Denny Matthews

Denny Matthews
Born	November 14, 1942 (1942-11-14) (age 69) Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Occupation	Sportscaster
Website
www.kansascityroyals.com

Dennis G. "Denny" Matthews (born November 14, 1942) is an American sportscaster, best known as a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals since the team's inception in 1969.

Early history

Matthews grew up in Bloomington, Illinois, and attended Illinois Wesleyan University, where he played baseball and football, and belonged to the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He worked for local radio and television stations in Peoria and St. Louis before his hiring by the Royals.

Broadcast career

Matthews has broadcast for the Royals since their inception in 1969, when he teamed with Bud Blattner. From 1974 to 1998 – a stretch that includes the best seasons in the Royals' history – Matthews was paired with Fred White. In 1999, the two also teamed up to write a book called Play by Play: 25 Years of Royals on Radio, which recounts anecdotes from those seasons. Matthews also called baseball events for the national CBS Radio network in the 1980s.

In 1999, the Royals fired White and replaced him with the younger Ryan Lefebvre. Despite a tremendous age difference, Matthews and Lefebvre integrated their styles well and their dry wit and rapport became popular with Royals fans.

In 2008, Matthews cut back on his broadcast schedule, traveling to fewer road games, turning many of those chores over to Bob Davis and Steve Stewart (who succeeded Lefebvre in the Royals' radio booth while the latter shifted to television). However, Matthews broadcast the first road trip of that season from Detroit and Minnesota while Davis was broadcasting the Kansas Jayhawks' run to the national championship. Matthews handled most of the home schedule and much of the September slate, when Davis turned his attention to broadcasting Jayhawks football games.

Matthews' broadcasts and longevity have made him a popular figure in Kansas City. Baseball historian and statistician Bill James is among his fans, and has written:

“

His voice has a pleasant timbre which suggests a cheerful occasion. His inflection varies naturally so it's neither falsely enthusiastic nor boring. He has a dry, understated humor that drifts through much of his audience undetected. One cannot learn these things at a microphone; they are given.

”

Matthews' tenure with the Royals, at 42 years and counting, is the fourth-longest tenure with one team of any current Major League Baseball announcer, trailing only those of Los Angeles Dodgers broadcasters Vin Scully (1950-present) and Jaime Jarrin (1959-present) and New York Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner (1962-present).

Awards

On February 23, 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee announced that Matthews would receive its Ford C. Frick Award on July 29, 2007.^[1][2]

Bibliography

• Denny Matthews, Fred White, and Matt Fulks (1999). Play by Play: 25 Years of Royals on Radio (ISBN 1-886110-78-6)

References

1. ^ Lifetime achievement (sic) last accessed February 23, 2007.
2. ^ Royals announcer Matthews wins Ford C. Frick Award last accessed February 23, 2007.

External links

• Baseball Hall of Fame page

Preceded by None	Voice of the Royals 1969 – Present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Gene Elston	Ford C. Frick Award 2007	Succeeded by Dave Niehaus

Persondata
Name	Denny Matthews
Alternative names	The Voice of the Kansas City Royals
Short description	radio play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals
Date of birth	November 14, 1942
Place of birth	Bloomington, Illinois, United States of America
Date of death
Place of death