to be the Boston Red Sox manager.[16] Francona stayed with ESPN for only one season before he was hired by the Cleveland Indians to be their manager for the 2013 season. On December 3, 2012, ESPN announced that John Kruk, who had been part of the Baseball Tonight team since 2004, would replace Francona join Shulman and Hershiser on the network's new Sunday Night Baseball crew for the 2013 MLB season.[17] At the start of the 2014 season, Hershiser left ESPN to become an analyst for the Dodgers on SportsNet LA and was replaced by Curt Schilling; however, Schilling's subsequent diagnosis of and treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer led to his being unavailable to ESPN for most of the season.[18] Shulman and Kruk worked as a two-man booth until Schilling joined them in September.[19]

On July 3, 2017, Shulman announced in a Sports Illustrated interview that he would step down from Sunday Night Baseball at the conclusion of the 2017 season, seeking to adjust his role at ESPN so he could spend more time with his family in Toronto. He continued to participate in ESPN Radio's coverage of the MLB postseason, as well as ESPN's college basketball coverage.[20]

In October 2022, it was announced that Shulman would step down as ESPN's lead radio broadcaster for the MLB postseason beginning in the 2023 season (with Jon Sciambi taking over for him), focusing solely on his college basketball role with the network.[21][22]

Sportsnet

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In addition to his continued work with ESPN, on November 19, 2015, Shulman announced he would be joining the Sportsnet broadcast team for upwards of 30 Toronto Blue Jays games during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.[23] In March 2018 it was announced that he would be joining the Sportsnet Radio network for select Blue Jays games, in addition to calling up to 50 games on Sportsnet television.[24]

In April 2018, Shulman teamed up with Sportsnet to air the podcast Swing and a Belt with Dan Shulman where every week, he covers a different topic related to baseball and interviews different people such as Mike Trout and Aaron Boone.

In 2020, Shulman begins to expand his role as the Blue Jays play-by-play voice for most games.

He won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Sports Play-by-Play at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.[25]

Shulman also provides play-by-play commentary for Canada Basketball on Sportsnet and continued in this role during the CBC coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics, on leave from his regular Blue Jays duties.[26]

Personal life

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Shulman is Jewish and has participated in the Maccabiah Games.[27] Shulman had three sons with his wife, Sarah; the couple has since divorced.[28] His third son, Ben, is also a sportscaster and the radio play-by-play announcer for the Blue Jays.[29] In July 2017, he announced that he was ending his Sunday Night Baseball duties in part due to his remarriage.[20]

References

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  1. ^ "Dan Shulman to step down from 'Sunday Night Baseball' after 2017 season". SI.com. July 4, 2017. Archived from the original on July 19, 2017. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  2. ^ Mayne, Paul (May 26, 2016). "Dan Shulman lending his voice to a generation". uwo.ca. University of Western Ontario. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  3. ^ Baysinger, Tim (April 18, 2011). "ESPN Anchor Hopes to Knock It Out of the Park". www.broadcastingcable.com.
  4. ^ "CJCL-AM". broadcasting-history.ca. History of Canadian Broadcasting. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  5. ^ "Dan Shulman Bio". Sportsnet.ca. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  6. ^ "Former Jays broadcaster Dan Shulman returning for 30 games in 2016". The Globe and Mail. November 19, 2015.
  7. ^ "TSN adds ESPN's Dan Shulman to network's baseball coverage". The Globe and Mail. February 15, 2011.
  8. ^ Kane, Michael (April 24, 2012). "An Interview with ESPN's Dan Shulman". americansportscastersonline.com. New York Post.
  9. ^ Houston, William (October 26, 2007). "Shulman tops best-paid Canadians list". The Globe and Mail.
  10. ^ Blair, Jeff (July 28, 2007). "Broadcasters provide background to Bonds' chase". The Globe and Mail.
  11. ^ Best, Neil (December 1, 2010). "Shulman, Hershiser, Valentine are ESPN's new Sunday night team". Newsday. Archived from the original on September 9, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  12. ^ Pucin, Diane (May 2, 2011). "ESPN announcer Dan Shulman reports as Bin Laden news unfolds". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  13. ^ "ESPN Praised For Coverage Of Bin Laden News During "Sunday Night Baseball"". sportsbusinessdaily.com. May 3, 2011.
  14. ^ Hiestand, Michael (May 2, 2011). "ESPN's Dan Shulman: Announcing Osama bin Laden's death on live TV sports". USA Today. Archived from the original on May 3, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  15. ^ Jarvis, Kimberly (October 18, 2011). "ESPN Radio to Exclusively Broadcast Every World Series Game". espnpressroom.com. ESPN.
  16. ^ "Francona replaces Valentine as ESPN Sunday analyst". Yahoo Sports. 2011-12-06.[permanent dead link‍]
  17. ^ Hudak, Kristen (December 3, 2012). "ESPN's John Kruk Joins Sunday Night Baseball". ESPN Press Room.
  18. ^ Lepore, Steve (March 5, 2014). "Curt Schilling needs additional surgery during ongoing cancer treatment". AwfulAnnouncing. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  19. ^ Lucia, Joe (September 9, 2014). "Curt Schilling is returning to ESPN on Thursday". AwfulAnnouncing. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  20. ^ a b "Dan Shulman leaving ESPN 'Sunday Night Baseball' broadcast, staying at network". USA Today. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  21. ^ "Dan Shulman picks Sportsnet over ESPN for next Blue Jays' playoff run | Offside". dailyhive.com. Retrieved 2022-10-19.
  22. ^ Bucholtz, Andrew (2022-10-17). "Jon Sciambi will take over ESPN Radio World Series calls next year". Awful Announcing. Retrieved 2022-10-19.
  23. ^ "Dan Shulman to join Blue Jays broadcast team on Sportsnet". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  24. ^ "The Sounds of Summer: Ben Wagner & Dan Shulman Join Sportsnet's Blue Jays Radio Broadcast Team". Rogers.com. March 27, 2018.
  25. ^ Brent Furdyk, "Canadian Screen Awards: Winners Announced In Sports Programming, Digital & Immersive Categories". ET Canada, April 5, 2022.
  26. ^ "Canada. Basketball. The Olympics. Broadcaster Dan Shulman has been waiting for this moment forever". Toronto Star. 27 July 2024.
  27. ^ "Dan Shulman". Jewish Canadian Athletes Hall of Fame. 18 February 2007.
  28. ^ "Dan Shulman – Biography, Family, Facts About The Sportscaster". justrichest.com. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  29. ^ Waters, Mike (14 November 2021). "Syracuse's game against Drexel will be family affair for ESPN's Dan Shulman and son Ben". syracuse.com. Retrieved 25 October 2022. (subscription required)
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Preceded by World Series national radio play-by-play announcer
2011–2022 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Sunday Night Baseball play-by-play announcer
2011–2017 		Succeeded by
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