Hall of Fame broadcaster Matthews to be celebrated for 8,000th game of legendary career

KANSAS CITY -- On a cold winter day during this past offseason, a dozen Royals media members gathered in the Kauffman Stadium press box to go through decades of baseball history.

Every single game Hall of Fame broadcaster Denny Matthews has ever called -- starting from the first Royals game in 1969 -- has been preserved through his scorecards, sorted by year, then eventually decade, and separated in manilla folders. Stars from the past fill these lineup cards -- Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Reggie Jackson, Cal Ripken Jr., Rickey Henderson, Ken Griffey Jr. among them -- telling the stories of thousands of games that Matthews has called throughout his legendary baseball career.

A few of those scorecards detail some of the Royals’ most iconic moments, like Kansas City’s two World Series titles or Brett’s 3,000th hit, signed by the Hall of Famer himself, but others are another day at the ballpark -- a single day in one of the 58 years and counting of Royals baseball.

Matthews has been in the booth for every single one. And after counting 86.6% of the total possible scorebooks in Royals history, it was discovered that Matthews will be calling his 8,000th game on Friday night against the Guardians at Kauffman Stadium.

Matthews will be honored for his one-of-a-kind career on the television broadcast, as well as a special moment on the field, during Friday’s game in recognition of the achievement. But don’t worry, Matthews is planning to return for his 59th season in 2027.

“There’s so many reasons why I am still in Kansas City and the biggest reason is, I’m going to say organization but that doesn’t mean a lot, because organizations are people. And the reason that I’ve been around this long is because of the people I’ve associated with,” Matthews said.

“It’s the people that count. All in all, that’s why I’m still sitting here instead of being in Chicago or St. Louis -- or Cucamonga.”

That one-liner is a perfect example of the quick wit and humor listeners have come to expect from the longtime broadcaster. But he’s also telling the truth, at least about the first two cities. Matthews grew up in Illinois, between St. Louis and Chicago, and had dreamed as a young broadcaster of eventually moving on to cover one of the teams who he grew up listening to.

When Matthews was 10 years old, he would lay in front of the radio and listen to broadcasters such as Jack Buck and Jack Brickhouse, taking in their every word and falling in love with the game. Like every kid, his real dream was to play, of course, and Matthews did in high school and college before turning to broadcasting -- although he wouldn’t cover baseball until the Royals.

“Listening to those guys, all those summer nights, I was getting a great college education in how to broadcast baseball, and I didn’t have to pay any tuition and I didn’t have to do homework,” Matthews said. “... A lot of that was in my mind when I probably sat down and would describe a play the way that Jack Buck or Jack Brickhouse did. But when I was hearing all those games all those years and it was preparing me, I had no idea what I was eventually [going to do]. That’s pretty cool I think.”

Buddy Blattner and Matthews formed the first Royals radio broadcast duo in club history in 1969, and it was Blattner that helped guide the then-26-year-old Matthews while he settled into the booth and began forming his signature broadcasting style.

“One thing that is really underappreciated about him is not just his ability to describe the game, but his ability to analyze the game,” said broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre, who has worked with Matthews since 1999. “... He has a great feel for the game, which sets him up to see things happen before they actually happen. And it’s not like he has this crystal ball and ability to look into the future, … but I’ve been with him in the booth when he’s predicted things a pitch or two before they happen, and it’s just amazing.

“The feel for the game that he has and his ability to analyze the game hasn’t been part of describing Denny Matthews as much as it should be.”

It wasn’t long before other teams noticed that talent, including large markets like Chicago and New York, but a conversation with Royals founder and former owner Ewing Kauffman left a lasting impression on Matthews after just his third season in the booth.

“[Kauffman] said, ‘I’ll tell you what young man. You’re going to have other opportunities and decisions to make … but I want to tell you one thing, we like the way you do the games and you can stay here as long as you want,’” Matthews said. “... So here we are, 58 years later.

“The Kansas City Royals to me have been family.”

Matthews has in turn been a central part of baseball families in Kansas City, spanning generations of Royals fans as a common voice. He’s just one of four announcers in MLB history to broadcast for the same team for at least 50 seasons, joining Vin Scully (67 with Dodgers), Jaime Jarrín (64 with Dodgers) and Bob Uecker (54 with Brewers).

Matthews called 99.5% of Royals games from 1969-2000, missing only 23 games over 32 seasons (5,061 out of 5,084). He’s been calling games since before Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and even when it did, Matthews called both games of a doubleheader against the White Sox at Comiskey Park on July 20, 1969.

He’s watched the introduction of the designated hitter (1973), the Wild Card (1995), Interleague Play (1997), pitch clock (2023) and much more while providing a stable voice in the booth while the sport and world changed around him for nearly six decades. Matthews has called games featuring the franchises oldest-born (Ted Abernathy, 1933) and youngest-born player (Carter Jensen, 2003) in club history. Matthews even got married last year inside Kauffman Stadium.

“He is a walking, living, breathing encyclopedia of the Kansas City Royals,” Lefebvre said. “There is nobody that comes close as far as being able to, not just know the history of the Royals, but have observed the history of the Royals. … It’s kind of like sitting at the feet of your grandfather and just learning from someone who has experienced so much life. And to be able to turn words into pictures, and turn pictures into words, there’s nobody else in Major League Baseball like him.”

Matthews was inducted into Cooperstown in 2007 following his Royals Hall of Fame induction in 2004. He’s a Ford C. Frick Award winner, one of the highest honors for a broadcaster, and is in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

And he’s still sitting in the Royals broadcast booth in 2026, calling every home game. His road trips have declined in recent years, although he makes occasional appearances at Busch Stadium and Wrigley Field, but his love for the game hasn’t. He returned to Spring Training this season after not traveling to Arizona the past couple of years because in his words, “I missed it.”

Radios across Kansas City have broadcast the words of Matthews for decades during Royals games. It’s been that way literally forever. And on Friday night that impact will be celebrated.

“Denny has always been there. Denny is the constant of Royals baseball,” said broadcaster Jake Eisenberg. “The very first time that they played a game, Denny’s the one who said, ‘Royals win.’ When they win their next game, he’ll be the one that says, ‘Royals win.’

“There is nobody like Denny Matthews that has existed in baseball history, and there is nobody that ever will again. There is nobody that has been the voice of a franchise, since its existence, for as long as he has been … and we should not take that for granted.”