Every year I try to make it down to at least one Tigers game. I live four hours north of Detroit, so unfortunately for me making it to one game a summer is an accomplishment. Back in 2011 I had bought tickets to see the Tigers take on the Arizona Diamondback with my Dad, my Grandpa, and my Aunt. It was a hot June Sunday day game. The stadium was packed with just over 41,000 fans. It was a special day for the Detroit Tigers. The Diamondbacks were being managed by former Tigers Kirk Gibson and Alan Tramell. They were also retiring Sparky Anderson, their former manager who lead them to the 1984 World Series number 11 before the game. It was an amazing ceremony to be at and see one of the great Tigers having his number retired. They also gave out this pretty cool picture to the fans.
Sorry for the blurry image. I couldn't get a good picture but the quote at the top says "The players make the manager, it's never the other way." Now the game started off pretty slow. You had Brad Penny starting for the Tigers and Joe Saunders for the D'backs. Jhonny Peralta hit a solo home run in the 2nd to give the Tigers and early 1-0 lead. In the top of the 7th the D'Backs put two on the board to take the lead. Then the bottom of the 8th inning happened. The Tigers put 7 runs across the plate. It was hit after hit and the crowd was going wild in Comerica Park. The final score would be 8-3 for the Tigers. A good way to honor the late Sparky Anderson. Click
here to check out the box score.
Sparky managed two teams in his 26 year career. He spent his first 9 years, starting in 1970 with the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds were a loaded team during the 70's with Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Tony Perez to name a few. He would lead them to four NL pennants and two World Series. The next 17 seasons he would lead our Detroit Tigers from the the dugout. He might not have had as much success with the Tigers as he did with the Reds, but he did lead the Tigers to our last World Series title in 1984. He would win over 1,300 games with the Tigers and have a final win total of 2,194 with 5 pennants, 3 World Series and would be the first manager to win a World Series in both the National and American League. He would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 2000.
Way cool! Are those canvas pictures? The Cardinals did a canvas picture of their retired numbers last summer. Just picked one up and hung it above the door in my Cardinals room. The canvas looks nice.
ReplyDeleteIt is a canvas print. The picture I actually found on google. My picture was too big and it kept going side ways. Its one of the cooler giveaways I have received
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