Speaker 1: It's an honor to bring in a friend of mine
Speaker 1: and one of the best players the Tigers have ever had,
Speaker 1: Lance Parrish. He has written a thrilling book. It's really
Speaker 1: an easy read. It's called The Enchanted Season, The Historic
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four Run, and My Life as the Big Wheel.
Speaker 1: Pick it up because it's worth the read. And he
Speaker 1: joins us here on exes and Bros. Lance, my friend,
Speaker 1: how are you today?
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Chep.
Speaker 1: How are you doing, Tom, I'm doing fantastic. Thanks for
Speaker 1: the time. I appreciate what inspired the book.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, this is the forty year anniversary of
Speaker 2: our eighty four World championship. So we were approached Tom
Speaker 2: Gage and I I are approached by Triumph Books if
Speaker 2: we were interested in this project. It was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I was very excited to do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't blame you. How are you different? What's
Speaker 1: the difference between Lance Parish and the Big Wheel.
Speaker 2: Well, I guess the Big Wheel is kind of an
Speaker 2: on field persona a association with the Detroit Tigers and
Speaker 2: my teammates, which was all great at the time. I
Speaker 2: to be honest with you, don't really look at myself
Speaker 2: as the Big Wheel. But when it comes up, I
Speaker 2: obviously identify, Yeah.
Speaker 1: A special season. Obviously my favorite team of all time
Speaker 1: for a lot of different reasons, so influential to so
Speaker 1: many people. One hundred and four wins starting out thirty
Speaker 1: five and five, which gets all the recognition, but I
Speaker 1: think just as impressive, and perhaps even more impressive, was
Speaker 1: the fact that you guys started seventeen to oh on
Speaker 1: the road. At what point were you feeling like this
Speaker 1: team is in incredibly special and we cannot be beaten.
Speaker 2: Well, honestly, I don't know if I ever felt that way,
Speaker 2: and I don't know if anybody in our team during
Speaker 2: that time felt that way. I mean, we're obviously off
Speaker 2: to an amazing start, which I don't think we could
Speaker 2: even comprehend at the time, but the beginning of that
Speaker 2: season was obviously very special. Thirty five and five, starting
Speaker 2: out seventeen and oero on the road. I don't see
Speaker 2: anybody else doing that ever again. So you know, to
Speaker 2: be a part of that, even to this day and
Speaker 2: reflection is pretty special. A great group of guys. Obviously
Speaker 2: we've finished the job, got it done, one world championship,
Speaker 2: so that all plays into it. So it was you know,
Speaker 2: obviously a very very special year.
Speaker 1: Lance Paris joined us here on Exes and Bros. On
Speaker 1: this Wednsday morning. His book is called The Enchanted Season,
Speaker 1: The Historic nineteen eighty four Run, and My Life as
Speaker 1: the Big Wheel. I think he should be a Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer. He's an eight time All Star, he's a
Speaker 1: three time Gold Glover, he's a six times Silver Slugger.
Speaker 1: You were a first round pick of the Tigers, but
Speaker 1: it was kind of unexpected. Can you take us through
Speaker 1: that journey early on in life and how it came
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I try to touch on that a
Speaker 2: little bit in the book, and obviously what I've tried
Speaker 2: to portray is is, you know how I was not
Speaker 2: really wrapped up in professional sports when I was a kid.
Speaker 2: I was more of an outborsy kind of guy and
Speaker 2: roaming around catching lizards, snake and you know, things that
Speaker 2: young kids do. And I just I played sport as
Speaker 2: you know, I guess, something to occupy my time. And
Speaker 2: as I got a little better with it and got
Speaker 2: into high school, and you know, schools started taking notice,
Speaker 2: professional teams started taking notice. This thing just kind of evolved.
Speaker 2: So when I was drafted, I had no idea that
Speaker 2: I was good enough to be drafted the professional baseball
Speaker 2: It wasn't like I had any scouts coming around talking
Speaker 2: to me. I mean I talked to plenty of college
Speaker 2: people because I was being recruited to play football and
Speaker 2: baseball at that level. But I don't think I ever
Speaker 2: had a conversation with a professional baseball scout. Even though
Speaker 2: I heard that there was guys sitting in the stands,
Speaker 2: I didn't do they were. So when right before the draft,
Speaker 2: there was a high school baseball coach at our league
Speaker 2: that came up to me and said, you know what,
Speaker 2: You're going to be a number one drafter And I
Speaker 2: was like, yeah, right. So anyway that you know, the
Speaker 2: Tigers drafted me in the first round, and I was
Speaker 2: pretty excited about that.
Speaker 1: You were a quarterback in high school. I mean in
Speaker 1: the book, you've got some great pictures of you in
Speaker 1: your early days. You've got your senior picture in high school.
Speaker 1: You got you thrown a pass at the quarterback position,
Speaker 1: you got you signing the contract. Who was looking at
Speaker 1: you for football? And what swayed you to go to
Speaker 1: baseball route?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I actually went on five recruiting trips
Speaker 2: to different schools during that time period. My senior year,
Speaker 2: I went to UCLA, USC, Nebraska, Arizona State, and cal Berkeley,
Speaker 2: which you know, I throw out there that I honestly
Speaker 2: wasn't really interested in going to cal bert But the
Speaker 2: guy that was recruiting me was the most amazing guy,
Speaker 2: and I enjoyed being around him so much so it
Speaker 2: was almost like I couldn't refuse him when he offered
Speaker 2: me the opportunity to go up and visit their campus
Speaker 2: and all that. But the irony and looking back on that,
Speaker 2: even though you know you mentioned that I was a
Speaker 2: quarterback and I wanted to play quarterback in college, the
Speaker 2: two quarterbacks they had at the time at cal Berkeley
Speaker 2: were Steve Barkowski and Vince Farragamo, so I'm not so
Speaker 2: sure I would have cracked that lineup or not. In fact,
Speaker 2: Vince Farragamo couldn't beat out Barkowski, so he transferred to
Speaker 2: the brass.
Speaker 1: Isn't that something that's a great story? Man, Lance peis
Speaker 1: joining us here on Exus and Bros. While writing the book,
Speaker 1: there's so many memories that flooed back right, it's tough
Speaker 1: to pick out just one from your career and especially
Speaker 1: from the nineteen eighty four season. But look, the nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty four season is a big reason why you wrote
Speaker 1: the book. Is there anything that you recollect first and
Speaker 1: foremost when you think of nineteen eighty four besides winning
Speaker 1: it all, handling Kansas City and the obvious fantastic starts.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, it was so many special moments during
Speaker 2: the course of that year. You know, as we've talked
Speaker 2: about the thirty five and five to seventeen and no
Speaker 2: Jack Morris throwing is no hitter, the great thirteen pits
Speaker 2: at that by Dave Bergman, which I was standing on
Speaker 2: second base when that was going on, So that was
Speaker 2: pretty exciting. Just you know, various games throughout course the
Speaker 2: season where we came back at the end of the
Speaker 2: game to win, And I think that was kind of
Speaker 2: the mindset of our ball club at the time, that
Speaker 2: didn't really matter what the score was at any point
Speaker 2: in the game. We always felt like capable of coming back,
Speaker 2: and we always felt like we would come there. So
Speaker 2: it was you know, it was one of those seasons
Speaker 2: where we felt very confident in ourselves. So you know,
Speaker 2: there was just a number of things that happened throughout
Speaker 2: close of the season.
Speaker 1: I thought, what was amazing too when you look at
Speaker 1: that team, nobody drove in one hundred runs. You drove
Speaker 1: in ninety eight to lead the team, but nobody drove
Speaker 1: in one hundred runs, and you were the only player
Speaker 1: to hit thirty or more homers that year. You hit
Speaker 1: thirty three. I think Gibbe had twenty seven. So it
Speaker 1: really was the ultimate team win night in and night out,
Speaker 1: with not just one person carrying this team it hits
Speaker 1: or average, and not just one person necessarily carrying it
Speaker 1: in power either. It was really displayed throughout the entire lineup,
Speaker 1: wasn't it well.
Speaker 2: I think that was the beauty of our team, And
Speaker 2: the strength of our team is not only was our
Speaker 2: starting lineup, hitching staff, you know, starters and bull play,
Speaker 2: included guys on the bench. Everybody contributed. Everybody played a
Speaker 2: part at some point the season for our success. So
Speaker 2: it was it was a great team effort, and I
Speaker 2: think that's what was That's what made it so satisfying
Speaker 2: for all of us that we all contributed. I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously Willie Hernand has had a great year, Willing the MVP,
Speaker 2: and Cy Young Award. But you know the guy that
Speaker 2: was they came in the games before him, Rileo Lopez,
Speaker 2: who was kind of Wally's set up guy, had pret
Speaker 2: dang good year himself. I think he was ten and
Speaker 2: one with fourteen saves and a two something. He all right,
Speaker 2: that's a pretty special year in its own right. But
Speaker 2: as I mentioned the other night, you know, I thought
Speaker 2: Kurk Gibson could have been the MVP in the American
Speaker 2: League that year because he was not only had I
Speaker 2: had a great year statistically, but he was kind of
Speaker 2: a catalyst, an emotional catalyst on our ball club. So
Speaker 2: we had a lot of contributors in different areas, but
Speaker 2: it all obviously culminated as a whole success of our season.
Speaker 1: Lance Paris Joiner is here on Exus and Bros. Check
Speaker 1: out his book. It's a wonderful read. The Enchanted Season,
Speaker 1: the historic nineteen eighty four run, and My Life is
Speaker 1: the Big Wheel. I remember wanting as a kid, wanting
Speaker 1: everybody on that team to stay together. I mean that's
Speaker 1: just the way you feel, right, especially when you win
Speaker 1: a championship, you have a connection. It gets emotional. I
Speaker 1: get emotional. I get emotional to this day. I remember
Speaker 1: when when Travel and Morris were elected to the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. I was on Fox Sports Detroit at the time.
Speaker 1: I was crying because that took place. But I also
Speaker 1: remember in nineteen eighty seven when you left and my
Speaker 1: friends and I also cried. We got together and we
Speaker 1: were visible shaken, upset because you were still I would
Speaker 1: consider the prime of your career. I think you were
Speaker 1: thirty years old, you were coming off an All Star,
Speaker 1: you were coming off a Silver Slugger season, and you
Speaker 1: ended up going to Philadelphia and I was living It
Speaker 1: pissed me off to no end because we all want
Speaker 1: our heroes. Yeah, we want our heroes. What was that
Speaker 1: transition like for you to leave some of the not
Speaker 1: just friends, but guys you've grown up with through the
Speaker 1: major leagues and winning a championship and to go someplace else.
Speaker 2: Well, if I had to put a finger on the
Speaker 2: most disappointing e them of my entire career, that that
Speaker 2: would be it, no question. I mean, I viewed myself
Speaker 2: and hoped to be a Detroit Tiger for my entire career.
Speaker 2: I had no desire to go anywhere else. I loved
Speaker 2: very much the team that I was on people that
Speaker 2: I played alongside coaching staff. But you know, things happened
Speaker 2: obviously in life that being in the I guess the
Speaker 2: center of the Collision era, I fell victims to that.
Speaker 2: Even though I've always felt like Jim Campbell would do
Speaker 2: the right thing, he pretty much forced my hand and
Speaker 2: kind of forced me out the door. So I was
Speaker 2: very disappointed by that. And you know, I envy Alan
Speaker 2: Tram and Lou Whitaker who were able to play their
Speaker 2: entire career in a Detroit Tiger uniform and achieved the
Speaker 2: success that they did. And I always wanted to be
Speaker 2: identified as a Detroit Tiger when my playing career was over.
Speaker 2: And you know, even though I played for a few
Speaker 2: teams after I left Detroit, I still first and foremost
Speaker 2: considered myself a Detroit Tiger. So you know, it was
Speaker 2: a tough deal, I mean, but you know, life goes on.
Speaker 2: I always wonder what would have happened if I had
Speaker 2: stayed there.
Speaker 1: Though, yeah, me too. Nineteen years as a major leader
Speaker 1: that's incredible, especially as a catcher, and three hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty four career home runs, that too is incredible. And
Speaker 1: like I've said before, I think you and Bill free
Speaker 1: I don't say this because you're on my show. I
Speaker 1: say it because I've felt it, and I've said it
Speaker 1: for a long time. I think you, Bill Freehan, and
Speaker 1: Mickey Lolvich, as well as Lou Whitaker, should be in
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. I don't think Detroit gets enough
Speaker 1: respect in that regard, and quite honestly, and I don't
Speaker 1: expect you to comment, I don't think the Tiger's organization
Speaker 1: do a good enough job of promoting their greats to
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame status. But I would ask you this
Speaker 1: you the other night, I thought it was one of
Speaker 1: the more enjoyable nights I've had all year, listening to
Speaker 1: you and Tom Gage talk with our friend Elis there
Speaker 1: at your book signing the other day. The story you
Speaker 1: told you told a couple of really zingers, and I
Speaker 1: loved it. But the story you told about Jack Morris
Speaker 1: and a guy stealing home against him, can you reiterate
Speaker 1: that for our listening audience who didn't have a chance
Speaker 1: to hear that fantastic?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's just one of those those moments
Speaker 2: in the career that stand out and you have to
Speaker 2: look back and laugh at it. Really, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: sure Jack Morris will be the first guy to admit that,
Speaker 2: you know, he might have been a little stubborn, looked
Speaker 2: at things a little differently back in those days. So
Speaker 2: so the story goes, we were playing a game in
Speaker 2: the early eighties out in Oakland, and I always ask
Speaker 2: everybody to just keep in mind that Billy Martin was
Speaker 2: the manager of that team. So the events that took place,
Speaker 2: I'm sure had something to do with, you know, Billy
Speaker 2: Martin and how his line works. So there was beginning
Speaker 2: of the game Jack's pitching. It's getaway Day on Sunday
Speaker 2: afternoon in Oakland. Wayne Gross is on third base. He
Speaker 2: was a third baseman, and Jack is pitching from a
Speaker 2: lind up. So I'm assuming that they were all watching
Speaker 2: Jack and how slow and deliberate his wind up was,
Speaker 2: and they probably all thought, you know, if we might
Speaker 2: be able to take advantage of this, so you know,
Speaker 2: lo and behold. I think Wayne Gross might have took
Speaker 2: a couple of trial runs walking down the third base
Speaker 2: line when Jack was going through his wind up and
Speaker 2: probably peeking the dugout, and Billy gave him the thumbs
Speaker 2: up like, go ahead and do it. So on the
Speaker 2: next pitch, Wayne Gross takes off when Jack starts his
Speaker 2: wind up, and Jack kind of tries to speed up
Speaker 2: his delivery because he sees him steal at home and
Speaker 2: he you know, he rushed himself through the ball in
Speaker 2: the dirt, I couldn't hang on to it. So he's
Speaker 2: ends up being safe at home and consequently stole home,
Speaker 2: which was kind of embarrassing in itself. So a few
Speaker 2: innings later, you know, we have a similar situation. This
Speaker 2: time their center field at Dwayne Murphy's on third days.
Speaker 2: So Roger Craig, our pitching coach at that time, takes
Speaker 2: the initiative, I guess, to call time out and come
Speaker 2: out to the mount. You know, Jack scuffling a little
Speaker 2: bit out there, and you know, things were getting a
Speaker 2: little out of hand, so I think Roger decided to
Speaker 2: come out and try and calm him down. So in
Speaker 2: the midst of his conversation with Jack, trying to calming
Speaker 2: down a loute that he looks at Jack and says, hey,
Speaker 2: he goes, uh, why don't you pitch from a stretch
Speaker 2: right here? Well, you know, Jack knew exactly where he
Speaker 2: was going. That was like, you know, and rather than
Speaker 2: do the right thing. Jack was like, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to pitch from a stretch. I'm going to
Speaker 2: pitch from a wind up, but I'm going to prove
Speaker 2: to you that this guy is not going to steal
Speaker 2: home off, you know. And and Roger looks at him,
Speaker 2: like but it says, it's the right thing to do.
Speaker 2: I mean, you should pitch from a stretch with a
Speaker 2: guy on there, anyone, you know. And now I'm looking
Speaker 2: at tram and and whoever else was on the mound
Speaker 2: at the time, and we're, you know, looking at each
Speaker 2: other kind of CROSSI like, I can't believe Jack's even
Speaker 2: arguing with him about it, right, But anyway, Jack was
Speaker 2: blizing about him said I'm not doing it. I'm bitching
Speaker 2: from the stretch. So Roger turns around, he goes, okay,
Speaker 2: good luck, walks back to the dugout. So we go
Speaker 2: back to our positions. And I mean, on the first pitch,
Speaker 2: Jack starts his wind up. Here comes Dwayne Murphy and
Speaker 2: he's tree he's stealing home and Jack same thing. Deja
Speaker 2: vu speeds up his delivery, drows the ball in the dirt,
Speaker 2: gets by me. Dwayne Murphy safe at home. So now
Speaker 2: I'm scrambling around by the backtop trying to get the ball,
Speaker 2: and I look over in the dugout, the opening A's dugout,
Speaker 2: and they're all over there, laughing and carrying on, like,
Speaker 2: you know, look at these clowns out here. So when
Speaker 2: the inning was over, the caper doll is, I walked
Speaker 2: in the dugout and I wanted to show my frustration,
Speaker 2: you know, because we had just embarrassed ourselves, you know,
Speaker 2: a couple sure, sir. So I took my glove off
Speaker 2: and I was going to throw it against the back
Speaker 2: wall the dugout, just to get everybody's attention, show my frustration. Well,
Speaker 2: when I let my glove go, I realized it was
Speaker 2: going right at a sticket that was at the end
Speaker 2: of a pipe that was running down the back of
Speaker 2: the dugout, and I snapped the stiket off and it
Speaker 2: was like a fire hydrant exploding in that dugout, and
Speaker 2: our dougout was filling up with water, and everybody was sprambling,
Speaker 2: grabbing their stuff, jumping up on the bench. And Sparky
Speaker 2: was not too happy, I can tell you.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like they could just turn the water off.
Speaker 2: We had to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he ends up calling you out. Well, listen, it's
Speaker 1: great stories. There's a ton of those types of stories
Speaker 1: in the book. It's a fantastic read. It's an easy read,
Speaker 1: and it's easy to get anywhere you get your books,
Speaker 1: Amazon and your local bookstore. Lance Parrish, you're the best man.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot, appreciate all the storytelling and appreciate your friendship.
Speaker 1: Luck with the book and we'll see you soon, my friend.
Speaker 1: Take care.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Chip, thanks for having me. Pale