(670 The Score) As broadcaster Jason Benetti struggled to decide whether to leave the White Sox's television booth and accept the same position with the division rival Detroit Tigers, he considered what he enjoys most about calling a baseball game.
“It’s the range,” Benetti said Tuesday on the Parkins & Spiegel Show. “It's the wide-open space. It's nailing the big moment when you do. Missing it when you do that. It's hitting on a really fun game or good joke, or it’s completely missing and making fun of yourself. Baseball every day is that.”
Benetti chose to make the big change. He was announced as the Tigers’ new television play-by-play voice on Nov. 9 after spending eight years in his position with the White Sox.
While there were a number of factors in play that led to his decision, Benetti explained that what was most important to him was having the creative freedom to lead the type of broadcast he covets each game.
“The Tigers asked me a lot of questions about who I am, what I value and what I care about in a telecast and what I care about in a team and a team that I want to be on with a crew,” Benetti said. “We had an amazing one with the White Sox.
“In the end, when I talked to the Tigers, it was a different relationship than when the starting point (with the White Sox) is, ‘They gave you a chance.’ The White Sox deserve all the credit in the world, and I absolutely tore my heart in two making the decision, because (Steve Stone) and I and the whole crew threw ourselves at all the games. Sox fans have done a lot for me in a lot of ways. But the Tigers and their aim to want to have the entire range in a telecast and the way they’re building was so appealing to me.
“They said, ‘We want that.’ That is appealing to me and will be endlessly for my entire life.”
The White Sox haven't yet announced a replacement for Benetti.