Jimmie William Price (October 13, 1941 – August 7, 2023) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

, who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(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 club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

from to . He was also the

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 person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

for the Detroit Tigers Radio Network and PASS for nearly 30 years.Detroit Tigers Official Site – Broadcaster Biographies – Jim Price
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Baseball career

Price was born on October 13, 1941, in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

. He graduated from Hershey High School in

Hershey, Pennsylvania Hershey is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is home to the Hershey Company, which was founded by candy magnate Milton S. Hershey ...

, in 1960. He was a three-sport star at Hershey and

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

tried to recruit Price to play

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

. After he graduated, Price signed with 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, receiving a $15,000

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. In , he hit 19

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s while batting .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 his efforts, he was named the Pirates Minor League Player of the Year. He spent the 1965 and 1966 seasons with the Columbus Jets. When the Pirates opted to send Price back to the minor leagues at the start of the 1967 season, he requested a trade. The Pirates sold Price to the

for cash considerations. He made his MLB debut with the Tigers and he hit .261 in 44 games. Price played as the backup catcher to starter Bill Freehan. With the 1968 Tigers, Price won the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

in seven games. After the 1971 season, the Tigers demoted Price to the

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

. Rather than report to Toledo, Price retired from baseball, and publicly called for MLB to reform the

reserve clause The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated that the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into ano ...

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 League (APSPL) from 1977 to 1979. History Prior to formalized professional play, Detroit was a hotbed for softball, with some of the top players ...

in the American Professional Slo-Pitch League (APSPL), with the team finishing with a 40–24 (.625) record, losing in the playoff semi-finals to the eventual World Series champions

Milwaukee Schlitz The Milwaukee Schlitz were a professional softball team that played in three men's professional softball leagues from 1977 through 1982 at Wilson Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. History Milwaukee began play in the inaugural 1977 American Profes ...

. The Caesars played at Memorial Field in

Eastpointe, Michigan Eastpointe (formerly East Detroit) is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Eastpointe borders Detroit to the south, roughly northeast of Downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had ...

, a small

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

between 1977 and 1979, were owned by eventual Detroit Tigers owner

Mike Ilitch Michael Ilitch Sr. (July 20, 1929 – February 10, 2017), also known as Mr. I, was an American entrepreneur and restaurateur who served as the founder and owner of the international fast food franchise Little Caesars Pizza. He also owned the D ...

, 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 (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, serving as an announcer for the first live sports broadcast on the network, the APSPL World Series for professional softball in 1979. Price 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 person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

on the Tigers' cable telecasts with PASS Sports in 1993, moving to the Detroit Tigers Radio Network in 1998. He worked alongside Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell from 1999 to 2002. Price was later teamed with

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

announcer Dan Dickerson on the Tigers' radio broadcasts. As a former catcher, Price offered insight into baseball strategy, especially into pitching strategy including each pitcher's "arsenal". Since he handled pitchers in his major league career, Price informed fans about approaches to various hitters. He often referred 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 was saying "nice area" whenever a city in Michigan is mentioned. Price often spoke about "the art of pitching" when a Tiger pitcher was having a good game. After a particularly good curve ball was thrown, he would label it as a "yellowhammer", in reference to the bird who dives to the ground quickly. When a hitter connected solidly with the ball, Price frequently said that the batter put his "buggy whip" or "double buggy whip" on it, or that the ball was in his "buggy whip" area.

Personal life

Price and his wife, Lisa, have a son, Jackson, who is

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

. They founded Jack's Place For Autism, a non-profit organization designed to assist families affected by the disability. Price died on August 7, 2023, at home in Washington Township, Michigan. He was still working as a broadcaster for the Tigers up until a month before his death.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Jim 1941 births 2023 deaths American sports announcers Baseball players from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Columbus Jets players 20th-century American sportsmen Detroit Tigers announcers Detroit Tigers players Grand Forks Chiefs players Kingsport Pirates players Kinston Eagles players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball catchers