Team
Denny Matthews, the 2007 Ford C. Frick Award winner, was honored during the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies in Cooperstown on July 29, 2007. He became a member of the Royals Hall of Fame in August of 2004 and will celebrate his 41st season behind the microphone for the club in 2009. The "Voice of the Royals" has broadcast exclusively for the same team, without interruption, in five different decades. Denny is a 2005 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame selection.
Matthews is just one of six announcers in the history of MLB to spend an entire career with just one team and log at least 35 consecutive seasons behind the microphone. He joins Vin Scully (Brooklyn/Los Angeles, 59), Bob Prince (Pittsburgh, 48), Jack Buck (St. Louis, 47), Jaime Jarrin (Los Angeles, 47) and Joe Nuxhall (Cincinnati, 39) as the only broadcasters to accomplish the feat.
Matthews has seen more Royals games than anyone else during his 40 years with Kansas City. He was chosen from more than 300 applicants for the No. 2 announcer position alongside Bud Blattner prior to the Royals initial season in 1969, before taking over the No. 1 job following the 1975 season. He teamed with Fred White on the Royals Radio Network from 1974-1998 before Ryan Lefebvre joined him in the booth in 1999 through 2007. Bob Davis served as Denny's new partner in 2008 and will do so again in 2009.
The veteran broadcaster has also lent his play-by-play skills to the CBS Radio Network during portions of the regular season and during the 1982 and 1985 World Series. He also worked with Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell, calling the CBS broadcast of the 1982 ALCS between the Angels and Brewers.
Matthews is active in the Kansas City community and dedicates his time and resources to several area charities, including the SAFE program, a charity that provides families of fallen policemen, firemen and emergency workers, as well as Operation Lifesaver, a railroad crossing safety and awareness program. He is also the author the 2004 book, "Tales from the Royals Dugout" and co-author of the 1999 book "Play by Play - 25 Years of Royals on Radio."
Matthews graduated from Central Catholic High School in Bloomington, Ill., and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in August, 2001. He is a 1966 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan where he lettered in football and baseball for 3 years and finished 8th in the nation (NAIA) in pass receiving in 1965.
Prior to joining the Royals, Matthews worked for WMBD-TV and radio and KMOX-TV. His brother, Mike, is the radio analyst for Illinois State University basketball.
Matthews, an avid collector of sports publications, enjoys playing golf and hockey. He resides in Leawood, Kan.
Bob Davis, a 12-time winner of the Kansas Sportscaster of the Year award most recently in 2008, enters his 13th season with the Royals and his second as a voice on the Royals Radio Network. In addition to his work with the Royals, Davis has been the voice of the Kansas Jayhawks for the past 25 years, calling two NCCA basketball championships and several bowl wins. Davis was inducted into the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2006.
Prior to his stint with the Jayhawks, Davis spent 16 years announcing Fort Hays State University games, earning a spot in the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. He has also been the radio voice for the NCAA Women's Final Four Basketball Championships.
A native of Topeka, Davis graduated from Topeka West High School and Washburn University. He resides in Lawrence, Kan., with his wife, Linda. The couple has one son, Steven, who will serve his second season as the play-by-play voice of the Royals Double-A affiliate in Northwest Arkansas in 2009.
Royals Radio pre-game host and play-by-play broadcaster Steve Stewart is in his second season with the Royals, his 10th in the Major Leagues and his 18th in baseball. Besides his radio work, Steve is also the host of "Royals Insider," a weekly television magazine program seen on Fox Sports Kansas City and KC's Metro Sports.
Stewart spent the previous four years as a Cincinnati Reds broadcaster, from 2004 through 2006, on WLW radio and in 2007 on TV as a pre-game host and fill-in play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports Ohio.
From 2000-2003, he filled in on Baltimore Orioles broadcasts on WBAL, where he was a sports anchor on both WBAL radio and TV. In 2002 he called several St. Louis Cardinals games on KMOX. Stewart previously broadcast in the minor leagues for the Calgary Cannons and Richmond Braves, as well as at the collegiate level calling University of South Carolina baseball.
A St. Louis native, Stewart began his broadcasting career as a student at Southern Methodist University, where he broadcast football and basketball. Stewart has broadcast college basketball games for several schools, including the University of Richmond, as well as South Carolina, Maryland, Cincinnati (football and basketball) and Xavier. He spent seven years in TV news and sports. Stewart has a 10-year-old son, John, and resides in Overland Park, Kan.
Ryan Lefebvre begins his 11th season as a Royals broadcaster and his 15th season in the Majors. Lefebvre will spend his second full time season in the television booth in 2009, joining Paul Splittorff on Fox Sports Kansas City. Before joining the Royals for the 1999 season, he spent four seasons as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Twins. He was hired by Minnesota at the age of 24, one year after graduating from college. He worked both television and radio for the Twins and broadcast University of Minnesota football, hockey and volleyball.
The Los Angeles native graduated from Loyola High School in 1989 and began his broadcasting career as a freshman at the University of Minnesota at KUOM radio. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1994 where he was a 3-time All-Big Ten selection in baseball and established school records for hits, triples and at-bats. He was drafted in the 27th round of the 1993 June Free Agent Draft by the Cleveland Indians and played one season in the New York-Penn League.
Lefebvre is the son of former big league player and manager and current Padres hitting coach Jim Lefebvre. Actively involved in a number of Kansas City community activities, he is the founder of Gloves For Kids and the Footprints Foundation, which raises money for youth programs in Kansas and Missouri. He was also named the 2006 Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City Role Model of the Year. He and his wife, Sarah, reside in Lake Winnebago, Mo.
Paul Splittorff returns to the television booth for his 22nd season as the analyst on Fox Sports Kansas City. The Royals Hall of Famer and all-time winningest pitcher in club history has worked in broadcasting since retiring in 1984.
He joined the Royals organization in 1968 and compiled a 166-143 record with a 3.81 ERA in 429 games during his 15-year playing career. In addition to recording the most wins in Royals history, the left-hander also owns the club record for starts (392) and innings pitched (2,554.2). He became Kansas City's first 20-game winner in 1973 and was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in 1987.
In addition to his Royals broadcasts, Splittorff serves as a basketball analyst for the Big 12 Conference. His baseball and basketball broadcasting work are the result of his two-sport (baseball and basketball) college days at Morningside College in Iowa. Splittorff and his wife, Lynn, have a daughter, Jennifer and son, Jamie.
Royals Hall of Famer Frank White will spend his second season in the booth as a Royals television analyst. White will also continue his role as a senior advisor for the Royals, taking part in numerous community and marketing endeavors.
White spent three seasons as manager of the Wichita (AA) Wranglers from 2004-2006. He spent 2002-03 in the Royals front office as Special Assistant to the GM and managed Peoria in the Arizona Fall League in 2003. White began his coaching career in the Red Sox organization as manager of the Gulf Coast Rookie team in 1992 and then spent 3 seasons (1994-96) as the Red Sox first base coach before rejoining the Royals. He served as the club's Community Outreach Representative until he took over as first base coach during the 1997 campaign, a position he held through the 2001 season.
White was one of the most decorated second basemen in baseball history during his 18-year playing career with the Royals. He won eight Gold Gloves and was a five-time All-Star and two-time Royals Player of the Year. The Royals played in seven postseasons during his career, including two World Series. White was named ALCS MVP in 1980, helping lead Kansas City to its first-ever World Series appearance. His number 20 was retired by the Royals as he was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in 1995. A statue was erected in his honor in 2004.
The Kansas City native graduated from Lincoln High and was the first graduate of the experimental Royals Academy to be invited to big league Spring Training with the Royals in 1973. He resides in Lee's Summit, Mo., with his wife, Teresa. The couple has four children: Frank III, Adrianne, Terrance and Courtney, and 4 stepsons, Michael, Darryl, Jordan and Joseph.
Joel Goldberg will be in his second season as the host of the Royals Live pre-game and postgame shows and serves as a reporter throughout FSKC's Royals coverage.
Goldberg came to Kansas City and FSKC's Royals broadcast team after three years covering the St. Louis Cardinals, Blues, Rams and other sports for FSN Midwest in St. Louis. He came to FSN Midwest in January, 2005, after more than six years as a reporter and anchor at KTVI, the FOX broadcasting affiliate in St. Louis. He won a mid-America Emmy for sports reporting in 2001. Goldberg also worked as a reporter for the NBC affiliates in Rhinelander, Wisc. and Madison, Wisc., from 1994-1999.
Goldberg, who was born in Philadelphia before moving to the Chicago area prior to high school, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. His wife, Susan, is a native of Overland Park, Kan.. The Goldbergs have a son, Mason, and daughter, Elliana.
Don Free begins 23rd year as the producer/engineer of the Royals radio broadcasts, his fifth season as Manager-Radio Network Operations. Free worked for Stauffer-Morris for 31 years, spending the first 18 years at WIBW-TV in Topeka, before working for the radio network. He then worked for Entercom for six years, including work in the offseason as an engineer at KMBZ. Free also does freelance engineer work on area college football and basketball games.
Free resides in Topeka, Kan., with his wife, Sandy. He has two daughters, Kristin and Jennifer, two grandsons, Zane Jaxson, and two granddaughters, Taylor and Jordan.
