For the past 17 years, Joel Goldberg has brought the stories of Kansas City’s beloved Major League Baseball franchise into the homes of millions on both sides of the Missouri River.
As a visible Jewish celebrity in Kansas City, the 52-year-old television host and roving reporter understands the responsibility that comes with it.
“When your last name is Goldberg and you’re on television, you’re going to get phone calls from the Jewish community, and that’s a cool thing to have that identity,” Goldberg said. “There’s a Jewish mother somewhere saying some version of ‘he’s one of us.’ It’s my identity and something I’m very proud of.”
It’s common for broadcasters to change their name for while they’re on the air, but that was never something that Goldberg considered.
“I was never going to do that,” Goldberg said. “I’m proud to have my name, proud to have my heritage, proud that we’re raising our kids Jewish and proud that I married an amazing Jewish woman (Susan).”
The Goldbergs will celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary this summer; covering 162 baseball games per year (plus, possible playoffs) isn’t for every relationship.
“I believe with the travel and everything, you either figure it out, you get divorced or you quit the profession,” Goldberg said. “Those are the only three options, and we’ve made it. That’s a testament to my wife and my kids.”
Since arriving in the Kansas City area in 2008, the Leawood, Kansas, resident has hosted 99% of the Royals’ pregame and postgame shows. Goldberg only missed shows because of his grandfather’s funeral; his kids’ high school graduations; and few other circumstances, such as the time he accompanied Royals greats George Brett, Mike Sweeney and Bret Saberhagen on a USO Tour in Kuwait, which Goldberg described as “one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.”
He’s become close with Brett, a Hall of Famer, who wrote the foreword to Goldberg’s second book, “Small Ball Big Dreams.”
“It doesn’t seem real that I’m living in a world where George Brett would write the foreword to my book,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg’s first book was called “Small Ball Big Results.” Both books are associated with Goldberg’s business as a motivational speaker for local, regional and national corporations and groups where he “utilizes baseball as a motivational tool.”
He also has a corresponding podcast for the business, called “Rounding The Bases,” which hosts different Kansas City area leaders. Midwest Center for Holocaust Education Executive Director Jessica Rockhold was a recent guest on the podcast.
Goldberg is beginning his 18th season covering the Royals when Kansas City hosts the Cleveland Guardians on March 27 at Kauffman Stadium.
“It’s very comforting to be with the same organization, even if the people have changed over the years,” Goldberg said. “Players come and go, the winning and losing comes and goes. But the fans are still the same. Every year that goes by is another year that I’m part of this community, and that’s something I don’t take lightly.”
Goldberg is technically an independent contractor who works alongside the Royals and FanDuel sports, but that didn’t stop the Royals from presenting Goldberg with a World Series Championship ring in 2015.
“It was pretty surreal, and I was very humbled by the gesture,” Goldberg said. “The players, coaches and front office won that ring. I’m the guy that gets to talk about it, but being considered part of that team is pretty cool.”
Goldberg had a front-row seat to the Royals grit and determination after coming oh-so-close to winning the World Series in 2014, with Madison Bumgarner denying the Royals the championship in a seven-game series.
“They were ready to go back to the World Series in February/March of 2015 – not just to do it again but to win it all,” Goldberg said. “They had a look like that in 2015 that I’ve never seen before.”
Last season, the Royals returned to the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 crown. They swept the Baltimore Orioles, 2-0, before losing to the eventual American League Champion New York Yankees, 3-1.
Goldberg, who covered the late Buck O’Neil’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021, was recently named to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Board of Directors. He also volunteers with Inclusion Connections and the Blue Valley Education Foundation.
“There are so many volunteer opportunities but only so much time,” Goldberg said. “I find the charities that really speak to me.”
Broadcasting beginnings
Goldberg was born in the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia in the early 1970s. He grew up loving the Phillies, Flyers, Eagles and 76ers.
“The first World Series I remember was the 1980 Series between the Royals and Phillies,” Goldberg said. “The Phillies were my team. They were my heroes. Now, I know a lot of the players from the 1980 Royals team, and they’ve become my friends. I never could have imagined the team I was adamantly rooting against have become friends of mine.”
Even at an early age, Goldberg was foreshadowing his future career as a broadcaster.
“I’d put the mute button on the television and call the games,” Goldberg said. “I had binders and notebooks of scouting reports for college basketball games – doing the research for nobody but myself.”
Shortly after his bar mitzvah, Goldberg and his family relocated to the Chicago suburbs, but his interest in broadcasting never waned. He later attended the University of Wisconsin, where he double majored in journalism and history.
Goldberg’s first job out of college was in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, in the north central part of the state. The city of 7,800 had an NBC affiliate, and Goldberg worked there before returning to work in Madison.
He then moved to a station in St. Louis where he covered the Rams, Cardinals and Blues. Goldberg covered the Rams’ “Greatest Show On Turf” era when St. Louis lost to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002. Three years later, Goldberg covered the St. Louis Cardinals as they were swept by the Boston Red Sox.
Despite seeing games in countless stadiums, Goldberg has an affinity to the Royals’ Kauffman Stadium.
“Kauffman Stadium is in a class of its own – it’s like wanting to compare your home to someone else’s, and it’s my home for 81 nights per year,” Goldberg said.