Detroit — Hall of Fame pitcher and three-time World Series champion Jack Morris will not return to the Bally Sports Detroit broadcast booth for the 2023 season, multiple sources told The Detroit News.
Morris, 67, has been part of the Tigers’ television booth since 2019, rotating in the analyst chair with former Tigers Kirk Gibson, Dan Petrie and Craig Monroe. Monroe, who has been used primarily in the pregame and postgame segments, will take over Morris’ workload in the analytical chair along with play-by-play announcer Matt Shepard, according to sources.
Petrie will take on a bigger role before and after games. Gibson, who also serves as special assistant to baseball president Scott Harris, has had his workload reduced in recent years, though he is expected to still be part of the broadcast team in 2023.
Neither the Tigers nor Bally Sports immediately confirmed the news. Morris did not respond to phone calls or text messages.
It is unclear whether the breakup was mutual. Bally Sports Detroit is making budget cuts starting in 2020. Also, Morris’ son Miles, a highly recruited pitcher in Minnesota, is entering his senior season at Mahtomedi High School. Morris talked about wanting to spend more time with her.
Morris, who won World Series rings with the Tigers, Blue Jays and Twins and was drafted by Cooperstown in 2018, worked on Tigers broadcasts from 2015-2017 before joining the Minnesota broadcast team. He worked Tigers and Twins games in 2019.
On the air, Morris was at his best, breaking down pitcher-hitter matchups and explaining pitchers’ strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. Although he was puzzled by some of the newer analytical trends, he made an effort to understand them and incorporate them into his own analysis, often successfully showing that some of these new ideas had been around for a long time, albeit with different terminology.
His “old school vs. new school” debates, which were sometimes polarizing for viewers, could be funny and insightful. Bally Sports Detroit suspended Morris for three weeks in August 2021 after Morris used what was believed to be a racist slur when talking about Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani. Morris apologized on air and Ohtani said he was not offended.
Twitter: @cmccosky
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