Mario world

“I had a wife, a young son, and I wasn’t making any money,” Impemba said by phone from his home in Southeast Michigan. “There was a lot of McDonald’s and a lot of bus rides. I had a big baseball card collection and I was selling it off to eat.”

Impemba was up against a group of “very qualified announcers,” but was the Angels hired him to do their play-by-play for radio broadcasts.

“I was very lucky,” he said. Impemba, 51, now the voice of the Detroit Tigers and a broadcaster for Fox Sports Detroit, tells this story and others in his 224-page book “If These Walls Could Talk: Stories from the Detroit Tigers Dugout, Locker Room and Press Box,” co-written with Mike Isenberg.

Anaheim was a long way from Plainview, Texas, where Impemba got his first job in sports journalism. The Sterling Heights native graduated from Michigan State University in telecommunications in 1985. While at MSU, Impemba spent a lot of his time working with the Michigan State Radio Network announcing everything from fencing to women’s basketball games.

“At that time I would do anything to get my foot in the door,” Impemba said. “I had littered the country with tapes (of myself) doing play-by-play, but Texas was somewhat of an eye opener for me. For a guy from Detroit it was culture shock. It served its purpose and I got a solid base (of) reporting and editing.”

Impemba moved back to the Midwest in 1987 where he landed his first job in baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals-affiliated minor league team, the Peoria Chiefs. He also called for the city’s International Hockey League team. Later he did play-by-play for the minor league teams Quad City Angels and the Tucson Toros.

“I climbed the baseball ladder,” he said.

But in the back of his mind he said he “wanted to do what Harwell did,” referring to the late Ernie Harwell, the Detroit Tigers longtime announcer.

“Growing up I listened to Paul Carey, Ernie Harwell (and) George Kell, but I also listened through the static to Jack Buck (in St. Louis) and Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse (in Chicago),” Impemba said. “But Ernie was always my hero.”

He said each announcer has his own individual style, but his style is to focus on what is happening on the field.

“I’m not the entertainer, not the guy who has fancy catchphrases,” Impemba said. “I respect the game.”

He said when he was hired to work with the Detroit Tigers in 2002 the transition from the radio booth to the TV booth put him under a lot of pressure.

“I was on my own in the radio booth — now I was part of a team,” Impemba said. “There was some extra pressure. I was coming back home and didn’t want to fall on my face in front of friends and family. It took me a couple of years to finally be comfortable. TV follows more of a game plan than radio.”

He said he has watched the announcer position change dramatically as technology has advanced.

“When I started at Peoria, I would have the stats of the opposing team faxed to me,” Impemba said. “Now you just pore through the Internet. You can read any newspaper and any writer around the country.”

He also has observed that the fans are much more knowledgeable.

“I initially looked at blogs with skepticism, but they have interesting opinions and they can spark something,” Impemba said. “With the Internet you can’t fudge and you can’t be lazy.”

Another change he’s observed is the game now relies on “advanced metrics,” where everything from over-shifting defensive players’ positions to the number of pitches thrown is detailed by numbers.

“I think every major league team has a Harvard or Yale graduate working with numbers,” he said. Although numbers are important, he said an announcer has to establish a relationship with the players, but he can’t get too close because “you have to be honest about what they do on the field.”

In 2002, Impemba moved back to the Detroit area to take over the Tigers’ play-byplay “I wanted to be a major league announcer and I wanted to do it in Detroit,” Impemba said. “You can’t get any luckier than me.”

Impemba’s appearance at Schuler Books is a ticketed event, with tickets available at both Lansing-area Schuler locations. Tickets are free with the purchase of “If These Walls Could Talk” (only one ticket needed per family). Impemba will only sign books purchased at Schuler. If you have previously purchased a copy from Schuler, show your receipt to get a ticket.

Mario Impemba

Author talk and book signing 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16 Schuler Books & Music — Meridian Mall 1982 E. Grand River Ave., Okemos (517) 316-7495, schulerbooks.com