I was waiting until they
clinched a playoff spot but it’s finally time to give my boyhood team, the
Detroit Tigers, their due. Regardless of
whether they win the division or not, they’re in the playoffs and that’s something
us longsuffering Tigers fans haven’t seen since 1987. That was the year they traded a young
prospect named John Smoltz to the Atlanta Braves for Doyle Alexander. Yes, Alexander helped lead them to the playoffs
(a disappointing loss to the Twins) but Smoltz went to on have (and is still
having) a Hall Of Fame career.
Most people forget that,
while the Tigers were gawdawful in the 1990s, they had the most wins of any
team in the 1980s. It was tough to see
such a storied franchise go through such a long unsuccessful drought. I had thought they would rebound once Mike
Illitch, founder of Little Caesar’s Pizza and owner of the Red Wings, bought
the team but they continued to flounder for years. While the Red Wings won 3 Stanley Cups, the
Tigers were occupying the AL Central’s cellar more often than not. It didn’t help that for a few years when
Randy Smith was General Manager, he made trades with no teams except the Padres
and Astros. I can’t recall how many
times Brad Ausmus was traded between the Tigers and Astros.
I was thankful that I wasn’t,
at the time, a Cubs, White Sox or Red Sox fan since those teams’ fans hadn’t
witnessed a championship in generations.
Of course now only the Cubs remain as the Ultimate Loser Franchise and I
don’t see that title going away any time soon.
1984 was a great year since
baseball was my life at the time. Being
12 years old, I was old enough to remember a lot of highlights of that
season. Starting the season 35-5 ensured
that they would lead the division wire to wire.
That team had one of the best middle-of-the-field lineups for the decade
with Lance Parrish catching, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker at short and
second, and Chet Lemon in center. Jack
Morris pitching a no-hitter in the opening week at Comiskey was a harbinger of
good things to come.
We were very spoiled to have
Ernie Harwell as our play by play man on WJR, with Paul Carey’s deep baritone
voice backing him up at the competent color analyst. For the 4th-6th innings
of each game, they would switch roles.
Al Kaline and George Kell, while famous Tigers in their own right, just
weren’t good TV announcers/analysts and a lot of times I’d opt to listen to the
game on the radio rather than watch it on TV.
Back in those days The Wave
was a relatively new phenomenon and Tiger Stadium was the perfect venue to
display it. Since both decks wrapped
around the entire stadium, the wave never broke. It was cool to see the wave go in opposite
directions on two levels. Sometimes fans
would speed it up or slow it down, also creating a cool visual effect. Obviously the wave is a worn-out stale
tradition that deserves to be put to rest now (like the “Tastes Great, Less
Filling” chants that are gone) but at the time it was enjoyable to watch.
The only drawback to that
championship season was the horrifically gheigh slogan the team used – “Bless
You Boys”. I don’t know how that stupid
slogan originated but it was the only low point of the season. I don’t know who
created it, why it was adopted, how it became popular but it was a marketing
scheme that never should have gained any traction.
Of course, any low point in a
franchise history usually has a long-suffering quality player who never reaches
the fame he might deserve due to the team’s ineptitude. Bobby Higginson was one of the few bright
spots during this dark period of Tigers futility. I liken him to Don Mattingly in terms of when
each of them retired is when their team returned to greatness. It must kill guys like that to put in over a
decade of service on teams that are always bad, and then as soon as they leave
the team makes the postseason.
So even if they don’t win the
World Series this year, it’s been a pleasant surprise of a season and the young
pitchers they have give Tigers fans reason to hope for the next few years. I’ve worn the old English “D” cap this entire
time and it’s nice for it to finally represent a winning team again. While it’s nice to reminisce about the
exploits of Kirk Gibson, Jack Morris, Dan Petry, Dave Rozema, Willie Hernandez,
Aurelio Lopez, Larry Herndon, Darrell Evans and Tom Brookens, it’s time for some new memories. Go Tigers.