66ers' Saeger calls 2,500th game

SAN BERNADINO, Calif. -- Mike Saeger has been on the radio calling Minor League Baseball games since 1991. On Aug. 12, he reached the milestone of 2,500 games as a director of broadcasting and radio announcer in the Minors.

Saeger started in the South Atlantic League in 1991 with the Pirates' affiliate in Augusta. After his second season in Georgia, the California native became the broadcaster for the Vero Beach Dodgers in the Florida State League. He spent the 1993 and 1994 campaigns in the Sunshine State before coming home to California.

Saeger in 1995 became the lead man for the San Bernardino Spirit, later known as the San Bernadino Stampede and now the Inland Empire 66ers.

Since he began sitting behind the microphone in San Bernardino, the teams for which he has called games have compiled a record of 1,002-938. He has brought home five Cal League championships (1995, '99, 2000, '03, '06) and has the jewelry to prove it.

This season alone Saeger has been in the booth to see two triple plays, an inside-the-park home run, the hidden ball trick and a 25-1 victory by Inland Empire.

Some Major League players who have come through San Bernardino during "The Mike Saeger Era" are Adrian Beltre, Paul Konerko, Felix Hernandez, Adam Jones and Ted Lilly.

Finally, within the past couple of years, Saeger has had his own weekend sports talk show and calls college basketball games for Cal Baptist University.