How a Humboldt Park native became a Spanish-language voice of Chicago sports
CHICAGO (CBS) – About one-third of Major League Baseball players are Hispanic. With Spanish language broadcasts on the MLB App, fans from all over the world can listen to home games.
As CBS 2 celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, Jackie Kostek introduced us to the Humboldt Park native you hear when listening to the Cubs, but that's not all he does.
"My father brought me to Wrigley Field when I was a kid," said Miguel Esparza. "As soon as I walked out and saw the field, I was in love."
When you hear Esparza, a Spanish play-by-play broadcaster, on the call, you'd think this was the plan all along.
"There's a lot of kids that dream of broadcasting sports or being on the radio. I never did," he said. "That's what makes [my story] so crazy. I am living a dream, really, but I never thought of any of it."
Singing was Esparza's passion. Radio just fell into his lap, after seeing a late-night TV commercial for the Illinois Media School and submitting an application online.
"They called me the next day," he said. "I went there. They sold it real well. Oh, you have a great voice. I said 'OK, well maybe I can do this.'"
School led to an internship with WLEY, a regional Mexican music station, where he learned every behind-the-scenes role.
"I mustered up the courage to talk to my boss," Esparza recalled. "I walked into her office and I said, 'Hey, I just wanted to introduce myself.' She was like, 'I know who you are. I've seen how hard you work.' And I said, 'What I want to do is be on the air. Is there a possibility for any of that?' She said, 'Well, I'm looking for a board operator for overnights on weekends. Would you like that?' I said 'Yes.'"
One morning, the on-air talent called off. Esparza called his boss.
"I said, 'Listen, I won't let you down. Just let me go,'" he said. "And she said, 'OK, I'll be listening.' My knees started shaking and I fall to my chair. I went on the air. She calls as soon as I turn off the microphone. She says, 'Miguel, continue the rest of that shift.' And from there, I didn't stop."
Esparza said he's always made his goals and intentions known and backed them up with a relentless work ethic and willingness to seize an opportunity. Case in point, how he became a play-by-play announcer.
"The boss calls me, 'Hey you told me you were interested in doing the Bears. Do you have a demo?'" Esparza said. "I said, 'Absolutely I have a demo.' I hang up the phone. I open up YouTube, find a Bears game. I recorded a demo and I sent it over to him."
The next Monday, he was on the call for Bears-Packers. He would also broadcast a Blackhawks game.
"Somebody calls off. My boss calls me. 'Miguel, I need somebody for the Blackhawks. Can you broadcast hockey?'" Esparza said. "I said, 'Yes, absolutely I can.' So YouTube is my best friend. It really is. I go on there [and search] 'hockey 101.' I wanted to know what I needed to know. I went to the United Center and now I'm Spanish play-by-play for the Blackhawks."
Esparza is the utility player of broadcasting, calling Cubs, Bears and Blackhawks games in Spanish for Univision and anchoring news in English for WBBM news radio. And to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month at Wrigley Field, the Puerto Rican and Mexican boy from Humboldt Park got to live out his first love: singing the National Anthem and seventh inning stretch.
"Just letting everyone know that what I'm doing now is possible for those young kids in Humboldt Park or Pilsen or Little Village, because it is possible," he said. "We dream and we forge our path as long as you stay with it."
So is Esparza living his dream now? He would say absolutely he is – a dream he never knew he had.
Esparza's home run calls have turned him into a viral sensation and his Blackhawks broadcast debut was the very first time he had ever gone to watch them play in person at the United Center.
