Jim Price, a former Detroit Tigers catcher who worked as a radio analyst and color commentator for the team for nearly 30 years, died on Monday.
He was 81.
Price was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and served as All-Star Bill Freehan’s backup catcher from 1967 to 1971. He played 64 games in 1968, when the Tigers won the World Series over the St. Louis Cardinals. In 261 MLB games, all with the Tigers, Price hit .214 with 18 home runs, 71 RBIs, 62 walks and 70 strikeouts.
“It’s really sad news,” Miguel Cabrera, who has played for the Tigers since 2008, said before Tuesday’s game in the clubhouse. “My condolences to his family. This is a really hard moment.”
Price began as the Tigers’ play-by-play announcer for games on the Pro-Am Sports System (PASS) in 1993 and moved to the radio booth in 1998. He called games alongside Frank Beckmann, Ernie Harwell, and Dan Dickerson.
“All of us at the Detroit Tigers are very saddened to learn of Jim Price’s death,” Tigers chairman and CEO Christopher Ilitch said in a statement Tuesday. “Jim was a champion on the field, in the broadcast booth, and in the community.” Jim’s passion and loyalty to the Tigers and the community of Detroit are evident in the fact that he spent so much of his life with the club doing what he loved. These are just a few of the many reasons Jim was one of my mother and father’s favorite persons, and they had such a close relationship for many years. My family, as well as everyone in baseball, are thinking about Jim’s wife, Lisa, and the whole Price family.”
Former Tigers teammate Mickey Lolich describes Price as a “nice teammate who never caused any difficulties with the other guys.”
“I always had my catcher’s right shin guard six or seven inches from the plate, which was my objective for my tailing fastball. “Whenever I saw him, and the last time was when he and his wife visited me in the hospital a few months ago, he would say, “right shin guard off the plate” with a smile on his face,” Lolich explained.
