Turkey Stearnes

On this Date in 2000

Sparky Anderson and Detroit Stars slugger Norman (Turkey) Stearnes were elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

Random Game: April 6, 1992

Blue Jays 4 – Tigers 2

Jack Morris starting an Opening Day at Tiger Stadium for the visiting team was certainly different. As usual, he went the distance, giving up ninth-inning homers to Cecil Fielder and Rob Deer.

W: Jack Morris — L: Bill Gullickson | Boxscore

Monday, April 6, 1992
Attendance: 51,068
Venue: Tiger Stadium
Game Duration: 2:46

Recap

Dave Winfield had three hits for the Jays.
Travis Fryman had a pair of hits.
Speaking of Rob Deer, this was the quintessential Deer performance: 1 for 4, three strikeouts to go with the homer.
Recently acquired Les Lancaster made his Tigers debut with a scoreless ninth.

Birthdays

He hasn’t made the Tigers yet, but Bligh Madris has a Leap Day® birthday.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 333 6/9 — Rarity: 427

Abysmal. But! A nice Hail Mary in the bottom right corner.

See you tomorrow.

Richie Hebner, One of My Favorites

Richie Hebner didn’t swing at the baseball as much as he chopped at it. That hacker’s cut was, the Tigers thought, an ideal fit for Tiger Stadium’s right field porch. It also served him well in the offseason when he dug graves in the Boston area.

According to the Associated Press story on the trade that brought Hebner to Detroit in October 1979, the Detroit acquired him for his punch:

“We’re really pleased to get somebody like Richie,” a Tigers spokesman said. “He’ll give us some power hitting we need.”

Power? Richie Hebner?

He came from the Mets where in 1979, his only season in New York, he hit just 10 homers.

Check out this Fungo profile of one of my favorite Tigers from the Archives.

*A quintessential 1980 Tigers photo: Champ Summers in the box, Stan Papi, Richie Hebner and Duffy Dyer looking on.*

Birthdays

Dixon Machado, Steve Colyer and the late George Lee “Sparky” Anderson, Jackie Sullivan, Tony DeFate and Clarence Mitchell

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 326 8/9 — Rarity: 121

See you tomorrow.

The Thursday Fungo: Feb. 15

Some Tigers players, and plenty of other teams’ guys are not liking their new uniforms, on several levels. The minuscule lettering on the backs are ridiculous.

A Tiger loudly complained, “These pants they made are terrible.”

Check out the article on The Athletic: MLB players dressing down Nike, Fanatics over new uniforms that look ‘like a replica’

“Replica” is not a word you want associated with your game-day gear.

Birthdays

Don Kelly, Alex Gonzalez, Ugueth Urbina, Brian Williams and the late Buddy Hicks

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 319 8/9: Rarity: 176
One former Detroit Star and one Tiger.

See you tomorrow.