I also like the way the Tigers allow their minor league teams to learn to win together. Their minor league teams are doing well, and the Erie SeaWolves clinched the first half championship of the Eastern League.
“The Tigers let their AA team win the first half,’’ the evaluator said. “They’ve been winning in the minor leagues. They are teaching their players the right things. They lead the league in hitting and they’ve struck out the fewest times in the league.’’
Sounds like they are playing baseball throughout the organization, not velocity, spin-rate ball like so many other minor league teams.
That day Hinch was hired back in 2020, he showed he had a feel for the city. He played for the 2003 Tigers, a team that lost 120 games, he also spent a good portion of the year playing for the Toledo Mud Hens, so it was no golden path. Hinch made this statement, “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but the good times are coming. We’ve got to go put in the work to make sure that happens because this fan base, this ownership group, the front office, and these players deserve it.’’
The Tigers were my father’s favorite team, and we saw them play the Yankees often growing up. They have always been a team I cared about, because of their name, the classy D on their caps and the cool uniforms. There is something unique about the Tigers – they are not just another team – and maybe that goes back to the days of Rocky Colavito and Al Kaline, days of my youth and then the 1968, 103-win World Champion Tigers with such stars as Willie Horton, Dick McAuliffe, Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich. Kaline was 33 years old that season and got 327 at-bats, hitting .287 with 10 home runs and 52 RBI.
Then there was the fun year of 1976 when Mark Fidrych burst onto the scene with a 19-9 record and a 2.34 ERA. Bird was the word.
Eight years later the Bless You Boys Tigers of Sparky Anderson won the World Series, and that is the last Tigers team to win the Fall Classic. That team featured Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker and Jack Morris.
Again, class, character and grit. Perhaps Hinch can be like Sparky, who managed the Big Red Machine to two World Series titles and then took the Tigers all the way. Hinch has his World Series win with the Astros, and if his Tigers go on to win the World Series, A.J. Hinch will truly be the King of Detroit.