Rob Dibble - Broadcasting Career

Broadcasting Career

In 1998, Dibble joined ESPN as a baseball analyst, working mostly on Dan Patrick's radio show. He worked on The Best Damn Sports Show Period as a co-host until 2008, when he left to join FOX on their Saturday baseball program as an analyst. Dibble also spends time as a co-host/analyst of First Pitch on XM Channel 175/Sirius channel 210. He formerly hosted The Show (on the same channel) with Jody MacDonald. Dibble served as co-analyst (with Kevin Kennedy) for FOXSports.com on a weekly video segment entitled "Around the Bases." Dibble also is a co-host with former Major League player Denny Hocking on Fox Sports Radio Sunday night programming. In 2009, Dibble signed a three-year contract to replace Don Sutton as the color voice of the Washington Nationals on MASN.

While broadcasting a game in August 2010, Dibble drew negative attention for focusing on a group of female spectators in the Nationals crowd, and questioning their focus on the game. He later apologized for the comments. Later in the month, Dibble criticized Nationals rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg for missing a start due to an injury: "Suck it up, kid. This is your profession. You chose to be a baseball player. You can't have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow." It was revealed shortly afterward that Strasburg had torn an elbow ligament and required Tommy John surgery. Dibble took a few days off from MASN after making the comments, and on September 1, 2010, MASN announced that Dibble would no longer be calling Nationals games. After losing his job with the Nationals, Dibble apologized for the Strasburg comments on his radio show.

In April 2011, Dibble said in an interview on FoxSports.com that the reason for his dismissal was because of an email Strasburg's father sent to the Lerner Family, the owners of the Nationals. Dibble also continued to express his belief that Strasburg should have pitched through his pain. Strasburg denied the claim about his father's e-mail, and Stan Kasten, the president of the Nationals, called Dibble's account "fictional" and "sad". As of October 31, 2011, Dibble became a member of Mike North's talk radio show.

Currently he is the co-host of Fox Sports Radio's Fox Sports Tonight with Amy Van Dyken.