There was a lot more to Detroit Tigers catcher Jim Price than being just the backup to Bill Freehan.
Former Detroit Tigers catcher and broadcaster Jim Price passed away on Tuesday. He was 81 years old. Outside of box scores on Baseball Reference, my experience with Price, like many in my generation, was one in which if you spoke Detroit vernacular, you would come to know Jim Price.
Growing up in metro Detroit in the early '80s and into the '90s as a Tigers fan, I knew the voices of Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey. On television, viewers without cable heard two former Tigers: George Kell and Al Kaline.
Cable arrived in our home around 1994, and I was excited because I could watch more games on Pro-Am Sports System (known as PASS in Detroit) and was introduced to Jim Price.
Remembering Detroit Tigers catcher and broadcaster Jim Price
Price later divided his time between PASS and Channel 50, also known as WKBD or UPN 50. He joined Harwell, who broadcast games on television until returning to radio in 1999. Price also made that move. If anyone remembers the Tigers in the mid-'90s, it was a lot of bad baseball, but Harwell and Price did their best.
During the transition to Comerica Park in 2000, Dan Dickerson joined Price and Harwell. To me, they were one of the best trios to listen to at a ballgame. Price would discuss the game from a catcher's perspective, something I appreciated since I played that position growing up.
Phrases like "Texas Leaguer," "Yellowhammer" and "throwing through the same keyhole" became part of the Detroit sports lexicon. Even the way he added his own flare to Faygo Pop after a Detroit Tigers player hit a home run stood out.
But off the field, Price, in addition to being known for being the backup catcher for the 1968 Detroit Tigers World Series team, started a charity called JACK'S PLACE for Autism Foundation. It was started in the honor of his son, Jack. It has served as support and education for families who need assistance with ones that are suffering from autism.
We are very lucky in Detroit to have some of the best in the business as far as broadcasters go. Kaline, Kell and other names that people are familiar with like the voice of the Detroit Pistons, George Blaha, Frank Beckman and Ray Lane. All added their own twist to the game, and that's what Price did. He never sounded like the "back in the day, we played this way".
His sound and his ability to play off Dickerson on the radio will be missed.
