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Mike Antonellis had just stepped through the front door to his Old Orchard Beach, Maine home after announcing a Sunday matinee Double-A baseball game in Portland when we connected over the phone.
Despite being at the ballpark for the entire day, Antonellis was extremely friendly, affable, energetic, and knowledgeable when we spoke. While I was intending on interviewing him between four to six-minutes as instructed, our conversation lasted for nearly an hour in duration. The flow of our discussion was natural. There was never a dull moment where Antonellis signaled that he had to go. I am very grateful for the time he was able to give me.
Antonellis says his rise to prominence as a play-by-play announcer has been an odyssey that started when he was a teenager. Antonellis grew up in Ashland, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. An avid baseball fan, Antonellis gravitated towards sports broadcasting after touring the campus radio station at Dean College.
"I just remember walking down that hall and being like that's what I want to do." Antonellis said.
After graduating from college, Antonellis says he picked up equipment, worked as a bartender, and also held positions in sales, marketing, and media relations to help get his foot in the door.
Throughout the hardships and the thoughts of failing, Antonellis says he never second-guessed what he wanted to do in life.
"No part of me ever felt like well, if I didn't get to the big leagues would I still be happy doing this?" Antonellis said. "Of course I would."
Antonellis says he continued to follow his heart.
In 2005, Antonellis was hired as the full-time radio play-by-play announcer for the Portland Sea Dogs, the Double-A Affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Although Antonellis is content with his current position, he says he is open to advancing his career.
As a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, Antonellis says his ultimate goal would be to work behind a microphone at Fenway Park.
That is where you'll find him make the biggest ripples in the pool.
AP: After graduating from Framingham State College in Framingham, Massachusetts, what were your options in terms of employment?
MA: Well I was very lucky to, excuse me, to seek an internship while at Framingham State at a small radio station in Milford, Mass-AM 1490 WMRC which I kind of-it was kind of near where I grew up and I kind of knew they did a lot of local stuff but the one thing that they did that no one really does that's around baseball is they did legion baseball. So I had a chance to get in there and do a lot of stuff with them and then asked about doing games and they actually already had somebody as their lead guy and he was nice enough to let me do color with him and I got to do innings of play-by-play and I took care of all the equipment and that was kind of my first job but I paved the way to that through school and then when I graduated I worked there for two more years you know part-time, semi-full time and just did a bunch of other jobs on the side and then I stayed there two years and made fates and got an internship in '97 and that's kind of how it started but I-what I thought would-for me was I tried to find a place where I could get into doing something that I wanted to do so I-while a lot of people were picking big you know places to intern I said why not go somewhere where I think I'd be able to do stuff and I think I made the right choice. It worked out and it was a terrific-terrific place to work. I-I still you know really like those people and still think about them to this day because they really-they gave me my start.
AP: Well you've dedicated about twenty years of your life working in radio and that includes seventeen in professional baseball. What was the turning point where you realized the trajectory of your career was headed in the right direction?
MA: I think it's just because of how I feel about it. I mean I really love the business. I mean I love baseball too and I-I've always been somebody that if it's something I like and something I believe in I put a lot of backing into it and I really-it's like having a excuse me-like having a meeting with yourself. I mean I just knew like I can-I think I can do this. You know I didn't know where it would go. I mean I didn't but I knew that I had the skills and it came-I'm not going to say it came easy but it came natural where I think it's because loved it. I remember being able to just do sportscasts without even ever done them but I think it's because I had listened to them for years, listening to BZ or just reading the sports-I mean I used to read the sports pages at eight or nine years old I mean so I was-I knew how to write game stories so I was kind of exposed to it for a long time growing up loving baseball, loving radio, loving TV, and loving all of that and it just-it felt great. It felt natural and I think more than now than ever I realize how much I love it because I don't feel any less fire in my belly when I go to work and I still have that fire and passion and desire and I love it to this day and I've done thousands of games and it's-it's never worn off.
AP: But were there times where you had reservations about what you were doing?
MA: Sure. Absolutely yeah. Big time...
AP: What went through your mind?
MA: That I failed because I wasn't in a network or I didn't get to the big leagues. You just feel like a failure but it's stupid to think that because you know I look at where I am now and I'm from New England and I have a job for one of the few New England professional teams. You know not just baseball. I mean there's not many of these jobs overall. And I never-no part of me ever felt like well if I didn't get to the big leagues could I not-would I still be happy doing this? Of course I would. Some people aren't. Some people if they don't get to that certain level they're not happy but I am. I mean I love doing these games. I love this level. I love being with the Red Sox. I love the people I work with but yeah I mean I think you-its natural yeah and I got down and it's hard like a lifestyle-to have a personal life sometimes. It's a lot of travel. The money for a while wasn't great. I've finally been able to do okay being seasonal. I've been able to really pick up other things so then after all that I realized jeez I'm doing all this stuff in the offseason now I'm making a pretty good paycheck where I can actually spend some money. It's made the baseball even more enjoyable and I have no problem if I stayed here for the rest of my life.
AP: Are you still, I know that you mentioned that you very content with where you are at in your life but are you still looking to advance your career?
MA: Yes. Yes. And I think it's helped-there's been at times when I've been here where I said well I'm fine if I didn't do anything else but that's not fair to me almost. I think it's good for any kind of broadcaster or performer-I think you see it in all facets of entertainment especially actors to try something different and I tell a lot of people do something that you're afraid. I mean I've done some things that I've been afraid of and it's good. You need to shake it up or I'm doing more TV now and I read off a teleprompter which I never done and I was nervous and I'm like that's good. I mean it's good to be nervous. But yeah I mean I'm going to look. I mean if it's something opened up that was a better opportunity I would yeah definitely go for it but I have a pretty good situation here. I'm very lucky for this level to have the situation I do and to work for the people I do and they allow me to be seasonal and they really take care of me in a different way I think and being with the Red Sox and all that too. I mean there's a lot of other attachments that are fine with me being here. I'm closer to my family and I'm in Maine and Maine is a phenomenal area to live in so yeah I feel like I'm in a good situation right now.
AP: Flashback to February of 2005 and how were you able to land the job working as the play-by-play announcer for the Portland Sea Dogs?
MA: That's crazy. I mean it's one of those stories again. It would all kind of stem from when I left-I mean I left Syracuse on Easter Sunday in 2000-I was only there one year so it probably was 2000. It was 2002. I got a job in Cape County within like three weeks of finding out in Syracuse that the the team-the radio station was not going to keep the Chiefs and they were only going to let one announcer work at both and I wasn't one of them so I got a job in A-ball because I wanted to stay in baseball and I remember driving to Illinois from Syracuse on Easter Sunday just saying what in the world are you doing-you know I was really down. I mean I drove there on a Sunday and the season opened on a Thursday. And it was tough. I mean the first couple months there were tough because I really had only worked for one team. I was at the station for that one year and it was-I didn’t mind picking up and moving and meeting other people because that all falls into place but it was-that was far. I mean I moved to the middle of the country but it was baseball and it was a little rocky at first. It was tough kind of settling in and I took over for a big league-for a guy that went to the big leagues and he was pretty popular so that was hard but it was good for me though. It really kind of-it really helped me build a pretty good exterior for certain things and kind of maybe be aware of other situations with that and I became really good friends with this girl in the office who knew Todd Jamison, who was the voice of the Sea Dogs at the time. So she used to just mention Mike as the radio guy here and then in 2003 I got the job in Erie and we finally met when Portland came into town and he told me like I might leave here would you be interested in maybe coming aboard and I did and we worked together for a little bit of 2005 and then he had some personal issues, some health issues with his wife and he left and I got the job full time but it's crazy had I never-all that stuff didn't happened I mean I wouldn't be here. I mean it's really kind of strange how it worked out and I actually interviewed for the internship in '97 and was a finalist for it for the Sea Dogs so to get that job was you know I thought I was taking the worst turns off exits getting myself kind of lost and you know it's kind of I don't know there's some irony in that or there's symbolism I went pretty far to come back close but it worked out. It certainly worked out. I mean it's weird. I sit back sometimes and I-when people ask me that I'm like it's crazy how I ended up here. I mean it really you know some of its luck but a lot of it is that I continued to do it and that was kind of a low point when I left Syracuse because I really was doubting if I was doing the right thing and it proved to work you know and it shows sometimes you have to go through some really low and it's not low-low but it's scary and lonely and it worked out so-but it still you know just thinking about it-it's crazy.
AP: To conclude our interview, what advice would you give to those who have your same aspiration?
MA: Believe in yourself. I mean it's kind of lonely when you are going after this because you have to kind of-you have to bite the bullet on a lot of things. I mean you do have to maybe take an internship somewhere you don't want to. You have to go through it not making a lot of money and you're going to have people in your ear telling you ah you can't work somewhere like that but it has to be if you really want to do this you have to just get into a zone and do it and then not worry about what people think. But you just have to-you have to really commit yourself to it. I mean I think the people who are really successful in it are committed to it. I mean it's a career but it's always going. I mean I'm always thinking of it even on off nights or off days. It's you know I think it's got to be something that you just love. If you want to stay in it forever you have to have the drive and desire to really want to do it and all the other stuff should matter. You know I mean I wasn't crazy about moving right away but well I mean I should say when I started getting into it more but that first time I was all for just sticking up and moving to do this. I didn't care at all because I wanted to do it so bad so you kind of have to have that because it's not for everybody and I have no problems with people who have reservations about those other things because it is a big commitment and I think some people don't get it. It looks fun and it's extremely fun and and it's extremely gratifying and it's awesome but you do have to to realize that you are committing a lot of your life to it and it's not-some people that's hard to do and that I understand but if you love it and want to do it just go forward and go all in. Just like a diving board. Just jump right off and go in.
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