One of DC’s biggest sports voices is getting the call to the biggest cathedral in sports.
The New York Yankees announced Thursday night that Mark Fratto, the PA announcer for both the Washington Commanders and Wizards, will spend the weekend at Yankee Stadium, filling in for Paul Olden as the Yankees’ PA announcer for their final first-half series against the Cubs.
Fratto has been the PA announcer at Yankee Stadium for New York City FC since 2015, their inaugural season in MLS, and has worked at Madison Square Garden for boxing and college basketball, so he also has a long history in Gotham as well.
He has been the Commanders’ PA announcer for the last two seasons and with the Wiz since 2019.
Fratto is filling in for Paul Olden, who has done PA for 1,339 consecutive games – every home game, regular and postseason, since the new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009 – through Thursday (although, as the Yankees noted, the team’s two ‘home’ games in San Diego in the 2020 ALDS do not count for that streak).
Olden himself replaced Jim Hall, who was on the mic in 2008 after serving as a long-time understudy to Bob Sheppard – known to fans in NYC as ‘the Voice of God’ over nearly five decades in the role – so Fratto will, indeed, have VERY large shoes to fill.