Letting his voice be heard in 2020 Marlins’ announcer left to join Bernie Sanders
Growing up a baseball fan in California, Erik
Oas always figured he’d find his way into broadcasting.
Breaking his way into into the field, he’s racked up serious mileage over the past decade, taking announcing jobs in Washington, Oregon, North Carolina — and even across the globe in Australia. Oas eventually landed in Iowa, where he’s spent the past three years as the play-by-play announcer for the Clinton LumberKings — the Miami Marlins’ Low-A affiliate.
Although he enjoyed his time broadcasting, he also found himself ready for a change. As fate would have it, that desire came at the right time and location.
Living in Iowa and having always carried a passion for politics, Oas saw opportunities open up with the arrival of presidential candidates ahead of February’s crucial Iowa Democratic caucuses. A Bernie Sanders supporter, Oas began volunteering for the Vermont senator’s campaign six months ago in the hopes of turning that into a fulltime job.
He applied for a position over the summer, but was unsuccessful in his first attempt.
“I just figured it wasn’t going to work out because I didn’t have any experience for anything of that nature,” Oas said.
Despite the setback, he wasn’t deterred — and his persistence paid off. Continuing his volunteer work, the second time was the charm, as he just accepted a full-time position as an Iowa field organizer. After a short training period in Des Moines, he’ll report back to Clinton, Iowa where he’ll focus on phone banking, door knocking, canvassing and organizing volunteers ahead of the caucuses.
“I’m excited, but a little nervous,” Oas said with a laugh. “I just feel like I have to throw my full self into it and hope that it comes out the right way. Obviously, it’s a huge risk, right? If the state goes wrong, who knows how long you’re there? I don’t know why, I just never really doubted it at all.
“I knew that if I got the position, I’d definitely take it. I was very bummed when I didn’t the first time, so when it came around again, it was ‘yeah that’s what I’m doing.’ “
While he’s never held a full-time political job, he’s dabbled in the field previously. In high school and college, he served as an election volunteer, helping stoke his interest.
His path to the Sanders campaign, however, was partially rooted in tragedy. During his senior year at San Jose State, his mother passed away from lung cancer following a two-year battle. Having experienced that firsthand, Oas said Sanders’ Medicare for All program was something that really spoke to him.
“I always talk about that as one of the personal reasons of why I have a more progressive take on things,” Oas said. “We were in the best case scenario of having everything covered.
“Diagnosis had a bill of $130,000 though, so it was pretty wild to be told that everything was OK because you’re take care of, but in reality, you know that’s not the case for every one, and also that someone’s profiting off what’s probably your darkest moment as a family. So that was a very easy thing to connect with the Bernie campaign.”
While Oas is leaving sports, minor league baseball — and the Clinton LumberKings — has ironically found its way on to Sanders’ platform. A recently introduced proposal from MLB would eliminate 42 minor league teams — including the LumberKings — in a cost-cutting move. On Monday, the senator spoke against the proposal, saying “it would destroy thousands of jobs and devastate local economies.”
The LumberKings are entering their 84th season in Clinton, which has a population of roughly 26,000. After broadcasting LumberKings’ games for the past three seasons, Oas hopes minor league baseball isn’t leaving any time soon.
“I would hope Major League Baseball would see the minor leagues for what they are, which is an investment across the country that a lot of other sports are envious of,” Oas said. “Basketball and football can’t go into smaller markets in Montana and Idaho [and] in those small communities like Missoula, Billings or Clinton, Iowa.”