Bay Area sports reporter and TV personality Mychael Urban has died, his brother confirmed this week. Urban was 55.
Urban grew up in the Bay Area and attended the University of San Francisco, where he pitched for the Dons. After college, he worked as a reporter and radio and TV personality, covering both the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants. His voice became a familiar sound to Bay Area sports fans listening to KNBR, 95.7 The Game and NBC Sports Bay Area (then called Comcast SportsNet Bay Area). During the headlining days of the Moneyball era, Urban wrote a book on the Big Three called “Aces: The Last Season on the Mound with the Oakland A’s Big Three: Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito.”
In addition, he wrote for MLB.com, the San Francisco Examiner and The Athletic. He left sports media in 2012 to pursue a career in health care administration but returned to digital media in recent years as a freelancer.
“My heart just sank,” NBC Sports Bay Area reporter Matt Maiocco wrote in tribute. “Mychael Urban and I were teammates when I went to now-NBC Sports Bay Area in 2010. He provided some great advice that I use to this day about frame of mind when the red light goes on. I’ll always remember him for his big personality and his even bigger hugs.”