By Jim Davis

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You can tell Greg Gania is excited about his latest broadcasting gig.

It only took about 10 seconds to figure that out when the veteran radio broadcaster spoke recently with AIM Media Midwest about his upcoming opportunity.

The Detroit Tigers announced Feb. 13 that the 41-year-old Erie SeaWolves radio broadcaster and 2005 Bowling Green State University graduate will call several Major League Baseball games this summer for the Tigers.

And he’s excited, to say the least.

“I’m over the moon with excitement,” Gania said by phone from Pennsylvania. “This is why I got into this game. From day one, this was the goal.”

Gania will fill in for veteran Detroit radio broadcaster Dan Dickerson when he slides over to the TV booth this summer to cover for new TV play-by-play man Jason Benetti.

Benetti was hired over the winter to helm televised Tiger games this season, but he has some remaining national broadcasting obligations that will take him away from the booth multiple times this season.

Which is where Gania comes in.

Dickerson — who has been the radio voice of the Tigers since 2002 — will fill in for Benetti, with Gania coming up from Detroit’s Double-A minor league affiliate in Erie, Pa., to cover for Dickerson.

“When they had a shakeup on the broadcast side in the fall I had thrown it out there to the Tigers (that I was interested in the position),” he said. And, after Benetti was hired, “They were very open and honest with me. They were clear that they like my work and value what I do. So, two days after Christmas, they called me and asked me to handle the games when Dan goes over to TV (to fill in for Benetti).”

He’s already got a handful of Tigers radio games under his belt so he will have some experience to draw from when he hits the airwaves later this year.

The exact number of regular season games, however, has not yet been determined — Benetti is still waiting on his schedule from FOX Sports — but Gania said he’ll have a couple of spring tuneup games this month when he calls the March 21 Tigers game against the Mets and the March 23 game with the Yankees.

“I joke with Dan (Dickerson) that he’s an iron man of broadcasting, so the opportunities have been few and far between,” he said. “So, when it came up this year that Dan (would fill in for Jason) I thought, ‘This is a perfect storm for me.’”

It’s a storm that he’s been ready for, though, since he was young: From playing childhood video games and into high school, where he worked at his high school television station, and later at BGSU, Gania would “cut his teeth” by covering multiple sports for the Division I university as he developed his own style behind the mic.

“I was the annoying kid playing Tecmo Super Bowl on Nintendo, and I would emulate broadcasters. That would annoy the (heck) out of my buddies,” said Gania, who followed Cleveland Cavaliers announcer Joe Tait. “I knew at a very young age I wanted to do this. Then when I got to high school it was dumb luck that my English teacher freshman year was also in charge of the high school TV station.”

He took the opportunity and ran with it.

“For a high school kid I had a pretty good voice … and sophomore year I hopped on the high school TV station and within a few months was the lead sports guy,” Gania said. “That’s how it all got started. I knew in high school this was something I wanted to do for a career. I cut my teeth very young, and that’s why I settled on BG. It was the best opportunity to get myself ready for a career and to get on-air time as a freshman.”

While at Bowling Green, the Warren, Ohio native took the next step in his career development with his involvement in the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization and by broadcasting several different men’s and women’s athletic events. He also started announcing Mahoning Valley Scrappers collegiate summer baseball games in the MLB Draft League.

“BG will always hold a special place in my heart. I had such a fun, rewarding time when I was there,” he said.

After leaving BG, Gania became the lead play-by-play broadcaster/Director of Media Relations for the Double-A Erie SeaWolves in 2006 and, by 2012, took on additional responsibilities as the SeaWolves’ Assistant General Manager of Communications.

“I do wear a ton of hats here,” he said, noting that he’ll still have to juggle his responsibilities in Erie when he’s up calling Tiger games. “The good news is I work for a good group at Erie and they’re committed to it, and the Tigers are committed to it, too. It’s a little daunting and timing is going to be important, but with the right amount of planning I’m going to try to mitigate those things as much as possible.”

Big challenge? Of course. But Gania, who lives year-round in Erie, Pa. with his wife Meagan, said confidence in him shown by the Tigers organization provides an extra level of motivation.

“It means the world to me… the fact that I have the trust (of management) and the confidence that Dan Dickerson has in me,” he said. “Broadcasting is a very serious job and, at that high of a level, Dan doesn’t want to step aside unless he has the trust in someone to sit in his chair. To have his trust means the world to me.”

While he’s only called a handful of Tiger games thus far, Gania’s had no shortage of highlight-reel moments. His MLB debut game in 2018 was an exciting “walk-off” Tigers victory over St. Louis, and his call of Detroit’s combined no-hitter against Toronto in 2023 — in which Matt Manning, Jason Foley and Alex Lange combined to no-hit the Blue Jays, was the first ever combined “No-No” in team history.

Gania said his experiences over 20 years of broadcasting minor league baseball played a role in preparing him for such moments.

“I had experienced it in the minor league several times and I realized ‘I’ve been here before,’” he said. “It’s true for players, and I think it’s the same for broadcasters. It prepares you for those moments. I knew how to call that moment. I’ve called everything from no-hitters to walk-offs to championships and they’re all valuable learning lessons.”

The cool part, he added, is that he’s always going to be a part of those baseball memories.

“My voice is forever going to be part of one of those moments.”

And that’s definitely something worth getting excited about.