Dan Shulman graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1989 with a degree in actuarial science and landed a job in his field and worked as an actuary for roughly six months. During his time at school, he took up broadcasting as an extracurricular activity in his freshmen year.
He then started doing play-by-play for the university's basketball, football, and hockey teams. He still didn't; however, think he would pursue broadcasting as a career. That all changed in 1990 when Dan was offered a full-time position to be an anchor for CKBB, a Barrie, Ont., radio station. That's when he quit his job as an actuary for good and fully immersed himself in the broadcasting lifestyle.
In 1991, Shulman moved to the FAN 1430 (now known as Sportsnet 590 The FAN) where he would host a number of shows, including the Major League Report, and Baseball Today. Four years later, Dan started serving as a play-by-play commentator alongside Buck Martinez for the Toronto Blue Jays, and he also worked part-time for ESPN.
"It all happened very quickly. I was doing pre and post-game shows on Blue Jays broadcasts for those few years," said Shulman. "A job came open in 1995 and I actually didn't get the job right away. But they called me a couple of months later and asked me if I was interested and of course I was. Buck was so helpful to me and he taught me so many things."
Dan says he would have never imagined doing play-by-play on the TV for Blue Jays games, but he says that break in 1995 when he got his first full-time professional play-by-play job was his biggest break.
In 2000, Dan was named the Sports Media Canada Broadcaster of the Year and he won the award again seven years later in 2007. On top of those two awards, Shulman was named the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA) National Sportscaster of the Year in 2011.
As Shulman prepares for another season in the booth calling Toronto games, his trophy case has gotten bigger. Dan has been named the winner of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Musem's 2020 Jack Graney Award. It's the first time that the play-by-play broadcaster has won the award and he joins the likes of Jeff Blair, Dave Van Horne, and Jerry Howarth as a few who have also won the award.
Scott Crawford is the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s director of operations and he had this to say on Shulman.
"It’s a pleasure to listen to Dan Shulman call games for Rogers Sportsnet and ESPN," offered Crawford. "Dan is one of the best baseball broadcasters in the world and he has been consistently outstanding during his career, but we especially marvelled at his work this year when due to the COVID-19 pandemic he was confined to a studio in Toronto to call the Blue Jays games. He was so good that it truly felt like he was at the ballpark."
On top of Dan's duties calling Blue Jays games, he also joined ESPN full-time in 2001. He was the voice of Wednesday Night Baseball from 2002 to 2007, Monday Night Baseball from 2008 to 2010, and Sunday Night Baseball from 2011 to 2017. He's been calling MLB playoff games on the radio for ESPN since 1998 and World Series games since 2011.
Shulman also does play-by-play for NCAA basketball broadcasts and he has done so for 25 years, a time in which he has also called NBA games for TSN and ESPN, NHL games for TSN, and hockey at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
"I'm extremely honoured to get the award. It's voted on by the people who have won the award so when your peers recognize you for the work you have done, that really validates what I have been able to accomplish over the years," said Shulman. "I'm a big fan of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, I think they do a great job. I was really happy to win this award, it means a great deal."
Dan has now been named one of eight finalists for the National Baseball Hall of Fame's 2020 Ford C. Frick Award which is presented annually for broadcasting excellence. While the award winner waits for the baseball season to begin, he will be extremely busy, especially in the next 10 days or so.
He did two college basketball games last night and he's heading to Austin, Texas this weekend where Villanova will play Texas and next week he will have the call from Duke where the Blue Devils will play Illinois.
