Jimmie William Price (born October 13, 1941) is a former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

, who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

from to . He is also the current

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

for the

Detroit Tigers Radio Network The Detroit Tigers Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 49 radio stations which carry English-language coverage of the Detroit Tigers, a professional baseball team in Major League Baseball (MLB). Detroit's WXYT-FM (97.1 FM ...

.Detroit Tigers Official Site - Broadcaster Biographies - Jim Price
/ref>

Baseball career

Price was originally signed by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in , and was listed as a top prospect in the Pirates’ early-1960s yearbooks. His best minor league season was , slugging 19

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

while

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

.311 for the Kinston Eagles of the Single-A

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

. For Price’s efforts he was named the Pirates Minor League Player of the Year. His MLB debut came with the 1967 Tigers, after his contract was purchased from the Pirates. 1967 was also Price’s best big league season, when he hit .261 in 44 games. Price also played on the 1968 Tigers, who won the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

over the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

in seven games. During his time with the Tigers, Price served as the backup catcher to starter

Bill Freehan William Ashley Freehan (November 29, 1941 – August 19, 2021) was an American catcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire 15-year career with the Detroit Tigers. The premier catcher in the American League for several years from the 19 ...

. His final season in MLB was 1971 with Detroit.

Softball career

Price played in the 1979 season for the

Detroit Caesars The Detroit Caesars were a professional softball team played in the American Professional Slo-Pitch Softball League (APSPL) from 1977 to 1979. History Prior to formalized professional play, Detroit was a hotbed for softball, with some of the top ...

in the American Professional Slow Pitch Softball League (APSPL). The Caesars were owned by

Mike Ilitch Michael Ilitch Sr. (July 20, 1929 – February 10, 2017) was an American entrepreneur, founder and owner of the international fast food franchise Little Caesars Pizza. He owned the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League and Detroit Tig ...

, a former Detroit Tigers farmhand and later the owner of the MLB team. The Caesars were his first step into professional sports ownership. The Caesars played at Memorial Field in

Eastpointe, Michigan Eastpointe (formerly East Detroit) is a city on the southern edge of Macomb County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 32,442. Eastpointe forms a part of the Metro Detroit area. It borders 8 Mile Road on the ...

, a small

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and featured several former Detroit Tigers such as Price, Jim Northrup,

Mickey Stanley Mitchell Jack "Mickey" Stanley (born July 20, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Stanley signed with the Detroit Tigers organization in 1960. After four years in the Tigers' minor leagu ...

, and Norm Cash, largely in promotional roles. The Caesars disbanded at the end of the 1979 season.

Broadcasting career

Price began his broadcasting career after retiring from baseball, working in local television in the Detroit area and for the fledgling

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, serving as an announcer for the first live sports broadcast on the network, the APSPL World Series for professional softball in 1979.
ESPN Broadcast, 1979 APSPL World Series, Game 8, Milwaukee at Kentucky
He first worked as a

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

on the Tigers' cable telecasts with

PASS Sports The Pro-Am Sports System (better known as PASS Sports or simply PASS) was an American regional sports network that operated from 1984 to 1997. It also served as an affiliate of the Prime Network from 1988 to 1996. Based in Detroit, Michigan, the ...

in 1993, moving to the Detroit Tigers Radio Network in 1998. He worked alongside Hall of Fame broadcaster

Ernie Harwell William Earnest Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the actio ...

from 1999 to 2002. Currently, Price teams with

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer

Dan Dickerson Daniel Hill Dickerson (born November 13, 1958) is an American sportscaster, best known for his current position as the lead radio play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers on the Detroit Tigers Radio Network. Early life and ...

on the Tigers' radio broadcasts. As a former catcher, Price offers insight into baseball strategy, especially into pitching strategy including each pitcher's "arsenal." Since he handled pitchers in his major league career, Price informs fans about approaches to various hitters. He often refers to the Tigers as "we." Price was absent for five games early in the 2012 season due to health trouble. According to Price, he had not previously missed an assignment in twenty years. In May, Price would miss a nine-game road trip, again for health reasons. He was replaced in both absences by former Tigers pitcher

Dan Petry Daniel Joseph Petry ( ; born November 13, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers (1979–87 and 1990–91), California Angels (1988–89), Atlanta Braves (1991) and Boston Red Sox (1991). He currently se ...

Quirks and signature phrases

For several years Price called play-by-play of the middle innings of each radio broadcast, and often announced " layer name..touch 'em all" after a Tiger hit a home run. Another trademark of his is saying "nice area" whenever a city in Michigan is mentioned, most often by his broadcasting partner. At the start of each game broadcast, Jim Price says 'Beautiful' after partner Dickerson welcomes the listeners. Price often talks about "the art of pitching" when a Tiger pitcher is having a good game. After a particularly good curve ball is thrown, he will label it as a "yellowhammer," in reference to the bird who dives to the ground quickly. When a hitter connects solidly with the ball, Price will frequently say that the batter put his "buggy whip" or "double buggy whip" on it, or that the ball was in his "buggy whip" area.

Notable awards and charity work

Price – whose son, Jackson, is

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

– was instrumental in the formation of Jack's Place For Autism, a non-profit organization designed to assist families affected by the disability. Price was inducted in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, in 1995.

References

External links

Jim Price bio
at WXYT.com
Jim Price
at Baseball Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Jim 1941 births Living people American sports announcers Detroit Tigers announcers Detroit Tigers players Grand Forks Chiefs players Kinston Eagles players Kingsport Pirates players Columbus Jets players Major League Baseball catchers Baseball players from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Major League Baseball broadcasters Sportspeople from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania