Write On Sports LLC - "Out of the Wilderness: Reflections on the Detroit Tigers' Stunning Turnaround" by Peter Nemerovski

Out of the Wilderness: Reflections on the Detroit Tigers' Stunning Turnaround

2006-09-08 00:05:38 | By: Peter Nemerovski

It's hard to identify a single “low point” in the twelve consecutive losing seasons that the Detroit Tigers suffered between 1994 and 2005, a streak now guaranteed to end this season. For me, the low point was probably April 3, 2003, at about 2:30 in the afternoon.

On that day, I and 8,861 other hardy fans (if the official attendance figure is to be believed) showed up at Comerica Park to watch a matinee between the Tigers and Twins. The Tigers came into the game with a record of 0-2, having lost their first two games of the season to Minnesota.

The season was young. We didn’t know exactly what we had, but we knew it wasn’t good. The Tigers’ starting lineup that day featured the likes of Hiram Bocachica, Shane Halter, Craig Paquette, and Matt Walbeck.

They were no match for Kyle Lohse. The Twins’ starting pitcher that day, Lohse was in his second year in the big leagues. He has since developed into a serviceable back-of-the-rotation starter, with a career ERA just under five. He will never be mistaken for Roger Clemens, except perhaps by someone who saw him on April 3, 2003. Lohse pitched eight innings that day, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out five.

There are three things I will remember about that game. First, it was cold. According to espn.com, the gametime temperature was 39 degrees, but it felt colder than that.

Second, I remember the food vendors approaching me on an individual basis to ascertain whether I wished to make a purchase. You see, each fan basically had his or her own section, and the vendors would walk right up to me and ask, “Sir, would you care for some ice cream?”

Third, at some point during that game, as Kyle Lohse was mowing down the hapless Tigers hitters, it occurred to me that I might be witnessing not just a bad baseball team, but a bad baseball team of historic proportions.

The Twins beat the Tigers that day, 3-0. I went to eight more games that year, and I never saw the Tigers win. (In my defense, I was working just a few blocks from the CoPa that summer, so I often went to the weekday afternoon games on my “lunch break.”) They finished the season 43-119.

That was then.

This year, the Tigers are in first place and sport the best record in the American League. The hitters are hitting. The pitchers are pitching. A wise old manager is holding everything together.

The atmosphere at the ballpark is electric. The bars and restaurants outside the stadium are packed, and everyone wants to talk about the Tiges.

What happened?

Well, let’s start with what did not happen. This is not the story of a scrappy, ragtag, small-market team finally breaking through. The Tigers’ opening day payroll this year was $82.6 million, 14th highest among the 30 major league teams. They play in the tenth largest metropolitan area in the country. Their owner, Mike Ilitch, has an estimated net worth north of $1 billion. The Tigers routinely throw millions of dollars at coveted -- and sometimes not so coveted -- free agents.

But for twelve years, nothing went right. Players and managers came and went, but the losing persisted. General Manager Randy Smith made one bad decision after another. First the Indians, and then the Twins, dominated the division, while the Tigers fought it out with the Royals for fourth place. We learned from players like Dean Palmer and Seth Greisinger that there is something called the two-year disabled list. (Not really.)

In 2000, Juan Gonzalez was brought in to save the franchise. The year before, he had hit .326-39-128 for Texas. He hit .289-22-67 for the Tigers, complained that the fences were too deep at the CoPa (to be fair, he was right), and the next year he was gone. He signed with division rival Cleveland and hit .325-35-140 in 2001. That’s the way things went for the Tigers in those days.

These days, everything is going right. Brandon Inge, Marcus Thames, and Craig Monroe are enjoying breakout years. Carlos Guillen, perhaps the single most important acquisition of Team President Dave Dombrowski’s five-year tenure, is having his finest season. Rookie pitchers Joel Zumaya and Justin Verlander, with their youthful exuberance and blazing fastballs, have come from nowhere to energize the pitching staff. Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson and, before his injury, Mike Maroth have blossomed into the pitchers we always thought they could be. Guillen and Magglio Ordonez have somehow managed to play the entire season without getting injured. (I know I may be jinxing them by saying that, but at this point we’re playing with house money anyway.) And the organization’s time-honored strategy of overpaying for past-their-prime free agents is actually working -- Ordonez, Ivan Rodriguez, Kenny Rogers, and Todd Jones have all made significant contributions. And yes, having the first competent manager since Sparky Anderson in the dugout has helped as well.

How will it end? It’s hard for Tigers fans to be anything but pessimistic. Twelve straight losing seasons will do that. But I’m convinced they will make the playoffs for the first time since 1987. And after that, who knows? Maybe they’ll get hot and win it all.

I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I do know this: the Detroit Tigers have come a long way since April 3, 2003.

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