I first heard David Vassegh’s name during the late 1990s, early 2000s on the famous McDonnell-Douglas sports talk show hosted by local legends of LA sports media Joe McDonnell and Doug Krikorian.

Vassegh had a supporting role, and he hardly ever spoke on air. But he seemed to be the whipping boy for McDonnell, who regularly railed at Vassegh if a guest interview didn’t appear on time or if anything went wrong with the broadcast. I actually felt for Vassegh, as I was picturing this skinny college intern whose hands were shaking at the thought of making another mistake.

Boy, was I wrong. When I met Vassegh sometime after 2006, I saw a tall, lanky man with an easy smile and a confident demeanor. I found out that he went to Notre Dame High School, and while it was a rival of my alma mater Alemany, after we traded barbs we did connect on being proud products of the 818 and CSUN.

After I got to know him a little better, I asked Vassegh if McDonnell’s rants were real. Vassegh told me that they were completely an act, and that he and Big Joe were very close friends. When I met McDonnell sometime later, I found him to be a gentle soul with a soft-spoken manner who always called me by my first name after our introduction. Completely different than whom I heard on the radio.

Those early memories stuck with me when I’d see Vassegh interact with Dodger players in his early days as the host of DodgerTalk, sometime around 2012. For all the fun that the job appears to be, there can be a lot of thankless tasks related to it. Baseball players can be incredibly evasive when it comes to doing interviews, even with people they are familiar with whom they know will not be negative in their reporting. “Can we do it tomorrow?” is a refrain I heard plenty of times when requesting interviews.

The other tough part of the job is the actual postgame DodgerTalk. Vassegh and I both grew up listening to Ross Porter expertly handling that job. When the team wins, all the callers are happy and praising the manager’s decision to squeeze bunt with the score tied in the 8th inning. The next night the manager’s job security is called into question by the very same callers when he brings in a lefty who gives up the game-winning double to Juan Soto. 

Vassegh handles both those tasks with aplomb. He’s formed a relationship with the postgame callers who frequent the show, often anticipating when an angry reaction is coming. He defuses the situation quickly, gives a short answer based in facts and moves on to the next caller. The fan spoke. Vassegh doused the fuse. Dave Roberts keeps his job. Crisis averted. 

As for how he handles player relationships, I saw firsthand that it’s equal parts persistence, good-natured ribbing and self-deprecation. Vassegh pokes fun at himself as he reminds the players that he’ll be bugging them for interviews. Certain players like Andre Ethier, Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Turner, the back and forth becomes a dance that is pretty funny at times. 

Ethier would make fun of Vassegh’s choice in pants. Gonzalez’s speed, or lack thereof, was a regular subject tha Vassegh harped upon. That led to Gonzalez challenging Vassegh to a race in 2015, and we know how that ended.

Turner regularly rides Vassegh during interviews, even yelling during an intrasquad scrimmage at Dodger Stadium on July 8 for Vassegh to “Shut up!” This was while the red-bearded third baseman was on deck! Yet he’ll be thankful when Vassegh helps in promoting any of Turner’s charitable endeavors.

Those player relationships are so vital in that type of role, and Vassegh has mastered it. In 2013, when he and I sat down for a Q&A that I published in Dodgers Magazine, Vassegh told me that he was one of the few media members who had a good working relationship with Laker greats Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. I thought of that quote recently when O’Neal spoke with the New Orleans Saints right after Drew Brees gave his tone-deaf quote about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. O’Neal told the Saints in a Zoom call that they needed to band together and not let the media tear them apart like what happened to the Laker duo. Somehow Vassegh was able to do his job well while never burning a bridge with the superstars.

During our interview for the Familia FFB podcast, Vassegh told me that there was a very key element to his relationship with pro athletes. “You have to have trust,” he said. “They have to trust you. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

It’s that trusting relationship that has resulted in both Ethier and Mark McGwire becoming weekly guests during DodgerTalk episodes that have run on weeknights during this sports shutdown that we’ve been enduring. The back and forth continues as if they were in the Dodger clubhouse, then Ethier is disarmed and becomes a kid when surprise guest Ken Griffey Jr. calls in. McGwire had a similar reaction when Albert Pujols parachuted in to talk about how instrumental McGwire was during Pujols’ epic rookie year. 

When Vassegh and I had finished up our interview, before we said goodbye he reminded me how much it meant to him that I’d done that feature on him in the magazine. He and I grew up with Dodger games being rare treats, and aside from the Dodger Dogs one of the treats was buying and devouring the Dodger program. It was a fun interview where we talked about a variety of subjects, including our shared love of Bruce Springsteen. I gave Vassegh a stack of magazines for him to give out to family and friends. He thanked me again for featuring him in the magazine that we’d both grown up loving.

If you haven’t already done so, check out the podcast interview, as we had a fun chat about fantasy football. He’s an avid player, and definitely has a veteran player’s strategic perspective, especially when it comes to drafting RBs. 

He also shared about how seriously the Dodger players take their fantasy football. So many players take part in a players-only league, and always conduct the draft on a road trip. Before embarking on the trip, the players wear their favorite teams’ or players’ jerseys on the plane.

Baseball, for all the wonder it brings the players, can become a grind when mid-August rolls around. The routine on the road needs welcomed distractions, and a fantasy football draft brings out “the little kid inside, the fantasy football fans,” Vassegh said. “The excitement is there for them just like us when we get together for our fantasy football drafts.”

He’s the ultimate insider, as Dodger players often come to him to see what he thinks about potential trades. On both sides of the trade!

David Vassegh, thank you for always being a friend, for banging the drum for the 818 and for continuing proudly the legacy that others have forged before you. When Dodger fans hear you, they’re hearing the manifestation of every 10-year-old kid who loves the team and wants to be behind the mic just like you.  Every day, you’re pulling out of here to win.