Eighty years ago the Detroit Tigers acquired George Kell in a trade with the Philadelphia Athletics, who received Barney McCosky, a World War II U.S. Navy veteran and the pride of Detroit’s Southwestern High School (Class of 1935), where he registered an amazing .725 batting average during his senior season.
McCosky was a bonafide hometown hero, whose name remains connected to good things in Detroit through the nonprofit Barney McCosky League, which uses baseball and basketball to enrich the lives of Detroit area boys and girls.
However, the gentleman named Kell — a former schoolteacher during the baseball offseason in his native state of Arkansas — also wound up being a Detroit treasure. Indeed, Kell’s play on the baseball diamond as a third
baseman for the Tigers was stellar, including in 1949, when he delivered two hits on Oct. 2 at Detroit’s then Briggs Stadium to edge the great Ted Williams in the American League batting title race with a .3429 average (to Williams’ .3428).
But with no disrespect to Kell’s many accomplishments as a Major League Baseball player, which included seven highly productive seasons with the Tigers and 10 MLB All-Star selections overall, it was not his play on the field that ultimately earned Kell his most enduring praise from Detroiters across many generations.
Because along with having a dependable bat and glove, Kell was blessed with a golden voice distinguished by a warm, conversational delivery with an Arkansas twang that endeared him to fans as the TV announcer of Detroit Tigers games for 37 years.
And if that was not enough, it was Kell who suggested that the Tigers hire Ernie Harwell before the 1960 season, which led to Harwell becoming a Detroit institution while calling Tigers games on WJR-AM (760).
It was also Kell who demonstrated that some former Detroit athletes have a superpower that allows them to transform into unique — and in some cases iconic — sports broadcasters that can attract legions of admirers, including thousands of fans that never even saw them play the game.
It was a superpower possessed for a time by Detroit Pistons icon Dave Bing, who called games with George Blaha around the early 1980s when the Pistons were starting to find their way, led by a young Isaiah Thomas on the court.
And that superpower was displayed even longer by Kell’s longtime Tigers baseball broadcasting partner and fellow National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Al Kaline (a.k.a. Mr. Tiger).
Those well-known figures set the stage and the standard for former athletes on the airwaves today, first entertaining fans with their skills in the arena of sport and now as encyclopedias of sports knowledge and insider info — along with analogous tales of their playing days.
And during this special period on the sports calendar, where virtually all of the major team sports — pro and college — are taking place at the same time, Detroit sports fans have a wonderful opportunity to become reacquainted with some of their favorite sports voices that were once great players. Here are five of them:
Lomas Brown
Mr. Dependable as a stalwart on the Detroit Lions offensive line, he now bleeds Honolulu Blue and silver in the team's broadcast booth.
Having played in the Southeastern Conference during a time when SEC football games were not widely broadcasted across the country, Lomas Brown, out of the University of Florida, was a bit of an unknown to some Detroit fans when the Lions selected him in the first round with the sixth overall pick as an offensive lineman in the 1985 NFL Draft.
But Brown didn't waste any time making his mark on the field as a starter for Game 1 of his rookie season, en route to starting 163 of the 164 games he played in a Lions uniform.
While offensive linemen generally try to let their play on the field do the talking, Brown, who was selected to seven Pro Bowls (including six as a member of the Lions) during an 18-year career, has become a prominent voice on Detroit’s radio airwaves since his retirement from pro football.
This includes being the analyst for Lions games on the radio since 2018, where he shares his knowledge of the game and his passion for the Lions. And when Brown is not chatting with play-by-play man Dan Miller (the voice of the Lions and Lions fans for 22 seasons) he often can be heard speaking with sideline reporter T.J. Lang, the former Birmingham Brother Rice (Class of 2005) and Eastern Michigan University product, who also was a Pro Bowl offensive lineman with the Lions.
Devin Gardner
The former University of Michigan QB who once threw 4 touchdowns against arch rival Ohio State now calls big games on a weekly basis.
As a quarterback for the University of Michigan, Detroit native Devin Gardner from Inkster High School (Class of 2010) passed for 503 yards in an Oct. 19, 2013 game against Indiana, and 451 yards and four TDs in a 42-41 loss to No. 3-ranked Ohio State on Nov. 30, 2013.
Today, Gardner critiques the performances of quarterbacks and other college players as a college football game analyst for FOX Sports, where his voice can be heard during games that can be seen by a national audience, including the Detroit market.
Curtis Granderson
A Tigers fan favorite from the early Jim Leyland era, Granderson now shares his baseball knowledge with fans as a national studio analyst
Granderson, who was taken in the third round of the 2002 MLB Draft by the Tigers out of the University of Illinois Chicago as an outfielder, was a catalyst on the 2006 Tigers team managed by Jim Leyland that reached the World Series.
And in 2007, Granderson had his best individual statistical season in a Tigers uniform when — aided by the expansive field dimensions at Comerica Park — he registered 38 doubles and 23 triples to go with 23 home runs, 20 stolen bases and a .302 batting average.
Although the Tigers missed out on the postseason in 2026, Granderson will be a friendly face for Detroit fans who still have an interest in the MLB playoffs as a studio analyst for TNT Sports during games that air on TNT and TBS.
Greg Kelser
This former Pistons first-round pick has soared even higher as George Blaha’s longtime broadcasting partner.
Before Greg “Special K” Kelser teamed up with Magic Johnson to lead Michigan State University to a college basketball national championship in 1979, he was a standout at Detroit’s Henry Ford High School (Class of 1975).
Kelser’s play at Michigan State propelled him to being the Pistons’ first-round draft pick (fourth overall) in the 1979 NBA Draft on a team coached by a future broadcasting legend — Dick Vitale.
Kelser’s time as a Pistons player ended on Nov. 21, 1981 when he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Vinnie (The Microwave) Johnson.
But when the upcoming NBA season tips off, Kelser will be back for his 40th year as a broadcaster of Pistons games.
And Kelser will once again team up with Blaha — the longest tenured play-by-play sports announcer in Michigan sports history — when they call games for TV20, which will produce and air all locally available Pistons pre-season and regular season games during the 2026-27 NBA season.
Mickey Redmond
The first Red Wing to score 50 goals in a season is now recognized for being on one of the very best local NHL broadcast teams.
Like George Blaha and Greg Kelser, Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond are a Detroit classic as a TV sports announcing duo that has now been together for 30 years with the start of the 2026-27 National Hockey League season.
In fact, in consecutive years (2024 and 2025), The Athletic ranked Daniels and Redmond the No. 1 NHL local broadcast team based on annual fan and reader surveys that praised the duo's “chemistry” and other qualities that keep viewers engaged in games regardless of the score.
However, before Redmond began entertaining viewers as a Red Wings announcer, he mesmerized fans with his play on the ice.
Redmond’s play also excited newspaper headline writers, which was the case on March 28, 1973 when a Detroit Free Press headline read: “Mick’s 50th, 51st Spark Wings, 8-1” to call attention to Redmond scoring his 50th and 51st goals of the season the night before, to make him the first Red Wing to score 50 goals in a season during an 8-1 Red Wings road victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
And Redmond’s complete hockey legacy in Detroit also includes a time when Detroit’s professional hockey team did not play home games downtown or at a sparkling arena in Midtown, but instead at the venerable Olympia Stadium (a.k.a. The Red Barn), which brought the world — through hockey, boxing matches, concerts, wresting and more — to the corner of McGraw and Grand River on Detroit’s old west side!
Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Great players becoming great announcers is a made-in-Detroit story
