XM MLB Chat: Rockies radio voice Kingery departing after this season

9/28: "To paraphrase Jeff Kingery's home run calls, the Rockies broadcaster "is going out of here and ain't coming back."

Clear Channel Broadcasting will announce today that Kingery, a voice of the Rockies since the team took the field for the first time in 1993, will exit the KOA 850 AM booth at season's end.

"It's entirely my decision," the 58-year-old Kingery said. "Meryl (his wife) and I have decided to move on and do other things at a time in our lives when we are healthy and financially secure." They have no children.

Kingery will be ending a 28-year KOA career that started in 1981 as a play-by-play announcer for the Triple-A Denver Bears. He then became the voice of the Nuggets for 11 seasons.

Kingery said he initially told Lee Larsen, president and market manager of Denver Clear Channel properties, of his desire to leave at the end of last season. But, according to Kingery and Larsen, Kingery agreed to stay through the current season that ends his contract.

"This was strictly Jeff's decision," Larsen said. "Obviously we wanted him to stay."

The two met early in the season, but Kingery had not changed his mind.

Both emphasized that Kingery's controversial outburst against a Los Angeles bus driver in June played no part in his decision to leave.

Rockies management barred Kingery from traveling on the team bus and plane during road trips.

Kingery has been paying his own travel expenses, while Clear Channel continued to pay for his hotel room and other expenditures.

Larsen has said on numerous occasions he was "completely satisfied" with Kingery's work on KOA.

Rockies management will allow Kingery to travel with the team during the final three-game series with the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

And two sources say that if the Rockies make the playoffs, it will be business as usual between Kingery and the team.

Kingery admits that some might tie the bus incident with his upcoming departure.

"There's no connection," he said. "But some people will believe what they want to believe. "That event is behind me. I'm proud of my 28 years of broadcasting in Denver."...

Bus Driver incident referenced by commenter:

"Mrzuki wrote:Jeff covered the Rockies since their inception in 1993. So he has be considered part of the family yet he did something so awful towards a LA bus driver that he is banned from team transportation. I don't know what he did but it had to be bad. I am going to guess that his attack on this anonymous bus driver has something to do with his retirement.

Actually it was the final straw in a litany of incidents since his time with the Rockies.

It was a news item: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12856560

You can note where the Rockies official says

The club also has banned him from the team bus and team plane. One Rockies official said Thursday that the outburst was "unacceptable behavior for anyone associated with the Rockies. From my understanding, Jeff was warned about this before."

According to another source close to the team, Kingery was warned by the Rockies regarding his rude behavior last season. His removal from the broadcast booth for road games has nothing to do with his on-air work, according to sources."