ADAM GIARDINO | Executive Director & Founder

As protests were swirling nationwide in June 2020 following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, I knew that I wanted to do something. The vigils and protests that we saw in communities across the country were necessary and powerful, but I knew I needed to do something more tangible that wouldn’t fade with the resetting of newscycles. I wanted to create lasting change in my little corner of the world -- play-by-play broadcasting.

Starting in the late 2010’s there was a noteworthy rise in the number of Minor League Baseball play-by-play jobs being filled by females, which is what opened my eyes to the fact that broadcasting was an especially White-male-dominated industry. In my decade of Minor League Baseball traveling across three different leagues, I had never met a Black broadcaster – and more generally, meeting any non-White broadcaster was rare. 

Thanks to women finally breaking into play-by-play, I was able to confront the reality of a whitewashed industry landscape. Particularly in the minor leagues, broadcasting is described as a fraternity. That word perfectly defines the experiences broadcasters share from the average-at-best hotels, overnight bus rides and long days at the stadium. The forged friendships made you look forward to the next team on the schedule not for which star player was coming to town, but which familiar face would be occupying the opposite broadcast booth. 

But perhaps the use of ‘fraternity’ relating to broadcasting in the minors bears truer application because of its cultural definition; a by-invitation, male-only club. It wasn’t until I took a step back and realized that all my friends and colleagues across the Eastern League and International League were White males, that I was forced to reckon with that fact. 

It was through this initial recognition several years ago - combined with the urgent calls for larger, societal change in the Black Lives Matter movement - that the Black Play-by-Play Broadcaster Grant and Scholarship Fund was born. The nonprofit will identify and assist aspiring Black play-by-play broadcasters through career guidance and financial assistance with the goal of creating a more diverse broadcast landscape. In this way, the organization won’t grade itself on solely placing a broadcaster in a job, but rather are looking to affect grassroots change for a lasting impact.

From the first day of fundraising in June 2020 until now, thank you endlessly for the support.

-Adam