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Detroit Tigers

This tag is associated with 10 posts

Can You Trade a Baseball Player for a Box of Cigars?

Baseball history shows that the trade you make today can affect your organization — for better or worse — for years.

What Did Scouts Miss About This Star?

Chase Utley, a player for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, has announced he will retire after the 2018 season. His announcement quickly set off a debate over whether he will one day be voted into the baseball Hall of Fame. We will leave that discussion to others. What interests me more is how well […]

Why Election Day Is Like Game 7 of the World Series

Anyone who thinks they’ve got the election won better beware. Anything can happen in Game 7 or an Election Day.

Prince Fielder and the Tigers

Pursuing goals can be overrated. Sometime they’re the wrong goals. And other times the way in which they’re being pursued is the wrong way. In the case of Prince Fielder and the Detroit Tigers, the second case could be true. Fielder and the Tigers just agreed on a nine-year, $214 million deal, because team owner […]

Sparky Anderson’s Secret

Sparky Anderson, who managed three World Series champions in a Hall of Fame career, has died. The secret to his success? ”He understood people better than anyone I ever met. His players loved him, he loved his players, and he loved the game of baseball,” said Pete Rose, one of the stars who flourished under […]

Connected Practice

One play stands out from yesterday’s classic playoff game in which the Minnesota Twins defeated the Detroit Tigers to earn a trip to New York to play the Yankees. Late in the game, a Detroit player tried to bunt. If he had been successful, it might have helped the Tigers build a crucial run. Instead, […]

Rhythm and Confidence

One thing is for sure about this evening’s winner-take-all playoff game between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins in the Metrodome: The batting practice and game warmup will look just like the 162 that took place during the regular season. Nothing will change, even though the game will decide which team goes home and […]

Tortoise or Hare?

Oops! I usually notice Oct. 3, the anniversary of the day Bobby Thomson hit baseball’s most famous home run. But yesterday it slipped by without notice, and today is a good day to revisit the event, especially with two baseball teams playing for their lives today, just as the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants […]

Detroit, Sports, and You

Detroit has been inspiring writers this year. Back in January, columnist Mitch Albom wrote a moving piece on the city, on its troubles, its values, and its affection for its sports teams. Currently the city is featured on the cover of Sports illustrated, with the Tigers playing a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins that […]

What You Believe

As I write this, the final round of the U.S. Open is taking place. I hope to be writing about it later on.

In the meantime, let’s look at the idea of belief, an idea that applies no matter what the sport.

Years ago, there was a baseball player (I forget his name) who played for the Detroit Tigers. He had a deathly fear of flying. The only thing that could console him on the airplane was being able to sit within sight of teammate Al Kaline. In his mind, Kaline was too important to ever die in a plane crash, and so just sitting next to Kaline gave this player a sense of security.