Frank-Paul Santangelo (born October 24, 1966) is an American former professionalbaseball player. He playedMajor League Baseball from 1995 to 2001 for theMontreal Expos,San Francisco Giants,Los Angeles Dodgers, andOakland Athletics. He also served as a broadcaster for theWashington Nationals.
F. P. Santangelo | |
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![]() Santangelo in 2011 | |
Outfielder | |
Born: (1966-10-24)October 24, 1966 (age 58) Livonia, Michigan, U.S. | |
Batted: Switch Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
August 2, 1995, for the Montreal Expos | |
Last MLB appearance | |
October 7, 2001, for the Oakland Athletics | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .245 |
Home runs | 21 |
Runs batted in | 162 |
Stats atBaseball Reference ![]() | |
Teams | |
Early life
editA native ofEl Dorado Hills, California, Santangelo attendedOak Ridge High School,Sacramento City College, and theUniversity of Miami. In 1988, he playedcollegiate summer baseball with theBrewster Whitecaps of theCape Cod Baseball League.[1]
Career
editSantangelo was drafted in the 20th round of the1989 Major League Baseball draft by the Montreal Expos organization and rose through the minor leagues, reaching the AAA with theIndianapolis Indians in 1992. He joined the AAAOttawa Lynx the following year when the Expos changed AAA affiliation, and wound up playing three seasons for Ottawa before making his major league debut in August 1995. Santangelo became the first player in Ottawa Lynx history to have his number, 24, retired. He holds the club record with 86 runs scored in the 1993 season.[2]
Santangelo made his Major League debut on August 2, 1995, as the startingleft fielder against theFlorida Marlins. He grounded out to third base in his first at-bat but tripled to right field off ofChris Hammond in the fifth inning for his first major-league hit. He was 2-for-3 with arun batted in (RBI) in his debut.[3] He hit his first home run on August 24 offSergio Valdez of the San Francisco Giants.[4]
Santangelo finished fourth in theNational League in Rookie of the Year voting in 1996. He played six different positions while posting a .277 average with seven home runs and 56 RBI. He was hit by 11 pitches, starting a four-year streak of being in the top 10 in the National League in that category. In four seasons with Montreal, he hit .251 with 17 homers and 119 RBI in 439 games.
He signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants on December 23, 1998, and played in 113 games for them during the 1999 season, hitting .260. He also stole 12 bases that season, the highest total of his career. He then signed with theLos Angeles Dodgers on January 11, 2000, and hit .197 for them in 81 games. In his tenure with the Dodgers, Santangelo primarily was used as a backup toGary Sheffield,Tom Goodwin andTodd Hollandsworth. The Dodgers released him on March 29, 2001, and he signed with the Oakland Athletics the next week, on April 5, 2001.
With the Athletics, he was in 32 games in 2001 and hit only .197, while also playing 71 games for AAASacramento River Cats. He also played in his first and only post-season series in 2001, appearing in two games for the Athletics in the2001 American League Division Series.
In 2002, he played in 44 games for the River Cats, hitting .174, and also played in seven games for theColumbus Clippers in theNew York Yankees farm system, where he had one hit in 15 at-bats.
In his MLB career, Santangelo played in a total of 665 games with 415 hits, 21 home runs, and 162 RBIs. His careerbatting average was .245.
During his career,left field andcenter field were Santangelo's most frequent positions, though he also played at least one game each atsecond base,third base,shortstop,right field, anddesignated hitter. Santangelo, a switch hitter, hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game on June 7, 1997, against theChicago Cubs.[5]
Broadcasting career
editSantangelo co-hosted a sports radiotalk show called "The Rise Guys" onKHTK-1140 AM inSacramento from 2006 to 2008. On November 21, 2008, he was fired immediately after concluding his show for the day. KHTK gave low ratings and cost-cutting as the explanation. He said he felt "stabbed in the back" by the station.[citation needed]
On March 1, 2010, Santangelo became the host of San Francisco'sKNBR-680 AM SportsPhone680 in the 7–10 pm time slot.He also worked as a reporter and fill-in game announcer for Giants broadcasts onCSN Bay Area and theGiants Radio Network. During his tenure with 680 AM, Santangelo made his point known that he preferred to see players hit home runs as opposed to players who used "small-ball" strategy, while also stating "steroid-induced home runs are way more entertaining than strategic runs."
On January 6, 2011, Santangelo was named thecolor analyst for theWashington Nationals' telecasts on theMid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), returning to the organization with which he spent over half his playing career (the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2005). He was paired with play-by-play announcerBob Carpenter. After Santangelo's first season as a broadcaster with the Nationals,The Washington Post sports columnist Tracee Hamilton noted that the Carpenter-Santangelo team improved over 2011,[6] andThe Washington Post sports blogger Dan Steinberg wrote about Santangelo's performance and how he sought to be educational, not outrageous, in the broadcast booth.[7]
Santangelo's signature line as an announcer is a reverse play off the superstition of never speaking about a no-hitter when it is in progress. Whenever the first Nationals hit of the game occurs, Santangelo says flatly "There goes the no-hitter." Santangelo has explained that he says it as a tribute to his former managerFelipe Alou, who as manager of the Expos always said it when the Expos got their first hit in game.[8] He was able to use the line in every game he called with the team, with the closest he came to not be able to say it was whenMichael Wacha was an out away in September 2013 beforeRyan Zimmerman broke up the bid with an infield single. WhenMichael Lorenzen pitched a no-hitter against the Nationals in August 2023, after Santangelo was no longer a color analyst for the team, Santangelo reacted to it on Twitter by referencing the phrase as a hashtag.[9] Santangelo does not use the line when the opposing team gets its first hit, but on September 28, 2014, moments afterJordan Zimmermann pitched the first no-hitter in Washington Nationals history, Santangelo announced, "And thereis the no-hitter!". He made the same remark after Max Scherzer's no-hitters on June 20 and October 3, 2015.
Santangelo returned to San Francisco in 2022, where he hosted the pregame show for theSan Francisco Giants onKNBR, as well as the station's late-night call-in showKNBR Tonight. In 2023, Santangelo teamed up with Joe Ritzo to fill in forJon Miller andDave Flemming onKNBR forGiants broadcasts. On Nov. 29, 2023, he was one of several hosts let go in a station shakeup. Santangelo saidKNBR Tonight was canceled due to budget cuts, and would be replaced with syndicated programming.[10]
Misconduct allegation
editSantangelo was absent from the MASN broadcasts of three Nationals games between April 30 and May 2, 2021, returned for the broadcasts of May 4 and 5.[11] He then was absent from aYouTube broadcast of the game of May 6, despite the Nationals having aired promotional spots on MASN for his scheduled appearance as a color commentator during the YouTube broadcast, and did not return for MASN broadcasts on or after May 7.[11]
Santangelo's abrupt disappearance from the broadcast team went unexplained until May 8, whenThe Athletic reported that Santangelo's absence was the result of a woman's allegation of sexual misconduct by Santangelo via an anonymousInstagram post.[11] The same day, a Nationals spokeswoman informed the press that the Nationals had revoked their approval of Santangelo as a member of the Nationals broadcasting team and requested that MASN remove Santangelo from Nationals broadcasts, which had resulted in his absence from April 30 to May 2.[11] The Nationals spokeswoman explained that a MASN investigation had cleared Santangelo, allowing him to return for the broadcasts of May 4 and 5, but after additional allegations of misconduct surfaced online, the Nationals had again asked for his removal, resulting in his absence and indefinite suspension after May 5.[11][12] MASN referred the matter toMajor League Baseball's Department of Investigations for assistance in the investigation.[11][13]
In a statement on May 8, Santangelo denied the allegations,[11][13] and a MASN spokesman expressed surprise at the Nationals' willingness to air the accusations publicly before MLB could complete an investigation.[13] Santangelo returned to Nationals broadcasts on July 16, 2021,[13] and that day MASN explained through a spokesman that "The Commissioner's Office and MASN have reviewed the anonymous claim made against F. P. Santangelo. MLB and MASN have found no evidence that Mr. Santangelo violated the terms of his contractor agreement, [or] league, or network regulations, nor is there more evidence currently available to us to collect. Accordingly, Mr. Santangelo's credentials have been restored and he resumed performing his duties tonight."[13] A Nationals spokeswoman told the press, "We were informed that MLB and MASN had completed a review of Mr. Santangelo, and that MASN would be returning him to his broadcast duties today."[13]
On November 3, 2021, Santangelo announced that he would not return to Nationals broadcasts for the2022 season.[14]
Mitchell Report
editFollowing the release of theMitchell Report in which he was named byKirk Radomski as having usedDeca-Durabolin,HGH, andtestosterone, Santangelo confirmed he usedHGH on two occasions in 1997 and 2000 to rehab from a quadriceps and knee injury but denied the other allegations, including telling teammateAdam Piatt that Radomski "will get you what you need."[15]
Personal life
editSantangelo has married twice; his second marriage was toPlayboy PlaymateMichelle McLaughlin.[16] He previously lived inAlexandria,Virginia[17] while broadcasting for the Nationals, but now lives in San Francisco.
Santangelo's first marriage produced two children, who as of March 2018 attended college in California.[17]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^"Major League Baseball Players From the Cape Cod League"(PDF). capecodbaseball.org. RetrievedJanuary 9, 2020.
- ^The Ottawa Citizen (July 13, 2007)."All out, all the time".canada.com. Archived fromthe original on March 24, 2016. RetrievedSeptember 10, 2013.
- ^"August 2, 1995 Florida Marlins at Montreal Expos play by play and box score".Baseball Reference. RetrievedSeptember 10, 2013.
- ^"August 24, 1995 San Francisco Giants at Montreal Expos play by play and box score".Baseball Reference. RetrievedSeptember 10, 2013.
- ^"Home Run From Both Sides of the Plate In One Game | Baseball Almanac".www.baseball-almanac.com.
- ^Hamilton, Tracee (September 29, 2011)."MASN Nationals broadcasts: Bob Carpenter – F.P. Santangelo team improved in 2011".The Washington Post.
- ^Steinberg, Dan (October 1, 2011)."Santangelo sought to be educational, not outrageous, in the broadcast booth".The Washington Post.
- ^F. P. Santangelo on Twitter 17 Apr 2018 2:13 PM Retrieved June 17, 2018.
- ^"x.com".x.com. RetrievedJanuary 16, 2025.
- ^Simon, Alex (November 30, 2023)."Major KNBR shakeup ends nightly sports call-in show after 51 years".SFGATE. RetrievedNovember 30, 2023.
- ^abcdefgJanes, Chelsea, and Jesse Dougherty, "F.P. Santangelo is off the Nationals' broadcast after sexual misconduct allegation," washingtonpost.com, May 8, 2021 Accessed July 17, 2021
- ^Brown, Larry."F.P. Santangelo off Nationals broadcasts indefinitely over misconduct allegations". MSN. RetrievedMay 9, 2021.
- ^abcdefJanes, Chelsea, "Nationals broadcaster F.P. Santangelo returns to the MASN booth," washingtonpost.com, July 16, 2021 Accessed 17 July 2021
- ^Allen, Scott, "F.P. Santangelo will not return to Nationals' broadcasts on MASN next season," washingtonpost.com, November 3, 2021 Accessed 4 November 2021
- ^Davidson, Joe (December 14, 2007)."Regretful Santangelo comes clean".Sacramento Bee. Archived fromthe original on December 15, 2007. RetrievedDecember 14, 2007.
- ^"Michelle & F.P." RetrievedSeptember 10, 2013.
- ^abMcClain, Buzz (March 27, 2018)."In the Booth with F.P. Santangelo".Northern Virginia Magazine. RetrievedMay 30, 2018.
External links
edit- Career statistics fromBaseball Reference · Fangraphs · Baseball Reference (Minors) · Retrosheet · Baseball Almanac
- Baseball Almanac – F.P. Santangelo Stats