Former Chicago Cubs public address announcer Andrew Belleson relaunches his career again in Rockford
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) — There are a lot of new players on the Rockford Rivets Northwoods League baseball team this season. They also have a new manager, and a new guy at the microphone streaming their games, although he's not new to Rockford.Andrew Belleson is his name. Some Rivets games this season, he'll do play-by-play, others he will provide analysis. Belleson started his broadcasting career in Rockford at this (Rivets) stadium as an intern two decades ago.'We're dating ourselves here, but yeah, yeah, Rockford Riverhawks (former Frontier League team in Rockford),' said Belleson. 'I did PA here when the stadium was almost brand new, and it was pointed out that that was about 20 years ago.'Then Belleson made an almost unheard of jump from RiverHawks minor league baseball in Rockford to the Chicago Cubs. He landed the Cubs public address announcer job.'I was a kid Scott. I was 23 years old. There was about 3,000 people that applied, and it wasn't really my interest to apply. I figured I've got no chance…but I did.' 'I got hired about week before opening day in 2011.'Wrigley Field became Belleson's office for ten years. He was there for the Cubs World Series season in 2016.'I was so fortunate to do it during the run they had. The timing was great. I've got a World Series ring which I don't deserve.'It was quite a gig for a young man who grew up a Cubs' fan, but in 2020 Belleson walked away from that job. His heart was set on broadcasting games. It wasn't set on being a public address announcer.'Play-by-play is my passion. It's always been (that), and my goal is to make it back to the big leagues as a play-by-play guy. I knew if I didn't step away from what I thought was my dream job at that point, that this might never happen.'The past few years, Belleson has done play-by-play work for the Chicago Dogs and Windy City Thunderbolts minor league baseball teams. Now, he's back in Rockford hoping this city will again be his next stepping-stone to another dream job.So, your dream job now is play-by-play for the Cubs?'Well, I'll take it if you're offering. Yeah, I'll take that, but a major league job somewhere someday again would be very neat for me personally.'The Rivets games are streamed on NorthwoodsLeague.com which can also be accessed through the Rivets website. Some of the games are also streamed by ESPN+. So, you can catch Belleson there along with his broadcast/streaming partner Ian Plaskoff.
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