Dewayne Staats is the play-by-play commentator for the Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...

' television broadcasts . He is teamed with color commentary announcer Brian Anderson

Brian Anderson (pitcher)

Brian James Anderson is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher, who played 13 season for five teams, as well as a sports broadcaster and coach. Currently, Anderson is the color commentator on the Rays TV crew on Sun Sports....

. He has previously worked with analysts Joe Magrane

Joe Magrane

Joseph David Magrane is a former Major League Baseball pitcher and is currently a color commentary broadcaster for the MLB Network. He was teamed with play-by-play announcer Dewayne Staats from 1998 to 2008 as part of the Tampa Bay Rays television team.Magrane served as an analyst for NBC Sports'...

 and Kevin Kennedy

Kevin Kennedy (baseball)

Kevin Curtis Kennedy is a former manager in American Major League Baseball and a former television host for Fox Sports' baseball coverage. He was given the nickname "The Skipper" by Fox Sports due to his prior managerial career...

.

Biography

Growing up near St. Louis, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 in Wood River, IL, Staats regularly listened to the St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...

 baseball broadcasts, featuring Harry Caray

Harry Caray

Harry Caray, born Harry Christopher Carabina, was an American baseball broadcaster on radio and television. He covered four Major League Baseball teams, beginning with a long tenure calling the games of the St...

 and Jack Buck

Jack Buck

John Francis "Jack" Buck was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. Buck received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, and is honored with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame...

. Staats worked for the Houston Astros

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...

 (1977–1984), the Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

 (1985–1989), the New York Yankees

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

 (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

Wrigley Field

Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...

 history with Steve Stone

Steve Stone (baseball player)

Steven Michael Stone is an American former Major League Baseball player, and current sportscaster and author....

 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

Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...

.

Staats celebrated his 30th season as a Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 announcer in 2006. He also called college football and college basketball

College Basketball on ESPN

College Basketball on ESPN is a presentation of the college basketball television package on the ESPN family of networks. The television network broadcasts games of all the major conferences and many mid-major conferences of Division I NCAA basketball....

 games during his time at ESPN.

Both Staats and Magrane were nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award

Ford C. Frick Award

The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the United States to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball." It is named for Ford Christopher Frick, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball...

, the broadcasters' path to the Baseball Hall of Fame

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...

, 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

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, commonly abbreviated SIUE, is a four-year coed public university in Edwardsville, Illinois about from St. Louis, Missouri. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and is the younger of the two largest...

.

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

Dan Wheeler

Daniel Michael Wheeler is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball.-Baseball career:...

, making him Staats' son-in-law.