Royals Broadcasters

Denny Matthews is in his 55th season behind the microphone, calling Royals games since the club’s inception in 1969. He’s one of four announcers in Major League history to broadcast for the same team for 50-plus seasons, along with Vin Scully (Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, 67 seasons), Jaime Jarrín (Los Angeles Dodgers, 62 seasons) and Bob Uecker (Milwaukee Brewers, entering his 53rd season). This is Matthews’ seventh decade of broadcasting the Royals, with only Jarrín’s eight decades (1959-2022), being a longer run with one team.

The 2007 Ford C. Frick Award winner was honored during the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies in Cooperstown on July 29, 2007. He also became a member of the Royals Hall of Fame in 2004.

Matthews has seen more Royals games than anyone else during his time with Kansas City. He was chosen from more than 300 applicants for the No. 2 announcer position alongside the late Buddy 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 1974-98 before Ryan Lefebvre joined him in the booth in 1999 through 2007. Over the last 12 seasons, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart have served as Denny’s partners, along with Bob Davis (2008-12), and this year, he’ll welcome Jake Eisenberg to the booth.

The veteran broadcaster has 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 worked with Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell, calling the CBS broadcast of the 1982 ALCS between the California Angels and Milwaukee 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 supports families of fallen police officers, firefighters and emergency workers, as well as Operation Lifesaver, a railroad crossing safety and awareness program. He is also the author the two books: the 2004, “Tales from the Royals Dugout,” and the 2009 “Hi, Anybody,” and co-author of the 1999 book “Play by Play-25 Years of Royals on Radio.” He’s also a 2005 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, he lent his writing talents to the book, “Kansas City Royals 50 Years: A Golden History.”

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 three years and finished eighth in the nation (NAIA) in pass receiving in 1965, despite not playing football in high school. In 2016, he received a “Distinguished Alumnus” honor from IWU.

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.

Jake Eisenberg enters his first season as a member of the Royals broadcast team. He will primarily be heard on the Royals Radio Network with Denny Matthews and Steve Stewart and will also deliver play-by-play on Bally Sports Kansas City for select games when Ryan Lefebvre is on radio.

Eisenberg, 28, was previously the play-by-play broadcaster with Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate, the Omaha Storm Chasers, from 2020-22. He also called two Royals games during the 2022 season, including May 3 vs. St. Louis, which featured Bobby Witt Jr’s first career home run and MJ Melendez’s Major League debut. Eisenberg made his Major League debut in 2022, ultimately working 41 games as a fill-in radio broadcaster for New York Mets baseball on WCBS880.

The 2022 season marked his fifth season broadcasting Minor League Baseball (not including the 2020 season), including stops at Double-A Richmond (Giants) in 2019, High-A Winston-Salem (White Sox) in 2018 and Short-Season Brooklyn (Mets) in 2017. He was also part of the radio broadcast team for the Eastern League All-Star Game in 2019.

In addition to his work on the air in Major and Minor League Baseball, Eisenberg has done play-by-play for the Big East Digital Network and Creighton Athletics and has called various events on ESPN+ and ACC Network Extra. He also worked as a college football and basketball studio host at Learfield IMG College in Winston-Salem, N.C.

A Port Washington, N.Y. native, Eisenberg began his broadcasting career at the University of Maryland, where he called a variety of Maryland events for the Big Ten Network+ and WMUC Sports (the student radio station) before graduating in May of 2017. In 2015, he helped create the Maryland Baseball Network, a multi-platform home for Maryland Baseball that features radio broadcasts of each game. His broadcast experience also includes one season as a broadcaster for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod League in 2016.

Jake and his fiancée, Jen, live in Kansas City, Mo.

Royals Radio play-by-play broadcaster Steve Stewart is in his 16th season with the Royals, his 24th in the Major Leagues and his 32nd in baseball. Prior to coming to Kansas City, Stewart spent four years with the Cincinnati Reds, three of them on WLW radio and one on television with Fox Sports Ohio.

From 2000-2003 he worked in Baltimore for WBAL radio and television as a sports anchor/reporter and talk show host. One of his roles in Baltimore each year included filling in on Orioles radio, handling play-by-play duties. During the 2002 season he also broadcast several St. Louis Cardinals games on KMOX.

Stewart broadcast Triple-A baseball for the Calgary Cannons and the Richmond Braves, as well as college baseball at the University of South Carolina, where he was also part of the football and basketball broadcasts. His college play-by-play experience includes football at Maryland and Cincinnati as well as basketball broadcasts at Maryland, Cincinnati, Xavier, South Carolina and Richmond. He also spent seven years in local TV news and sports.

Stewart is a native of St. Louis and a graduate of Southern Methodist University. He lives in Overland Park, Kan. His son John is a graduate of the University of Kansas and last year received his master’s in accounting at UMKC. He now works in accounting for Mariner Wealth Advisors.

Ryan Lefebvre is in his 25th season as a Royals broadcaster on Bally Sports Kansas City and the Royals Radio Network and his 29th season on a Major League broadcast. Lefebvre won his second Mid-America Emmy Award in 2018, after also earning the honor in 2016.

Before joining the Royals prior to the 1999 season, Lefebvre spent four seasons as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Twins on WCCO Radio, WCCO TV and Midwest Sports Channel. He was hired full-time at the age of 24, one year after graduating from the University of Minnesota. He also broadcast Gophers football, hockey and volleyball for WCCO and MSC.

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. As a Gopher baseball player, Lefebvre was a First Team All-Big Ten selection in 1993 and established school records for hits, triples and at-bats. He was selected in the 27th round of the 1993 First-Year Player Draft by Cleveland.

He is the son of former big league player and Manager, Jim Lefebvre. Actively involved in a number of Kansas City community activities, Lefebvre is the founder of Gloves for Kids, which has raised money for youth programs in Kansas and Missouri since 2001. In 2011, Lefebvre was the recipient of the John J. “Buck” O’Neil MVP Award for his commitment to youth in Kansas City. He was also named the 2006 Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City Role Model of the Year, while in 2008 the Staples store in Zona Rosa (Kansas City) was dedicated in his honor for his “Philanthropic Spirit.”

In 2015, Lefebvre was also named the recipient of the Olathe NAACP Diversity in Sports Award. He was also named one of the “25 Most Influential People” in the state of Kansas in 2014. In 2008, Lefebvre co-authored a book with Jeffrey Flanagan about his struggles with depression, titled: “The Shame of Me: One Man’s Journey to Depression and Back”.

Ryan and his wife, Sarah reside in Greenwood, Mo., with their sons, Micah, Evan and Lucas, and daughter, Callie. Sarah, a Registered Nurse, has traveled with various organizations to Mexico, Thailand, India, Kenya, Haiti, and Guatemala to provide aid and medical services.

Rex Hudler is in his 12th season with the Royals broadcast team as an analyst on Bally Sports Kansas City. Hudler worked in the same capacity alongside former Royals announcer, Steve Physioc, broadcasting the Los Angeles Angels for 11 seasons from 1999-2009.

A veteran with more than 40 years of baseball experience, including 21 as a player with the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Montreal Expos, St. Louis Cardinals, California Angels, Philadelphia Phillies and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Hudler quickly became a fan favorite at all of his stops. Over 1,083 career big league games, Hudler, nicknamed “Wonder Dog,” was a .261 career hitter with 56 home runs and 169 RBI.

Born in Tempe, Ariz., and a 1978 graduate of Bullard High School in Fresno, Calif., Hudler was a 1999 inductee into the Fresno Sports Hall of Fame. He excelled in all sports in high school, receiving 25 football scholarship offers before signing a letter of intent to play at Notre Dame. He chose baseball after being selected as the 18th overall pick by the Yankees in 1978.

Hudler is an award-winning broadcaster who began his announcing career as a special consultant for “Good Morning America” during the 1997 playoffs and 1998 Super Bowl. He is a four-time winner (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009) of the Television Color Analyst of the Year by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters. Hudler won an Emmy in 2004 for “Angels in the Infield” and has loaned his voice to several baseball video games.

He is an active motivational speaker and he and his wife, Jennifer, founded “Team Up for Down Syndrome.” The Hudlers have been awarded several honors for their community service. Rex and Jennifer have four children: Alyssa, Cade, William and David.

Joel Goldberg is in his 16th season as part of the Royals broadcast team, serving as the host of the “Royals Live” pregame and postgame shows. Goldberg also provides reports from various locations in the stadium throughout Bally Sports Kansas City’s game coverage.

He also hosts a podcast, “Rounding the Bases” and does various corporate speaking engagements throughout the country on team building and culture.

Following the 2020 season, Goldberg authored a book “Small Ball Big Results,” about the small things that add up to the big wins in baseball, business and life.

In 2018, Goldberg traveled with a group of Royals alumni to the Middle East to visit American troops serving overseas, hosting Fox Sports Kansas City’s “This One’s For You” broadcast.

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 FOX Sports Midwest in St. Louis. He started at FSN Midwest in January 2005 after more than six years as a reporter and anchor at KTVI, the FOX broadcasting affiliate in St. Louis.

Goldberg won a Mid-America Emmy for sports reporting in 2001. He also worked as a reporter for the NBC affiliates in Rhinelander, Wisc. and Madison, Wisc., from 1994-98.

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 couple has a son, Mason, and a daughter, Elliana.

Royals Hall of Fame pitcher Jeff Montgomery is in his 14th season contributing to Royals broadcasts on Bally Sports Kansas City, serving as a co-host on “Royals Live” pregame and postgame shows. Monty also offers analysis in the broadcast booth during select games on Bally Sports.

He spent 12 of his 13 big league seasons with the Royals and is the club’s all-time saves leader with 304. The three-time All-Star (1992, 1993, 1996) was the Rolaids American League Reliever of the Year in 1993, finishing tied for the league lead with 45 saves, matching a club record at that time. He also holds the club record for career appearances (686) and ranked 9th on Major League Baseball’s all-time saves list at the time of his retirement.

Montgomery has served as the Vice President of Union Broadcasting, Inc. in Kansas City since 1999, and also contributes to MLB Network shows and broadcasts.

He and his wife, Tina, have two daughters, Ashleigh and Kathryn, and two sons, Connor and Spencer.