Get some facts and come back and Seebee. Get some facts and come back
and Seebee. Don't fill out salaries or other things. Get some facts and
come back and Seebee. You can't handle the true now told our players you
need a bit more like a dog. We don't need a bunch of cats
in here. Looking in the mirror, I look good. I got my
extra bands on, I got my other shoes. Be a doll. We
don't need no meals. We don't need no cats. We need more dogs.
Are not a detain Why you're not that detained? We weren't good.
There's no sense of asking me things about the game. I'm telling you.
We laid an egg. So I'm not gonna break it down for you.
He sucks. He sucked. He laid an egg. That's all I have
to say. Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not gonna break it down for
you. Nothing went well for us. It's on us. We have to
figure it out and we will. Jo Dad Tiger's leaden egg yesterday at Kamerica
Park, coming home after getting swept by Kansas City losing nine to one.
Welcome in to the eight o'clock hour. Dennis Fithian in for Matt Shepherd on
Xies and Bros. On the Michigan Sports Network. Yeah, nine to one,
Tigers have lost five in a row. Coming up in a half hour,
we'll talk some Tigers with Tom Gage, the long time Tiger beat writer.
Right now we're talking about the alliance. Is it super Bowl or bust?
Dan Campbell, Lions head coach, answered that question, also got the
hype train going for Jamison Williams, calling him the most improved player, saying
he's a man on the mission. He's a man on a mission. How
much are you counting on Jamison Williams? What do you expect for him?
And Tho As a couple of questions that we have out there, you're just
waking up tuning in Celtics beat the Pacers, Oilers in double overtime over the
Stars down in Big d. Those are your finals in basketball and hockey and
of course baseball. I said, would it be something that the Lions would
think about doing? Going all in for t Higgins, the outstanding wide receiver
for Cincinnati, who's doesn't want to sign any kind of franchise tag. He's
trying to get delt. He wants a long term deal. He wants to
get Delt and you think about the Lions and the position that they're in,
and could you add a T. Higgins And the first thing you think,
you know, you get a big name, and you get the Lions offense,
and you already got him on our Saint Brown and you're looking over there
and you got left Porta and and everything that you know, and then we're
just talking about Jamison Williams, Like, wow, how about T Higgins?
This could be the best offense in the league. If you were able to
bring T. Higgins in now, that might be the best offense in the
league. Anyways, if Williams even comes close to the kind of hype that
has been bestowed on him in the last twenty four hours. The reason I
here I bring it up to kind of get everything going. But then here's
the bunch of cold water on to bring in a T. Higgins one.
If the Lions were going to make a big swing and go all in,
so to speak, it would be on the other side of the ball.
If you follow Brad Home so far, at least through now this upcoming being
his fourth year, there's no track record to suggest that he's doing anything all
in. You know, he has not gone after that big name in free
agency. Maybe you think Kevin Zeitler, the offensive guard from the Ravens at
the Lions brought in to fill in on their offensive line. That's, you
know, a big name for you, all right, a DJ reader on
the defensive side at defensive tackle. But you know, trading for Carlton Davis
or you know, signing Marcus Davenport, you know those aren't going all in
moves. So a little bit of cold water, wrong side of the ball
and then wrong general manager think about the big swing and going all in.
But maybe you know he's got a trade. You know, you say all
of this, but then Holmes is sitting back there and if the the I
could see him going completely against what he's done and you know, even bolstering
the offensive side if the deal was right, because the Lions are in that
position where it is a piece or two, a player or two where you
were talking about the possibility of this team winning a Super Bowl. He knows
that, I know that you know that the movie's going to make what's it
going to be? And honest, he just got to continue this is that's
just kind of hang in there, hang around. This is not We're not
ready to push all of our chips in. Yeah, we're Yeah, we
got some stacks that were firing once in a while here on our poker analogy,
but not all in. Let's go to the phones. Where are we
going, Ben? Yeah, we got Freddy on the line. Oh,
Freddy, Freddy, how are you? Good morning? Dennis? How are
you Blady? I'm doing good, Freddie. I hope you have a an
enjoyable Memorial weekend you as well. But we gotta get you back on the
radio full time. You're you're much You're much needed. I'll tell you that.
So now, people that are answering this question super Bowl or busts are
not answering it with emotions right now because the football season's not here. They're
not watching the games. You're fooling yourself if you're saying it's not super Bowl
or bust this team doesn't win a super Bowl in the next I'm not gonna
say five ten years. Let's forget about that the next two years. If
this team doesn't win a Super Bowl next two years, it's an absolute bust.
Okay, because the Rams went to the Super Bowl with Jered Goff and
it was a bust for them and what they do. They ship them to
the town and they brought another quarterback to win the Super Bowl. So this
team, if they don't get to the super Bowl this year, I don't
care what anybody says. Half of the half of this fan base is gonna
turn it on Jared Golf because they the Golf is a likable guy, good
dude, you know the Jared Golf chants and all that stuff. But he'll
be the number one target if he doesn't get to the super Bowl this year.
Absolutely, there's no doubt about it. But that's with the money he's
gotten. And it's super Bowl or boss. This team has never won a
super Bowl. It's never been to a super Bowl. They smelled it last
year and they blew it the second half. They absolutely blew it. And
and I just think people if they say, well, it's you know,
we don't if we don't get to the super Bowl, it's okay. You're
not dealing with the emotions right now. You're not watching the games. Once
the game starts, your emotions are going to be completely different. Well,
you're right about that, Freddie. If we could fast forward to the divisional
round right now and talked a little bit about it earlier, and you know,
the Lions lose by one point to let's say the Eagles. What you're
saying is exactly true. For twenty four or forty eight hours, people are
going to be out of their mind and the windows slamming shot and everything else.
But you get a little further back, and you do if you if
you don't have the kind of team where you think that they could run it
back and they still have a window. I mean, that's going to be
the thing that you have to remember, sure, or the emotion. You
know, there were people last year after they completely melted down, that like,
this is back to square one, this is their one chance. This
is the same old alliance. But people even that thought that, after a
week or two looked at this and said, well, you know, this
is this team has all of the components to come back and be in the
same position next year. And you know, we don't know because there's a
lot of factors. And sometimes the window looks wide open and then it's slam
shut so fast, and you know, so there is that danger. But
you know, and you even said it yourself, you put two years on
it. If they don't win in two years, I said three, so
we're not that far apart. I look at it as a three year window
or bust, but you know it could it could slam shot. I go
back to the conversation we had yesterday. I said to you, the two
thousand and six oh seven Tigers, right, I always look at Jim Leland
and Dan Campbell is the same person. They know how to manipulate the media.
They know how to talk to the media and motivate their players. That's
what they do that makes that's what makes them great. Now, the those
six Tigers, they blew it. They had chanced those These chances don't come
along in life, not just sports. In life, when it comes around,
you gotta grab it because you're never guaranteed. And the those six Tigers
are proof of that. And I'm not saying this team is, but even
Dan Campbell said at the end of the year last year, it's not gonna
be easy, boys. And when you get that chance, you gotta grab
it. And if you don't, it's gonna take a long while before it
comes along. So go get that super Bowl. Just shut everybody up,
because this town deserves it. I like your Tiger analogy, you know,
thanks Freddie, You know, two thousand and seven it was a collapse,
and then remember there was the tie breaker game with the Twins. That felt
like it was all over. But what did they do? They made some
key moves. They had a core including Justin Verlander at the top there.
But then they got Cabrera and then look, they made it to the Alcs
in twenty eleven, in twenty twelve, they made it to the World Series
in twenty twelve. They were back. They were right there. They should
have I can't say they should have won it. They were favorite. I
thought that they were gonna win. But the point is is that it wasn't
over for them. The Tigers did have that window. It wasn't two thousand
and seven wasn't a World Series or bust for the Tigers. A little bit
of it if you can squeeze it in and we're comparing baseball to football,
as much as that's hard to do, I think that that's the part that
I look to spin it a little bit forward. The Tigers did have other
opportunities. Good job. Freddie will continue on talking about the the Lions and
the Super Bowl and their most outstanding player, their most improved player, and
the player that is on a mission. According to Dan Campbell, Jamison Williams
axes and brows Michigan Sports Network, we're teeming off our tenth year at the
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com. Does it feel like the holiday weekend because it's here? Memorial Weekend
twenty four Dennis Fithian inn for Matt Shephard this morning the Michigan Sports Network.
We're taking your calls, but talking about the Lions a lot. It's one
of those days where you have the Lions. Yesterday, Dan Campbell, their
head coach, was asked if it's Super Bowl or bust at OTA's in a
news conference there and he said he doesn't see buss, you see super Bowl.
And then he was like ll Cooljay and that beer commercial busted through the
apartment in that train Dan Campbell when he came in and said, I have
our most improved player, this Jamison Williams. And then he hit the horn
and everyone who went crazy when he said he's a man on a mission.
Now, you know, what are your expectations for Jamison Williams. And if
you just looked at the numbers or his first two years, now he was
hurt and then he was suspended, and it's not good for a wide receiver
that was taken in the top fifteen of the NFL draft when you look historically.
But you do have to put those two factors in. If you look
at the negative side, there's you know, he has been more times than
not considered a bust or or been on a bust trajectory than he has any
kind of you know, superstar. But you know the thing is, you
know he doesn't have to be a superstar. You pick a guy in the
first round with the idea that, yeah, he's going to be a superstar.
But what we have seen are big drops in big spots. But we
have also seen flashes of a brilliance and so much so for me and I
don't even remember the game, I've referenced it earlier. It was an end
around where he scored a touchdown and on like the five yard line. He
do he didn't need to, but he did, and it looked like he
jumped from the fifteen yard line and it looked like he jumped like fifteen feet
in the air. It was one of those moments, one of the things
you love about sports. Sometimes you're watching it just like what did I just
see? I'm watching just some incredible talent. So he's got that and he
is in the perfect position, you know who reminds me of And take your
calls. See we're gonna talk some tigers coming up in just over ten minutes.
And you know the numbers. Let me give it to you. Eight
six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. That's the Meyer hotline.
Eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. You could text us
by typing in sports radio one word to twenty one thousand. You get the
prompt you can get in that way. He reminds me, I'm thinking of
Rashid Wallace, the former Piston. They go to work Piston who won a
championship. If I went for Rashid Wallace, they wouldn't have won the championship.
But if what for Rashid Wallace, they you know, they could have
won two champions Himpsfielder Garden, Robert Rory. But you know that's not what
I'm here to talk about. But Rashid when he was out with the jail
Blazers, now it is loud mouth getting thrown out, smoked his way off.
You know, he suspend all of these things, ejections left and right.
He just wasn't that guy to lead you to where you wanted. The
awesome player, great talent, all over those kind of things, but just
it just wasn't He couldn't be that guy. And he got into the Pistons
where you know who could be that guy, mister big shot Ben Wallace could
be that guy, and he fit in with Tayshaun and ripped perfectly. He
didn't have to be the leader, he didn't have to be the guy down
of the post. He didn't. He just he was able just to do
all of the things that he could do. He actually could go down to
the post. He was great on defense. You know, you he could
knock down for he was an incredible player, and it just it brought out
all of the best things and that's the position that Jamison Williams in. I'm
sure somebody had to tell them and they look at you are in just an
incredible spot. You got Laportie, you got Brown, you got everything that
with his offense and you can put them over the top. I'm looking on
Twitter and it's been a good dwo days on Twitter. Terry has been involved
on Twitter. And here I have a tweeked from FTP who was talking about
Jamison Williams and he says, Teddy Bridgewater was brought in to mentor this kid.
It's talking about Jamison Williams. He said so at his presser and Teddy
and Jamo himself off did a wonderful job turning around the first two years of
off the field stuff. Kudos to both. Yeah, old Teddy two gloves.
I he didn't do much on the field, but the off the field
stuff. Last week I saw him throwing as is the high school coach.
Now it's throwing balls high school kids. Not a surprise from from Teddy two
Gloves. Like to see that and if is a part of it just being
able to turn around the off the field stuff, I mean, the off
the field stuff. What are we talking about here? We're talking about he
got hurt. I like, so I'm not holding that against him. The
suspension. Yeah, you got to be better than that. You're the other
players. You know, he could have been out of here if and you
know, so if that's a strike or two strikes, whatever it was,
I'm not getting on him because he likes to eat at McDonald's or go down
to a Coney Island in the city, which you know, some people it
seemed like they were you know, or had something needed something to talk about
there. But give me that guy feeling good about himself and his life on
the football field with a ball in his hand, and if he can't catch
it, hand it off to him. Because he's that kind of special talent.
I don't want to go overboard. But if we're lining up talent wise,
the hundred greatest receivers in NFL history, just talent, Jamison Williams is
going to be up close to the front of that line. Now. I
know he's you know, he has not shown very much production on the field.
Twenty four catches a couple of TVs last year, you know, just
over three hundred yards. And you know what, he's also a bust,
you know, what about talent playmaking. You know that's where it's at when
it comes down to JMO. All right, I wanted to give this to
you on this Memorial weekend. If you're you know, you're not gonna watch
basketball, you're not gonna watch hockey, you might want to on a Memorial
weekend take in a war movie and just for your viewing pleasure. I have
three of them for you that are available if you have Netflix and if you
have not watched any of these. I liked all three. Number one on
the list. It's called The Forgotten Battle. Again. These are all on
Netflix. This is one of the best war movies I have seen in the
last ten years. It is the marshes of World War Two and the Netherlands.
I give it a total thumbs up. All Quiet on the Western Front
is also there on Netflix. It got cashed in on some awards. It's
very gory, so you have you know, like you it's a war movie,
but very gory but good. And then Narvik also gets the nod for
me as a thumbs up, one that I wouldn't actually think, but I'm
pleasantly surprised and I gave that a thumbs up. So there are three war
movies right there on Netflix. Check all those three out. I think you'd
like all three of those. Little tip for me on this Memorial weekend.
Oh you want to tip on how to cook a steak? Okay, I
don't have to. Maybe next time when I when I join you. Coming
up straight ahead, we'll talk some Tigers with Tom Gage, the longtime beat
writer. Next on the Michigan Sports Network in Then with Dan Dickerson. Hey,
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Now, Keith was over two against Reagans, but he drew a walk
ahead a single against two lefty relievers. More than anything, he showed he
can hang in against tough lefties. He says facing a hard throwing lefty actually
helps him because it forces him to really focus on his hitting keys making better
against Wright eas And it looks like cold Keith might be about to take off.
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over in Michigan to play Hey there, Hey, thirty five in the morning
across the state of Michigan on the Michigan Sports Network. Dennis fit the in
in for Matt Shepherd on X's and Bros. Hey, you can make all
the jokes you want about the power outage last night at Comerica Park, but
there was a power outage in the booth and on the score for the Tigers,
they could beat nine to one. You probably know that by now,
as well as them losing their fifth game in a row. But they got
a lot of ball games to play. That's what you can say if you're
looking for that silver lining. We're ready to there's another silver lining as we're
ready to talk some Tigers baseball with a long time Tigers a beat writer,
Tom Gage, who joins us on the line on Xes and Bros. Live
this morning. Tom, How are you? How are you? Oh?
I'm doing great, you know, Tom. The only thing that would have
been more perfect at talking with you on the radio if it would have been
right at game forty, but having you around game forty. It was game
fifty yesterday, as you know. But you know it's been forty years as
the Tigers, well, the World Series and that that forty you know that
that game start thirty five and five and all that, which we'll get to,
but you know, I wanted to start you out with that forty game,
Marcus is it's in Tiger's lore that Sparky said that you can't judge a
team after forty. Did he actually say that or is he just kicking the
can down the road to you guys. No, Dennis, he actually said
that. And with Sparky, he usually didn't say things just once. He
said them many times. So I think he probably said it every year that
he was the manager. But he believed in forty, I you know,
and that's probably because he didn't believe in thirty. It was one month was
just too fast to judge a team. So forty is a good measure,
I think, in my opinion, it's still a little short of being able
to judge a team. I think where the Tigers are right now at fifty
games is a better measure because you show your true colors. By fifty you've
had some ups, you've had some downs, and now you're begin to settle
in. I hope the Tigers aren't beginning to settle in because they're not playing
well. But yeah, you know, I'm a little bit worried about that
offense, as people should be. They just don't score enough runs to support
their pitching, as you know. But you know, Sparky, Parky did
believe in forty games, and he said so often. You know, what
happens to me every year is that there's a team that gets off to an
incredible start, and this year it's the Phillies and they're thirty seven and fourteen
right now. They you know, they've won six in a row, they're
nine and one of their last ten. But then you tell people like,
yeah, it's incredible, but you know, thirty five and five, you
know that was incredible. We're gonna get a little bit more of that.
You know. I was Jim Leland back in two thousand and six, as
you know, I don't remember what the game mark was. I think they
had lost to Cleveland and they were getting ready to fly out to the West
Coast, and he tore into his team and the postgame media session he wasn't
gonna stand for this, and they got a lot of criticism right off the
bat, like this guy's just coming in and he's he's, you know,
putting his team on blast that quickly. I say that, Tom, because
we had a caller earlier who said it was time to see some emotion from
aj Hitch, like he wanted a rant, he wanted on the turnover the
table spread or something. Do you think that that could be in the offing
here for for AJ Hinch, some kind of outburst or something. Well,
Dennis, I think it should be in the Austin, but I'm not sure
it is in the Austin because I don't know Aj that well. I covered
him a little bit as a player, but I haven't covered him as a
manager. But he seems very methodical and very very He keeps his emotion pretty
contained. I understand he got upset the other day when somebody said the Tigers
hadn't been competitive in the game. And I think that's too bad because he
limits you know, he limits the media access to his coaches. And if
you're the only part of the coaching staff and managing staff that you allow the
media to have access to, I think you need to show up and and
and not get and not get upset at the questioning. I don't think the
I know the big writers of the Tigers now, I know them well,
and you know they're professional. They're not gotcha They're not a crew that asks
a lot of gotcha questions. So I think media, I think a J.
Hinch has it has a nice situation here in Detroit with the media.
Yeah, well, I know some of those guys of the radio actually are
got kind of guys, probably the one that threw that question at him.
So is there if you're looking for a silver lining, if for the rest
of this year or just moving forward for the Tigers, what would you point
to you? You've seen so many, you know, the seasons and then
transitions and new general managers. And obviously the Tigers have Scott Harris who's just
in his second full season. He's a young guy with thirty six thirty seven
years old, but they've got a low payroll. Is there what would you
point to as a silver lining ahead for this team? Well, I do
think that they've developed some solid players within the lineup. I think Carpenter is
proving to be a good, solid hitter, and you know, they've done
a good job in picking up some of the pieces to fill in people like
Gabanya's and Urshela, and those are very important players that pick up a Brushel
was I think quite important in Flaherty. Uh. You know, the pitching
staff has been to me, the starting rotation has been outstanding with Clarity and
and Olsen and they but I imagine they're getting a little bit impatient right now
because they don't get any runs to work with. You know, schoobl Is
school is going to be a star, and I think you could see that
a couple of years ago. He just has the stuff to win. And
but you know, I've seen flaerty uh pitching person a couple of times.
I know, I know he had problems a little while a while ago,
not this year, but in the past. But he's throwing very well and
I'm very impressed with him. So I think they're I think there are good
building blocks for the Tigers. They just don't have the core of that offense.
And the guys that are letting them down, of course, are the
young players Tork Wilson and Riley Green. Uh. You know, everybody likes
the praise, right Riley and Duvis deservedly so, because he has a lot
of rod talent. Right now, he's not playing very well. Yeah,
is that right? We got Tom Gage with us for a few more minutes.
Tom, I want to go back. You know, you've written a
few books. You've got your fourth out right now, or it's going to
be out the Enchanted season. You wrote this with Lance Parrish about the nineteen
eighty four team. I've already referenced them a few times. Tell me a
little bit about you know, this this particular book and working with Lance.
What was it like. No, I knew Lance very well as a player.
I also knew that he was rather contained with his comments and his emotion.
And when the publisher suggested this book for the two for the fortieth anniversary,
I wasn't sure how how much I was going to be able to get
out of him, but it was. It turned out to be a true
delight working with Lance because he tried so hard to remember the bits and pieces
and you know, the major things and even some of the minor components of
that season. So we would have a couple of conversations each week and as
we want through the different chapters. And again, I really enjoyed working with
Allance. He's a quality individual. And I want to stress again, Dennis,
he tried very hard to remember what nineteen eighty four was like and also
the other years of his career. You know, might still go with Ben.
Excuse me, what was that? No, I didn't hear you.
Oh yeah, I cut out for a second. Absolutely, We're good.
It was just right there at the end of you talking about Lance. That's
good. You know for my generation. I was in high school, you
know, so they bless you boys. I had them. But you know,
growing up with every one of my uncles talking about the sixty eight team,
you know, I knew everything like that wasn't a chant of team.
I knew all of it. And then it seemed like I was doing the
same thing with eighty four. And the Tigers had their shot obviously in six
and what twenty thirteen, you know, getting to the World Series. It
would have been great obviously if they would have been able to you know,
capture another one. But you do go back and now it's just, you
know, to reminisce about eighty four almost each and every player, just how
this thing was put together. But Tom, take me back to the forty
gay mark. Are you sitting there and you're thinking, there's no way that
this team. Now we were talking about the Lions this morning about is a
championship or bust? When you got to the point where it was the forty
gay mark, was it a realization that this team is going to win the
World Series? There is this going to be a major disappointment. Well,
when when he got to the forty game mark, and of course that was
in Seattle and they lost the you know, got swept to this series.
Here, I remember the team being just they weren't basking in the glory of
being thirty five and five. I mean, Sparky had that eye opening conversation.
The night before that, the last game in Anaheim before they went to
Seattle. Sparky was at the team hotel and a guy from Dayton came up
to him and said, Sparky Anderson, boy, I'm from Dayton and I
remember your big red machine teams. By the way, what are you doing
now? And Sparky said, here I was, I had the hottest team
in the major leagues. And a guy who supposedly was a fan of mine
comes up and asks me what am I doing now? And he said it
was a you know, it just put me in my place, and it
reminded me that, you know, we were thirty four and five at the
time, but they really hadn't accomplished anything. So Spokey had the mindset at
thirty five and five that you better not let any grass grow under your feet.
You had to keep pressing, and the Tigers did for throughout the summer
I didn't play as well as they began the season. Toronto was on their
heels. They had to play hard and it wasn't really until September that they
put it away. But the summer was a great test for them and that's
where they proved the quality of the team. Oh and it came to Smarky
and I was thinking about eighty four. I think, if you know,
there's so many different things to talk about, but the audio of the World
Series when they had Goose guys and uh it was it Dick Williams who went
out to the mound and they're having a conversation, and then you know,
they showed Sparky and they got young Gibby, who's you know, he's the
cage lion over there and he knew how to you know, poke and prod
them and everything. And they've got the audio. You know, they don't
want to walk you. And then of course he hits the home run,
which is you know, so famous and it was so great. I think
the question here is is that how come we didn't hear more, whether it
was even in that World Series or anywhere. Sparky was omnipresident on TV back
in the eighties, I mean he would you felt like you knew him all
the time. But just that audio on the field, I'd never heard anything
else. And but that clip was so great, you know, from from
Sparky with with Gibby in the World Series. Oh it sure was. When
Gibson had to play betting Sparky ten dollars that he was going to take out
he was going to hit one off of Gossage and Sparky not believe in it.
But you know, Sparky was in his form, he was Sparky Anderson
in his uh, away from the uniform, he was George Anderson. So
he was he was really two people in one. Uh. He he really
knew how to turn on the charm and the personality when he was when he
was in baseball mode. But when he was George Anderson, he was just
really still the kid from South Dakota. And that's what made him so interesting,
you know that the two the two people in one. He didn't he
didn't allow you to call call him George unless you were his friend or his
or a relative. I never called him George. I called him Sparky and
uh. But I really had great admiration for him, not just as a
manager, but as a person, and you know, he did such great
things for Detroit with the charity catch and uh he really wanted to give back
to the city. So uh, you know, he was just a very
memorable individual. A couple more minutes here with with Tom Gage. I loved
you know, you've covered it all though, but it's just as a youngster,
you'd always remember going to the game, you know here what Sparky would
come out or I think was did he have the nickname, uh Captain Hook,
you know, to get his pitcher. But he would never he always
made sure that he would not. He had the superstition of not stepping on
the baseline. I said, have been the third baseline there at uh am
I right at Tiger Stadium, third base, and I remember it if they
were losing and the crowd was bullying, and he used to he used to
stop on the way back to the dead note and let people get express their
emotion because he thought they he said, they were paying customers. You know,
we were sticking up the joint. They had it, they had the
right to express their opinion. Tom, let me give you a couple of
quick hitters. You know you're a member of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
I've been to one of those banquets. Those are that's an awesome time.
But a couple of years ago, the Baseball Writers award you with the
with the Spink and you're presented that at the Cooperstown of the Baseball Hall of
Fame. That's got to be at the very top of the list. What's
it like for you as a long time baseball scribe to you know, have
your name there at Cooperstown among all the greats, oh Dennis. It was
a thrill of a lifetime because that was before COVID, so they the Hall
of Fame observed the would present the award at Doubleday Field right downtown, so
you had to have a big crowd there and the Hall of Famers would sit
on the uh uh in the chairs behind you, and it was just I
mean, you you really, I mean, you don't become a Hall of
Famer just because you win the Spink Award. You're not inducted, but they
treat you like a Hall of Famer. And again I was it was a
huge, huge thrill, and I remember when I was done with my speech
and uh, you know, the Hall of Famers were congratulating me. And
one man came across the stage and I said, oh, is he coming
over to talk to me? And he did, and he was. He
was the man who expressed the most I think sincere congratulations for the speech I'd
just given and and uh uh you know it was Sandy Kofax, and you
know that was just a great, great honor. And I you know again
meeting meeting the Hall of Famers, uh, and being on their bus and
and having a breakfast with them. Uh. There's so many of them that
are going now. You know, my good friend l. K Line and
Jim Bunning and little Brock was especially great, gracious, and you know I
missed them all, but it was really great to know them. Well.
Tom the great story there with Sandy Kofax and everything else. We are out
of time. I want to thank you. You know, I always treated
like broadcasters like me. You know, I could have been a long time
writer, and you're always really gracious with your time, just like you are
today. I want to tell everybody the Enchanted season. I went on my
phone where I buy my books, and I saw it right there. I
could order it up. So I encourage everybody to do that Tom, thanks
so much for your time, continued success. Always great to talk with you.
Well. Thank you, Dennis, and I really enjoyed being on your
show. All right, take care. There is Tom Gage, the long
time Tiger Beat writer. Talk a little bit about the current Tigers, and
of course going back to nineteen eighty four. I want to thank Ben and
Zost for turning all the dials, doing a fabulous job here, everybody else
for listening, Matt Shepherd for letting me pitch it. I'll do it again
in June if he'll have me back. Take care, everybody, Axes and
Bros. I'm Don's fifthy in here. I'm a Michigan Sports Network. Friday,
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