Letters to the Editor
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Major League history did not begin in 1962
I can't disagree with your peeve: sportscasters who have nothing to say blathering on because they haven't the wit to shut up. But my peeve is people who think that major league history began in 1962. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League went 20-134. Last I checked, 134 is more the one greater than 119.
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Detroit from a town called Hope
I agree that after 100 losses you need a melt and re-pour operation. But 43-119 is statistically MUCH worse than say 62-100. You can claim a 19 game improvement and still not be as good as the Cubs. The 03 Tigers were not garden variety bad, they were one of the worst teams in the history of modern professional sports. So, I understand why it's such a big deal and MLB/FOX/ESPN wants to create the idea that if it can happen to Detroit, hey you losers in Pittsburgh or kansas City or Baltimore, it can happen to you too.
Suckers.
btw, just what ARE the bloggers saying about this column?
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A's vs. Tigers, Moneyball match-up?
Here's my favorite subtext of the A's - Tigers series....
In "Moneyball," Michael Lewis discusses how Billy Beane and the A's pass over draft picks the scouts want him to pick up.... most notably, they pass over some guy named Jeremy Bonderman.
While I largely admire Beane, I think his take on scouts is rather off... Not only did Beane pass on Bonderman, he passed on Ben Sheets and Scott Kazmir.
Bonderman has a chance to get his revenge.
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AAAAAAAAAAGH
King says "but after Robertson got shelled in Game 1 by the Yanks, the others shined"
No, the others *shone*. Shined is transitive. They may have shined their shoes, but that's about it.
This public service message has been brought to you by the grammar police.
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Tigers didn't tank at the end of the season
You have to understand...like all Detroiters the Tigers simply hate putting in extra hours without pay. The Tigers really only went on a massive losing streak once their wild card spot was assured. Since it's a brand new season in the playoffs why even show up to the next couple games before the play offs start?
As an interesting aside, every year the Yankees won the World Series in the nineties, they had a losing record to the Tigers. The Tigers were the best team even then, but why put in all that extra play off overtime if you don’t have to.
Every two decades the Tigers take home the ring, and the city burns. Which is why they unusually put two decades between World Series wins.
Detroit has been very good about not burning to the ground in the past two decades, if we can win this one without our usual self destructive zeal, we may have to win the world series again next year.
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Thanks, King!
I'm taking your prediction as a possible reverse-jinx. Or a jinx of the Tigers. Unless this letter un-jinxes everything.
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Corrections - King and jbstorch
King - One minor correction, you mention the Indians rebounded and were in the Wild Card spot in the strike-shortened season. The wild card and 3-division format didn't start until 1995, the season after the strike.
jbstorch, the Moneyball story is that the A's DID pick Bonderman and Beane threw a chair against the wall when he heard. The point of the story was that Beane considers high schoolers too big a risk, and it had nothing to do with Bonderman's skill set. The A's did pass over Kazmir. The A's traded Bonderman before he played a game in the majors.
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At least the Tiger talk is focused on the Tigers
I understand your frustration, King. I hate when storylines get beat into the ground as well. By the way, did you know Jerome Bettis is from Detroit?
But at least all the talk about the Tigers' turnaround is about the Tigers. Nothing irritated me more than the Yankees getting all the headlines even after they were eliminated. The Tigers deserve their props and if it drowns out the Yankee soap opera for a little bit, I can handle a little excessiveness, if that's a word.
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Broadcast Bashing
Like movie reviewers, professional sports writers watch more events, and watch them more intently, than the majority of civilian viewers. So, King's perspective has to be questioned.
I am keenly interested in the Tigers' current run, yet I watched maybe 10% of the Tigers' first round innings. I only heard the reference to "119 losses three years ago" maybe 18 or 20 times. Hardly worth mentioning...
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Tigers and Journalistic Excess
Did anyone else notice Ernie Harwell school Jon Miller on play-by-play during Game 4?
It went something like this:
Jon gives the mike over to Ernie by saying "Ernie, after the pitch if you can't think of anything to say, just say 'Joe?'" Meaning that Joe Morgan will chip in with something.
So Harwell lets the pitcher deal and says, "Johnson, the tall lefty deals...strike on the inside corner."
Then...crowd noise, etc....faint hiss (probably imagined) of red laces cutting the air at 90+...pop of ball into mitt..."Strike two," Ernie informs.
God damn. It was poetry and poetic justice and a trip back to my childhood in West Mighigan all at the same time. That's how you call a ball game.
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"119" obscures the point
The media's been tossing around 119 and saying "wow, can you believe it?" but the shallow treatment of this fact has obscured a few things.
First, 119 losses is substantively different than 100 losses. Not "really lousy" as opposed "lousy." I'm not a math guy, but I'm pretty sure a 19 game swing is the difference between losing 100 games and finishing the season over .500. Big difference. It's also the difference between finishing at .500 and winning 100 games.
Which highlights the second obscured point: this wasn't a bad season by a bad team, this season is the direct result a conscious decision by Mr. Dave Dombrowski (my hero!) to completely demolish the what stood before and start from square one with his guys. Dombrowski knows how to rebuild a franchise (ask the marlins) and he had a better chance of rebuilding the tigers if he gutted them more completely before the 2003 season.
Finally, the point is, a lot of these same players went through this are here now, and stronger for it.
The 2003 Tigers were a laughingstock, they were the butt of jokes on Leno, Harold #*$%ing Reynolds (oh he of the storied Seattle Mariner franchise) said on Baseball Tonight that the Tigers should be contracted! As in summarily ejected from major league baseball! So I don't care if I hear the drooling robots who call the games on ESPN and Fox go on too long about the Tigers' Unbelievable Turnaround. At least I don't have to keep hearing about what a great leader Derek Jeter is or how A-Rod is in a slump or how Joe Torre is a genius. Anyone who loves an underdog story can appreciate the Tigers' season.