If These Walls Could Talk: Detroit Tigers: Stories from the Detroit Tigers' Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box

by Mario Impemba, Mike Isenberg, David Dombrowski

Providing a behind-the-scenes look at the personalities and events that have shaped the Detroit Tigers’ recent resurgence, readers will meet the players, coaches, and management and share in their moments of greatness, grief, and quirkiness. Beginning in 2002, when author Mario Impemba arrived in the Tigers’ broadcast booth and when the team had consecutive 100-loss seasons, the book details how, in just three shorts years, team president Dave Dombrowski and manager Jim Leyland led the Tigers to the American League pennant—a feat the Tigers repeated in 2012. Impemba takes readers into the Comerica Park broadcast booth alongside the legendary Ernie Harwell, onto the team plane during the team’s two runs to the World Series, and into the clubhouse as Miguel Cabrera closed in on the 2012 Triple Crown. He shares personal stories about several Tigers stars, including Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Prince Fielder, Curtis Granderson, Ivan Rodriguez, Kenny Rogers, Magglio Ordonez, and more. If These Walls Could Detroit Tigers gives fans a taste of what it’s like to be a part of the Tigers storied history from a perspective unlike any other.

Genres: Baseball, Nonfiction, Sports

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Darcy Cudmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I have recently moved to Windsor and am now taking in a number of Detroit Tigers games, I thought it would be fun to explore the history of the team and read some stories. This book was an excellent jump into the Detroit Tigers and I really enjoyed the stories, as told by long-time broadcaster Mario Impemba.

Mario told some wonderful stories about the Tigers of his childhood, as well as the team he has broadcasted over the last number of years and also told stories about the other situations he's found himself in during his career as a baseball broadcaster.

I found it all extremely interesting and it was all very engaging. I really enjoyed it and wish there was more for me to dive into.

[Mason McFee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Impemba does a good job of outlining the Tigers’ ups and downs, but switches between a personal and anecdotal perspective too often for the book to flow. The end of the book has some interesting tidbits, but again is all over the place.

Probably a worthwhile read for Tigers fans (and I learned some things about the Tigers and baseball history), but overall just an okay read.

[Chris Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read about the Tigers during Impemba's tenure as a broadcaster. Early chapters deal with Impemba's early career in the minors and Los Angeles Angels (not exactly tales from the Tigers dugout, but that's a small criticism).

[This is V! · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book quite interesting with a lot of nice info that I did not know about baseball in general and the tigers , although I did not give an higher rating because it was quite repetitive at times and so much focused of something else instead than the tigers

[Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of repetitive stories, lots of spelling mistakes, pretty poor editing overall.

[Budd Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's start this with a personal observation. I've had the chance to meet a variety of play-by-play announcers over the years, and they have a great many similarities.

They generally have worked their way slowly up through the ranks after dreaming of doing exactly this job when they were children. Therefore, they tend to enjoy just about every minute of the workday, no matter how many curveballs can be thrown (bad teams, technical difficulties, ridiculous travel, etc.)

Radio and television broadcasters also tend to have an outgoing personality. Not many shrinking violets last in the business. They make friends pretty quickly, mostly because they are generally nice people.

This brings us to "If These Walls Could Talk - Detroit Tigers." Mario Impemba is a television announcer for the Tigers, and he's teamed up with writer Mike Isenberg to present some recollections of his career. It's part of a series from Triumph Books designed to offer a backstage look through some of those who are around sports teams.

Impemba certainly follows the pattern described above. He grew up in the Detroit area and was a big Tigers fan. After graduating from Michigan State, Impemba tried his luck at announcing minor league games. He obviously paid his dues - you have to do so at that level - and he bounced through such places as Peoria, Quad Cities and Tucson.

Finally, Impenda got called up to the majors, as he joined the broadcast team of the California Angels in 1995. That's a pretty good job, and he could have been pretty well set working in the Los Angeles market. But when the Tigers called about a television position, Impenda couldn't resist the chance to head home. He's been there since 2002.

As the cover says, this is more or less a collection of stories about Impemba's baseball experiences. It starts with the time he used a roll of toilet paper to help him with a broadcast in the minors, and goes right through the 2013 American League playoffs. Since he's a television announcer, Impemba won't get to actually describe a World Series title for Detroit. But he will call many of the games of such a team and work on the cable pregame and postgame broadcasts in the playoffs.

Also, Impemba has gotten the thrill of seeing some major events. Some involve the Tigers and Angels, including Miguel Cabrera's Triple Crown season and some no-hitters, and some don't, such as Cal Ripken's breaking of the consecutive games record. Impemba even called Mariano Rivera's first big league save, although he didn't know it would be the start of a run that surely will put Rivera in the Hall of Fame.

Impemba goes through a variety of other subjects along the way. He writes about managers and players he's known over the years, his workday, his scorebook (don't touch!), working a little with Ernie Harwell, etc. This all goes down rather smoothly and easily. There's no controversy to be found here, and the only reading problem is that a few of the tales are more or less repeated along the way. It's not an indepth story, but this isn't designed to fit that description.

I don't have any connection with the Tigers, and I found "If These Walls Could Talk - Detroit Tigers" to be a pleasant reading experience. Fans of the Old English D, as they say in Detroit, ought to enjoy it.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like baseball, especially if you're a Tigers fan, you will enjoy this book. When I got the book (it was a gift), I wasn't sure I would like it. Once I started it though, it was hard to put down. In more than 20 years broadcasting baseball, Mario Impemba has seen, heard and experienced more than any fan could hope for. In If These Walls Could Talk, he shares stories from his career. Some are funny stories of his early years, some are exciting plays or games, and some are behind the scenes anecdotes from the many characters scattered throughout baseball's history. It wouldn't be a baseball book without at least a few tales of players' superstitions- as any baseball fan knows the only thing with more superstitions than baseball is voodoo! If you've ever wondered what it was like to talk to Ernie Harwell, what it's like to call a no-hitter, or to broadcast from the World Series, this is the book for you! It's a quick read, and you'll find yourself telling stories from it to fellow fans for weeks to come.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read

As a life long Tigers fan,I had to read this book, despite underwhelming reviews. I also love Mario as a broadcaster. Now this is not a well written book. it is very repetitive and the kindle version does have errors. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Mario's career is solid, which I was not aware of. The stories and insight are great, often funny, and interesting. I say to Tiger fans, read this, focus on quantity, not quality, and you surely will enjoy.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the book and some of the stories. Mario keeps it professional so this isn't a book if you're looking for 'dirt'. The book does have many repetitive spots or portions that seem out of order. I blame it not on poor writing but poor editing as many of the repeat sections are word for word the same- so it's as if the editor kept copying and pasting. That part was bizarre. Other than that it was a fun read that I zipped through on summer vacation.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories and insights from the impressive career of Mario Impemba. This is a quick, easy read, enjoyable if you're a Tigers' fan. Interesting to note that Mario has had panic attacks in the booth - once even forgetting the name of that guy who plays first base and won a Triple Crown. Somewhat repetitive, but recommended if only to re-live some outstanding moments in Tigers' history from Mario's perspective.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a good alternative to just sitting at lunches, looking at my phone.

Mario Impemba did a decent job, but I think the title's a bit misleading - It wasn't just "inside info" about the Tigers, it was more of Mario's memoirs from the time he graduated from MSU.

As soon as I was done reading it, my 9-year-old son inherited it.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I loved reading about the Tigers and Mario's career. I like that it had short segments to read. The biggest problem I had with the book was that it was very repetitive. He would tell a story and later tell the same story and sometimes it repeat many times. I still loved the book despite this fact.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Tiger fan I liked this book, but it did not offer a lot of new stories. Stories are repeated a number of times (Mario is really proud of calling Justin Verlander no hitters). Overall this was a quick read of my favorite team that offered insights into the broadcast booth.

[Scott Yardley · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like the Tigers and you like Mario Impemba you will love this book. Being a huge Tiger fan I enjoyed all of the behind the scenes stories told by Mario.