Joey Zanaboni Returns to American Association, New Voice of Canaries
The Sioux Falls Canaries are ecstatic to welcome veteran and viral baseball announcer Joey Zanaboni as the organization’s new broadcaster and director of media relations for the 2021 season.
The St. Louis native will be the lead play-by-play announcer on Canaries broadcasts and lead the team’s social media and branding with his unique style of zeal, zaniness, and Zen.
“Joey is a wildly talented and dynamic personality, and a perfect fit for the direction the Canaries are headed with our new ownership and state of mind,” general manager Duell Higbe said. “He is bold, he is bright, and he has fun, all while providing vivid, top-quality description of the game at the same time. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, but does take delivering a first-class broadcast seriously, and we feel lucky to have him.”
Zanaboni spent the 2019 season with the Johnson City Cardinals, the Appalachian League champion affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. Prior to that, he worked as the broadcaster and media director for the Texas AirHogs of the American Association from 2016-18.
“This is a tremendous honor,” Zanaboni said. “The Canaries are up to big things in 2021. I will put my heart and soul into this season. We will have a broadcast booth unlike any other anywhere in minor league baseball.”
Zanaboni brings with him the wildest, wackiest wordsmithing of perhaps any broadcaster in professional baseball. His absurdist acumen and penchant for puns have drawn national attention and attracted a cult-like following among hardcore baseball fans and casual observers alike.
Highlight reels of his work have been featured by USA Today, CBS Sports, and Barstool Sports, and his football play-by-play appeared in Season 2 of the hit Netflix docuseries Last Chance U. In 2020, Bleacher Report called him “the best play-by-play guy ever.”
Zanaboni began his professional career as an announcer with the River City Rascals of the Frontier League in 2014. His resume includes six seasons in professional baseball and six years of calling collegiate athletics at Coahoma Community College (MS), West Florida, and St. Mary’s University (TX). He served as the lead voice of the 2019 NJCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship as well as the 2018 and 2019 NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championships.
“To me, the most important game of my life is the next game,” Zanaboni said. “To have 100 of those ahead of me this season with Sioux Falls is enormously exciting. This is going to be a lot of fun, I promise you that.”
The Canaries begin the 2021 season at home vs. Winnipeg May 18. All home games will be available via American Association Baseball TV, and both home and road games will be available via the Mixlr streaming app.
For the latest information on the Sioux Falls Canaries, follow the team on Twitter @canaries and on Facebook @sfcanaries. To reserve your seats for the 2021 season, call 605-336-6060 or visit sfcanaries.com.