Cubs broadcaster Dewayne Staats apparently will not be purchasing any copies of Curt Smith`s ”Voices of the Game,” one of the most comprehensive books written about baseball announcers.
Smith characterized the 35-year-old Staats as a ”journeyman broadcaster,” and said he wasn`t sold on Staats or first-year WGN color commentator Jim Frey.
”I`m not sold on Curt Smith,” said Staats, who has signed a new contract for the next two seasons. ”I have some questions about his credibility. I received a letter from the publisher promoting the book and inviting us to mention it and possibly interview him.
”Then I also received a hand-written note from him a couple months ago, saying that he enjoyed my work with the Cubs games on WGN. A couple of months have passed and we have not had him on, so he apparently has changed his mind. ”To suggest that Jim Frey is anything but a top-rate broadcaster is incredulous to me.”
Smith referred to WGN`s Harry Caray as a ”broadcasting legend.”
Staats replied: ”How smart do you have to be to realize Harry is a baseball legend?”
Frey responded to Smith`s evaluation by saying:
”I don`t know Curt Smith. I never met him. But it sounds to me like another guy who is trying to sell a book. I`ve done a lot of things in my life, but I`ve never been a book salesman.”
There`s no word yet from White Sox announcers Don Drysdale and Frank Messer, characterized by Smith as ”mundane.”
