Markas will be missed

Salt Lake has been fortunate to have fine baseball announcers. Good enough, in fact, that it’s been worth listening to the games even if you weren’t a Triple-A baseball fan.

Catching current Bees announcer Steve Klauke on a summer evening is an outstanding way to follow the Bees, sharpen your knowledge and generally relax.

Jerry Howarth and Mark Kelly were two other exceptional baseball announcers. Howarth went on to become play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays. Another outstanding Salt Lake baseball announcer was Rory Markas, who passed away of unknown causes at 54 in Palmdale, CA., on Jan. 5. He called the Bees games in the early 1980s before moving on.

Markas was a radio play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Angels, and also called basektball games for USC and the Clippers. He also did play-by-play for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Although he covered big teams and worked in the nation’s second-largest market, I don’t know anyone who didn’t like him. He was always agreeable, informed and kind.

He also had an amazing memory. I sometimes went five years without seeing him and he would always call me by name when we bumped into one another at an event. He always spoke warmly of his time in Salt Lake.

Broadcasting has lost a fine announcer and a good person.