The “Immortal” Fordham Alum Broadcaster

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(Courtesy of Ayolt de Roos via FLICKR)

By ALEXA SPECIALE

Chris Majkowski, a Fordham alum, and now producer and engineer for the Mets’ WOR 710 radio broadcast, is gaining fame simply for showing up to work.

“I really haven’t worked a day in 25 years. I go to the ballpark, I turn on a couple of microphones, I turn them off at the end of the night, I watch a ballgame in between and I get paid for it, that’s the simple version of it,” Majkowski said.

Since Aug. 7, 1993, Majkowski has not missed a single Mets game. Gary Cohen, the current Mets TV play-by-play announcer, coined him “The Immortal,” and Majkowski credits his knowledge to his experiences at Fordham, which played a big role in his career success.
Majkowski graduated Fordham University at Rose Hill in 1989 with a degree in English Literature, initially planning to write for print news. Early in his college career at an “activities day,” he was immediately attracted to working for Fordham’s radio station, which strayed him away from writing for the newspaper. Majkowski had little shame denying that most of his time was spent at WFUV, Fordham’s renowned radio station, rather than in the classroom. “A lot of us who were working in the radio station were commuter students and that was where we spent a lot of our down time,” Majkowski said. They had the opportunity to be on the air and do play-by-play statistics for the football, basketball and baseball games, call-in talk shows, and sports reports during the news.

In addition to obtaining a well-rounded Jesuit education at Fordham, working at the radio station got Majkowski the footing he needed for a successful career. “The whole Fordham experience… you come out and you’re ready to go,” Majkowski said.

Although broadcast news was the direction he hoped his career would go in, Majkowski ended up in producing and engineering. Majkowski often uses the word fortunate to describe his job—he is fortunate to have gotten into this career and do what he loves every day. To him, going to work never really feels like work.

Majkowski’s streak began the day after his sister’s wedding in August 1993. The streak would’ve been three months longer, but Majkowski knew that missing the wedding was not an option. However, since then he has managed to revolve his life around his baseball games. His devotion to keeping his streak is a true commitment. It is natural to wonder what he has sacrificed to keep his streak alive; however, he said that his friends and family have learned to accept his lack of presence at events. Thankfully, there haven’t been any incidents along the way to derail his career, but he said he is just going to “keep showing up for work until they tell him not to show up anymore.”

Chris Majkowski has taken his skills far beyond the world of baseball. He works for the New York Giants, the New York Rangers, the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden and produces and engineers sports games at St. John’s University in Queens. “One season ends and the next begins, and before you know it, it’s spring training again,” the Fordham alum said.

Throughout his vast and successful career, Majkowski has had the ability to learn countless valuable lessons. One specifically is the importance of surrounding yourself and working with “good people.” For Majkowski, even after working 3,700 plus games, it has always been enjoyable to go to the ballpark. “If you don’t have those relationships with people, then it becomes a grind,” he said.