DETROIT, Mich. (via WOOD TV) — As he approaches his 60th birthday, Holland native Jay Allen is suddenly living a lifelong dream as the voice of Comerica Park.
“I’ve always felt comfortable from the first day I was in radio,” said Allen, who now lives in Grand Rapids. “I just felt this is where I belonged — behind a microphone. This is just a calling that I feel that I’ve been asked to do. It’s a dream."
Yet it’s a dream Allen never thought possible.
“I always felt that I had the ability to do, like, a major league ballpark,” Allen said. “But living in Grand Rapids, I knew the limitations. I thought the only way I could get to a major league ballpark would have, we’d have to move.”
In 1993, Jay seemed on his way, serving as the PA voice of the Grand Rapids Hoops. Allen would briefly play that same role with the West Michigan Whitecaps in the mid-1990s and for the entire 12-year run of the Grand Rapids Rampage.
Over 20 years, Allen’s voice became synonymous with West Michigan sports, which he says helped him “immensely” in landing his dream job with the Detroit Tigers.
“All of those were like stepping stones,” Allen said.
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