Throughout the year there is another constant that will come
up roughly 35-40 more times; the first assortment I bought were simply on the
basis of having one hat per team. Besides the Oakland A’s, the other teams I made an
exemption for are the Montreal Expos and the Detroit Tigers. My affinity for
the Tigers has been around since the mid-90s. There was always something about
their colors and logo that popped. Which is actually kind of funny because
they’ve kept the idea of their logo pretty much the same throughout their
history; while at the same time, the Old English script is so intricate and
detailed that there really wasn’t much of need to switch to anything else. But
the more important thing I should probably point out is that when I bought this
hat, my intentions of going way back throughout the team’s entire history of
hats had never crossed my mind. I was going to stick with the current home and
away. So, having explained that, on we move…
The Tigers introduced this hat at the start of the 1983 season
and have been using it as their road cap ever since. The previous 10 years had
also featured an orange “D” logoed hat, but I will get to that one later down
the road. The ’83 season went incredibly well for the Tigers; however, even
their 92-70 record under Sparky Anderson wasn’t good enough to get them into
the playoffs. As members of the American league East division the Tigers
finished six games behind the Baltimore Orioles, who later went on to win the
World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies. This was also back in the day when
each league only had two divisions. The Tigers, not particularly frazzled by
their modest success, decided to lay the entire league to waste with their
104-58 record in ’84, also adding a World Series title to their collection
after eviscerating the San Diego Padres in five games. That was the first time
Kirk Gibson became a postseason legend. Buuuuuuut… it wasn’t good enough to
make my cap, a decision I partially regret.
I had purchased the home hat first, and this one well after
I had marked the previous. And once again, I need to point out that I marked it
with the intention of not getting any other Tigers hats before you judge.
#47- This one won’t get much debate I would imagine. Jack
Morris played for the Tigers for almost his entire career. From 1977-1990 he
donned the “D”, and became synonymous with some of the great pitchers of the
80s and early 90s. During his 14-year tenure in Detroit he went 198-150 with a 3.73 ERA and
1980 strikeouts. He also served as the ace for all but 1977-78, as he was
coming out of bullpen for relief work. Clearly that concept didn’t last too
long. I’m not going to go into the Hall of Fame talk too much, but I’ll simply
say that the Baseball Writers Association of America is pretty f---ed in the
head for keeping him out. Grated, he did only win one World Series ring during
his time in Detroit,
but went on to win three more (one with the Twins, two with the Blue Jays). I
think the saddest thing about Morris is that he never won the Cy Young. His
best finish was third, losing out to Steve McCatty (Athletics) in second place
and Rollie Fingers (Brewers) in the top spot. Go figure that Morris would get
taken down by two guys who had played for the Athletics. Personal victory for
me! Sorry Jack.
#20- This one was way more personal for me, but like I said,
I did it with the intention of not getting another Tigers hat at the time. One
of my all-time favorite players is someone who I never had the chance to see
pitch live; however, was able to see video of years later. Mark Fidrych is a
guy who I have pretty much idolized since the first time I saw his face grace
an old issue of Rolling Stone from 1977, in which he was the first professional
athlete to ever grace the cover. Fidrych played from 1976-1980, but was
hampered by several injuries in short periods of time: torn knee cartilage, and
rotator cuff tear, which he never had looked at or fixed throughout his career.
I don’t want to go on too much about him, as I will do that in another post.
But one thing I will say is that Fidrych was, and is still one of the most
revered pitchers in Tigers history. Anyone who was alive to see him play still
recount being at Tiger Stadium when he played in 1976. It was always dead
silent when he threw, and a roar of applause when he got off the mound. The
Bird, as he was dubbed in Lakeland
by coaches because of his uncanny resemblance to Big Bird from Sesame Street, was
also one of the most unusual figures in baseball. He’d always fill in the dirt
in front of the rubber in between innings and had a carefree attitude wherever
he went. Definitely a kind of guy who isn’t too far from myself, personality
wise at least.
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