Karl Ravech (; born ) is an American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

who works as the primary play by play commentator for ''

Sunday Night Baseball ''Sunday Night Baseball'' is an exclusive weekly telecast of a Major League Baseball game that airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ESPN during the regular season. The games are preceded most weeks by the studio show '' Baseball Tonight: Sun ...

'' on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

."Karl Ravech"
. espnmediazone3.com. November 17, 2009. Retrieved October 3, 2011.

Early life and education

Ravech grew up in

Needham, Massachusetts Needham ( ) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 32,091 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census. It is the home of Olin College. History ...

. He received a bachelor's degree in communications from

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca (town), New York, Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a Music school, conservatory of music. Ithaca College is known for its media-related programs and entertainment program ...

in 1987 and a master's degree in management and leadership from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

in 1990.

Career

Early work

Ravech worked at

WBNG-TV WBNG-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Binghamton, New York, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Gray Media, and maintains studios on Columbia Drive in Johnson City and a transmitter on Ingraha ...

, in

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

, as a sports anchor/reporter from 1987 to 1990, and then

WHTM-TV WHTM-TV (channel 27) is a television station licensed to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Susquehanna Valley region as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on North 6th Street i ...

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

, from 1990-1993 in a similar role.

ESPN

Ravech has worked for

since 1993, appearing primarily on ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

'' and '' Baseball Tonight''. Since 2006, Ravech has provided commentary for ESPN and ABC's coverage of the

Little League World Series The Little League World Series is an annual baseball tournament for children (primarily boys) aged 10 to 12 years old, held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Originally called the National Little League Tournament, it was later renamed for th ...

South Williamsport, Pennsylvania South Williamsport is a borough in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is famous for hosting the Little League World Series. The population was 6,259 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan St ...

. He has also done commentary for the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

, and ESPN's

KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most success ...

coverage during

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. He also appears as the ''Baseball Tonight'' host in the

2K Sports 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several developmen ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, '' Major League Baseball 2K5''. Karl Ravech with West Point Cadets

Timeline

*1995–2018: '' Baseball Tonight'' primary host *1993–2008: ''

'' anchor *2000–2006: ESPN golf host *''College Hoops 2Night'' host *'' College Basketball on ABC'' studio host *2013–present: ''

ESPN Major League Baseball ''ESPN Major League Baseball'' (also referred to as ''MLB on ESPN'') is an American presentation of live Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by ESPN. ESPN's MLB broadcasts have also aired on sister networks and platforms ESPN2, American ...

play-by-play'' *2017–present: ''

College Basketball on ESPN ''ESPN College Basketball'' is a blanket title used for presentations of college basketball on ESPN and its family of networks (including ABC since 2006). Its coverage focuses primarily on competition in NCAA Division I, holding broadcast righ ...

play-by-play'' *2022–present: ''

play-by-play''

Personal life

Ravech suffered a heart attack in November 1998. Ravech's son Sam, at the age of 22, became the youngest play-by-play broadcaster on ESPN after calling a Tulane men's basketball game on November 22, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravech, Karl Living people American television sports anchors Binghamton University alumni College basketball announcers in the United States College baseball announcers in the United States ESPN people American golf commentators Ithaca College alumni Journalists from Massachusetts Major League Baseball broadcasters People from Avon, Connecticut Sportspeople from Needham, Massachusetts Year of birth missing (living people) Jewish American sports announcers