![dan dickerson - detroit tigers](https://cdn.hourdetroit.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/dan-dickerson.jpg)
Veteran Tigers fans, you are not going to believe this. Are you sitting down? If so, and youβre in your car, turn up the radio. This year marks the 20th season Dan Dickerson has served as radio play-by-play voice for your hometown baseball team. Can it possibly be that long?Μύ
βI say βmy 20th year since Ernie retired,ββ Dickerson clarifies, deferring to the late, legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell, soundtrack of our boys of summer for 42 seasons. In Harwellβs final years behind the mic, Dickerson was hired to call the middle three innings; upon Ernieβs retirement, he slid into the big chair. βI call it βlead play-by-play guy.β Some people say βthe voice of the Tigers.β That always sounds a little pretentious to me, but itβs fine.β
Dickersonβs style is anything but pretentious, says Stan Fracker, the Tigersβ director of broadcasting and in-game entertainment: βHe manages to resonate with fans while describing accurately whatβs happening on the field. The delivery is efficient; itβs elegant. When the moment is big, he rises to the occasion.β
While Harwellβs legacy may forever permeate the franchise β the Comerica Park press box is officially the Ernie Harwell Media Center β Dickerson will be forever grateful for his mentorβs advice early on, when he was first learning the ropes of calling baseball. When the Tigers hired Dickerson, he was known regionally for his work calling Detroit Lions and University of Michigan football broadcasts for WJR-AM. βI had done zero baseball play-by-play,β he recalls. When he first met Harwell in the booth in Lakeland, Florida, where the Tigers play spring training, the elder man told him, βJust remember to get whatβs in front of you right. Does the listener have a clear understanding of what happened? Everything
else is just style.βΜύ
Raised in Birmingham and Rochester, Dickerson, 63, grew up a Tigers fan, seeing his first game in Tiger Stadium at age 9. βI realize how rare it is to call games for the team you grew up watching,β he says. βItβs pretty cool.β
But how does one separate booster from broadcaster? βThe thing you learn, especially if you grow up listening to Ernie Harwell, is to give a good call for both teams,β he says. βHe would appreciate a good play, a big hit by the other side. I am the Tigers announcer, but I donβt want to be a βhomerβ saying every call is against our team.β
One part of the job that Harwell never had to contend with is the advent of social media, which Dickerson says provides a direct and sometimes difficult stream of public feedback. βIβm a big old baby,β he laughs. βPeople are very complimentary, but Iβll get that one tweet that burrows into my brain and Iβll remember it for three days.β Dickersonβs biggest fans, adult children Rachel and Justin and wife Lori Anne, a journalism professor at Michigan State University, serve as reality checks.
You might think it draining to cover a team that suffered 114 losses just three seasons ago, but Dickerson points out that the Tigers were in the World Series as recently as 2012. Not even the Yankees can say that. βThere are times I
leave it on my sleeve, like when they lose on a walk-off [hit],β he admits, βbut I still love coming to the ballpark.β
After acquiring a shortstop and catcher who are former All-Stars, signing a left-handed starter to join a talented young pitching staff, and watching a core of exciting players mature around Miguel Cabrera, Detroit may surprise some people this season, including Dickerson. After all, this is, according to the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Tiger.
This story is from the April 2022 issue of ΒιΆΉ·¬ΊΕ Detroit. Read more inΜύour digital edition.Μύ
| Μύ |
|