2013 information guide - MLB.com

TIGERS BROADCASTERS
MARIO
IMPEMBA
Detroit native Mario Impemba enters his 12th season as the popular play-by-play
announcer on FOX Sports Detroit’s coverage of the Tigers.
• Impemba was voted the 2011 Michigan Sportscaster of the Year by the membership of
the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.
• His work on Tigers games earned him a Michigan Emmy in June 2006 in the
“Sports Play-by-Play” category.
• He provided studio and on-location reports, interviews and analysis throughout the
network’s post-game coverage during the Tigers playoff runs in 2006, 2011 and 2012.
• He provided play-by-play of two Tigers games in 2011 and one game in 2012 on the FOX Saturday Baseball Game of the Week.
• Since 2009, Impemba has initiated “Operation Opening Day,” a project which provides a DVD of the Opening Day telecast at
Comerica Park to displaced Tigers fans currently serving in the U.S. military.
• Beyond his Tigers duties, Impemba has done play-by-play on FOX Sports Detroit’s coverage of MHSAA football and basketball
championship games, as well as CCHA hockey...during the off-season he handles radio and TV play-by-play for Oakland
University Golden Grizzlies men’s basketball.
• Before joining the FOX Sports Detroit broadcast team, Impemba spent seven seasons (1995-2001) as the radio voice of the
Anaheim Angels...also served as a fill-in TV play-by-play announcer for the Angels during his final three years in Anaheim, where
he was rated among Southern California’s best play-by-play announcers by the Los Angeles Daily News.
• Prior to joining the Angels in 1995, he called games for the Tucson Toros of the Pacific Coas League for four seasons (1991-94).
• Was the voice of the Quad City Angels Single A team in Davenport, IA from 1989-90...spent 1987-88 in Peoria, IL, where he
announced games for the Single A Peoria Chiefs.
• Previously served as sports director at WXCL Radio in Peoria...also did play-by-play for the Peoria Rivermen of the International
Hockey League.
• Professional career began in 1985 at KVOP Radio in Plainview, TX.
• Is a 1985 graduate of Michigan State where as a student he served as sports director at campus radio station WLFT, also
providing play-by-play for Spartans baseball, basketball and hockey.
• Born in Detroit and moved to nearby Sterling Heights in the mid-1970s, graduating from Stevenson High School.
• Impemba and his wife, Cathy, have two sons, Brett (19) and Daniel (16) and reside in Macomb Township, MI...Brett was a 2011
Tigers draftee and currently plays baseball at Oakland University (MI).
• More information on Impemba is available at MarioImpemba.com or on Twitter @Mario_Impemba.
ROD
ALLEN
Former Tigers outfielder Rod Allen enters his 11th season as analyst for Tigers baseball on
FOX Sports Detroit, marking his 36th season in professional baseball.
• Allen’s insightful work on Tigers telecasts earned him two consecutive Michigan Emmys
(2006 and 2007) in the “Sports Analyst” category.
• He provided studio and on-location analysis throughout the network’s post-game
coverage during the Tigers playoff runs in 2006, 2011 and 2012.
• In addition to his FOX Sports Detroit analyst duties, Allen has filled that role for a
FOX Saturday Game of the Week regional telecast on many occasions, most recently
during the 2011 season.
• Generously provides financial contributions and time to support the Tigers Thanksgiving community program and the
SportService Holiday Giving Party, and events benefitting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwestern Michigan, Salvation Army
Detroit, the Gleaners Community Food Bank and the Miracle League of Michigan.
• Before joining FOX Sports Detroit’s Tigers telecast team, he spent five seasons (1998-2002) with the Arizona Diamondbacks as
a television and radio analyst...served as the commentator on the Diamondbacks radio broadcasts in the 2001 post-season,
including the National League Championship Series against the Cardinals and the World Series against the Yankees.
• In addition to his work with the Diamondbacks, Allen provided analysis on FOX Saturday Baseball regional telecasts and the
National League Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros.
• Prior to his work as a broadcaster, he spent four seasons as a hitting instructor in the Florida Marlins organization from
1992-95 and served in the same capacity for Chandler of the Arizona Fall League in 1994...also worked in the Arizona
Diamondbacks organization in 1996 as a hitting instructor before managing in the instructional league.
• Selected by the Chicago White Sox in the sixth round of the June 1977 draft.
• Hit .296 during a 15-game stint as an outfielder and designated hitter with the World Champion Detroit Tigers in 1984.
• Enjoyed two other stints in the majors with the Seattle Mariners in 1983 and the Cleveland Indians in 1988.
• Allen spent the last three years of his playing career with Hiroshima in Japan’s Central League...clubbed a pair of home runs
against Seibu in the 1991 Japan Series and set a Japanese regular-season record with home runs in four consecutive at-bats.
• Allen and his wife, Adrian, have a son, Andrew (23), signed by the Tigers as a non-drafted free agent in 2012 and currently
playing in the Tigers minor league system (also a draftee of the Tigers in both 2009 and 2011 and draftee of the Diamondbacks
in 2007), and a daughter, Rachel (21)...also has a daughter Rhonda and a son Rod Jr., who played several minor league
seasons following a collegiate career at Arizona State and Oklahoma State.
• Allen is available on Twitter @RodAllen12.
2013 DETROIT TIGERS INFORMATION GUIDE 371
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