 |
Denny Matthews | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 14, 1942 |
| Sports commentary career | |
| Team | Kansas City Royals (1969–present) |
| Genre | Play-by-play |
| Sport | Major League Baseball |
Dennis Matthews (born November 14, 1942 [1] ) 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.
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.
Matthews has broadcast for the Royals since their inception in 1969, when he was the sidekick to Bud Blattner. Blattner retired in 1974, and Matthews has been the Royals' top broadcaster since then. 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. [2] 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 basketball championship. Matthews handled most of the home schedule and much of the September slate, when Davis turned his attention to broadcasting Jayhawks football games. Steve Physioc replaced Davis on the Royals' broadcast team in 2009.
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. [3] [ full citation needed ]
Since the retirement of the Los Angeles Dodgers' longtime English-language announcer Vin Scully and Spanish-language broadcaster Jaime Jarrín (who called that team's games from 1950–2016 and 1959–2022 respectively), Matthews' tenure with the Royals is the longest continuous tenure with one team among active Major League Baseball announcers. [4] In January 2015, Matthews signed a contract extension which kept him calling Royals games through his and the team's 50th season in 2018. [5] He signed a new contract in 2018 and continues to call games as of the 2024 season. [6]
Matthews was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in 2004 [7] and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. [8] He was presented with the Ford C. Frick Award by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. [9] [10]
Mel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions. Years after his death, he is still promoted as having been "The Voice of the Yankees."
Robert George Uecker is an American former professional baseball catcher who is the primary broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Lindsey Nelson was an American sportscaster best known for his long career calling play-by-play of college football and New York Mets baseball.
Curtis Edward Gowdy was an American sportscaster. He called Boston Red Sox games on radio and TV for 15 years, and then covered many nationally televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports and ABC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s. He coined the nickname "The Granddaddy of Them All" for the Rose Bowl Game, taking the moniker from the Cheyenne Frontier Days in his native Wyoming.
Charles Herbert Carneal was an American Major League Baseball sportscaster. From 1962 through 2006, he was a play-by-play voice of Minnesota Twins radio broadcasts, becoming the lead announcer in 1967 after Ray Scott left to work exclusively with CBS. Prior to 1962, he broadcast for the Baltimore Orioles, partnering with Ernie Harwell from 1957 to 1959 and with Bob Murphy in 1960–1961. His mellow baritone voice and laid-back demeanor were well loved by Twins fans and formed a well balanced team with the more excitable and emotional style of his longtime broadcast partner John Gordon. Carneal was for many years known as "The Voice of the Twins". Carneal's trademark greeting, "Hi everybody", was reminiscent of his down-home style.
Joseph John Castiglione is an American radio announcer for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball, an author and lecturer. Castiglione is the recipient of the 2024 Ford C. Frick Award, presented by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Byrum Fred Saam Jr. was an American sportscaster. He was best known as the first full-time voice of baseball in Philadelphia.
Jon Miller is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. Since 1997, he has been employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball announcer for ESPN from 1990 to 2010. Miller received the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Wilbur "Bill" King was an American sports announcer. In 2016, the National Baseball Hall of Fame named King recipient of the 2017 Ford C. Frick Award, the highest honor for American baseball broadcasters.
Vergil Patrick Hughes is an American sportscaster. He has been the radio play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1996. The 2022 season marked the 40th consecutive year that Hughes served as an MLB announcer.
David Van Horne is an American retired Major League Baseball broadcaster whose big-league announcing career lasted for 53 seasons. He was honoured at the National Baseball Hall of Fame as winner of the Ford C. Frick Award in 2011.
Leland Milo Hamilton was an American sportscaster, best known for calling play-by-play for seven different Major League Baseball teams from 1953 to 2012. He received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.
Jaime Jarrín is an Ecuadorian-born American sportscaster known as the Spanish-language voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He began broadcasting for the Dodgers in 1959 and was the 1998 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame. One of the most recognizable voices in Hispanic broadcasting, Jarrín, "the Spanish Voice of the Dodgers" is also heard on Spectrum SportsNet LA's SAP channel.
Arch Linn McDonald Sr. was an American radio sportscaster who served as the play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Washington Senators from 1934 to 1956, with the exception of 1939, when he broadcast the New York Yankees and New York Giants.
Ryan Lefebvre is an American sportscaster, best known as a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals since 1999. In 2008, he became the primary announcer for Royals' television broadcasts on Bally Sports Kansas City. Lefebvre also provides play-by-play on the Royals Radio Network to give longtime Royals announcer Denny Matthews days off. Since the 2012 season, he has called most games. Retrieved October 12, 2008. Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved on 2012-01-05.</ref>
Robert Garnett"Buddy"Blattner was an American table tennis and professional baseball player. He played five seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the New York Giants. After his retirement as a player, he became a radio and television sportscaster.
George Alvin "Al" Helfer was an American radio sportscaster.
Dave Armstrong is a former American television sports announcer for professional and college sports. He spent nine years as the play-by-play announcer for two Major League Baseball teams, in the NFL he has worked with both the Seattle Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs broadcasting regular and pre-season games and also announced several games for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets. He also broadcast Big 12 college basketball games for ESPN Regional Television and Big 12 Now and called games in this conference from 1988 up until his retirement in 2022. His signature “Wow!” is known as the exclamation mark on exceptional plays.
Bob Davis is an American sportscaster. He is best known for his work broadcasting Kansas City Royals baseball games and Kansas Jayhawks football and basketball games. Davis is known for his dramatic style and calling the Jayhawks' NCAA Tournament Championships in 1988 and 2008.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
