This is how I view sports, and subsequently how I cover sports. These are lessons I have learned over a lifetime of being a sports fan and 10 years or so of being a sports writer/commentator. I have worked in all different sports at all different levels. I have worked in the front offices of small football teams, for two failed football leagues, I have interned for a NBA franchise, and I have covered the NFL, NFL draft, UFL, CFL, the Detroit Tigers and Lions for a collection of websites.
Again this is just how I view sports, and how those views go into how I cover sports. We begin with baseball.
Baseball
1. Standings do not matter till the ivy at Wrigley Field is green, or there are enough bathrooms for the fan there...whichever happens last
2. One cannot judge a baseball team till it's played 40 games in a season. We know this as the Sparky Anderson rule
3. Anything that happens in one baseball game is statistically insignificant
4. The no hitter is the most over hyped baseball accomplishment
5. I am not a big fan of advanced metrics...nor do I think there is one metric to adequately measure every player on the roster. Depending on where they hit, and where they play different metrics come into play. For guys that hit in the middle of the order RBI remains a valuable tool because they get paid to knock in runs.
6. Money matters...a big contracts raises expectations and when a player fails to meet those expectations he should be called out for it...we call this the Prince Fielder rule
7. No one really knows what a baseball team is worth. Because the books are closed. A team is worth whatever someone will pay for it. I don't really care what Forbes thinks...it is only a guess. Not even a great guess because there evaluations leaves out big pieces of expenses and potential revenue streams.
Football
1. the 40 yard dash is the most over hyped football metric
2. the NFL scouting combine is way more important to the NFL network than it is is assessing talent. The real important things at the combine take place behind the scenes where teams learn who these players are. The coaches, scouts, and GM's have all seen what these players can do on the field.
3. Tight ends should not be drafted in the first round....we call this the Martin Mayhew rule
4. Whatever Matt "the idiot" Millen says about football decisions one should do the opposite
5. NFL GM's should get too hire two head coaches and conduct four drafts before they wind up on the hot seat
6. Character matters otherwise known as the Titus Young rule
7. There is room for a spring football league that is not the Arena League and there is a market in America for the CFL
Basketball
1. I don't know they don't play basketball in Detroit. That South East Michigan team has been irrelevant for a long time now
Hockey
1. Gary Bettman sucks
2. Hockeytown is not in America it is in Canada specifically Montreal.
3. The NHL should have more Canadian teams not less
4. hockey is a nice sport like NASCAR
5. I do not think Las Vegas is capable of supporting a franchise in any sport full time
General Stuff
1. The government at any level has no business building stadiums for sports teams. If someone or a group of someones can afford the team they can afford the stadium in which it plays. This is a shell game where the taxpayers always get the short end of the stick.
2. In the end let's not kid ourselves writing about sports isn't all that important, but it sure is fun
These are the things I have learned over a lifetime of being a sports fan and a half of a career working in and writing about sports.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers- Willie Hernandez
I have been a fan of the Detroit Tigers since the Summer of 1984. I am lucky enough to vividly remember my baseball team winning a World Series title. Since every year the team itself asks me who my Tiger is I decided to write about my favorite 25 Tigers since I became a fan...at eight years old...This has less to do with performance as it does with whatever intangible qualities Tigers' players have...I mean this is the town that loved Brandon Inge and Don Kelly...and no neither one of those players will make my list...With all of that being said...
#9 Relief Pitcher Willie Hernandez
He will always be Willie to me...mostly because he really made me upset when I was just a 12 year old Tigers fan. Back in the day at Old Tiger Stadium the players would have to come up on to the main concourse to get to the Players parking lot...I was at a game in the summer of 1988 and Willie had gotten roughed up a bit that afternoon by the Minnesota Twins...I waited for my chance to meet him and asked very nicely 'Mr. Hernandez, could you please sign my ball?' He looked at me grumbled something under his breath and walked on down the concourse. I get it, he had a bad day but dude if you don't have time for your fans go sell insurance or something and you won't have any.
End Rant
Willie Hernandez was the second of three Tigers hurlers to win both the Cy Young and the MVP in the same year (Denny McClain in 1968 and Justin Verlander in 2011 being the other two). He is also important because he came to the team very late in Spring Training of 1984. The Tigers completed fleeced the Philadelphia Phillies as they got not only Hernandez but Dave Bergman (RIP Dave, thank you for your years of service wearing the Old English D). The Tigers gave up Johnny Wockenfuss and Glenn Wilson...not to bad for two key components of the 1980's Tigers dynasty.
Let us also dispel one of the biggest myths of the 1984 team...Willie Hernandez was not the closer...and least not as we think of that role today. Sparky Anderson had bullpen arms and he used those arms in a lots of different ways. Willie was always a late inning guy but Sparky used him in many different situations and late in Willie's career he would come to rely on Mike Henneman in the ninth. By the end of the '84 season and in the playoffs it was clear Willie was Sparky's preference but to say he was the closer is something of a misnomer.
Another thing I want to point out here is Willie pitched 140 innings in 1984 as a reliever. That is incredible and I do not know how many two inning saves he had but it was a lot and he pitched multiple innings in Game Five of the 1984 World Series clincher. He was a work horse and a fan favorite up until that season when he decided to change his name.
Maybe that is a little harsh, and had he played in today's MLB he would simply go by Guillermo...and we would all know how to pronounce it and spell it but after a career of playing as Willie his sudden name change was confusing and made him look like a clown.
Now I prefer to remember Willie in his prime the 1984-1986 Willie when the talented southpaw was the workhorse of the Tigers pen.
My 25 favorite Detroit Tiger players
#9 Relief Pitcher Willie Hernandez
He will always be Willie to me...mostly because he really made me upset when I was just a 12 year old Tigers fan. Back in the day at Old Tiger Stadium the players would have to come up on to the main concourse to get to the Players parking lot...I was at a game in the summer of 1988 and Willie had gotten roughed up a bit that afternoon by the Minnesota Twins...I waited for my chance to meet him and asked very nicely 'Mr. Hernandez, could you please sign my ball?' He looked at me grumbled something under his breath and walked on down the concourse. I get it, he had a bad day but dude if you don't have time for your fans go sell insurance or something and you won't have any.
End Rant
Willie Hernandez was the second of three Tigers hurlers to win both the Cy Young and the MVP in the same year (Denny McClain in 1968 and Justin Verlander in 2011 being the other two). He is also important because he came to the team very late in Spring Training of 1984. The Tigers completed fleeced the Philadelphia Phillies as they got not only Hernandez but Dave Bergman (RIP Dave, thank you for your years of service wearing the Old English D). The Tigers gave up Johnny Wockenfuss and Glenn Wilson...not to bad for two key components of the 1980's Tigers dynasty.
Let us also dispel one of the biggest myths of the 1984 team...Willie Hernandez was not the closer...and least not as we think of that role today. Sparky Anderson had bullpen arms and he used those arms in a lots of different ways. Willie was always a late inning guy but Sparky used him in many different situations and late in Willie's career he would come to rely on Mike Henneman in the ninth. By the end of the '84 season and in the playoffs it was clear Willie was Sparky's preference but to say he was the closer is something of a misnomer.
Another thing I want to point out here is Willie pitched 140 innings in 1984 as a reliever. That is incredible and I do not know how many two inning saves he had but it was a lot and he pitched multiple innings in Game Five of the 1984 World Series clincher. He was a work horse and a fan favorite up until that season when he decided to change his name.
Maybe that is a little harsh, and had he played in today's MLB he would simply go by Guillermo...and we would all know how to pronounce it and spell it but after a career of playing as Willie his sudden name change was confusing and made him look like a clown.
Now I prefer to remember Willie in his prime the 1984-1986 Willie when the talented southpaw was the workhorse of the Tigers pen.
My 25 favorite Detroit Tiger players
Monday, February 9, 2015
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers- Cecil Fielder
I have been a fan of the Detroit Tigers since the Summer of 1984. I am lucky enough to vividly remember my baseball team winning a World Series title. Since every year the team itself asks me who my Tiger is I decided to write about my favorite 25 Tigers since I became a fan...at eight years old...This has less to do with performance as it does with whatever intangible qualities Tigers' players have...I mean this is the town that loved Brandon Inge and Don Kelly...and no neither one of those players will make my list...With all of that being said...
#10 First Baseman Cecil Fielder
By the time the clock ran out on the 1989 MLB season the Detroit Tigers needed to be rebuilt, maybe not totally but they had lost a good amount of their power over the final seasons of the 1980's and were coming off a very disappointing 59-103 campaign. Something needed to be done and more power had to be found. For what amounts to the first big foray into free agency GM Bill Lajoie went out into the market to find the pieces that could make his club competitive again. He landed Tony Phillips to play first and Lloyd Moseby to replace Chet Lemon in Center...and then found the power he needed in Cecil Fielder who had played 1989 in Japan.
Cecil would play in Detroit till the trading deadline of the 1996 season when Randy Smith started selling off the parts to lock the team into his his now infamous five year rebuilding plan. In that time he became a very popular player due to his ability to hit balls very very far. In his first season in Detroit he smacked 51 home runs...while 40 home runs as become something of a norm in recent years crossing the 50 tater plateau is still something very special. In fact only two Tigers have ever hit 50 home runs in one season...Of course with all that power and big swings come a lot of strike outs and in 1990 Cecil whiffed 182 the most of a Tigers hitter ever. He would win a silver slugger award and finish second in the MVP vote.
When he was signed it was not a very trumpeted move. The fans did not really know who he was...only true hardcore baseball fans knew Cecil was and that he has played a bench warmer with the Toronto Blue Jays before going to Japan to find a bigger role with a team over there. In two years time that would all change and not only would Cecil be a adopted Detroit son but his 12 year old boy Prince would become famous for hitting a home run at Old Tiger Stadium. The team would also have new ownership and the new owner would fall in love with his big power hitter so much so that he severely over paid for his son in reaction to a Victor Martinez injury, a trend that hopefully does not repeat itself in this off season.
When Cecil came to town the era of the 1980's great Tiger teams was at an end. Many of the stars of that team had moved on and the core of the team was aging. He wasn't a big name signing but given the fact he hit 100 home runs over the next three years and batted in over 120 runs in those seasons he became a Detroit legend. However power alone cannot carry a team and the simple fact here is the Tigers of the 1990's failed to develop new arms or attract quality arms in free agency and the slow slide to irrelevancy had already begun. The Tigers competed for the divisional crown deep in the the 1993 season but that would be the lone bright spot for the entire 90's decade.
The simple fact here is we loved Cecil for his bat...his Tigers teams never won a division...never made the playoffs...they did however win 80 plus games twice...I have to wonder how much we would love this huge man had he helped bring our team back to the post season...However he was a legit superstar, after smacking three home runs in a spring training game, on a team in dire need of some power, star power, and personality. The 1980's Tigers were done and Cecil was the bridge to the next era for our baseball team.
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers
#10 First Baseman Cecil Fielder
By the time the clock ran out on the 1989 MLB season the Detroit Tigers needed to be rebuilt, maybe not totally but they had lost a good amount of their power over the final seasons of the 1980's and were coming off a very disappointing 59-103 campaign. Something needed to be done and more power had to be found. For what amounts to the first big foray into free agency GM Bill Lajoie went out into the market to find the pieces that could make his club competitive again. He landed Tony Phillips to play first and Lloyd Moseby to replace Chet Lemon in Center...and then found the power he needed in Cecil Fielder who had played 1989 in Japan.
Cecil would play in Detroit till the trading deadline of the 1996 season when Randy Smith started selling off the parts to lock the team into his his now infamous five year rebuilding plan. In that time he became a very popular player due to his ability to hit balls very very far. In his first season in Detroit he smacked 51 home runs...while 40 home runs as become something of a norm in recent years crossing the 50 tater plateau is still something very special. In fact only two Tigers have ever hit 50 home runs in one season...Of course with all that power and big swings come a lot of strike outs and in 1990 Cecil whiffed 182 the most of a Tigers hitter ever. He would win a silver slugger award and finish second in the MVP vote.
When he was signed it was not a very trumpeted move. The fans did not really know who he was...only true hardcore baseball fans knew Cecil was and that he has played a bench warmer with the Toronto Blue Jays before going to Japan to find a bigger role with a team over there. In two years time that would all change and not only would Cecil be a adopted Detroit son but his 12 year old boy Prince would become famous for hitting a home run at Old Tiger Stadium. The team would also have new ownership and the new owner would fall in love with his big power hitter so much so that he severely over paid for his son in reaction to a Victor Martinez injury, a trend that hopefully does not repeat itself in this off season.
When Cecil came to town the era of the 1980's great Tiger teams was at an end. Many of the stars of that team had moved on and the core of the team was aging. He wasn't a big name signing but given the fact he hit 100 home runs over the next three years and batted in over 120 runs in those seasons he became a Detroit legend. However power alone cannot carry a team and the simple fact here is the Tigers of the 1990's failed to develop new arms or attract quality arms in free agency and the slow slide to irrelevancy had already begun. The Tigers competed for the divisional crown deep in the the 1993 season but that would be the lone bright spot for the entire 90's decade.
The simple fact here is we loved Cecil for his bat...his Tigers teams never won a division...never made the playoffs...they did however win 80 plus games twice...I have to wonder how much we would love this huge man had he helped bring our team back to the post season...However he was a legit superstar, after smacking three home runs in a spring training game, on a team in dire need of some power, star power, and personality. The 1980's Tigers were done and Cecil was the bridge to the next era for our baseball team.
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers- Ivan Rodriguez
I have been a fan of the Detroit Tigers since the Summer of 1984. I am lucky enough to vividly remember my baseball team winning a World Series title. Since every year the team itself asks me who my Tiger is I decided to write about my favorite 25 Tigers since I became a fan...at eight years old...This has less to do with performance as it does with whatever intangible qualities Tigers' players have...I mean this is the town that loved Brandon Inge and Don Kelly...and no neither one of those players will make my list...With all of that being said...
#11 Catcher Ivan Rodriguez
Pudge should probably be higher on this list however I can never forgive him for running Manager Alan Trammell out of town. For me that is the fork in the road of current Tigers history. Had Trammell stayed and been allowed to cultivate the talent the Tigers already had...something he and his coaching staff have been thanked for by many of the young players of the time...the team might look very different today. However we cannot rewrite history...and the Tigers coming out of the 2003 season needed to make a big move...something to inspire the fans...a big swing was needed.
That move ended up being Ivan Rodriguez fresh off a World Series title run with Jim Leyland and the Florida Marlins. Dave Dombrowksi needed to prove that he could attract big name free agents to Detroit...he need to engage the Tigers fan base...and very likely felt the pressure to find some kind of success. 2003 was a disastrous season for the team and this was a roster nearly devoid of MLB ready talent.
We can argue that the Tigers overpaid for Pudge but it was a good overpay. Remember this was a team that had been rejected (thankfully) by Juan Gonzales, had just lost 119 games, and had big questions at almost every position. Signing Pudge gave them a veteran catcher who could help the relatively inexperienced pitching staff. He wasn't even the first free agency move of that off season but it did turn out to be one of the better ones.
Pudge's best year in Detroit was most likely his first where he hit .334 with 19 home runs and 84 RBI. He won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger that year. He was selected to the All Star game four of the five season he played in Detroit and without a doubt his biggest contribution to the team was showing that big time free agents would come to Detroit, and that would become very important given how Dave Dombrowksi likes to construct his rosters.
Even though we can argue that maybe he deserves to be higher the simple fact here is Pudge was a hired gun and those kind of guys never truly capture the hearts of the fans, certainly not this fan. Add to that the belief he was behind the ouster of Tiger legend Alan Trammell and I think we find that eleven is a pretty good spot for him.
My 25 favorite Detroit Tigers
#11 Catcher Ivan Rodriguez
Pudge should probably be higher on this list however I can never forgive him for running Manager Alan Trammell out of town. For me that is the fork in the road of current Tigers history. Had Trammell stayed and been allowed to cultivate the talent the Tigers already had...something he and his coaching staff have been thanked for by many of the young players of the time...the team might look very different today. However we cannot rewrite history...and the Tigers coming out of the 2003 season needed to make a big move...something to inspire the fans...a big swing was needed.
That move ended up being Ivan Rodriguez fresh off a World Series title run with Jim Leyland and the Florida Marlins. Dave Dombrowksi needed to prove that he could attract big name free agents to Detroit...he need to engage the Tigers fan base...and very likely felt the pressure to find some kind of success. 2003 was a disastrous season for the team and this was a roster nearly devoid of MLB ready talent.
We can argue that the Tigers overpaid for Pudge but it was a good overpay. Remember this was a team that had been rejected (thankfully) by Juan Gonzales, had just lost 119 games, and had big questions at almost every position. Signing Pudge gave them a veteran catcher who could help the relatively inexperienced pitching staff. He wasn't even the first free agency move of that off season but it did turn out to be one of the better ones.
Pudge's best year in Detroit was most likely his first where he hit .334 with 19 home runs and 84 RBI. He won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger that year. He was selected to the All Star game four of the five season he played in Detroit and without a doubt his biggest contribution to the team was showing that big time free agents would come to Detroit, and that would become very important given how Dave Dombrowksi likes to construct his rosters.
Even though we can argue that maybe he deserves to be higher the simple fact here is Pudge was a hired gun and those kind of guys never truly capture the hearts of the fans, certainly not this fan. Add to that the belief he was behind the ouster of Tiger legend Alan Trammell and I think we find that eleven is a pretty good spot for him.
My 25 favorite Detroit Tigers
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers- Magglio Ordonez
I have been a fan of the Detroit Tigers since the Summer of 1984. I am lucky enough to vividly remember my baseball team winning a World Series title. Since every year the team itself asks me who my Tiger is I decided to write about my favorite 25 Tigers since I became a fan...at eight years old...This has less to do with performance as it does with whatever intangible qualities Tigers' players have...I mean this is the town that loved Brandon Inge and Don Kelly...and no neither one of those players will make my list...With all of that being said...
#12 Right Fielder Magglio Ordonez
Magglio is importnat to the Detroit Tigers history for two very distinct evetns. The first is he was among the first free agent outfielder Dave Dombrowski brought to town to add some pop to the lineup...it was also likely because of Ordonez that Dombrowski signs these veterans to shorter term contracts. Of course the big reason we remember Magglio with fondness is he hit the biggest home run of a generation for the Tigers...and with one swing of the bat made Comerica Park feel like the Tigers home.
Thanks to a feud with then Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen Magglio was available on the free agent market prior to the 2005 season...Dombrowski swooped in with a five year 85 million dollar deal (then the second biggest deal ever offered to a Tigers player. He hurt himself early on in that season but was back to form by mid season after rehabbing some with the Toledo Mudhens.
Let's be clear here...Tiger fans of my generation loved Old Tiger Stadium...that is where we learned to love the game of baseball and that was were we liked to see our pro baseball played. Even more so for me because I was at the Tiger Stadium hug, and had written several letters and circulated several petitions to keep the Tigers playing at the corner. While we attended games at Comerica Park...we did not embrace it as our baseball home. It was so big..it changed so much early on (remember when the bullpens were in right field?) it seemed like the details of the construction had gotten away from Mike Illitch who frequently said he did not realize that place was going to be so big...and then the naming rights were sold off...had they named that place after Ernie Harwell or Sparky Anderson the fans would have embraced it from day one. That is not say Comerica is a bad place...cause its not. It is a great stadium but it became home one night in October of 2006.
22 years to the day of the last time the Tigers won the World Series and Kirk Gibson hit the biggest home run of that generation Magglio Ordonez came up to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning with two men on...He hit a 3 run homer to left field that put the Tigers back in the World Series. It was a great moment in this team's history and the video of that shot was on my Myspace (ya I know I'm old) page for at least a year.
Even with that we can effectively argue that Maggs' best season in Detroit was 2007. In fact till Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown in 2012 it was one of the best offensive season ever by a Tigers' batter ever. He hit .363 with 28 HR, and 139 RBI...he also had 54 doubles. That made him an All Star that year, a Silver Slugger winner, and he finished second in the AL MVP vote. Although he would hit over .300 two more times as a Tiger after that season a lot of his power evaporated. He did hit 21 dingers in 2008 but he became a guy that hit into far too many double plays as leg injuries robbed him of what he once was.
Magglio was sort of the middle of the big priced free agents Dave Dombrowksi brought to town...and his run with the team was more successful that some of those that followed. Tigers fans remember Maggs with a lot of admiration of the things he was able to do wearing the Old English D.
My 25 favorite Detroit Tigers
#12 Right Fielder Magglio Ordonez
Magglio is importnat to the Detroit Tigers history for two very distinct evetns. The first is he was among the first free agent outfielder Dave Dombrowski brought to town to add some pop to the lineup...it was also likely because of Ordonez that Dombrowski signs these veterans to shorter term contracts. Of course the big reason we remember Magglio with fondness is he hit the biggest home run of a generation for the Tigers...and with one swing of the bat made Comerica Park feel like the Tigers home.
Thanks to a feud with then Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen Magglio was available on the free agent market prior to the 2005 season...Dombrowski swooped in with a five year 85 million dollar deal (then the second biggest deal ever offered to a Tigers player. He hurt himself early on in that season but was back to form by mid season after rehabbing some with the Toledo Mudhens.
Let's be clear here...Tiger fans of my generation loved Old Tiger Stadium...that is where we learned to love the game of baseball and that was were we liked to see our pro baseball played. Even more so for me because I was at the Tiger Stadium hug, and had written several letters and circulated several petitions to keep the Tigers playing at the corner. While we attended games at Comerica Park...we did not embrace it as our baseball home. It was so big..it changed so much early on (remember when the bullpens were in right field?) it seemed like the details of the construction had gotten away from Mike Illitch who frequently said he did not realize that place was going to be so big...and then the naming rights were sold off...had they named that place after Ernie Harwell or Sparky Anderson the fans would have embraced it from day one. That is not say Comerica is a bad place...cause its not. It is a great stadium but it became home one night in October of 2006.
22 years to the day of the last time the Tigers won the World Series and Kirk Gibson hit the biggest home run of that generation Magglio Ordonez came up to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning with two men on...He hit a 3 run homer to left field that put the Tigers back in the World Series. It was a great moment in this team's history and the video of that shot was on my Myspace (ya I know I'm old) page for at least a year.
Even with that we can effectively argue that Maggs' best season in Detroit was 2007. In fact till Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown in 2012 it was one of the best offensive season ever by a Tigers' batter ever. He hit .363 with 28 HR, and 139 RBI...he also had 54 doubles. That made him an All Star that year, a Silver Slugger winner, and he finished second in the AL MVP vote. Although he would hit over .300 two more times as a Tiger after that season a lot of his power evaporated. He did hit 21 dingers in 2008 but he became a guy that hit into far too many double plays as leg injuries robbed him of what he once was.
Magglio was sort of the middle of the big priced free agents Dave Dombrowksi brought to town...and his run with the team was more successful that some of those that followed. Tigers fans remember Maggs with a lot of admiration of the things he was able to do wearing the Old English D.
My 25 favorite Detroit Tigers
Monday, January 26, 2015
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers- Chet Lemon
I have been a fan of the Detroit Tigers since the Summer of 1984. I am lucky enough to vividly remember my baseball team winning a World Series title. Since every year the team itself asks me who my Tiger is I decided to write about my favorite 25 Tigers since I became a fan...at eight years old...This has less to do with performance as it does with whatever intangible qualities Tigers' players have...I mean this is the town that loved Brandon Inge and Don Kelly...and no neither one of those players will make my list...With all of that being said...
#13 Center Fielder Chet Lemon
There were some flashy guys on the 1980's Detroit Tigers teams. There were some brash guys. There were some guys sports reporters didn't like so much...there were even some guys the fans ended up not liking as much...and then there was Chet Lemon...who was a defensive wizard in Center, and let's be honest CF of Old Tiger Stadium not the easiest place to defend...who quietly went about his job and was the very definition of role player.
A lot of people forget about Lemon's contributions to the team...on any other team he likely would have hit first or second...on the stacked with talent teams of the Tigers he was a bottom of the order guy who still had some pop in his bat and enough speed to give Manager Sparky Anderson options in the bottom third of his lineup. He was set to hit 7th in the final game of the 1984 World Series when right before game time Sparky moved him up to sixth...he responded by helping the team break through in the first inning. That w what Chet did...came though when the team needed him too along with playing great defense in center.
Since I was a kid, and since ESPN was not in my home till much later in my childhood I always wonder what kind of guy he really was. Was he really the quite guy who just did his job or did he have some flash...either way growing up in the 1980's I never had to worry about defense in Center because Chet was out there day in and day out getting the job done.
1984 was probably his best year in Detroit. He hit .287 with 20 home runs, 76 RBI, and had 34 doubles. IT would be his third and last time he was an All Star. I find it very curious that he never won a Gold Glove...when I think of great defense he is the second or third name that pops into my head.
He came to the Tigers in 1981 via a trade with the Chicago White Sox...The Tigers gave up Steve Kemp for him who had been an All Star Left Fielder but never amounted to much after the trade...he was out of baseball by 1986. Since Lemon would serve with the team through the 1990 season they got tremendous value out of that trade. That along with the solid drafting of talent in the 1970's and early 1980's is what made the teams of the 1980's so much fun to watch...even though they really should have one at least one more World Series title.
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers
#13 Center Fielder Chet Lemon
There were some flashy guys on the 1980's Detroit Tigers teams. There were some brash guys. There were some guys sports reporters didn't like so much...there were even some guys the fans ended up not liking as much...and then there was Chet Lemon...who was a defensive wizard in Center, and let's be honest CF of Old Tiger Stadium not the easiest place to defend...who quietly went about his job and was the very definition of role player.
A lot of people forget about Lemon's contributions to the team...on any other team he likely would have hit first or second...on the stacked with talent teams of the Tigers he was a bottom of the order guy who still had some pop in his bat and enough speed to give Manager Sparky Anderson options in the bottom third of his lineup. He was set to hit 7th in the final game of the 1984 World Series when right before game time Sparky moved him up to sixth...he responded by helping the team break through in the first inning. That w what Chet did...came though when the team needed him too along with playing great defense in center.
Since I was a kid, and since ESPN was not in my home till much later in my childhood I always wonder what kind of guy he really was. Was he really the quite guy who just did his job or did he have some flash...either way growing up in the 1980's I never had to worry about defense in Center because Chet was out there day in and day out getting the job done.
1984 was probably his best year in Detroit. He hit .287 with 20 home runs, 76 RBI, and had 34 doubles. IT would be his third and last time he was an All Star. I find it very curious that he never won a Gold Glove...when I think of great defense he is the second or third name that pops into my head.
He came to the Tigers in 1981 via a trade with the Chicago White Sox...The Tigers gave up Steve Kemp for him who had been an All Star Left Fielder but never amounted to much after the trade...he was out of baseball by 1986. Since Lemon would serve with the team through the 1990 season they got tremendous value out of that trade. That along with the solid drafting of talent in the 1970's and early 1980's is what made the teams of the 1980's so much fun to watch...even though they really should have one at least one more World Series title.
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers
Friday, January 23, 2015
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tigers- Mike Henneman
I have been a fan of the Detroit Tigers since the Summer of 1984. I am lucky enough to vividly remember my baseball team winning a World Series title. Since every year the team itself asks me who my Tiger is I decided to write about my favorite 25 Tigers since I became a fan...at eight years old...This has less to do with performance as it does with whatever intangible qualities Tigers' players have...I mean this is the town that loved Brandon Inge and Don Kelly...and no neither one of those players will make my list...With all of that being said...
#14 Relief Pitcher Mike Henneman
This is another one of those stories that involves me...and how I became the sports nut that I am today. 1987 was a different year for the Detroit Tigers...they contended for the divisional title through all 162 games of the regular season. We got over the bitter loss of Lance Parrish to free agency and new blood was installed on our team in the form or the previous discusses Matt Nokes and Relief Pitcher Mike Henneman.
I met Henneman at an appearance in 1988...He was very nice and there were not a lot of people there because Alan Trammell was down the street at another appearance (and yes we wound up going to that event as well)...Mike asked me what sports I played and I replied honestly...I play basketball...and he said 'maybe you should try baseball.' I always thought that was a cool thing to say to a 12 year old and while I was already a fan of his...that cemented it...I rather less friendly meeting of Willie Hernandez later that summer on the concourse at old Tiger Stadium would help Henneman become my favorite relief pitcher for my favorite team.
Let's be very clear here...Henneman is one of the finest relievers to ever wear the Old English D. He still ranks second in career saves for the Tigers with 154 yet he never had more than 26 saves in any one season for Detroit. For me that means he was more consistent over a longer period of time. It also speaks to how Sparky Anderson managed his bullpens. Sparky didn't really have a true closer most years...he used guys when he thought they could be effective...remember the Tigers had both Henneman and Hernandez through the 1989 season and both earned near double digit saves in those seasons. Sparky had arms...and he would turn the game over to who he thought could get it done on any given day. Of course eventually we can say Henneman was the closer through the early 1990's.
His best season in Detroit was arguably 1993 where he wound up with 24 saves and a 2.64 Era in just over 70 innings pitched. He had 58 strike outs to 32 walks with a WHIP of 1.409. He was a big reason the Tigers were in contention that season till late in the summer.
Two big negatives in his Detroit career will be his performance in the 1987 ALCS...where is ERA was over 10 in three appearances. On top of that the Tigers front office dealt him to the Texas Rangers in the 1995 season for a player to be named later...Phil Nevin ended up being that player and this ws a clear cost cutting move...the Tigers front office was full of turmoil and cost cutting moves were the name of the game Henneman made over 4 million dollars that season and it was clear that whoever wound up taking he reins was going to rebuild the team with young cheap talent...it is really too bad for a generation of Tigers' fans that Randy Smith was brought to town and he embarked on his now infamous five year rebuilding plan.
People tend to forget about Henneman because of the era of the Tigers in which he played...outside of 1987 and 1993 there were not a lot of highlights during this period of Tigers baseball and by 1995 the bottom had fallen out on the team. However, without a doubt he remains one of the finest relief pitchers to ever serve here in Detroit.
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tiger players of all time
#14 Relief Pitcher Mike Henneman
This is another one of those stories that involves me...and how I became the sports nut that I am today. 1987 was a different year for the Detroit Tigers...they contended for the divisional title through all 162 games of the regular season. We got over the bitter loss of Lance Parrish to free agency and new blood was installed on our team in the form or the previous discusses Matt Nokes and Relief Pitcher Mike Henneman.
I met Henneman at an appearance in 1988...He was very nice and there were not a lot of people there because Alan Trammell was down the street at another appearance (and yes we wound up going to that event as well)...Mike asked me what sports I played and I replied honestly...I play basketball...and he said 'maybe you should try baseball.' I always thought that was a cool thing to say to a 12 year old and while I was already a fan of his...that cemented it...I rather less friendly meeting of Willie Hernandez later that summer on the concourse at old Tiger Stadium would help Henneman become my favorite relief pitcher for my favorite team.
Let's be very clear here...Henneman is one of the finest relievers to ever wear the Old English D. He still ranks second in career saves for the Tigers with 154 yet he never had more than 26 saves in any one season for Detroit. For me that means he was more consistent over a longer period of time. It also speaks to how Sparky Anderson managed his bullpens. Sparky didn't really have a true closer most years...he used guys when he thought they could be effective...remember the Tigers had both Henneman and Hernandez through the 1989 season and both earned near double digit saves in those seasons. Sparky had arms...and he would turn the game over to who he thought could get it done on any given day. Of course eventually we can say Henneman was the closer through the early 1990's.
His best season in Detroit was arguably 1993 where he wound up with 24 saves and a 2.64 Era in just over 70 innings pitched. He had 58 strike outs to 32 walks with a WHIP of 1.409. He was a big reason the Tigers were in contention that season till late in the summer.
Two big negatives in his Detroit career will be his performance in the 1987 ALCS...where is ERA was over 10 in three appearances. On top of that the Tigers front office dealt him to the Texas Rangers in the 1995 season for a player to be named later...Phil Nevin ended up being that player and this ws a clear cost cutting move...the Tigers front office was full of turmoil and cost cutting moves were the name of the game Henneman made over 4 million dollars that season and it was clear that whoever wound up taking he reins was going to rebuild the team with young cheap talent...it is really too bad for a generation of Tigers' fans that Randy Smith was brought to town and he embarked on his now infamous five year rebuilding plan.
People tend to forget about Henneman because of the era of the Tigers in which he played...outside of 1987 and 1993 there were not a lot of highlights during this period of Tigers baseball and by 1995 the bottom had fallen out on the team. However, without a doubt he remains one of the finest relief pitchers to ever serve here in Detroit.
My 25 Favorite Detroit Tiger players of all time
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