For more than three decades, Roy Smalley has been on televisions throughout the Twin Cities — first as a player, one who played for 10 seasons with the Minnesota Twins, and then as a broadcaster and analyst.
But after 22 years of contributing to the Twins’ television broadcast, Smalley has decided to retire, a decision that he wrote on social media did not come easy.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The last three years or so has been a time of reflection and procrastination for me,” he wrote in a statement posted to social media on Wednesday. “My wife has been asking me and I have been promising her to bring my broadcast career to an end. Yet each of the last three Januarys, I have found myself saying, ‘Maybe one more year.’”
The decision to retire from his post-playing career on television, he said, was nearly as difficult as it was to hang up his spikes at the end of his playing days.
Smalley had a 13-year playing career, most of which came in Minnesota. The infielder was an All-Star in 1979 and was part of the 1987 World Series-winning team before retiring after that season. He later found a home on television and in recent years, was part of a rotation of former players who served as an analyst alongside Dick Bremer and last year Cory Provus.
“As I reflect on my career — playing the game and then later talking about it on television — I am so grateful for the opportunities that the Twins family has given me and I’m struck by what a great run it has been,” Smalley wrote.
The Twins have not yet announced who will call games alongside Provus for the upcoming season, but earlier this offseason, they confirmed their games will be produced by Major League Baseball following the expiration of their deal with FanDuel Sports Network North (formerly Bally Sports North).
“As I reflect on the fact that I have done baseball analysis on Twins broadcasts for a quarter of a century, I think the new direction the Twins/MLB broadcasts are taking makes it a bit easier for me to acknowledge that this great run is like all great runs … they come to an end,” he wrote.
______________________________________________________
This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here.
The Trust Project
