Why Len Kasper is leaving the Cubs for Sox radio booth
The White Sox have a new radio home in 2021, ESPN 1000-AM.
Much bigger news was dropped on Friday, when the Sox announced Len Kasper is coming over from the Cubs to be the play-by-play voice.
The 49-year-old Kasper takes over for Andy Masur, who replaced the late Ed Farmer last season, and he joins longtime analyst Darrin Jackson in the radio booth.
Kasper was the Cubs' popular TV play-by-play announcer the past 16 seasons and he will work 20-25 games with Jason Benetti and the White Sox when Steve Stone is off.
But Kasper made it clear the surprising move had nothing to do with being unhappy with the Cubs and/or Marquee Sports Network, which launched last season and has been a frequent target of criticism.
“I want this to be crystal clear,” Kasper said Friday. “If Cubs games were still on WGN (TV) or NBC Sports Chicago or Channel 7, I would still be doing this. I was treated like a king with the Cubs. This is 100% about a moment in time during which I could not pass up the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Kasper said he's wanted to broadcast major-league baseball on the radio since growing up in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., and listening to the late Ernie Harwell call Detroit Tigers games.
“This is emotional for a lot of reasons,” said Kasper, who choked up on the Zoom call when talking about Harwell, a Hall of Famer. “When I was 12, I wanted to be Ernie Harwell. He was a hero who became a mentor and a good friend. I wanted to paint the picture of the great game of baseball on the radio like he did for me growing up.
“I want to call postseason games, I want to be behind the microphone to call a World Series. This is my decision. The Cubs and Marquee did everything they could to keep me with the club. I can't thank them enough for how they handled it. At the end of the day, I'm trying to live out my dream.”
On Monday, White Sox chief revenue and marketing director Brooks Boyer got a surprise call from Kasper.
“I expected it to be a recommendation for someone else to be the radio play-by-play voice for our club,” Boyer said. “I was stunned when he went on to tell me his dream was to call big-league games on radio.”
Boyer contacted the Cubs, who reluctantly let Kasper exit his contract on Thursday.
“Len is chasing a dream which he and I have discussed many times,” said Marquee Sports Network general manager Mike McCarthy. “We made a significant effort to retain Len but he was resolute that moving to the White Sox radio position was his desire.”
FOX national broadcaster Chris Myers is reportedly the leading candidate to replace Kasper, but McCarthy said no decision has been made.
Kasper did say he was only interested in a radio job in Chicago.
“As you get older and go through a lot of experiences, you make a decision that if there's something you want you have to be active about it,” said Kasper, who has also worked for the Marlins (2002-04) and Brewers (1999-2001). “If you have something in the back of your mind that you're thinking might be fun to do, nobody is just going to reach out and read your mind and hand it to you. You have to be aggressive.”
Reaching out to Boyer paid off for Kasper, who is looking forward to moving from the North Side to the South Side.
“I'm a White Sox,” Kasper said. “When you're with a team, they're your team.”