Denny Matthews

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Denny Matthews (born November 14, 1942) is an American sportscaster, best known as the radio play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals since their inception in 1969. He currently shares those radio duties with Ryan Lefebvre, among others.

An Illinois native, Matthews attended Illinois Wesleyan University, where he played baseball and football. He worked for local radio and television stations in Peoria and St. Louis before his hiring by the Royals. Matthews also called baseball events for the national CBS Radio Network in the 1980s.

From the 1974 season 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' broadcasts and longevity have made him a popular figure in Kansas City; baseball historian and statistician Bill James is among his fans, and he has been nominated for the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award in recent years.