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Dan Dickerson, Jim Price, the World Baseball Classic and Kirby Puckett

March 5th, 2006 | Brian

The Tigers split their two spring games this weekend. They lost to the Indians 11-8 on Saturday but they bounced back and beat the Pirates 4-1 today. The win today put the Tigers at 3-1 in the early, and less important, part of the spring season.

More important was the fact that both games were on the radio. Dan Dickerson and Jim Price shared the booth with Ernie Harwell, then got the job after Harwell retired. They’re beginning their fourth season in the booth together.

No offense to either man, but nobody in my eyes (or ears) can replace Ernie Harwell. Ernie Harwell’s voice is imprinted in my brain because throughout the summer, I fell asleep listening to his broadcasts with Paul Carey, another great broadcaster.

But I got to thinking the other day. My son, who will be two in a few months, will never get to hear Ernie Harwell. He will grow up with someone though, and I’d be happy if he grew up with Dickerson and Price. They call a great game and the banter between the two is enjoyable. I think Price adds a lot as a color man because he played the game and Dickerson really knows his stuff.

To learn more about Dan Dickerson, I highly recommend that you check out the interview he did for the Detroit Tigers Weblog. Great stuff.

The Tigers are losing ten players to the World Baseball Classic. Pool A was decided today with Korea upsetting the favorite, Japan. The two teams had locked up a spot in the next round but they were playing to see who would get the better seed and Korea edged Japan 3-2. The other three pools, in which all ten Tigers are playing, start on Tuesday.

Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett suffered a stroke today and the latest news was that he was having surgery. There’s no indication as to the extent of the damage, but I’m sure we’ll hear more on this tomorrow. I wish him the best of luck and speedy recovery. I know Puckett’s image was tarnished a bit when some domestic disputes came to light, but Puckett came up when I was in my early teens and I distinctly remember him taking the Tigers deep on more then one occassion. He was a solid fielder and a great hitter in his day.

Permalink | Posted in 2006 Tigers

Kirby was found innocent of charges 3 years ago on a groping charge in a restaurant.Men that have done steroids in their early years are now having strokes when they reach their 40’s.Just sayin’.

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Posted by tigers1901 on March 6th, 2006 at 8:01 am

Yeah, he must of done steroids, right? I mean, look how good he was! He was fairly muscular. I’m just sayin’.

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Posted by Dan on March 6th, 2006 at 10:24 am

Regardless of when steroid users tend to have strokes or heart attacks, the kind of speculation tossed around by tigers1901 is tasteless, pointless, and wrong. That’s my point.

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Posted by Dan on March 7th, 2006 at 11:52 am

I agree Dan. It’s total speculation and I’m not sure if it’s even true.

The one thing I remember about Puckett is that he was a big Hack Wilson fan, and he wore his socks like Hack did.

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Posted by Brian on March 7th, 2006 at 11:56 am

Yeah, and it’s obvious why he was a fan! If there was anyone who was more Kirby Puckett in body type than Kirby Puckett was, it was Hack Wilson. His version just looked weird.

I remember just the all-around great play. He didn’t draw a lot of walks, but he made up for it with great batting averages and some pop. He was a terrific centerfielder, and fun to watch as he jumped up on that plastic bag after potential homers.

I remember when he went 6-6 with two homers and two doubles. I looked the game up on retrosheet, and you know what? He went 4-5 with two homers the day before.

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Posted by Dan on March 7th, 2006 at 1:36 pm

Wow! That’s Jim Price’s line of course, but to me he’s the single worst baseball broadcaster I’ve ever heard. I still cannot believe when I hear him call a guy that he receieves a pay check to do it. But obviously there are differing view points which I’m glad you expressed, and admit have never heard before. Dickerson’s fine, but he’s one of the new breed, mass produced, generic announcers that has come around in the last 20 years. He doesn’t “annoy” in the same way Rick and Bob did at least.

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Posted by KS on March 8th, 2006 at 5:49 am

I like the site and content Brian. I stumbled onto your site last year and have been a lurker ever since. I have to agree with KS — it’s painful for me to listen to Price stumble and bumble his way through an anecdote. Dickerson is ok — at least he doesn’t annoy.

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Posted by Jeff H on March 8th, 2006 at 1:26 pm

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