The support has always been there, but with Sparky Anderson in town again to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1984 team there is a new sense of urgency. It is time to get Sparky’s name on the wall at Comerica Park.
Tom Gage wrote about it last week. Ian Casselberry wrote about it yesterday. Both expressed the case wonderfully and I don’t have much to add – except that after seeing Sparky speak to the crowd Monday night this needs to happen sooner rather than later.
With the thermometer rocketing all the way up to 7 degrees this morning, and spring training a few weeks away here are some items to try and keep you warm on a Friday. No heavy analysis here, just some diversions.
I was surfing around the WDFN website and came across some great audio. They have a compilation of the Tigers walk-up music. I parsed out a couple of my favorites.
Omar Infante: I know he’s gone now, but I’ll miss his music the most.
[audio:infante.mp3|autostart=no]
Placido Polanco:
[audio:polanco.mp3|autostart=no]
I don’t think I picked those two because of particular fondness for salsa music. It’s just that those two are specific to nights at the ballpark. Comerica Park is the only place I hear those songs and so they help to take me to my happy place.
I’ve been reading Inside Pitch: Roger Craig’s ’84 Tiger Journal
Craig offers a number of insights and anecdotes that add a lot of flavor to the season. I didn’t know that Jack Morris went on a media boycott for a big chunk of the season. I knew Willie Hernandez won the MVP, but didn’t realize just how remarkable his season was (coincidentally Mop Up Duty just wrote an article highlighting that season). And I had no idea that a police officer stopped Craig and Sparky Anderson while they were walking in Baltimore – because they were shirtless.
It’s out of publication, but used copies can be picked up for as little as a penny at Amazon.
Roger DeWitt (aka Huey Taxi) continues to hang out at Tiger Town in Lakeland and has been snapping photos as the players start to migrate down there. Also, fantasy camps are now running so he has some shots of old time Tigers as well. Catch it on Flickr.