SSTN Interviews Ethan Levine

By Paul Semendinger

June 12, 2025

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Today's interview is with Ethan Levine, baseball fan and professional voice talent. Ethan recently narrated one of my books, The Least Among Them.

Hello Ethan. Welcome to SSTN.

Please tell our readers a little about yourself.

I was raised in Hartsdale in Westchester County, NY.  My mother is a die-hard Yankees fan, having grown up during Mickey Mantle's glory days in the late '50s and early '60s.  She passed down her passion for the game and the Yankees to me. My own rabid fandom began during the '90s dynasty years (being 9 years old when the '01 World Series was played, I was stunned when they lost in Game 7 because I had just assumed the Yankees won every year).  

I graduated with an acting degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.  While at Northwestern, I channeled my love of both performance and sports into my experience as the school's mascot, Willie the Wildcat, one of the most unique periods in my life.  After graduation, while chasing the dream of being a working actor, I spent 3 wonderful years with America's favorite neighborhood grocery store, Trader Joe's (let me know what your favorite products are!). 

While it has been some years now since I've pursued acting as a career, I found another pursuit which has been just as rewarding.  For the last 10 years I have worked for sports analytics company Synergy Sports (a subsidiary of Sportradar).  The team I oversee is responsible for analyzing video and providing data for more than 150,000 baseball, softball and basketball games every year.  The information we provide enables our clients to more effectively scout opponents and draft players, and those clients consist of every MLB and NBA team, as well as nearly every Division 1 team in each of those 3 sports.  If you have seen the movie Moneyball, then you have a good sense of the type of work we do. 

Since a performer's itch to create never goes away, I now also spend my evenings and weekends working as an audiobook narrator.  Finally, I am a pianist and singer/songwriter, and my original music may be found on all music streaming platforms under my name, Ethan Levine.  Please visit my narration/voiceover website at ethanlevine.com.

Are there any new projects you are working on?  

In addition to the audiobook version of The Least Among Them, I have a couple of additional upcoming audiobook projects.  The first is a wonderful historical fiction book for children called The Batboy and the Unbreakable Record by the talented author Robert Skead.  The book primarily focuses on the impact of bullying and helping develop skills to combat it, set within a thrilling sequence of real-life events.  Another upcoming audiobook project I'm excited for is about the college athletics recruiting process, geared towards prospective college athletes and their families.  The book was written by a Division 1 college basketball coach with a long history of player recruitment.  Please be on the lookout for those!

It's great you're working with Artemesia Publishing and author Robert Skead. He's a friend of mine. There's a character in Rob's book who shares a name with me.

Why are people so drawn to baseball and its stories, legends, and people?

Perhaps more than any other sport, baseball imitates life in its pacing: the bursts of action, the pauses, and the unexpected twists. This is why so many baseball references are used idiomatically in everyday American life, entwining the game in the very fabric of the country.  While a team sport, the inherent one-on-one nature of the game, pitcher vs. hitter, lends itself to mythic storytelling.  When a legendary hitter digs in, the entire stadium holds its breath on every pitch.  Finally, most people in the US have at least some sort of romantic association with summer evenings.  Baseball is the only one of the four major US sports to play its games outdoors on summer evenings (save for the very beginning of the NFL season), a way for friends and family to enjoy a city's nightlife while doing so in the warm outdoors; a sort of blending of theater and hanging out in the "park" (pun intended).  

What is your favorite baseball book? (You can list as many as you wish.)

I love One Day at Fenway by accomplished sportswriter and author Steve Kettmann.  The book takes a behind the scenes look at one singular game played between the Yankees and Red Sox in August of 2003, around the peak of the Yanks/Sox rivalry.  It's written almost as a Broadway drama, complete with an official "Cast of Characters" presented at the beginning of the story.  As an aside, I don't believe this book yet has an accompanying audiobook.  I would love to finally produce that audiobook one day.

Outside of baseball, what is your favorite book and/or who is your favorite author?  (You can list as many as you wish.)

My favorite book is likely And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.  The first time I read it, before I reached the epilogue in which the mystery is revealed, I was left dumbstruck, thinking, "How did this happen?!"  My favorite all-around author, on the other hand, is John Grisham.  He is a genius author of thrillers.  My website features a clip of me reading a scene from Grisham's book, The Last Juror.

There's a lot of talk about baseball needing to be "fixed."  Is baseball broken?  If you were the Commissioner of Baseball what change(s) (if any) would you make to the current game?

I don't fall into the camp who believes that baseball is "broken."  Baseball has its challenges at the moment, but so does every other major sport.  There are just as many stars as ever thrilling fans on a nightly basis, and average attendance has been ticking upwards since 2017.  I am a huge fan of nearly every pace-of-play change that has been implemented in the last five or so years (I will address the "nearly" piece of that momentarily). 

With that said, sometimes baseball can get in its own way.  If I were the commissioner, I would implement universal play review, where every single type of play would be eligible for review.  If a particular play has the potential to sway a game one way or another, there cannot be limits placed on whether that play can be reviewed. 

I AGREE! I have been calling for this from the start. If the purpose is to get the calls correct, get them... correct!

Please continue...

I would also implement the ball/strike challenge system (as opposed to the complete robotic strike zone).  To me, that creates a healthy, rational blend of keeping the human element in umpiring while cutting down on the most egregious ball/strike mistakes bemoaned by all fans with a heartbeat.  MLB also needs to lean as far into its international reach and engagement as possible.  Baseball is a regional sport in the US, and trying to return it to national sport status only positions it in an uphill battle against football and basketball.  However, baseball has a unique international market, particularly in Asia, which has so much left to be tapped.  Lastly, I have one selfish adjustment to the game: get rid of the extra innings "ghost runner."  I understand why the league implemented it but, in principle, I have a major issue with allowing a runner to score who did nothing to deserve being on base in the first place.  The fact that there is no extra innings "ghost runner" during the playoffs indicates that the league understands there is a flaw with the principle, but feel a sense of desperation to use it during the regular season for pace-of-play purposes.  Of all of the pace-of-play rule changes in recent years, this is the only one that still makes me very uncomfortable.

I love to talk about the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Which former Yankee most deserves to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

I think the strongest case belongs to Thurman Munson.  His honors include AL Rookie of the Year, an MVP award, 7 All-Star selections in his 10 full seasons, 3 Gold Gloves, and 2 world championship titles.  He was an elite postseason player.  His career WAR was several points higher than Roy Campanella's, who made it to Cooperstown.  His average WAR per year was comparable to Joe Mauer's, and greater than Yadier's Molina's.  I think his vote count was hampered over the years by his tragically short career and also due to his playing in the same era as other great catchers like Bench, Fisk, and Carter.  (Honorable mention in this discussion goes to Andrew Eugene Pettitte.) 

What is the greatest baseball movie of all time?  (Yes, you can list a few!)

My top 5, in no particular order: Little Big League, Major League, Field of Dreams, Rookie of the Year, Moneyball.

What is your favorite baseball memory?

In hindsight, probably bringing my wife to her first Yankees game.  She knew next to nothing about baseball at the time, and I was just grateful she agreed to come to a game with me.  Today, she may be an even more intense fan than I am!  I created a monster, and am very happy about it.

Please share anything else you'd like with our audience.  Have you (or someone you know) written a book and are considering creating an audiobook version to accompany it?  Please feel free to reach out to me to discuss producing it!  I can be reached either at ethanlevinereads@gmail.com, or via Instagram direct message @ethanlevinereads.

Thank you Ethan. Keep up the great work. You're outstanding. Please keep in touch.