Mother’s Day: What A’s broadcaster Jenny Cavnar learned from her Mom and is sharing with her own kids

A's groundbreaking play-by-play voice Jenny Cavnar: 'I’m so grateful for a mom that was my biggest cheerleader. She constantly let me do things and push the envelope growing up'

Jenny Cavnar, the first woman to be a primary play-by-play announcer for a major league team, has grown accustomed to operating in male-dominated spaces. That familiarity that began well before she picked up a microphone.

During Cavnar’s childhood, her mother, Dode, signed her up for an all-boys T-ball team. Cavnar, who would also attend baseball camps hosted by her father in which she was the only girl, heard the familiar — if not obvious — quips about her being different, an early prelude to the battles she faced when rising through the broadcasting ranks. To Dode, her philosophy was simple.

“As a mom, you always support your kids no matter what,” Dode said. “We’re here for her, and we always will be.” 

“I’m so grateful for a mom that was my biggest cheerleader,” Cavnar said. “She constantly let me do things and push the envelope growing up if it’s something I had a passion to do. Her encouragement and support were all so vital in me really having a belief that I could do anything I want.”

Cavnar has carried that belief all the way into the broadcast booth, making history every time she puts on a headset. On Sunday, Cavnar will call her first Mother’s Day as the A’s play-by-play announcer alongside Dallas Braden, who holds his own special attachment to the holiday, having pitched a perfect game on Mother’s Day for Oakland in 2010, nine years after his mom died from cancer.

“I’ve always found it to be a super special day, but when I became a mom, it hit me even harder that I’m now sharing this game that I love with my own kids,” Cavnar said.

Vincent, her six-year-old son, and Emmery, her three-year-old daughter, won’t be in Seattle for Mother’s Day, but Monday will be a special day in and of itself. With Emmery and Steve Spurgeon, Cavnar’s husband, in attendance, Cavnar and Julia Morales, a member of the Astros broadcast team and a mother herself, will conduct play-by-play for their respective teams. 

Monday won’t be the first time Cavnar and Morales have covered the same game. In 2023, Cavnar and Morales, alongside Angie Mentink and Jen Mueller, were part of an all-female broadcast during spring training. Cavnar described working that game as a “special moment,” envisioning a future in which women continue to carve out more space in the realm of sports. 

“I’ve always been a believer that representation matters,” Cavnar said. “When I hear from college-aged girls that are thanking me for doing this job, for being a visual of what they could be — and how their passion could be a reality one day — it’s so meaningful because they know this  is such a bigger role than having a job. It’s a role and an opportunity to help the next generation have a dream that they know they can obtain.”

Dode, as well as Cavnar’s father, Steve, and brother, Jason, played their part in helping Cavnar arrive at this moment. In addition to allowing Cavnar to play on the T-ball team, Cavnar would attend her father’s baseball camps and her brother’s games. Dode recalls times when Cavnar, who frequented the sports section of newspapers, would question her father’s coaching, asking why he made certain decisions.

For all that Cavnar has accomplished — for all she is currently accomplishing — she recalls a time in which she didn’t believe this reality was possible. Cavnar recalls a conversation with her mother years ago, wondering how she could juggle the job, the travel and her family. Dode, understanding her daughter’s passion, provided assurance, telling Cavnar that she would always be there for her. 

“We’re constantly living in chaos, but I go back to that baseline truth of (asking), ‘Is this worth it?’ To me, it is,” Cavnar said. “It’s worth it to do a job that I love, that I have a deep passion for. It’s worth it for me to do something that not a lot of women are doing in the game right now, to show my kids, as well as the next generation of women, that if you work hard enough and find a way to be yourself, you can do anything you want to do.

“That full circle moment of my mom telling me that I could do anything, and now, I’m having to live that and work really hard to make that happen.”