I don’t know what kind of student Jenny Cavnar was at Smoky Hill High School or Colorado State, but I’m betting she was pretty damn good.
Cavnar has always done her homework, one of the many reasons she has risen in sports broadcasting. In February, NBC Sports California announced that Cavnar would be their primary play-by-play announcer for the Oakland A’s TV broadcasts. She became the first woman to hold that position in major league history.
Saturday afternoon, fresh off calling Oakland’s 4-0 shutout of the Tigers in Detroit, Cavnar took time from her whirlwind spring to chat on the phone. She’s already done over 50 interviews, including a “Today Show” segment about her history-making career. Cavnar doesn’t like the focus on her, but she’s fielded the attention the way Nolan Arenado handles shots at third base.
“As a reporter by nature, you never want to become the story, so it’s been a little awkward for me,” she said. “So when I got to spring training, I was ready to turn the page and focus on my new team. That’s what I’ve been concentrating on.”
For 12 years, Cavnar served as the Rockies’ pregame and postgame show host and sideline reporter for now-defunct AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain. She also occasionally served as the network’s backup play-by-play voice, and in April 2018, she became the first woman since 1993 to call play-by-play for an MLB game.
What always impressed me about Cavnar was her depth of baseball knowledge and her ability to create relationships with the players, their families, managers, coaches and the front office. She also asked solid, sometimes even tough questions. She was never abrasive, but she didn’t lob softballs. That’s not easy when you work for a network directly tied to a professional team.
She’s stepped into a difficult situation in Oakland. The A’s stumbled out of the gate with a 2-7 record, and on Thursday, the club officially announced that this year would be the team’s 56th and final season at the decrepit Oakland Coliseum. Starting next season, the A’s will play at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, a 10,624-seat minor league ballpark. The A’s will play there in 2025–27 with an option for 2028.
The A’s announced their intention to move to Las Vegas last April, and MLB owners unanimously approved the relocation application in November.
Cavnar’s broadcast partner, color analyst Dallas Braden, shared some thoughts on social media on Friday. He said he wasn’t sure if he’d stick with the team after this season, calling Thursday “one of the toughest days of my life.”
Despite the turmoil, Cavnar keeps working “to always get better at my job.”
“I’ve been trying to get up to speed with this team, first and foremost,” she said. “It’s a team that has a very long history. They’re playing in their 124th season now, dating back to two other cities (Philadelphia and Kansas City), and eventually going to two more cities in the next couple of years. So there’s a lot there, and trying to get a depth of knowledge is important.”
Cavnar also wants to hone her craft.
“I feel very parallel to the Athletics’ young players,” she said. “A lot of these guys made their major league debuts last year, and now they’re getting experience and becoming everyday players. So I kind of feel like I’m in that same grind with them, where they might be pressing too hard on the field because they want to be really good.
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“The team made a lot of errors in the first five games. So I’ve tried to reflect on my first homestand, and now, my first road trip. And I’ve looked at myself and said, ‘I wish I’d done that better, or I wish I had done that better.’ Maybe I was pressing a little bit. But being behind the microphone every day, you have to learn and come back ready the next day. For me, that’s been great. I’ve seen a lot of growth from Day 1.”
Cavnar’s homework never ends. She frequently studies other broadcasts, and talks to other announcers in an effort to hone her craft. She also talks to opposing managers.
“I had a long conversation with (Tigers manager) A.J. Hinch today about how he builds relationships with reporters,” she said. “It was cool. I’m just utilizing my resources and reminding myself of what got me here in the first place, even though I’m in a totally new environment.”
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