Tigers radio man Jim Price nixes spring road trips, still plans full regular-season schedule

Tony Paul
The Detroit News

Tigers radio analyst Jim Price is cutting back his workload, but not much.

Price, who is entering his 22nd full season as a member of the Tigers' radio team, will cut out all road trips during spring training this year.

Jim Price

Price's radio partner Dan Dickerson made the announcement on the air this week, and the Tigers and Price confirmed the plan Wednesday.

"There's only five of them (spring road games on the radio), and they're a pain in the neck because the traffic's so bad," Price said Wednesday, with a slight laugh.

Price, however, said he still plans to continue working a full, 162-game regular-season schedule, the Tigers said.

Price said he feels "fantastic" and has lost about 40 pounds in recent months thanks to a new diet that features no salt, and healthy home cooking from wife Lisa.

Price, who turned 78 in October, missed 15 games during the regular season last spring with a virus. He's battled health scares in recent years, including two bouts with cancer. One of those cancer fights sidelined him for a lengthy road trip in 2012.

A variety of people will fill in with Dickerson during spring road broadcasts. The Athletic's Cody Stavenhagen was on the air for Wednesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin; the game was eventually cancelled by rain.

Price joined the Tigers' radio team in the summer of 1998, first working with Frank Beckmann and Ernie Harwell, and then Dickerson.

Before that, Price was a member of the Tigers' TV broadcasting team, first on the now-defunct PASS starting starting in 1993, and later for what's now Fox Sports Detroit.

He enjoyed a five-year major-league career, all with the Tigers, winning a World Series championship in 1968 as the backup catcher to Bill Freehan.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984