John Moriarty is hoping to follow Carl Beane as Red Sox PA announcers from Western Mass.
Chicopee's John Moriarty will audition for the Red Sox PA announcer position on Saturday.
SPRINGFIELD – Fans of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and American International College will recognize John Moriarty’s voice when they hear it, and now the Holyoke native hopes Boston Red Sox fans will as well.
Moriarty has an audition on Saturday to become the next public address announcer for the Red Sox. The team is looking to fill the position vacated when Agawam native Carl Beane died of a heart attack in May.
“I was going through some Sports Illustrateds and the one with Jabari Parker on the cover caught my eye, and I started leafing through it,” Moriarty said. “Well, Steve Rushin did a great piece on Carl’s passing and that was this past weekend, and on Monday I got called (to audition).
“So I don’t know if Carl is channeling anything, and I’m a former hockey player so I’m as superstitious as anybody, but I think there may be something to it,” he added. “I would just think that after Carl having such a great run as he did, and his brother Darryl mentioned to me that he would love to see someone local, and I’m just thrilled I’ve gotten this far.”
Moriarty has been announcing men’s and women’s basketball and lacrosse as well as ice hockey at AIC for 15 years. He has announced games for the NCAA at the Division II men’s basketball Elite Eight as well as such Hall of Fame events as the Spalding Hoophall Classic and Hoops and Heroes tournament.
Moriarty, who lives in Chicopee, worked as a video technician for the Hartford Whalers for nearly 20 years, which is when he made the acquaintance of Beane.
“I knew Carl for years working with the Whalers, and he and I would get together back in his days working for WARE radio and we would have lunch,” Moriarty said. “I was thrilled when he took over for Sherm Feller. When I found out about his passing I had a number of people, including a number of people who have hired me over the years, who encouraged me to apply for the position.”
Moriarty said he made a CD of his work and sent it along with a cover letter explaining his experience to the Red Sox. He was expecting a thank-you-for-your-interest letter but instead received a call at home.
“Three days later I got a four-minute message on my answering machine when I came home from work saying they were very much interested; however the club was going to be taking local personalities and people they have relationships with professionally to finish out the season and then they would do an evaluation,” Moriarty said. “Monday I received a call out of the blue from the Red Sox organization that they very much wanted me to come down.”
On Saturday at Fenway Park, Moriarty said he was told, he will get a script to read and there will be a 15-minute audition at the microphone, followed by a job interview.
Moriarty said he knows he is a longshot, but he is encouraged that the Red Sox heard something in his voice to keep him in the running.
“Realistically, I know there are some quality people and established people who are going for it, but I also have an extensive background myself and I feel just to get to this point there must be something they see that gives me an opportunity,” he said.
Moriarty will have local competition in George Miller, a longtime PA announcer at the University of Massachusetts who has also announced MIAA tournament games and NCAA events as well as minor league baseball.