Greg Amsinger is the latest in a long line of St. Louisans to take the national stage in sportscasting, and he's living his dream covering the World Series as one of MLB Network's anchors.
"I'm the kid in the candy store,'' he said Thursday while at Busch Stadium to anchor some MLB Network programming. "To be on the field before Game 1 of the World Series, some people yelling 'Lindenwood,' gave me goose bumps.''
He is a 1997 graduate of St. Charles High before going to Lindenwood University, then on to a TV sportscasting job at a TV station in Terre Haute, Ind. before his career began to blossom. He was approached about taking a national anchoring job in New York, although not exactly one with the security of one of the three-letter networks. It was the unknown CSTV that came calling, an outlet that was just starting with the goal to emphasize college sports.
Amsinger took the chance, the network grew (it now is CBS Sports network) and it resulted in a job offer from another upstart national outlet, this one with much more clout — MLB Network, which has the backing of Major League Baseball. He's been there since the debut, on New Year's Day 2009, and is one of its primary hosts.
"It's perfect, it's my dream job, said Amsinger, a self-proclaimed baseball fanatic. And, in particular, a Cardinals fanatic. While anchors on other networks try to mask their personal feeling, Amsinger makes little attempt to hide his allegiance on the air. And he would have trouble doing so even if he tried.
"The guys I'm working with bring it up all the time,'' he said. "But that's OK. I wouldn't be a good fit for MLB Network if I wasn't a huge baseball fan. And part of being a baseball fan is growing up a fan of a team, just like everybody I work with has been a fan of a team. So why do I have to be any different?''
While he anchored MLB Network's prime-time and postgame Series shows from St. Louis, he'll be back in the network studios in New Jersey this weekend while the Series shifts to Texas, with Matt Vasgersian filling the roles Amsinger had. But Amsinger returns to St. Louis next week if the Series does. Did he have to do a lot of lobbying to get his assignments lined up that way?
"I think they like me,'' he said. "I didn't have to ask.''
And he squeezed some personal time in while in town, going on the growing Lindenwood campus for the first time in eight years.
"I couldn't believe how much it has changed,'' he said. "It's a night-and-day difference.''
And his professional life now is much different from what he ever expected.
"I do a show where I can ad-lib, get to interact with people,'' he said. "And I get to mix my social life with work — I'm hanging out with guys I like, watching and talking baseball. It's a dream come true.''
RATINGS Rise
The TV rating for Game 2, which featured Texas' dramatic ninth-inning comeback to beat the Cards 2-1, was up over the number for the opener. And the total figure for the Series is slightly ahead of last year's San Francisco-Texas match-up, which tied the record for lowest rating.
The Nielsen Co. says Fox's telecast was seen in 8.9 percent of homes in the nation's 56 largest markets with a TV, up from the 8.5 figure for Game 2 last year. The two-game average is 8.5, compared to 8.4 last season.
St. Louis again produced a mammoth number, 49.4 on KTVI (Channel 2), to lead the way nationally. Dallas-Fort Worth was a distant second, at 34.4. The St. Louis rating was better than the Game 2 figure for the Cards' two other Series appearance in the last 24 seasons — 47.8 in 2006 and 46.9 in 2004.
