For those who think New York Yankees’ public address announcer Bob Sheppard was legendary, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Stop out to the Sawmill YMCA in Hamilton for a Miracle League baseball game and check out 20-year-old Andy Santoro behind the microphone. The phrase “Now batting, num-bah 2, Derek Jee-tah” is nothing compared to “And here he comes, Aidan ‘The Hammer’ Quinn!”
The Hammer is one of just hundreds of monikers Santoro has handed out over the past three years, making him a true legend in Crosswicks.
Santoro, a 2014 Robbinsville High School graduate, has absolutely captured the imagination of the Miracle League players, families and volunteers with his enthusiastic PA work. He announces every player by their full name and nickname, either given by himself or by their parents.
“Sometimes the parents will say ‘Oh, last week we called him such-and-such a name and he loved it, can you say it?’” related Santoro. “When I say it, the kid goes nuts. The kid’s like ‘Oh my God, this is the best day ever!” So I get requests. Before the game, I’ll even announce that if they have requests for their children let me know, because if they don’t I’m gonna make it up. Most of the time they say to just make it up.”
And why not? It has created a buzz throughout the league, which hosts games for special needs athletes. He was “discovered” by Kathy Rhead, the Special Kids Organized Recreation Director at Hamilton Area YMCA.
Three years ago Rhead was the Miracle League executive director and needed a replacement announcer when the regular person did not show up. She asked Santoro, who took the mic and never gave it back.
“He came out guns blazing right from the start,” said Dan Sczweck, the current Miracle League executive director. “He just has this infectious energy about him. He knows every single one of the kids personally. He takes the time to get to know them all, he cares about them all. He gets a big kick out of seeing them smile.”
Santoro actually has his own nickname—Sczweck dubbed him “The Voice of the Miracle League.” He has made such an impact that Santoro can actually control the pace of the game if he wishes. Certain players won’t leave the on-deck circle until Santoro has finished announcing their name
“Andy brings great energy to the field,” said Peggy Damm, a Miracle League coach. “He really makes each player feel special. He greets them when they arrive and gives them high fives after the games. They leave smiling.”
So too, does “The Voice.”
“Honestly it’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Santoro said. “Just to know that for a couple hours a day the whole family can come together and be happy and not worry about the outside world. They can just focus on what their kids are doing and just enjoy it. It’s like a little thing for them and me.”
Actually, it’s more like a big thing for all involved.
So just how did this happen? Where did this 20-year-old kid—who has no family members with special needs—come from to provide so much happiness for so many people?
It started when Santoro was and needed to log community service hours to receive his confirmation for church. Since Rhead was his neighbor and was running SKOR, she suggested he serve as a program participant’s summer “buddy” for one day. Santoro did just that. Meeting his buddy that day was as eventful for him as it was for Ben Franklin when he met a kite and a key.
In both cases, great things were bound to happen.
“From the first day, I fell in love with it,” he said. “I was like ‘This is my calling.’ It’s funny, everybody always says ‘Who’s special needs in your family?’ It’s no one. I just love it. It’s great.”
For the next four years, Santoro served as a buddy, and then became a counselor for the after-school program at age 16 (a position he still holds). His special needs involvement has continued to grow, as he became a Special Olympics coach for basketball, track and field, snowshoeing and cycling. Santoro was actually on the floor of the Prudential Center in Newark two years ago for the Special Olympics.
Lynn Inverso, who was recently honored for her work as a Special Olympics coach, became enamored of Santoro immediately. She first met Santoro when he joined her and Faith Dobry as a coach for the Chargers basketball team. Santoro signed up to be a track and field coach that same year.
“We immediately knew he was a special guy,” said Inverso, whose son C.J. has been dubbed “Meatballs” by Santoro. “He jumped in with both feet, sharing his abundance of energy and positive spirit combined with just the right amount of patience and authority. Our athletes love Coach Andy and really respond to him, which is demonstrated through their continued growth, improvement and happiness when he is coaching. I have so much respect for Andy and how working with kids and athletes with special needs has become a true and authentic priority in his life.”
Not just in his life, but for the rest of his life. Santoro currently attends Mercer County Community College as he works his way toward a career as a special education teacher. He is also working as a teacher’s assistant full-time for at Mercer County Special Services, a special needs school district.
He combines a calmness with an intense ability to see the best in his protégés.
“It’s a lot of patience but it’s the idea that they go through their entire life with people saying they can’t do this, they can’t do that,” Santoro said. “For me, it’s to show people that they might not be able to play a full soccer game, but they sure as hell can kick a ball. People define them by the disability. I define them by what they can do, what they can succeed at.”
It is that kind of attitude that spawned his charismatic talents as a PA announcer. While “The Hammer” is Andy’s personal favorite, Sczweck also likes “Cool Shades Cali” and Lorenzo “The Hulk” Ferrigno.
Santoro doesn’t just announce their name, he provides play-by-play throughout the game, “from the time they come up until the time they cross the plate,” he said.
But his legacy will be the bestowing of the nicknames.
“When Kathy asked me to do it, I said ‘Why not, I’ll have fun with it,’” Santoro said. “Usually I’m always like this goofy character who loves the kids and stuff. So I started announcing and made up nicknames for them and people started laughing. They started to love it. Kids were smiling, parents were like ‘Oh my God, that’s so great, thank you for the nickname’ It’s just awesome.”
It was the perfect marriage of a man to an organization, as Santoro’s antics personify what the league stands for.
“The whole idea of the Miracle League is to provide an opportunity for the families to sit down and enjoy a baseball game with their kids for an hour,” Sczweck said. “The energy and everything he does brings such a warmth and fun-ness to the league, where it just becomes that much more enjoyable for the parents. You look all around and he’s just making people laugh and smile. That’s what it’s all about. He’s making it enjoyable for everybody.”
So much so, in fact, that Santoro has become the face of the league, the “glue” that holds it all together, Sczweck said.
“He does it without even thinking,” he said. “He doesn’t take it as a burden. It’s not something he stresses out about. He just loves doing it. It comes natural to him.”
And while Santoro is loved by pretty much everyone he comes in contact with, he loves a lot of people right back. He lists his positive influences as Rhead and Sczweck, current SKOR coordinator Patrick Jackson, Hamilton Sawmill Camp Director Brian Young, his after-care co-workers Jose Rodriguez and Leighanne Petrangeli, his family members, the SKOR and Miracle League coaches and volunteers, the Miracle League parents and his own family members.
And Sczweck wants to thank Santoro with a long-term PA deal that even Bob Sheppard was never offered.
“We’ve got to lock him up,” Sczweck said with a laugh. “We’ve got to sign him to a 50-year contract.”
That might not be too difficult, considering Santoro lost most of his bargaining power with his final statement.
“I have my heart in both coaching and announcing,” he said. “But announcing is really where I have the most fun. That’s my home. I’ve never tried to do it anywhere else. My heart’s in the Miracle League. I don’t see myself being anywhere else.”
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