Marquee Sports Network general manager Mike McCarthy said Friday that no decisions have been made regarding a replacement for Len Kasper, who’s leaving the Cubs’ TV booth for the White Sox’ radio booth on their new flagship station, ESPN 1000.
Kasper spoke with McCarthy and Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney on Monday to let them know of the opportunity with the Sox. Though Kasper was under contract, they knew of his longtime interest in calling baseball on the radio and let him out. Still, both agreed that leaving TV for radio and the Cubs for the Sox is a unique decision.
“This wouldn’t make any sense to anybody unless you were familiar with Len, and Len’s dream was to pursue this purist view of baseball on the radio,” McCarthy said. “ He’s going to do that, and he doesn’t even have to move to do it. So it’s pretty special for him.
“We tried like heck to keep him. Crane and I put our heads together, we put an offer in front of him that he was quite moved by. Now we have the challenge to fill one of the most prestigious positions in sports broadcasting, which is the play-by-play job for the Cubs.”
When news of Kasper’s departure broke late Thursday, there was a report that said Fox Sports’ Chris Myers was on tap to take over. Myers is already on Marquee’s talent roster, and he would have called some Cubs games last season had the full season been played. But McCarthy said the process to replace Kasper has just begun.
“We have collected names, but I can tell you that we’re probably taking more inbound than outbound,” McCarthy said. “This is a plum job. It should not surprise you the amount of interest that people are expressing. Some provocative, interesting names. But were going to go through a process here.”
McCarthy and Kenney were effusive in their praise for Kasper, who told them he wouldn’t leave if it left them in a lurch. But they said the last thing they wanted to do was stand in the way of Kasper following his dream.
“To credit Len and his character, he said, I won’t do this if you think it’s too hard for you guys,” Kenney said. “I said, Len, we’re gonna get through it. We’ve gone through a lot of changes. They’re hard for people to see new faces come in.
“Mike will have a difficult job on his hands to sort this through quickly. I think [the announcer] needs to be someone who fits with the Cubs’ culture because the Cubs’ culture is very special and something we cherish.”
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December 05, 2020 at 03:03AM
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Marquee Sports Network says no decisions have been made about Len Kasper’s replacement - Chicago Sun-Times
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