Voice of Cal Poly baseball gets her shot at the big leagues — announcing a Giants game

C.J. Silas, the voice of Cal Poly baseball and a longtime local sports radio show host, made her major league debut Tuesday filling in as the San Francisco Giants’ public address announcer in front of more than 27,000 fans at the team’s final spring tuneup — and she was still buzzing with adrenaline a day after.

Silas, who hosts the weekly “C.J. Silas Show” on 1280 AM/101.7 FM, has served as the public address announcer for the Mustangs for the last 22 years.

Finding out about her spot role a day before, her whirlwind trip to San Francisco’s Oracle Park led her to announcing the possible final Giants plate appearance of longtime San Francisco star Pablo Sandoval, nicknamed the Panda. Sandoval had a broken-bat single.

And Silas introduced the starting appearance on the mound of Spencer Howard, a former Templeton High School and Cal Poly baseball star who now pitches for the Giants.

Those were just some of the highlights of her debut gig in a game between the Giants and the Oakland A’s.

“It was epic,” Silas said in a phone interview Tuesday. “This was literally a job opening on Monday (of this week). There was literally no time to get scared. If I knew what I was going to be going through longer in advance, I probably would have been way more nervous. I still am feeling the adrenaline.”

Silas has applied to multiple public address announcing jobs in Major League Baseball, previously auditioning as a finalist for positions with the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves.

After submitting her resume to the Giants, who have a vacancy in the role following the departure of longtime stadium announcer Renel Brooks-Moon, Silas had to scramble to get ready.

A day before her MLB appearance, Silas was preparing food and enjoying a rare day off after going to the gym.

“I was contacted (by the Giants) and had to quickly find a dog-sitter and get up to San Francisco,” Silas said. “... I haven’t even looked at all of the texts and social media posts I’m getting on this.”

Memorable day for C.J. Silas

In front of a San Francisco crowd that filled two-thirds of the stadium, Silas introduced players and read scripts related to team announcements during gaps in the action.

She coordinated with a team of Giants’ stadium producers to align announcements with scoreboard posts at the bayside park considered one of the most picturesque in all of baseball.

The preseason contest was the Giants only spring training game at Oracle Park before the team starts its regular season on the road in San Diego.

Silas is hoping to parlay the tryout into a permanent announcing role with the team, which has reportedly said it would rotate stadium announcers to start the season.

“I hope I get to fill in again for the home opener next weekend (April 5-7 versus the Padres),” Silas said. “I don’t know anything yet.”

Silas arrived in San Francisco on Monday night, and on Tuesday, she began her day meeting with the production crew and practicing pronunciations of player names after listening to recordings of them saying their names in their own voice.

“It was just so different (compared to the college level),” Silas said. “You get there for production meetings three hours before first pitch. I had so many talking duties with all of the sponsorships and reads before the game. By the time I got to lineups, I was kind of already in the groove.”

The Giants are looking to fill big shoes after the departure of Brooks-Moon, who served as the stadium announcer from 2000 through the 2023 season, becoming the second female announcer in MLB stadium history after Sherry Davis first called Giants’ games from 1993 to 1999 at Candlestick Park.

Silas said that Brooks-Moon shined in the role, adding there’s a “sisterhood” among women in the sports industry.

San Francisco and Brooks-Moon couldn’t come to terms on a new contract, and it was announced in mid-March that she wouldn’t be back for a 25th season.

“As much as I want to be a major league stadium announcer, (Brooks-Moon) is the last person on the planet whose job I would want to take,” Silas said. “She is a mentor of mine. She’s a pillar in the community. She’s an incredible human on the planet. She cares about people. She comes from her heart. She loves the game and is beautiful in every way.”

A career in sports broadcasting

After a career in sports broadcasting that started in 1988 at Syracuse University, a program known for its strength in sports broadcasting with many prominent alumni, Silas’ first paying job was as the public address announcer for a Triple A team, the Syracuse Chiefs, in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. She also worked for a Yankees minor league team with a roster that included two-sport star Deion Sanders.

Silas previously served in past sports broadcast roles for ESPN and Fox Sports. On the Central Coast, she also been the play-by-play announcer for Allan Hancock College football, baseball and softball games.

Silas has long voiced her advocacy for women and people of color in sports, citing Jackie Robinson as her inspiration for playing baseball growing up in Los Angeles.

Silas said she has faced hurdles over the years as a woman in a male-dominated industry. She experienced unfair treatment and heard insensitive comments early in her career. From that experience, she wrote the book “Only Girl in the Room: A Memoir.”

She admittedly has talked about being a Dodgers fan on her show, finding baseball to be an outlet to cope with her parents’ divorce when she was 6. Silas enjoyed following L.A. games with her grandmother, she told listeners on her Wednesday radio show. She played Little League baseball at a time that it was uncommon for girls to participate.

“I am a baseball fan first,” Silas said. “And I think the rivalry between the Dodgers and Giants is the best in all of sports because it spans across the country (following both teams’ moves to California from New York in the 1950s).”

Her love of the Dodgers didn’t go unnoticed online by Giants fans, some of whom found it hard to stomach the idea of diehard Los Angeles fan announcing a game for the Giants.

“After quick research, she’s also a diehard Dodgers fan — a far different background than the Bay Area’s own, Renel,” noted journalist Steven Rissotto in a post on X reporting she’d be the announcer that night. “This saga can’t be more intriguing.”

More debut highlights

Another highlight of her in-game work was the congratulations she got from Mike Krukow, a former Cal Poly baseball star and current Giants broadcaster, who helped connect her with Giants’ personnel for job consideration.

Cal Poly President Jeff Armstrong and Krukow recently relayed news about Silas’ opportunity during Alumni Weekend in late March when Krukow was at Baggett Stadium, sharing in the excitement.

“I went to see Krukow right after the game (Tuesday),” Silas said. “And he sent me texts during the game that I didn’t see. He goes, ‘You’re killing the lineups.’ I had put my phone away. And then I went right down after the game and hugged him.”

During her broadcast Tuesday, Giants owner Larry Baer also came by for a greeting, Silas said.

“Larry came to the booth last night, introduced himself and said I was doing a great and thanked me so much for making it happen in 24 hours,” Silas said.

She added: “I have a great job. I love my life at Cal Poly. I love living on the Central Coast. I love my radio show and Hancock College. My only thing I want more than that is to work for a major league team.”