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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