A’s ‘Voice of God’ Roy Steele delighted in doing prep games in Roseville
The “Voice of God” used to introduce water ski acts in Redwood City and pitch homes in real estate in Stockton.
He also announced the starting lineups in baseball for a small high school in Placer County, so his range was as unique as his sound.
The “Voice of God” belonged to Roy Steele, the sit-up-and-listen public address voice for the Oakland A’s for nearly 40 years, and the very definition of a reluctant star. Steele died last month at 87 of natural causes, surrounded by family in his Auburn home, but the stories live on.
So does his deep, baritone voice that reverberated off the Coliseum concrete surroundings and touched generations of fans, none more than those in his family. They regularly drove from Placer County to attend A’s games to watch the action as much as to hear Steele set it up.
They were his biggest fans, and he of them. A running joke was saving voicemails from the “Voice of God” just to show it off to friends. Had he announced the exit of cars after A’s games, people surely would have stopped and taken notice.
Titus Mejia has talked up his grandfather for about as long as he could talk. He’s 36 now and works at Waterman Real Estate in Fair Oaks. Mejia said he carries his grandfather with him, thinks of him daily, inspired by his voice and vision.
Mejia’s mother, Chi, was the oldest of Steele’s eight children. Steele delighted in family, faith and baseball, always in that order. He was as comfortable calling out the names of Reggie Jackson or Jose Canseco during a World Series contest in Oakland as he was smoothly announcing a Valley Christian high school baseball game in Roseville.
“He did some of our games when I was a senior at VCA in 2002,” Mejia said, “and it was such a thrill, an honor, a rush. I was so proud. I think that’s why he loved VCA so much because it encapsulated what he valued: family, faith in God and good baseball.”
Mejia said his grandfather often called him, “Babe,” as in, “Babe, I’ve got a story for you.” Mejia soaked in the words and wisdom.
Steele told Babe that he saw and heard some of him in him.
“He told me about one of his first jobs — in real estate in Stockton,” Mejia recalled. “A gentleman once called about a property. Grandpa, ever so eloquent, witty and sharp with his strong presence, said he told the guy, ‘This house is for you! You must buy it!’ The guy said, ‘OK, I have to agree.’
“He sold the house.”
Steele’s next calling was in a church. For 17 years, Steele was a Baptist minister, the Voice of God holding an audience in a house of God. Then his calling became calling out names.
A’s owner Charlie Finley only had to hear Steele’s voice in conversation in 1968 to be convinced. He hired him to do public address announcement, no tryout needed.
Steele worked more than 3,000 A’s games (and some Warriors and other games). He was so beloved that the A’s had a Steele bobblehead night in 2010. Steele did not miss a single A’s contest for 15 years. He missed the 2006 and 2008 seasons with an ailment that ravaged his esophagus, a cruel twist of fate for a man identified by his pipes.
Steele did A’s games when he could and focused on family in his late years. Steele’s voice jarred awake a dozing young Jon Miller in 1969 — long before he became the radio voice of the Giants — and Miller from that point on deemed that the “Voice of God.”
But Steele never announced himself as such. He downplayed the title, once telling The Bee, “Oh, that’s a bit too much, but it is flattering.”
“He was famous but to us kids, he was just grandpa,” Mejia said.
Steele’s last public appearance was just over a year ago. He spoke at Mejia’s wedding with bride Liana. Steele died on the anniversary weekend of that wedding.
“That’s the sad part, and we visited him a week before he passed away,” Mejia said. “It was such a special occasion to have the Voice of God there. He got more applause than when I kissed the bride!”
VCA is a unique school, tucked away in the back roads of Roseville. It is small in stature and in sports division, but large in ambition and achievement, and never too small for a big-time act like Steele.
Brad Gunter Jr. is the school’s longtime athletic director, baseball and basketball coach. The basketball floor his kids race across is vintage stock. It’s the original floor from the Oakland Arena, plucked out of storage years ago. Next to the VCA baseball field rests an original Yankees ticket booth. A VCA parent and alum got that out of storage in New Jersey, a purchase through the owner: Reggie Jackson.
“We’ve got that old hardwood, that ticket booth, and we’ve had the Voice of God do some of our baseball games, so how cool is that?” said Gunter Jr. with a laugh. “People may not all believe in God, but Roy Steele sure shined a bright light on our place. Roy asked to do some of our games and did it out of the kindness of his heart. We’d listen to that voice, look at each other. Brought chills.”