Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim announcer Rory Markas has died at the age of 54, the team announced today.

The sportscaster and television reporter died at his home in Palmdale Monday night, Angels vice president Tim Mead stated. Fox 11 News, where he had worked as a reporter and sports anchor, states that Markas suffered a blood clot in his brain in November of 2008, and that the cause of his death could have been a heart attack.

“We have lost one of the faces of our organization,'' Mead said. “He was a tremendous broadcast talent … This is just a very tough pill to swallow.'”

Before joining the Angels in 2002 Markas was the announcer for the USC baseball team on the Trojan Radio Network, a KNX 1070 Newsradio sports reporter and the lead announcer for the Los Angeles Clippers on radio.

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