Dewayne Staats

Dewayne Staats
Staats in 2009.
Background information
Born	August 8, 1952 (1952-08-08)
Team(s)	Tampa Bay Rays
Sports	Baseball

Dewayne Staats (born August 8, 1952 in Advance, Missouri) is the play-by-play commentator for the Tampa Bay Rays' television broadcasts . He is teamed with color commentary announcer Brian Anderson. He has previously worked with analysts Joe Magrane and Kevin Kennedy.

Biography

Growing up near St. Louis, Missouri in Wood River, IL, Staats regularly listened to the St. Louis Cardinals baseball broadcasts, featuring Harry Caray and Jack Buck. Staats worked for the Houston Astros (1977–1984), the Chicago Cubs (1985–1989), the New York Yankees (1990–1994), and ESPN (1995–1997) prior to joining the Rays in their inaugural season of 1998. With the Cubs, he called the first MLB night game in Wrigley Field history with Steve Stone on August 8, 1988, though the game was called due to rain.

Tampa Bay Rays

As a promotion in 2006, dual talking bobblehead dolls of Staats and Magrane were given away at a home game against the Seattle Mariners.

Staats celebrated his 30th season as a Major League Baseball announcer in 2006. He also called college football and college basketball games during his time at ESPN.

Both Staats and Magrane were nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award, the broadcasters' path to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in 2008.

The Dewayne Staats Award for Broadcast Journalism was established in 2008 by the Mass Communications Department at his alma mater, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

On June 22, 2010, Staats called his 5000th major league game.

Personal life

Dewayne's first wife, Dee, died in 2005 after a long battle with cancer. He has since remarried to the former Carla Berry.

Dewayne has two daughters, Stephanie (b. 1978-01-11) and Alexandra (b. 1984-01-11), both from his marriage with Dee. He also has two grandsons, both from Stephanie. Stephanie is married to Red Sox relief pitcher Dan Wheeler, making him Staats' son-in-law.