Thank you Denny Matthews

I felt honored to be in Kauffman Stadium on Saturday night as Denny Matthews was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame. I was glad to see that 27,000 other people felt the same way. I wish we would have sold the place out to show him how much we appreciate the time and effort he has put into Royals broadcasts since their inception.

During the ceremony, Herk Robinson said that his daughter was back in town after moving from the Kansas City area ten years ago. When she flipped on the radio upon returning to Kansas City and heard Denny Matthews calling a Royals game, she said she felt like she was home.

I know what she means. I’ve lived in Omaha, Nebraska my entire life. But as a young boy, I caught Royal fever and started listening to Denny Matthews and Fred White. As I grew into a man, I always felt a sense of nostalgia when I heard them. Like Herk’s daughter, I felt like I was home. I still do.

That might seem a little odd to people who don’t follow baseball, but when you spend several hours ever day listening to a person speak about a common interest, how could a fan not feel this way? And for me, it goes even deeper than that. Denny Matthews is not a guy who is just punching the clock. We share a common bond. For better or worse, we love the game of baseball and we love the Kansas City Royals.

As I mentioned in an early post, I had the pleasure of meeting Denny in April of this year when I was covering a story about a couple of Royals players for a magazine and a newspaper. I probably broke some media protocol by introducing myself to him and telling him how much I appreciated his work over the years. But I didn’t care. He didn’t seem to either. He was gracious and took the time to speak to me a couple of times later that day.

Let’s never take this guy for granted. He’s a one of a kind and well deserving of always being remembered in the Royals Hall of Fame and hopefully Cooperstown.