Nationals Broadcast Team

Despite some off-season drama involving the status of TV play-by-play man Bob Carpenter, the Nationals return all seven of their broadcasters from the 2007 season. Below you'll find their biographies (provided by the Nationals and MASN).

Radio

Charlie Slowes

Slowes, 44, enters his tenth big league season, his third with the Nationals. Charlie joined the Nationals on February 24, 2005 and it did not take long for him to reacquaint himself with the Washington, DC market. Within days of his Nationals premier, his trademark "Bang Zoom" tag line was a part of the Beltway lexicon. Before introducing the Nationals to their new market in 2005, Charlie spent the previous seven seasons as a play-by-play voice of Tampa Bay on the Devil Rays Radio Network. He joined the Devil Rays for their inaugural season in 1998. Before his return, Slowes was perhaps best known locally as the play-by-play voice of the Washington Bullets from 1986-97. During his tenure with the Bullets, Slowes did two seasons of television simulcasts and enjoyed representing the Bullets in a variety of community-related functions. He also worked at KMOX Radio in St. Louis for three years (1984-86), during which time he was exposed to broadcasting greats Bob Costas and Jack Buck while working in a variety of on-air functions for, among others, St. Louis University, the St. Louis Blues, the St. Louis baseball Cardinals and the St. Louis football Cardinals. Charlie broadcast Tidewater Tides Triple-A baseball for parts of four seasons from 1986-92. He has broadcasting ex-perience with NBC (television) and CBS (radio) for their MLB Game of the Week, as well as with the Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets radio networks. He's also dabbled in bowling and boxing for ESPN and MISL soccer (play-by-play with New York Arrows in 1983) in two-plus decades as a play-by-play broadcaster. Charlie is married to Christina. The couple has two sons, Jimmy and Alex.

Dave Jaegler

Jageler, 34, joined the Nationals in 2007 after spending the previous season as the radio and TV voice of the Pawtucket Red Sox of the Triple-A International League. Prior to joining Pawtucket, he worked in Boston co-hosting an afternoon talk show as well as serving in various capacities with the Boston Celtics radio network, including fill in play-by-play. Jageler spent six years in Charlotte as the voice of UNC-Charlotte basketball and co-hosting a morning drive talk show. While in Charlotte he built his baseball resume with the Triple-A Charlotte Knights in the 1995, 1996 and 2001 seasons doing play-by-play. Jageler's voice may sound familiar to some in the D.C.-area, as he served as a host on the Virginia Tech Sports Network during the 1993-94 basketball season. He has also served as the studio host for Westwood One's NHL Game of the Week, the Florida State and Texas Longhorns football networks and has done fill in play-by- play for both the Seminoles and Longhorns. The Windsor, Conn., native is a graduate of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications where he began his play-by-play career broadcasting Syracuse football and basketball games on WAER and baseball for the Triple-A Syracuse Skychiefs on Time Warner Cable and Empire Sports Network. During baseball's off-season, he can be heard as an ESPN Radio SportsCenter anchor and as the voice of Harvard basketball. Jageler resides in Alexandria, Va. He is married to Jennifer, and the couple has two children, Jared and Sarah.

Television (In-Game)

Bob Carpenter

Bob Carpenter joined MASN and the Nationals in 2007 after 10 years in the TV booth of the St. Louis Cardinals and more than 20 in the Major Leagues. The St. Louis native debuted in 1984 with Cardinals baseball on the Sportstime Cable Network, then returned in '95 on KPLR-TV and KMOX Radio. He has been nominated for four St. Louis/Mid-America Emmys, winning twice (1996 and '97). His signature home run call "See ... you ... later!" got local and national recognition during Mark McGwire's record-setting home run chase in '98. Carpenter also appeared on TV in the '80s and '90s with the Texas Rangers, New York Mets and Minnesota Twins. One of sports broadcasting's busiest announcers, Bob has worked MLB, college basketball and college football during 17 play-by-play seasons. He has broadcast baseball playoffs, Triple-A All-Star Games, NCAA and NIT basketball tournaments and college football bowl games. His studio work included College Gameday and College Football Scoreboard shows. During his tenure with ESPN, Carpenter has been paired with former Major Leaguers Buck Martinez, Joe Morgan, Jim Palmer, Ray Knight, Jerry Reuss, Frank Viola and many others. On the basketball side, he worked with Dick Vitale, Bill Raftery, Larry Conley, Jim Valvano and among others. Carpenter announced the 2005 NCAA Basketball Final Four in his hometown of St. Louis for NCAA International TV. Prior to ESPN, Bob handled a variety of sports for USA Network, including college basketball and football, PGA Golf (including The Masters) and professional tennis (including the U.S. Open). Bob has announced numerous soccer events at RFK Stadium, starting as the TV voice of Team America in 1983. He also worked several matches during the 1994 World Cup. Carpenter began his broadcasting career in 1976 as baseball play-by-play announcer with the Tulsa Oilers, then St. Louis' Triple-A affiliate. Carpenter earned a Radio-TV-Film degree with honors from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1975. Bob and his wife, Debbie, have two daughters, Katie and Allison.

Don Sutton

Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton joined the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network as a color analyst for Nationals telecasts during the 2007 season. After a stellar career that spanned 23 seasons, Sutton made a successful transition to the broadcast booth, providing play-by-play commentary at Turner Sports. His network broadcasting experience included pregame and postgame analysis for NBC's 1987 League Championship series coverage. His Major League Baseball pitching career was highlighted by 324 wins with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and California Angels. Sutton spent 15 seasons with the Dodgers, beginning in 1966. He joined the Astros as a free agent in 1981. Sutton was traded to Milwaukee in August 1982, where he pitched three seasons before being traded to Oakland in December 1984. He was traded to California in September 1985 and retired in January 1988. One of the most durable pitchers of the modern era, appearing in more than 750 games and completing nearly 180 during his career, Sutton's personal bests included 21 wins (1976), 293 innings pitched (1969), 41 games (1969), 2.21 ERA (1980), 40 starts (1974), 217 strikeouts (1969) and 18 complete games (1972), all with the Dodgers. Sutton ranks seventh on baseball's all-time strikeout list with 3,574. Sutton was 4-1 with a 2.02 ERA in seven League Championship Series games, and 2-3 with a 5.26 ERA in eight World Series games. In the 1974 postseason, he was 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 25 strikeouts in four games. He also posted a 1-0 record in four All-Star appearances without allowing a run. Sutton was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in January 1998. He was named National League Rookie of the Year by the Sporting News in 1966, going 12-12 with a 2.99 ERA and 209 strikeouts for the Dodgers. He was named the Texas League Player of theYear in 1965 at Albuquerque with a 15-6 record and 2.78 ERA. Born in Clio, Ala., Don and his wife Mary have one daughter, Jacqueline. Don has two other children, Daron and Staci.

Debbi Taylor

Debbi Taylor came to MASN in 2007 from Sun Sports/FSN, where she was a sideline reporter for the Orlando-based Regional Sports Network. She was also a sports anchor and reporter for the Fox and CBS affiliates in Orlando where she covered the Daytona 500 and the Super Bowl. Debbi got her start in sports broadcasting spending six years at the New England Sports Network (NESN) in Boston where she hosted the morning show as well as doing feature interviews and reporting for the Red Sox pre-game and post-game shows.

Debbi has won two local Emmys and a national Emmy for her trip to Cuba and "The Friendship Games." She was honored by Red Sox legend Ted Williams by being one of only two women included in the broadcast wing of the "Hitters Hall of Fame" (the other was longtime Red Sox owner Jean Yawkey). Taylor is a native of Nashua, NH and grew up attending baseball games at Fenway Park with her four siblings.

Television (Pre-Game/Post-Game)

Johnny Holliday

One of the finest play-by-play announcers in the country, Johnny Holliday comes to MASN after 27 years as the "Voice of the Terrapins." In addition to calling the action for the Maryland football and basketball teams, Holliday hosts the Ralph Friedgen and Gary Williams television shows. As the Terps' director of broadcasting, he also handles a myriad of speaking duties within the athletics department, ranging from banquets to golf outings.

His long list of credits includes ABC's coverage of the 2000 and 1996 Summer Olympics and the Winter and Summer Olympics in 1984, 1988 and 1994. In addition, he has covered championship boxing, the Masters, and the Liberty and Aloha bowls.

Holliday's announcing career allows him to lay claim as Washington's most versatile broadcaster, and among the best nationally. Whether it be in radio, where he was named America's No. 1 disc jockey during his rock 'n roll deejay days, to his public address duties with the Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders, and Golden State Warriors, to his work in Washington television for the Senators and Bullets, Holliday makes a complicated business look easy.

A native of Miami, Fla., Holliday began his broadcasting career in Perry, Ga., and through the years has worked in four of the nation's prime radio markets: Cleveland, New York, San Francisco and Washington. Washingtonian magazine honored him as a Washingtonian of the Year for his many civic activities. His basketball and softball teams, the Radio Wonders, have raised more than $1 million for charity. In October 2003, he was inducted into the Radio-Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Ray Knight

Two-time MLB All-Star Ray Knight will serve as the co-host of Nats Xtra, MASN's new pre- and post- game show.

Few baseball players garner as much respect as Ray Knight. In the twilight of his playing years, Knight mustered one of his best seasons to triumphantly lead the New York Mets to a World Series Championship. It was the team's first title in 17 years. His play earned him the Most Valuable Player honor for the 1986 World Series and he was named the National League Comeback Player of the Year by The Sporting News.

The Albany, Georgia native played professional baseball for 17 years; 13 of those were spent in the Major Leagues as an infielder with the Cincinnati Reds, the Houston Astros, the New York Mets, the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers. Knight retired from baseball in 1989 and moved on to become an ESPN broadcaster. In 1993, he returned to the Major Leagues to work as a coach for Cincinnati. He ascended to manager of the Reds in October 1995 and maintained the position until July 1997.

Knight is married to professional golfer Nancy Lopez.