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<\/p>\nLongtime Detroit sports announcer Bobb Vergiels, known for his work with the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions and Michigan Wolverines, is preparing to return to the microphone after receiving a life-saving kidney transplant.<\/p>\n
Vergiels, 74, underwent transplant surgery in July at Henry Ford Health after being diagnosed with stage four kidney failure.<\/p>\n
Watch the latest from reporter Tony Geftos in the video player below:<\/p>\n
Detroit Sports Announcer Saved by Fan\u2019s Kidney Donation Returns to the Mic<\/p>\n
The veteran announcer said he was initially hesitant about receiving a donor kidney because of his age.<\/p>\n
“I kind of resisted having a kidney transplant,” Vergiels said. “My thing was, look, I’m in my 70s. If you have a kidney for somebody, why don’t you give it to some guy in his 50s? Because he’s got a whole lot more time to go. I may not. But they said, ‘No, you’re healthy.'”<\/p>\n
For years, Vergiels was a familiar voice at some of Michigan’s biggest sporting events, serving as an in-game announcer for the Tigers, Lions and Wolverines. He also announced every Detroit start by former Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander during his tenure with the club.<\/p>\n
More recently, Vergiels continued calling games for the Toledo Mud Hens and Toledo Walleye. He said he worked his final Mud Hens game just three days before undergoing surgery.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Toledo Walleye<\/p>\n
Bobb Vergiels announces the Toledo Walleye during a 2026 game at the Huntington Center<\/p>\n
The transplant became possible after a fan approached Vergiels at a Toledo Walleye game in January and offered to donate a kidney after learning about his condition.<\/p>\n
According to Dr. Atsushi Yoshida, division head of transplant surgery at Henry Ford Health, the fan was ultimately a better match for another recipient. Through a kidney paired exchange, Vergiels received a compatible donor kidney from another participant in the exchange network.<\/p>\n
“When you start getting kidney disease, you start feeling a little bit crummier over time,” Yoshida said. “Once you get a transplant, it’s like a fountain of youth a little bit. You feel stronger, healthier and you kind of bounce back.”<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Tony Geftos<\/p>\n
Bobb Vergiels and his kidney transplant surgeon, Dr. Atsushi Yoshida, discuss the procedure at Henry Ford Hospital<\/p>\n
Vergiels said the fan’s generosity played a major role in helping him pursue the transplant.<\/p>\n
“I’ve got two grandkids who will be graduating from college soon. I’ve got one grandkid who’s going to be graduating from law school. I want to live to see that,” Vergiels said. “And now I’ve got a pretty good shot at doing that.”<\/p>\n
The woman who offered to donate her kidney has chosen to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n
Vergiels is expected to return to announcing at the Toledo Walleye’s home opener on Nov. 7. <\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longtime Detroit sports announcer Bobb Vergiels, known for his work with the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions and Michigan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[10395,38393,5,147,53,100019,2583,10397,4,100020,594,10396],"class_list":["post-822463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-tigers","tag-7-action-news","tag-7-news-detroit","tag-baseball","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-detroit-tigers-kidney-transplant","tag-detroittigers","tag-metro-detroit","tag-mlb","tag-retired-detroit-tigers-in-game-announcer","tag-tigers","tag-wxyz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117390638395554081","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}