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, had been part of the Tigers’ TV booth since 2019, rotating in the analyst chair with former Tigers Kirk Gibson, Dan Petry and Craig Monroe. According to sources, Monroe, who had been used mostly in pre- and postgame segments, will take over Morris’ workload in the analyst chair alongside play-by-play announcer Matt Shepard.
Petry will take on a larger role before and after the games. Gibson, who also serves as special assistant to president of baseball Scott Harris, has had his workload reduced in recent years, though he is still expected to be part of the broadcast team in 2023.
Neither the Tigers nor Bally Sports immediately confirmed the news. Morris did not return phone calls or text messages.
It is unclear whether the parting was mutual. Bally Sports Detroit has been making budget cuts since 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 him.
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Morris, who won World Series rings with the Tigers, Blue Jays and Twins and was inducted into Cooperstown in 2018, worked Tigers’ broadcasts from 2015-2017 before joining the broadcast team in Minnesota. He worked Tigers and Twins games in 2019.
On the air, Morris was at his best breaking down pitcher-batter matchups and explaining pitchers’ strengths, weaknesses and pitch tendencies. Although he chafed at some of the newer analytical trends, he worked hard to understand them and incorporate them into his own analysis — often successfully showing that some of these newer ideas had been around a long time, although under different terminology.
His old-school vs. new-school discussions, polarizing at times to the viewership, could be entertaining and insightful. Bally Sports Detroit suspended Morris for three weeks in August of 2021 after Morris used what was perceived to be a racist accent while talking about Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani. Morris apologized on air and Ohtani said he was not offended.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky