F.P. Santangelo to Headline 2020 First Pitch Banquet
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Former Canes baseball standout and MLB player F.P. Santangelo will headline the 2020 First Pitch Banquet on Feb. 7, head coach Gino DiMare announced.
The 2020 First Pitch Baseball Banquet will take place in the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility on the University of Miami campus. A cocktail reception will begin at 6 p.m., with dinner and the program scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, click HERE.
“I am so excited to have F.P. Santangelo be our banquet speaker this year,” DiMare said. “Not only is F.P. a former teammate and roommate of mine, he is also one of my closest friends. He has remained a huge Hurricane fan over the years. There is no one that I ever played with that played the game harder than F.P. did. I know his message of how he played the game, as well as his incredible journey with the Washington Nationals will be inspiring to everyone, especially our 2020 baseball team.“
A California native, Santangelo starred at Sacramento City College before traveling across the country to Coral Gables to join the Hurricanes ahead of the 1989 season. His lone year in orange and green was a great one, as Santangelo led the Hurricanes in hitting with a .341 batting average. His 73 hits, 32 stolen bases and 12 hit-by-pitches were both team-bests, while his 54 runs scored were second on the team. A switch-hitting shortstop, Santangelo helped guide the Canes to an appearance in the 1989 College World Series.
Selected by the Montreal Expos in the 20th round of the 1989 MLB Draft, Santangelo broke into the big leagues in August 1995. A year later, the versatile Santangelo finished fourth in the National League Rookie of the Year voting after hitting .277 with 20 doubles, seven homers and 56 RBI while playing the infield and outfield for the Expos. Santangelo played seven years in the majors, reaching the playoffs in his final season with the Oakland Athletics after four years in Montreal and stops with the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers.
After his playing career ended, Santangelo went into broadcasting. He spent time as a radio host in California and also was an analyst for the San Francisco Giants pre-game and post-game shows before being named the color analyst for the Washington Nationals’ telecasts on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. He just wrapped up his ninth season in the MASN booth and it was an unforgettable one, as the Nationals ended the year with a triumphant victory over the Houston Astros in the World Series.
