Manager Ty Cobb observes his team in action at Navin Field in Detroit, circa 1923. When Ty Cobb was named manager of the Tigers before the 1921 season, it was a decision applauded by experts in the baseball world. The Sporting News, the self-described “Bible of Baseball,” wrote: Detroit has turned to their famed batting champion to build a flag-winner in the American League. Who better? Terrible Ty knows the circuit better than any man, he can recite the names and favored pitches of every tosser and describe the batting habits of every batter in the loop. With his unmatched guidance, the Ty ..read more

Tracy Scroggins and Robert Porcher rank 3rd and 1st all-time in Detroit Lions history in sacks. Next spring the Detroit Lions will have a premier pick in the National Football League draft. Maybe even the first pick. What will they do with it? Who knows, but an impact pass rusher might be high on their list. If all the “mock drafts” are to be believed, the Lions may get Chase Young, something they call an “edge rusher.” If so, young Mr. Young will have a chance to follow in the cleat-steps of a few great pass rushers who wore the Honolulu Blue. Including not one, but two amazing defensive li ..read more

Tiger fans are upset that Lou Whitaker was not passed over in the recent Baseball Hall of Fame “Modern Game” Eras Committee voting. Whitaker played 19 seasons in Detroit, teamed with Alan Trammell up the middle, so it’s understandable that the popular infielder elicits such a passionate response in the Motor City. But there may be a great big silver lining in the election results. The only player to be elected was former catcher Ted Simmons, who received 13 of the 16 votes on the committee, one more than he needed. Simmons waited a quarter of a century since he became eligible for the Hall. H ..read more

What makes a baseball bat special? In The Natural, a 1984 film based on a book by Bernard Malamud, the protagonist is Roy Hobbs, who swings a bat he made from a tree back home that was split in pieces by a lightning strike. Roy’s “Wonderboy” bat helps him become the batting hero for a previously struggling team. Besides Hobbs, real flesh-and-blood sluggers have wielded extraordinary bats too. Babe Ruth used one of the heaviest bats on record, and Ted Williams weighed his bats to make sure they were proper within fractions of an ounce. Shoeless Joe Jackson called his favorite bat, “Black Betsy ..read more

Denny McLain called his autobiography “I Told You I Wasn’t Perfect,” which tells you a lot about his life. McLain, who still haunts the Detroit area and co-hosts a sports podcast that’s pretty damn good, has lived a wildly interesting life. Few people have inhaled the air at the summit and also smelled the stench in the pits. McLain has been both hero and villain over the course of his 75+ years. In 1968, McLain won 31 games, which is more than most pitchers start in today’s game. He completed 28 games and tossed six shutouts, won the Cy Young, and also won the Most Valuable Player Award. Mos ..read more

Ted Williams prepares to bat at Comiskey Park in 1959. By this time, the White Sox were using lights on the large center field scoreboard to signal pitches to their batters. Few things are as entertaining as righteous indignation. Boy, do we have a lot of that right now in baseball. In light of an alleged sign-stealing operation that included a center field camera, a TV monitor, and of all things, a trash can, the Houston Astros are in the cross hairs. Winners of two of the last three American League pennants, the plucky Astros are taking a hit in the respect column, and the righteous indign ..read more

Next month, baseball will gather for the annual winter meetings. Fittingly, those meetings will take place in San Diego, where Lou Whitaker led off the 1984 World Series with a double in the gap and scored a moment later on a single by Alan Trammell. No, Sweet Lou won’t be at the winter meetings representing the Tigers, but his name will be prominent as the Baseball Hall of Fame veterans committee weighs his merits as an inductee. Trammell was inducted two years ago, along with pitcher Jack Morris, who, in part thanks to Lou’s leadoff double, won that first game of the World Series in San Die ..read more

Lt. Ralph Houk in the United States Army during World War II. Ralph Houk occupied a baseball dugout for twenty years as a baseball manager, but he avoided the fate of most in his profession: he was never fired. That’s fitting because Houk was a survivor. He once said of his career before baseball: “All you had to do to get promoted in my outfit was stay alive.” Tigers fans remember Houk as the veteran skipper who presided over the painful transition from the old guard team that won the World Series in 1968 and a division title four years later, to a rascally pimple-faced club of youngsters r ..read more

Forty years ago at the baseball winter meetings, Detroit Tigers general manager Jim Campbell sat a table with John McHale, his counterpart for the Montreal Expos. The two baseball men talked players, doing the dance that execs do when they want something but they don’t want to show how much they want it. Earlier that day, when he briefed manager Sparky Anderson on his meeting schedule, the two men discussed the Expos’ roster, pouring over the names. They were looking for pitching, and when Sparky ran his finger down the Montreal roster and came to the name SCHATZEDER, he stopped. The grey-hai ..read more

Once, when he was a member of the Detroit Tigers, Max Scherzer nearly broke his toe when he kicked the dugout wall at Comerica Park. His teammates got a chuckle out of it, because well, his toe wasn’t broken, and…the incident occurred in a game where Scherzer wasn’t even pitching. The impetus for Max’s outbreak of frustration was a double play that ended a Tigers’ rally. To say Scherzer is intense, is a vast understatement. His intensity is legendary. It’s as plain as the two (different) colored eyes on his face. Scherzer’s character trait is his intense competitiveness, a trait that fuels hi ..read more