F.P. Santangelo, the Washington Nationals’ color analyst for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network for the past 11 seasons, announced Wednesday that he will not return to the MASN broadcast booth in 2022.
The Nationals declined to comment about Santangelo’s departure, and a MASN spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Santangelo was taken off MASN broadcasts in late April after he was accused of sexual misconduct in an anonymous Instagram post. Santangelo, who denied any wrongdoing publicly, returned to the booth in mid-July after a Major League Baseball investigation couldn’t corroborate the allegations against him. Former Nationals player Justin Maxwell, longtime local radio host Grant Paulsen and former MASN on-field reporter Dan Kolko filled the analyst role during Santangelo’s absence.
Bob Carpenter, the Nationals’ play-by-play man on MASN since 2006, will be back for at least the next two seasons, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Carpenter was among the many people Santangelo thanked, including viewers, players, MASN and the Nationals organization, in tweets Wednesday.
“Bob Carpenter is as much a part of this city as the Washington Monument,” Santangelo wrote of his longtime broadcast partner. “There is no better pro and no better friend. I cherished every single one of the more than 1,700 broadcasts we did together. You are the greatest, and I’ll miss you very much.”
In a phone interview with The Washington Post, Santangelo said calling Nationals games was “like a dream come true” and that he had no ill will toward the team or MASN.
“They treated me amazing for 10 years,” Santangelo said. “I got to experience things as a broadcaster I never did as a player — the [Max] Scherzer no-hitters, a World Series championship. Being part of all of the stuff I got to experience, it’s just been an amazing ride for me.”
FP Santangelo on parting ways with MASN and the Nationals: "There's no ill will. There’s no bitter feelings. I feel super lucky, super blessed, super fortunate to just be a part of such a wonderful ride." pic.twitter.com/eMYpOI1KeK
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) November 3, 2021
Santangelo, who played for the Montreal Expos, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics over his seven-year big league career, was hired as the Nationals’ color analyst before the 2011 season. He replaced Rob Dibble, who was fired late in the 2010 season for comments he made on his SiriusXM Radio show about Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Before joining MASN, Santangelo served as a backup analyst for Giants radio and TV broadcasts.
Chelsea Janes and Jesse Dougherty contributed to this report.
