Fighting in the booth

Bump, as Rod Allen has now commented on the fracas. He said it was just a 'baseball brawl.' Yeah, except it happened in the freakin' press box, not on the field.

Former Tigers broadcaster Rod Allen downplays incident with Mario Impemba as 'baseball brawl'

 

Riiiiiiiiight.

 

TigerFest is on Jan. 26, less than two weeks
They need to have a TV team by then

 

The 40th anniversary of the last World Series champion is in 2024. The Tigers need to have a team by then.

 

The Battling Bickersons were the TV team. Dan Dickerson and Jim Price on radio.

 

Impemba/Allen were the Fox Detroit TV team.

Matt Shepard will handle PBP.
Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris will split color commentary. Dan Petry and Craig Monroe will do pregame and postgame shows.

 

Price is to the 1968 Tigers as what Allen was to the 1984 version: useless as a seatless unicycle. With that in mind, Brent Clevlen and his .282 batting average over 42 plate appearances in 2006 ought to give him a leg up.

 

Price is ok for his age (pushing 80). There aren't many of the '68s still around and able to talk on the radio.

They ought to see if they can get Todd Jones to do commentary. Curtis Granderson would be a natural, but he's (apparently) not done playing yet.

 

Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey were like listening to a Bach concerto played by two master cellists. We shall never hear their likes again but are the better for having Michigan summers filled with their voices.

 

Shepard has more to contend with than merely the new Tigers job -- his wife was nearly killed in a car crash on Jan. 4:

How Matt Shepard is coping with wife's recovery from horrific crash

 

Oh man, talk about a menory. About 30 years ago, I took one of those baseball bus tours. One night our group was in the upper deck at Tiger Stadium, all wearing our tour caps. One of the ushers asked us a few questions then said he'd mention our group to Ernie Harwell. Yeah, sure, I'm thinking ... until the third inning when Ernie mentioned our group. Then the fourth inning came and he threw it to Paul Carey and, that voice ... wow!