From the 2016 World Series run to a team name change, Andre Knott, sideline reporter for Cleveland Guardians Television broadcast, has been through a lot with the city’s professional baseball team.
For Knott, now in his 11th season with the Guardians, it feels like a dream come true.
“I’m living an absolute dream from the 10-to-12-year-old kid that grew up in Akron, Ohio,” he says.
Knott graduated from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron and Kent State University. He played both football and baseball, earned honors at St. Vincent-St. Mary as an All-Ohio running back and was inducted in the school’s hall of fame.
“I was always gravitating towards doing something in sports,” he says about deciding his career and eventually landing on sports broadcasting.
He started on the sidelines at the Cleveland Browns, but eventually moved to the Cleveland Guardians.
Knott has been on many platforms from radio, podcasts to television and works with partners and producers to put everything together.
He is usually at the ballpark long before the first pitch to talk to players, the team, the manager and to get his notes together.
“I’m constantly looking at different ways to tell the stories of the players that (I’m) around because that’s truly what I love,” Knott says. “I love telling the stories of these athletes and these players and making people realize that they’re human beings. They have families. They have ups and downs, trials and tribulations like everyone else.”
As a sideline reporter, he’s also been there for the big and small moments of the team.
When asked about his favorites, he says they all run together in a good way.
“The 2016 year (when they went to the World Series), I’ll say, was one of my favorites,” Knott adds. “I think one thing I’ve learned about (covering) baseball is that there are so many different languages and personalities.”
He talks about José Ramírez, third baseman for the Guardians and the connection he was able to make during interviews despite a language barrier.
“If I couldn’t be a professional athlete, there’s not a better thing in the world that I could be than being able to be on a professional field day in and day out,” Knott says.
Dad Life
Knott says the best job he’s ever had is being a dad.
It’s the most fulfilling job that you’ll ever have in your life,” he says. “There’s no amount of money, there’s no amount of prestige, that equals a hug or a smile for my children.”
He and his wife, Jennifer, who both grew up in Northeast Ohio and have been together since college, have a daughter, Isabella, 12, and son, AJ, 10.
When he got offered the Cleveland Guardians opportunity, the couple wasn’t sure at first due to the busy travel schedule.
“The baseball organization has been a dream come true because they’re family-oriented,” Knott says. “They understand what it’s like for us to be fathers, but also the importance of our job. It was the right time, the right place and was meant to be at the time.”
As a family, both Knott and his wife have to balance between work and kid activities. Since he travels out-of-town with the team, the family makes the most of the time they have together.
“We went out of our way to kind of make sure that if I took this job, it wasn’t just me taking the job, that it was a part of our family,” Knott says, adding that often his wife and kids go on road trips, spring training and home games. “My wife has done a tremendous job and keeping my kids a part of my schedule. We try to make the most of our kids being able to go to ballparks and visit things they probably wouldn’t have visited without me having this job.”
In the offseason, he dedicates his time to activities such as coaching his son’s basketball team to helping his wife with her organization Rec2Connect Foundation.
“My dad had a saying growing up and I’ll never forget it because I lived through this. My dad’s saying was, “No kid ever asked to be here,” Knott says. “So if you made a choice for a kid to be here, the least you can do is sacrifice your time to give them a true chance at life. And life is a beautiful thing and I just want my kids to have the same opportunities I had.”
The couple also has a lot of support from their own parents.
“It takes a village,” says Knott, who thinks of his own dad as his best friend. “Raising our kids, it’s definitely a family thing. It’s just not mom and dad.”
“I have a wonderful career, a wonderful job, but at the end of the day, when my kids need advice on something, if my kids need me to listen to them or hear them out, my job isn’t that important,” he adds. “Sometimes we have to minimize that stuff and make sure that they realize that the importance of who they are and what they are is what stands out to me first and foremost. You constantly have to be there and be prepared for anything and everything.”