Triple-A All-Star Game again on ESPN2
The 2009 Game, to be played at PGE Park, home of the Pacific Coast League's Portland Beavers, marks the 15th straight season Triple-A Baseball's midsummer classic has been televised live on ESPN2. The first two Games were shown on ESPN in 1988-89. Launched in October of 1993, ESPN2 is now available in approximately 97 million homes.
Handling play-by-play duties on the telecast will be Rich Burk, who has been the Beavers radio and television play-by-play announcer since they returned to the PCL in 2001. He was the lead broadcaster for the Class A Portland Rockies of the Northwest League for five seasons before joining the Beavers. Burk has handled play-by-play duties on a fill-in basis for the San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays. He has handled play-by-play duties for Pac-10 football and basketball television broadcasts.
Serving as the analyst will be ESPN's Baseball Tonight Analyst Eric Young. Young played 18 Major League seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers. He also played in the PCL for Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Portland and Oklahoma during his career. Young hit a home run in the Rockies first-ever home at-bat in 1993 and represented Colorado on the National League All-Star team in 1996. His son Eric Young Jr. is a second baseman for Colorado Springs in the Pacific Coast League and leads all of Triple-A Baseball in stolen bases.
John Manuel of Baseball America will serve as the on-field reporter. He has worked at Baseball America since September 1996, covering a variety of areas including college baseball, the Minor Leagues and prospects, the Draft, the Olympics and international baseball. Manuel has been featured on ESPN's college baseball coverage, as well as serving as a TV color analyst for the Durham Bulls of the International League since 2007.
Westwood One Radio Broadcast
Radio coverage of this year's Cricket Wireless Triple-A All-Star Game will be broadcast live on the Westwood One Radio Network. Portland's Tim Haggerty along with Josh Whetzel of the Rochester Red Wings will be in the radio booth. Haggerty joined the Beavers broadcast team in 2008 after spending the previous three seasons as a play-by-play announcer for the Double-A Mobile BayBears. He started his broadcast career with the rookie-level Idaho Falls Chukars in 2004. Whetzel is in his seventh season as the Voice of the Red Wings and his 15th broadcasting professional baseball. He was the play-by-play announcer for the Binghamton Mets, Kinston Indians and Albany Polecats before joining the Red Wings. He was the play-by-play announcer for the 1995 South Atlantic League All-Star Game and the 1998 Carolina League All-Star Game.