Former Detroit Tigers television broadcaster Mario Impemba has landed a new gig.
Impemba will be part of the Boston Red Sox radio broadcast team on WEEI, according to a report Monday in the Boston Globe.
Mario will be one of a handful of “platoon” replacements for Tim Neverett, who chose not to return in 2019. Impemba will be paired with Joe Castiglione, who is returning for his 37th season calling the Red Sox.
Impemba spent 17 years broadcasting games for his hometown team in Detroit but his contract was not renewed after the 2018 season. Impemba and analyst Rod Allen missed the final 22 games of the season after a post-game scuffle in the broadcast booth, prompting FOX Sports Detroit to search for a new broadcast team in 2019.
“I have spent 32 years building my professional reputation in broadcasting and stand by that reputation today,” Impemba said in his only public comment after the incident. “It was always my intention to return to the Tigers’ booth in 2019, but that decision was out of my hands.”
Impemba, a Detroit native and Michigan State graduate, has done play-by-play for the Tigers since 2000. Allen, who played briefly for the Tigers in 1984, had been part of the team’s television broadcasts since 2002.
The Tigers announced last month that Detroit broadcasting veteran Matt Shepard would be the team’s new play-by-play man, paired with former players Jack Morris and Kirk Gibson.
In Boston Impemba will be reunited with longtime Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski, who now heads the Red Sox.