(Photo: Robin Buckson, Detroit News)
They were swamped with more than 100 serious national candidates for a baseball broadcasting job from which career dreams are forged.
They spoke personally with “more than 50” contestants and 20-plus agents.
And when it came time to decide who next would sit in the Tigers television play-by-play seat, the Tigers and their broadcast partner, Fox Sports Detroit, could make a final case for none but the man who last worked there in September – Matt Shepard.
“Our search was intensive and extensive,” said Jeff Byle, an executive producer at FSD, who spoke Tuesday during a conference call after Shepard had been named to replace Mario Impemba as the Tigers’ new play-by-play captain.