Giants broadcaster says A’s should have embraced Sacramento. ‘What’s the downside?’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Santangelo praised Sacramento's baseball support, urging A's to fully embrace city.
- Giants broadcaster says players expect more from a park in the Major Leagues
- Logan Webb and Brent Rooker earned 2025 All-Star nods for Giants and A’s, respectively.
A festive three-day series took over West Sacramento, with sellout crowds squeezing into Sutter Health Park to soak in the sun, the evening breezes and Athletics hosting the San Francisco Giants.
And perhaps no one bounced off the walls with excitement quite like F.P. Santangelo.
Baseball fires him up anyway. He was an exuberant competitor throughout his career, a solid hitter, a superb outfielder who grew up in El Dorado Hills, starred at Oak Ridge High School and Sacramento City College and later grinded away as a Major League Baseball player. His MLB years from 1995-2001 included stints with the Giants and Oakland A’s.
Playing baseball was a great way to make a living then, Santangelo will tell you, and he is in the midst of his second career in the sport, earning paychecks talking about the game. Santangelo is a member of the Giants broadcast team and a host on KNBR 680 AM and 104.5 FM in San Francisco, where every day is a great day to discuss baseball.
“It was an amazing experience being here, calling these games, something I’ll never forget “ Santangelo said of returning to his home roots to call the action between his two childhood favorite teams.
On Friday, the series opener, Santangelo was in his element with the gift of gab as the A’s rolled the Giants 11-2 to keep Giants pitcher Justin Verlander winless at 0-6. On Saturday, Santangelo talked about the venue, the crowd and Giants ace Logan Webb tossing another solid outing. He added his color commentary to Dave Flemming’s play-by-play about the return of third baseman Matt Chapman and the Giants prevailing 7-2.
In the series’ finale, the Giants defeated the A’s 6-2 in the A’s first Sunday night game in nearly 10 years. Willie Adames drove in three for the Giants, including hitting a solo home run, and Tyler Soderstrom homered for the A’s. He also “gave up” a homer when Tyler Fitzgerald’s fly to left tipped off his glove and over the Golden 1 Credit Union sign.
“I got to do a game on the Fourth of July, in my home town, in a park I played in when I was in Triple-A, and calling a game for two teams I played for,” Santangelo said in typical good cheer. “If you would have asked me as a 12-year-old this would happen, I never would have believed it. It was a great full-circle moment for me.”
Santangelo over the weekend sacked out in the El Dorado Hills home of his parents, Frank and Gina, retired educators now in their 80s. They elected to stay home to avoid the traffic and crowds but watched the series on TV, with the radio on to hear their son, of course.
Santangelo’s second career still has him rubbng elbows with those who played the game, joining the ranks of broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow. His booth mates are also mainstays Flemming and Jon Miller (and, often Joe Ritzo).
“I am so blessed and super fortunate,” he said. “Those guys are great.”
‘It’s Disneyland for me’
Santangelo is an easy listen on the radio, be it as a talk-show host taking calls from fans across Northern California. During game broadcasts, he discusses the stars and he champions the underdog, of which he was one as a 20th round draft pick in 1989 to the Montreal Expos.
During games on the air, Santangelo can be amusing and informative, even with a quick-hit take. On Saturday night he marveled at the power and size of A’s slugging first baseman Nick Kurtz, all 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds of of him, calling him, “A large human.”
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself,” Santangelo said of his role “I love what I do. I like broadcasting as much as I loved playing. I take it seriously. I work hard at it. I love to do it. I’ve been doing this for 15 years. It’s Disneyland for me, I am not well rounded. i don’t know what I’d do without baseball. It’s my life. I don’t go to the opera. I don’t watch plays. I’m a baseball guy. I love being around the game, the coaches, the players, getting to know the fans.”
‘Sacramento is a baseball town’
Santangelo is adamant that Sacramento is a baseball town that can be a Major League Baseball town. He said it is not fair for Sacramento fans to be labeled as apathetic. The A’s have filled Sutter Health Park as anticipated when the season started, but with just a handful of sellouts. Santangelo said he understands why.
For one, he said, A’s fans are tasked with paying, on average, the highest ticket prices in Major League Baseball for a team that competes in minor league park. Fans are not getting their full value, he said. A’s players have groused over venue since the season started, insisting it isn’t major league material at all.
The A’s will play in Sacramento for at least two more seasons as their home in Las Vegas is being constructed.
“It’s not a major league experience (at Sutter Health Park),” Santangelo said. “It’s weird for everyone. It’s weird to see storied programs this weekend in a minor league park. Just strange. It’s an unfortunate circumstance.”
‘A’s should have embraced Sacramento’
Santangelo said that the crowds over the weekend offered more proof that Sacramento is a Giants town more than it is an A’s town. Other sellouts this season included series against the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees, games that drew more visiting fans than A’s backers.
“I hear it from friends that if the A’s had embraced Sacramento, or put Sacramento on their uniforms, it would have really helped with attendance,” Santangelo said. “What’s the downside of embracing the city and the city embraces you back? It might have filled up every night with sellouts if both sides embraced each other. Imagine how great it would be if the A’s had road uniforms with ‘Sacramento’ on then, or a hat that has ‘916’ on it. If the sellouts happened, maybe Major League Baseball says, ‘Hey, wait a minute! Baseball can work here.’”
Santangelo emphasized that it’s an MLB game in a minor league park. All of these players have played minor league ball, so they’re used to playing in parks like this,” he said. “But players work their whole life to play in a park with a third or fourth deck. The best thing about being in the bigs is everything feels big league — the weight room, the club house, the park.
“It’s still a tremendous atmosphere here, but no matter how much lip stick you put on, it’s still a minor league park.”
This story was originally published July 6, 2025 at 8:40 PM.