Today I spent some time dodging raindrops at the practice day of the WM Phoenix Open in Scottsdale. I’m not a golf fan by any stretch, but the people watching is legendary. The tournament is always the week of the Super Bowl and about 10 days before spring training begins in Phoenix. Good times.
No Tigers today, but Ed Whitson sure took a beating from them in Game 2 of the ‘84 World Series: 5 hits and 3 runs in two-thirds of an inning — the first inning. Whitson got pulled and the Padres came back to win their only game of the series, 5-3.
Today is Stan Papi‘s 73rd birthday, so let’s take a look back on his brief time in Detroit:
On May 29, 1980, the Tigers purchased Papi’s contract from the Phillies and the infielder made an immediate splash in Detroit.
The next day, Papi, wearing number 9, started at second base and batted ninth — behind the number-eight hitter, Kirk Gibson — against the Angels.
He struck out against Frank Tanana in the bottom of the second but in the fourth hit a two-run home run off Tanana to give the Tigers and Milt Wilcox a 4-1 lead.
Papi finished the 1980 campaign with a .237 average, three homers and 17 RBI in 46 games. He hung around for 40 games in the strike-shortened 1981 season, hitting just .204.
His last appearance in a big-league game came on Oct. 1, against the Orioles at Tiger Stadium. Sparky inserted him as a pinch hitter for Rick Leach in the seventh; Papi struck out against Tippy Martinez to end the inning.
Happy 89th Birthday to former Tigers infielder and long-time first base coach Dick Tracewski.
He was a player on the 1968 World Series champs, a coach on the ‘84 team and, officially, once an interim Tigers manager: filling in between the fired Les Moss and the hired Sparky Anderson in 1979.
Ten years later Sparky took a short leave of absence due to the abysmal ‘89 team’s losing and Tracewski took over for a few games, but Baseball-Reference only lists the ‘79 games in his official managerial record.
He was also a World Series winner with the 1963 and ’65 Dodgers.
Last night I watched the Netflix documentary about the about the recording of “We Are the World.” What an amazing trip down memory lane. Go for the music, stay for the Al Jarreau situation.
Nelson Simmons
The Tigers’ second pick in the 1981 draft, Simmons wore number 37 and, after debuting on Sept. 4, 1984, hit 10 homers for the ’85 Tigers. He was a highly touted prospect and I was excited about him being part of the long-term mix. On April 29, 1986, Detroit released him.
A few weeks later he signed with the Orioles but he played in only 16 games for Baltimore during the ’87 season, then got traded to the Mariners in August of that year. He never played for Seattle.
The Colt Keith extensiongot me wondering if 45 years ago, and these early extensions were a thing, the Tigers would have considered signing Kirk Gibson to a long-term extension.
It’s hard to take this notion even half seriously given that Jim Campbell was the Tigers’ GM back then.
But still.
Today’s Random Nuggets
On this date in 1952, Harry Heilmann was elected to the Hall of Fame.
I cannot wait to watch the new Netflix documentary, “The Greatest Night in Pop”, about the recording, in 1985, of “We Are the World” — perhaps the song of my junior year.
Did you know that long-time Cubs catcher Jody Davis signed with the Tigers in 1990 but never appeared in a game for them? Me neither until last week.
Signed on May 28, Davis spent his time in Toledo, appearing in just three games for the Mud Hens, going 1 for 8, with one run scored. He was released on Sept. 30.
When you consider what’s available on YouTube, it’s a shame there’s no clip of Harry Caray singing “Jody, Jody Davis … king of Wrigley Field” as he did so often in 1984 after a Davis homer.
Hey, and welcome back to The Daily Fungo. It’s been a while.
If you’re new here, thanks for visiting. This blog launched in March 2006, which was about as good as it gets in terms of the Tigers’ renaissance converging with blogs becoming a viable thing. The blog kept chugging along, with varying degrees of posting and general TLC, until 2014? Or was it 2017?
For a few years there was a podcast too. Yes. In 2006.
Along the way I discovered that as much as I enjoy following the current Tigers, my heart and interest will always be with those clubs from my youth — from 1977, when I attended my first game at Tiger Stadium, to 1994-ish.
That’s the sweet spot for this new incarnation of The Daily Fungo: 1970s and ’80s, with some ’90s and other dark times too. Oh, and with a few exceptions (like this one), I’ll also keep each day’s post short, like 250-words short.
One more thing: I will be restructuring the archives and other stuff over the next few weeks, so apologies if you click on something and it’s not there.
Go Tigers.
New Hall of Famers vs. the Tigers
I was living in Colorado when Todd Helton replaced Andres Galarraga at first base for the Rockies. I didn’t want to see them move on from The Big Cat, but it didn’t take long for me to see Helton had a future.
Adrián Beltré hit only .222 against the Tigers in the 2011 ALCS, but those six games were the only time he wasn’t killing them. Joe Mauer, of course, along with Justin Morneauseemed to own the Tigers … and they did.
This year’s Hall of Famers’ career numbers against the Tigers:
Games
Average
Hits
HR
OPS
Adrian Beltre
99
.334
127
16
.990
Todd Helton
22
.317
26
2
.900
Joe Mauer
216
.305
246
18
.816
Today’s Random Nugget
Twenty-five years ago last month, the Tigers traded Luis Gonzalez to the Diamondbacks for Karim Garcia. Sigh.
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