CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicagoans never like to lose to Detroit. It’s even worse, though, to lose one their own to the Motor City, as they did Thursday, when the White Sox announced that play-by-play broadcaster Jason Benetti is taking a job with the Tigers.
Benetti, 40, was raised in Homewood, Ill., and has been a Sox fan from birth. He was the perfect choice to follow Hawk Harrelson in the booth and voiced the team through the good, the bad, the confusing and the mundane. On Thursday, Benetti penned a farewell to White Sox fans on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
"You've spent eight years making me feel welcome and loved and appreciated, and I love you dearly," Benetti wrote. "I will always cherish you and your passion and joy. You mean more than you know to me."
Behind the scenes, at times, there was friction. Not with color commentator Steve Stone — the other half of a perfect pair — but with the business side of the White Sox organization, as Benetti hinted to 670 The Score last winter during contract talks.
“I now know what the arbitration process is like, where … people walk into a room and they’re like, ‘Are you that good?’” he said.
Benetti is that good, evident by his national work, which is with Fox Sports these days. He also previously announced for the Olympics, for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball and for Peacock Sunday MLB games.
“We are so proud to see Jason continue to live out his dream to bring the games he loves in the homes of fans in his unique style,” read a statement released by the White Sox. “We will miss Jason calling White Sox games and wish him the very best on this next chapter of his storied broadcasting career.”
In the Tigers' announcement, they referred to Benetti as "one of the top voices in sports."
He’s inspirational, too, as he’s reached these heights while living with cerebral palsy.
The White Sox said the team’s next step will be to find the “best person” to pair with Stone, with Len Kasper fully committed to his role as a play-by-play radio announcer.
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