STEVE KLAUKE
Legendary voice , Legendary Career
The final day of the 2023 Salt Lake Bees season was also the final baseball broadcast for the legendary “ Voice of the Bees ” Steve Klauke . Steve was behind the microphone for the first Salt Lake Buzz broadcast in Vancouver , Canada in April of 1994 and called an amazing 4,181 baseball broadcasts during his 29 seasons with the club .
Klauke is a three-time winner of the Utah Sportscaster of the Year Award , winning in 1995 , 2014 and 2016 as well as the Ballpark Digest Broadcaster of the Year in 2014 . During his time as the team broadcaster Klauke punctuated over 4,000 Bees home runs with his signature “ It ’ s up there , it ’ s out there , it ’ s gone !” home run call and put the exclamation point on nearly 2,100 Bees victories with “ Handshakes and hi-fives all around !”
To celebrate Klauke ’ s storied career the Bees gave away 2,000 Klauke bobbleheads at the gates for his penultimate game which also featured a ceremonial first pitch from Steve surrounded by his family and many of the friends he has made at the ballpark during his career .
“ Steve is an icon in the Utah media market and , in my opinion , the best play-byplay announcer in baseball at any level ,” said Bees president Marc Amicone . “ I will miss hearing his voice on the airwaves during Bees games . We wish him all the best in his upcoming retirement and look forward to seeing Steve and Sue at the ballpark as fans in the upcoming years .”
While Klauke has retired from baseball broadcasts , he can still be heard on the radio as the voice of Weber State University ’ s football and men ’ s basketball teams .
Tony Parks Named Bees Broadcaster
A few days following Klauke ’ s last call and the final game of the season , the Salt Lake Bees announced that Tony Parks has been named the team ’ s play-byplay broadcaster beginning with the 2024 season .
A West Valley City native , Parks got his start in broadcasting by calling the High School Game of the Week in 1999 on 1320 KFAN while still a student at Hunter High School . Parks began his career in the Bees organization in 2006 and took over as the team ’ s on-field emcee in 2007 presiding over the fun and games on the field at Smith ’ s Ballpark for over 1,000 games since .
18 WINNING SPIRIT MAGAZINE