Todd Harry Kalas (born December 31, 1965) is an American sportscaster, employed since 2017 as a television

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer for

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...

baseball.

Education

Kalas graduated from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1988 with a degree in

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

. At Syracuse, he worked at

WAER WAER (88.3 FM) is a radio station in Syracuse, New York. It is located on the campus of Syracuse University, and is a part of the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The station features a jazz music and National Public Radio forma ...

radio to call

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East Conference. The school's mascot is Ott ...

sports.

Career

He moved to

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

sports director The title of sports director can refer to the director of a live sports broadcast. It can also refer to an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. Director {{Job-stub ...

at Vision Cable in Clearwater. He began his baseball career in 1991 with the

Louisville Redbirds Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. Before joining the Rays, he was on the radio broadcast team of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

for two years, and the television broadcast team of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

for three years with his father.

Tampa Bay Rays

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, Kalas joined the Rays' broadcasting team for their inaugural season and continued with the organization until 2016. Kalas worked on

Fox Sports Florida Bally Sports Florida is an American regional sports network owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local sports coverage in the state of Florida, with a focus on professional sport ...

and

Sun Sports Bally Sports Sun is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local cover ...

in his primary role as pregame and postgame host and in-game reporter, and also substituted as color commentator when needed. Kalas also filled in with play-by-play on both the Rays' television and radio networks.

Houston Astros

On December 22, 2016 Kalas was hired to be the

' television play-by-play announcer on

AT&T SportsNet Southwest AT&T SportsNet Southwest is an American regional sports network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit as part of the AT&T SportsNet brand of networks. It is the only AT&T SportsNet regional network that does not maintain a prog ...

, beginning with the 2017 season. On September 29, 2019, it was announced by the Astros that they had extended Kalas’ contract through the end of the 2021 season, along with that of his TV-broadcasting sidekick, color-man

Geoff Blum Geoffrey Edward Blum (born April 26, 1973) is an American former professional baseball infielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Montreal Expos, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox and Arizona Dia ...

Non-Astros related assignments

In the offseason, Todd Kalas works with

Cox Sports Television Cox Sports Television ( a.k.a. CST; sometimes referred to as Cox Sports TV) was an American regional sports cable and satellite television channel owned by Cox Communications. The channel, which serves the Gulf South region of the United Sta ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

, handling play-by-play duties for college football, basketball and baseball. He is a part of the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

basketball radio broadcast team. He also fills in as pregame host for the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play ...

Personal life

Kalas married Michele Allen on November 15, 2017. They reside in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

. He is the oldest son of the late longtime

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

and

Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame The Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame is a collection of plaques, mounted on a brick wall next to the Left Field Gate at Citizens Bank Park, the ballpark of the Philadelphia Phillies. From 1978 to 2003, the Phillies inducted one figure from th ...

broadcaster

Harry Kalas Harold Norbert Kalas (March 26, 1936 – April 13, 2009) was an American sportscaster, best known for his Ford C. Frick Award-winning role as lead play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies, a position he held fr ...

and the brother of professional

poker player Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

Kane Kalas Kane Kalas (born May 11, 1989) is an American investor, poker player, recording artist and broadcaster. Early life Kane Kalas was born on May 11, 1989, and was raised in Media, Pennsylvania. He is the son of the Philadelphia Phillies play-by-p ...

. After his father Harry's death on April 13,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, Todd, along with his younger brothers Brad and Kane, threw out the first pitch at the first home game in Philadelphia four days later. Todd's ball was thrown to former Phillies third baseman

Mike Schmidt Michael Jack Schmidt (born September 27, 1949) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played his entire 18-season career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies. Schmidt was a 12-time All-Star and a ...

, who, like Todd’s father, is also in the

References

External links

Houston Astros Bio

Astros Baseball Podcast
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalas, Todd 1965 births Living people American television sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Houston Astros announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Hockey League broadcasters New York Mets announcers Radio personalities from Tampa, Florida Philadelphia Phillies announcers South Florida Bulls basketball S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni Tampa Bay Lightning announcers Tampa Bay Rays announcers People from Tampa, Florida