Baseball legend Pete Rose has playfully called him out on national television, he’s fetched statistics for and talked sports with Alex Rodriguez and he’s broadcast college basketball games at Duke, North Carolina and Kansas.

“Of course I never thought this would be my lot,” Anthony Masterson says with a laugh. “It’s really bizarre.”

But the Powell native — now working as both a researcher at FOX Sports 1 and as a broadcaster for Long Beach State University — cautions that his surreal career in the sports media world shouldn’t be confused for a charmed life.

“Everybody who grows up watching sports is like, ‘Oh I would love to work in sports, blah blah blah,’” Masterson says. “Do you love working holidays and weekends? You love working until, you know, midnight on some days and 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.? Not having a social life, you love that? Really? Because it’s different.”

“You’re not just working in sports because … you love competition. Like, it’s your job,” Masterson said. “It can be rewarding at times, but it’s not as easy and fun as everybody thinks it’s going to be when they first get into the business.”

The job

Masterson works for the sports data and technology company STATS LLC, serving as an assistant supervisor and studio researcher for FOX Sports 1 shows like, “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” “Speak for Yourself” (featuring Cowherd and Jason Whitlock) and “Undisputed” (with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe).

Masterson’s job is to make sure everything that goes on air is factually correct.

“If something goes on there that’s totally wrong, or something is wrong on a graphic, or something is wrong that somebody says, we all look stupid,” he explained.

Like all the other staffers, Masterson also gets a chance to offer his own thoughts on the topics of the day at each morning’s meetings. In fact, he said that’s how he got his current job: talking intelligently at those production meetings while working as a graphics operator on FS1’s MLB show.

He’s done work for FOX Sports since 2010, but his past two years with STATS have brought some remarkable experiences — including helping to cover both the 2015 and 2016 World Series for FS1.

Last year’s World Series between the Cleveland Indians (who haven’t won a title since 1948) and Chicago Cubs (who ultimately won their first title since 1908) was particularly special; Masterson’s mother, Pam, grew up in Cleveland and he was raised as a diehard Indians fan.

But while his job with STATS got him up-close-and-personal with the historic series, he had to keep his distance, emotionally.

“Working in sports, it forces you to disassociate yourself with your fandom in a lot of ways,” Masterson said. That required impartiality, he says, can make things “really, really hard.”

At the World Series

The Indians built up an early advantage in the series, only to see the Cubs rally and force a decisive Game 7.

It appeared early in Game 7 that the Cubs might cruise to victory, building up a 6-3 lead. But the Indians roared back in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring three runs off Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman.

It was a great development for Masterson the fan — and a real monkey wrench for Masterson the researcher.

“You really are at the mercy of sports, which makes sports beautiful and wonderful, but for (the) process of making television, it can be very very unpredictable,” he said.

The Indians’ rally sent Masterson scrambling for new stats and sparked a series of conversations and questions among those on the set in Cleveland and back at FS1 studios in L.A.

“You have the whole postgame planned: what you’re going to say; how you’re going to say it, what it means going forward for the series, and then everything is turned on its head. … And your entire postgame show changes — like completely,” Masterson said. “Nothing you have done for the previous four hours matters at all.”

Game 7 headed into extra innings tied at 6.

Masterson, the fan, was “physically shaking” with adrenaline while continuing his duties as a researcher — including helping plan out contingencies for an Indians win, a Cubs win or a prolonged rain delay.

The Cubs pushed ahead two runs in the top of the 10th to go up 8-6, then the Indians got a run of their own and put the tying runner on base in the bottom half of the inning.

It brought Indians’ utility player Michael Martinez — who was “literally the worst hitter in baseball” last year, Masterson said — up to the plate with two outs.

Despite the statistical odds, and against his better judgment, Masterson stepped outside of the FOX Sports trailer and onto the outfield deck at Progressive Field to watch the Indians’ last hope.

True to form, Martinez grounded out and the Cubs won their first series in more than a century.

“I just had to quietly slink back to my chair, put on my headphones and then just talk to the producers and get box scores and go about my business as if it was just another game,” Masterson said. “But it was kind of my only course of action. I couldn’t be like, ‘Hey guys, sorry, I’m taking this one off; this one hurts, give me an hour.’”

He figures that, in time, he’ll appreciate having gotten the chance to watch one of the most historic sporting events of the last century. But he’s not there yet.

Making his mark

In covering the National League postseason and World Series, Masterson worked alongside a talented team that included 14-time All Star Alex Rodriguez, 17-time All Star Pete Rose and MLB Hall of Famer Frank Thomas as commentators.

During the 2015 World Series, Rose took a playful shot at Masterson during one broadcast, joking that it was “about time the research department did something” and asking “where the hell you been?”

“Anthony’s over there in the corner working his tail off,” offered Kevin Burkhardt, a sportcaster who anchors the FS1 crew.

Masterson has been getting his own turns at the microphone and on camera, too. On Nov. 12, he voiced a full day’s worth of college football game breaks on FS1 (a national debut that drew a mention from a Sports Illustrated columnist) and he got a cameo on “The Herd” on Dec. 19.

Cowherd had Masterson show off his deep voice by reading some ad copy and repeating some phrases.

“Anthony’s just got what we in our business call, ‘pipes,’” Cowherd explained to his audience. After hearing Masterson pronounce “Saginaw, Michigan,” Cowherd offered that he’d move there “right now.”

(Within the brief segment, Masterson also managed to get in a mention of his father, Mike, and Mike’s career teaching vocals at Northwest College.)

While he’s working as an assistant supervisor and researcher, broadcasting remains Masterson’s long-term goal.

Putting in the work

On his off-days from STATS — and often on his “vacation” days — he’s the voice of the Long Beach State Men’s Basketball team.

The 49ers play an extremely difficult non-conference schedule that’s taken the team and Masterson to “some of the most iconic venues in all of college basketball” over the past two seasons: Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke), Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas), Dean Smith Center (North Carolina) and Pauley Pavilion (UCLA).

“You never stop being that little kid when you go into places like that,” Masterson said.

He technically lives in Los Angeles, but you wouldn’t know it from his break-neck schedule.

Between his two jobs, Masterson will work just about every day for four months straight. From mid-November 2015 to mid-March 2016 — a stretch that included Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s — Masterson had just one day off. Many days involved late nights and early flights.

“You’re eating at horrible times; you’re not exercising; you’re waking up at weird hours; you’re traveling all the time; it’s bizarre, but it’s something you just have to kind of deal with,” he said.

Masterson said he’s fortunate to have a “very wonderful” fiance and to be working with and for supportive people at both FOX and STATS.

“It takes some getting used to, but you’re putting in the work because you want to do it,” he said. “I’m putting in the work because I want to be a broadcaster, and this is my opportunity to do so.”