He likes to be the voice that everyone remembers telling that story 162 times a year.

"It's a privilege to do what you figured out what you really want to do," Staats said. "I'm not sure I'm qualified to do anything else. It's a good thing it's lasted this long."

How long, you might wonder? Over 5,000 games long.

For Staats, the only television play-by-play voice in the history of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, now Tampa Bay Rays, a milestone came and went on June 22 at Tropicana Field. Staats broadcast his 5,000th career Major League Baseball game, something he has done continuously since 1977 when he first broke in as the television and radio voice of the Houston Astros.

Score one for longevity maybe, but to stay in the business as long as Staats has, you have to be good at your craft.

And accurate, too.

"He's one of those solid, solid broadcasters that whatever he says you can take it to the bank," said Todd Kalas, another member of the Sun Sports television team who has worked along with Staats since the first day of the Tampa Bay franchise in 1998. "He double- and triple-checks his facts. He's always on top of things. He makes fewer mistakes than any broadcaster I've ever heard."

And Kalas has heard his share of broadcasters, including his father Harry, the legendary voice of the Philadelphia Phillies and a Baseball Hall of Famer who passed away in 2009.

In a June 27 game at Tropicana Field against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a triple by Arizona's Rusty Ryal caught immediate attention from Staats and analyst and announcing partner Kevin Kennedy when both noticed that center fielder B.J. Upton, a Rays player with a past history for hustle issues, was not going after the ball at full stride, allowing Ryal to take the extra base.

In the next half-inning, cameras caught third baseman Evan Longoria calling out Upton and the two nearly going to blows.

"Some people can just call play by play and not focus on the intracacies of the game, but Dewayne does take it to the next level," Kalas said. "I think he focuses why pitchers made a certain pitch and what strategies are within the course of a game. He is very in tune with all aspects of the game. It's a game that you learn about every year, no matter how long you've been around."

"He often comes into the office and we talk about the game," said Rays manager Joe Maddon on the day Staats did his 5,000th game. "Often he shares his observations on the game and I appreciate it. He's a pleasure to be around. He's got a great voice and great hair."

The hair might be a little grayer than when he started with the Astros in 1977, but it was growing up in Edwardsville, Ill., a small town across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, where Staats had a vision of his life in broadcasting.

"It turns out it was the perfect spot to be because they had a mass communication department with a radio and TV division at (Southern Illinois University) Edwardsville," he started, "and they had just opened up their student (radio) station the year I went in. We were surrounded by all those small markets where you could get a job at that time at the local AM station and cover local sports, and yet they had KMOX and a major market acorss the river and I had an opportunity to take advantage of that.

"I probably was a radio guy because of baseball first," he said. "I was probably 8 or 9 years old when Major League Baseball really made itself into my consciousness. That was reinforced by radio. There would be a handful of games that were televised. Radio was there every night and that's what I did at night as a kid. I would go through the stations and pull up the Cardinals with Harry Caray and Jack Buck in my backyard. I also had Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau at WGN in Chicago and Bob Prince in KDKA in Pittsburgh and ultimately, I wound up pulling in the Houston Colt .45s, which morphed into the Astros. I thought it was the greatest thing to hear Gene Elston and their crew."

It was Elston who helped Staats get his feet wet with as a Major League broadcaster with Houston from 1977-84. The next year, Staats moved on to Chicago to do Cubs games on WGN radio and work with Caray, Lou Boudreau and Steve Stone. After being there until 1989, Staats moved to the Bronx to work on the Madison Square Garden (MSG) network with help from another future Hall of Famer and former player, Tony Kubek, doing New York Yankees broadcasts from 1990-94.

"I've been blessed with some great partners, both play by play and analysts over the years," a humbled Staats said. "I just don't think you can learn any more than I had a chance to learn from a guy like Gene Elston, who paced a game great. He was a preparation guy ... you better be prepared. You go to Chicago and there's Harry, personality plus. And that's an important factor in this business. You've got to be accurate and prepared, but you have to be a human being, and Harry was certainly that.

"From an analyst's point of view, Larry Dierker joined our crew the second year I was in Houston. Larry was very good and we formed a lifelong friendship from that. In Chicago, I spent six innings on radio with Lou Boudreau and nobody ever anticipated a game better than he did. I was in my early 30s and soaked in all that he could offer. WIth Kubek, those were five great years in New York with him."

Staats moved on to ESPN in 1995 and did three seasons of baseball coverage, working alongside many analysts, including former players Buck Martinez, Joe Morgan, Dave Campbell and Kennedy.

But before Staats and Kennedy reunited with the Rays, Staats and Joe Magrane were the broadcast team of the Rays for the first 11 years of existence, one that for the first 10 years didn't go so well.

"Going in, that was one of the conversations we had," Staats said. "When the club hired Joe Magrane, my conversation with Joe was, one, the most important thing in the booth between two broadcasters is trust. The other thing was that in an expansion situation, there's going to be a lot of losing going on. And so you have to recognize that and know we're going to have to talk about and develop storylines other than just a winning team. You do that by recognizing that this baseball season is a process and there are tremendous human interest stories no matter who you're broadcasting for. It's those human interest stories that we tried to hit upon so it became a human experience to the viewer."

The losing went away in 2008 when the Rays went 97-65 with young talent, won the American League East for the first time and won the AL Championship to go to the World Series where the Rays lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.

"It was great fun. There was no question," Staats said. "I never had seen a team that when they needed to make a play, they made a play. When the winning comes along, then everyone becomes the greatest - broadcasters are the best, the managers is a genius, the front office ... they're geniuses. The players are the best. Those things happen and you just ride that wind each day and make sure you're prepared to be on top of the storyline and what happens."

On the night of his 5,000th broadcast, Sun Sports spent the broadcast showing highlights of his career, mostly with the Rays. They made a huge cake that media members shared the next couple of nights. And before that game against the Padres, Staats had the honor to throw out the first pitch to Rays reliever Dan Wheeler.

Why Wheeler? He's Staats' son-in-law, marrying Staats' oldest daughter Stephanie.

"I think we're emotionally involved with whatever team you're covering," Staats said. "But it is a unique situation. I try to be as detached with him as I am with the other players. There's no question it's a different experience. If I do err on one side or the other, it's to be a little more withdrawn in my presentation with him. But I find it a blessing to have a son-in-law which means you'll have your daughter and grandchildren near. They're five minutes down the street from us and from a family point of view, it's a blessing."

There's no doubt that one day, Cooperstown will call Staats' name to its broadcasting wing where he'll join the legends he once worked with and listened to as a kid. But as modest as he is in real life and with a voice that doesn't waver like that of a broadcast.

"It's an area which I have no control," he said. "It's a great honor for people to broach that topic. I can't go there. I'm going to try and look around and be grateful for what I have, recognizing the family and friends I've been blessed with everyday. And if that day comes, I'm sure it will be an emotional day. But it's something I don't spend a lot of time thinking about.

"I'm going to just do my job every day."