Royals’ Ryan Lefebvre hits 3,000th broadcast; The umpires offered a gift

Not all milestones happen on the field.

Ryan Lefebvre, the Royals’ long-time broadcaster on radio and television, was in the booth on Saturday for his 3,000th broadcast since coming to Kansas City.

The Royals honored Lefebvre with a video tribute during the game. He also received a keepsake from a rare group: the umpires.

Now synonymous with Royals baseball, Lefebvre arrived in Kansas City in 1999 and replaced long-time broadcaster Fred White. Lefebvre is in his 19th season with the Royals and his 23rd in the major leagues.

Before joining the Royals’ broadcast crew, he also spent four seasons as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Twins, who were in town on Saturday. Lefebvre was just 24 years old, one year removed from the University of Minnesota, when he started with the Twins.

Aided by a 2006 Kansas City Star story that documented his game total, Lefebvre was able to calculate his 3,000th game. He has missed just one Royals game since 2006. That came in 2007, when he traveled to Cooperstown, N.Y., to watch fellow broadcaster Denny Matthews receive the Ford C. Frick Award.

The 3,000 number includes regular season games and postseason games in 2014 and 2015. It does not include spring training.

This story was originally published September 9, 2017 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Royals’ Ryan Lefebvre hits 3,000th broadcast; The umpires offered a gift."