The Tigers make their final West Coast swing of the 1984 season, heading to Anaheim, Seattle and Oakland. They play their final 25 games of the year against A. L. East opponents.
Record: 69-54 — Third place, 1.5 games behind first-place Milwaukee, a half-game behind second-place Baltimore
Highlights
Spot-starter Bair pitched six scoreless innings, giving up just four hits and one walk, but no strikeouts. López tossed the final three innings, allowing only a walk.
All told: Gibby had six hits and six RBI in the two games‚ while Tram and Johnson each had five hits. Lou scored five runs in the first game.
Miscellany
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Umpires: HP – Greg Kosc, 1B – Ted Hendry, 2B – Drew Coble, 3B – Jim Evans
Time of Game: 2:44
Attendance: 51,764
Then, After the Doubleheader …
George Kell informed us that “the Tigers just announced they have acquired the rights to left-handed pitcher … (and it seemed like an eternity before revealing it was …) Sid Monge.”
A hot start, a Game of the Week appearance and a win would have been enough to satisfy me at an age, but at 16, well, adding a no-hitter by my favorite Tiger … come on.
As no-hitters go, it wasn’t clean — Morris walked six — but who cared? He struck out eight, facing 32 batters.
Umpires: HP – Durwood Merrill, 1B – Tim McClelland, 2B – Marty Springstead, 3B – Jim McKean
Time of Game: 2:44
Attendance: 24,616
Start Time Weather: 50° F, Wind 8mph in from Centerfield, Sunny, No Precipitation
5 Things to Know About Jack Lazorko – #36
No Tigers baseball card for Lazorko, it seems.
Jack Lazorko signed as a free agent with the Tigers on Feb, 7, 1986.
He spent most of the season in Triple-A Nashville, where he made 29 starts, finishing with an 8-6 record and 3.20 ERA — and one save.
The right-hander appeared in three games over the course of six days with the ’86 Tigers, his first on Aug. 9 against the Red Sox in Detroit: 1.2 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks and a strikeout.
Three former Tigers today, and my blank square was a guess for George Kell. He didn’t hit .300 for the Orioles, but got close. In his final big-league season, at age 34, he hit .297 for Baltimore.
On this date in 1983, George Kell was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee. Former Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Walter Alston was elected too.
My friend Doug and I attended this game, sitting in the centerfield bleachers for budgetary reasons, and choosing the lower deck for meteorological.
‘Twas a soggy day for the finale of a three-game set that, at the outset, provided foolish hope the Tigers could gain ground on the Red Sox, which entered the series four-and-a-half games up on second-place Detroit.
Instead, the Tigers were swept and this one ended with an eighth-inning bullpen collapse.
Neither Roger Clemens nor Walt Terrell were sharp: Clemens allowed seven hits, five walks and three earned runs in six innings. Terrell: six hits, three walks and four earned in seven innings.
The Red Sox led 4-0 until the Tigers scored two in the sixth, on a two-run homer by Alan Trammell, and Darrell Evans grand slam in the seventh to go up 6-4.
Bill Campbell (three) and Willie Hernandez (two) coughed up five runs in the top of the eight and Boston held on to win.
Rich Gedman hit a grand slam off Willie; two of the runs were charged to Campbell.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a short bit about Chris Brown. Today, I uncovered this July 2004 episode of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” which highlights his career and his post-baseball life — which was too short. The segment is a little more than 20 minutes.
It took all of the second day in Cooperstown to make it through the balance of the Museum – and it did not disappoint. There’s so much I could write about but I think the photos I posted on TigersHistory.com tell the tale more vividly. Yet, one dimension in particular stands out and deserves a few words: the detail of the Museum.
Here I am in the exhibit recognizing the Tigers clubs from the 1980s. Though he’s not represented in the Hall of Fame, I was delighted to see my man Jack Morris in the Museum. Same for Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker and the rest of the ’84 champs.
The Museum is rooted in the minutiae of baseball and the memories these otherwise mundane objects evoke. You’d expect to see artifacts from Hank Aaron’s chase for the Babe, Nolan Ryan’s seven no-hitters and Rickey Henderson’s stolen base exploits. But it’s the other stuff that held me rapt. For example:
The cornerstone from Ebbets Field
The wall panel from Tiger Stadium’s deepest reaches – the 440-foot mark
A deep-blue leather jacket from the Philadelphia Athletics
The rotating thingy that sat atop the centerfield scoreboard at old Comiskey Park
A scorebook from a Tigers/Indians game from the early 1970s
The shoes worn by Hall of Fame National League umpire Doug Harvey in his final game in 1992
And so much more. Of course, there was lot of Tigers miscellany, some curious of not outright dubious.
For example, in the Tigers locker, part of the Today’s Game exhibit, you’ll find the hat worn by Luis Pujols when he managed against the Royals’ Tony Pena in June 2002. It marked the first time managers from the Dominican Republic faced each other. The fact someone has that on their radar and thinks to make contact ahead of time with the Royals and Tigers is astounding and impressive.
Also in the Museum is the hat worn by Octavio Dotel on April 7 when he appeared in a game for his record-setting 13th different club.
In a way it’s cool that these items are in Cooperstown, but these two names representing the Tigers with Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Hal Newhouser, Mickey Cochrane, George
Kell and Al Kaline? Kind of a joke, I thought. But the more I considered it, the more I appreciated that the seemingly minor and mostly forgotten stories of people like Pujols and Dotel shape the narrative and history of baseball.
I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s true.
As we departed for the grueling drive back to Detroit I wondered when I’d get back to Cooperstown. Chances are it won’t be soon.
Until that time, I’ll be keeping a more watchful eye on the historical aspects as they happen and cherish a trip of a lifetime with my Dad, brother and brothers in law.
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