Bridgman, MI-- Ever since I was a kid, growing up in Holly, Michigan, baseball has meant the world to me.
During the lazy days of summer, I would spend my spare time practicing and playing pick-up games down at the ball field at Adelphian Academy. I would spend so much time there and be so physically engaged in this activity that I would often limp home with sore, aching feet. Barely able to make it back on my own, I would occasionally hitch a ride to my Academy Road home.
As I idolized the Detroit Tigers and their star outfielder, Al Kaline, my mother took one of my white t-shirts and sewed his number “6” on the back of the shirt.
Back in the day, kids like me fantasized about their team and its stars. I loved to wear that shirt, and during some of the pick-up games I played in, I would imagine myself as Al Kaline playing right field for the Tigers.
October was always a special time for my enjoyment of professional baseball. The World Series was always aired during early October with the best-of-seven game series being played in the last remaining beautiful days of summer, well before cold, damp weather set in.
I remember it as if it were yesterday, my grade school teacher, Mrs. Wright, letting me go to the Academy cafeteria for lunch. Afterward, I would listen to the World Series game on the radio with Mr. Hansen, a chemistry teacher and the husband of Mrs. Hansen, who ran the cafeteria.
It didn't matter who was playing, the World Series was one of life's biggest moments for Mr. Hansen and me.
These were the days before baseball —and other sports, for that matter— became more commercialized. Back then, star athletes were looked up to as leaders in their communities. Players like Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson and Al Kaline lived their lives with integrity and honor, serving as role models for young people and adults.
The Detroit Tigers won the World Series in 1968, making it a special year for me.
I had never felt as euphoric as when Detroit's Mickey Lolich outdueled the St. Louis Cardinals’ star pitcher, Bob Gibson, in that final victorious Game 7.
Detroit would be World Champions again in 1984, and went to the World Series in 2012, but were swept in four straight games by the San Francisco Giants.
When the 2012 World Series took place, I had just moved to Guam, where there is a 14-hour difference from Eastern Standard Time. Even so, I kept track of the games on my iPad.
After 2012, my Tigers went into a decline when they traded several high-profile players, such as Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, to jettison the high salaries that those and other players were commanding.
By this time, the basketball business took more prominence, with salaries reaching tens of millions of dollars for top players and ticket prices rising accordingly.
In 1968, Al Kaline's salary was about $70,000, and all of the Tigers received a $10,000 bonus for winning the World Series. A ticket to the 1968 World Series at Tiger Stadium was $12.00.
Even though my Tigers suffered many down years after 2012, my support never wavered—until October 2020, when they hired A.J. Hinch as their manager.
Hinch had been a very successful manager with the Houston Astros; however, he was involved in an extensive sign-stealing and cheating scheme, after which he was found guilty of participating in the scheme. As a result, he lost his job and served a year-long suspension from baseball.
The Tigers took a chance by hiring this manager who was tainted by the scandal.
I was very upset about this, and in the last few years, I let my support for the team dwindle.
No longer would I read every box score of Tiger games. Overall, I became a casual observer of the club and lost familiarity with the players and the team’s experiences.
In August, my good friend Don from Maryland, an avid Baltimore Orioles fan, wanted me to meet him in Detroit for a couple of games where the Orioles were playing the Tigers in September. I consented only because of my friendship with Don.
The first game he took me to, the Tigers pitched an almost perfect game, platooning four different pitchers, and lost a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning. I had never heard of such a thing and thought it was sacrilegious to make pitching changes during a game that was shaping up to be a no-hitter.
Then I began to pay attention to what Hinch was doing. Over these past couple of years, while I was oblivious, he was acquiring the youngest team and turning them into one of the most talented rosters in baseball. He took young, inexperienced players with potential and taught them the power of believing in themselves and each other.
From the middle of August 2024 through the end of the regular season, they were the hottest team in baseball. On Aug. 10, they were below .500 and had a 0.2 percent chance of making the playoffs. However, as they began to come together, they went 31-11 since August 11 and made the sixth and final American League wild card spot.
While the Tigers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, I had to admit to myself that one of the greatest performances of baseball leadership had taken place before my very eyes.
Then I began to think long and hard about my decision to write Hinch off based on his past mistakes. As I looked at it closer, he had admitted to his involvement in the scandal and had apologized for it. He served out his punishment and never deviated from the ownership of his mistake.
Talk about a wonderful trait. Here was a man who made a mistake, paid the price for it, and then moved on to learn from the experience, using his leadership abilities to be successful again.
Reflectively, I asked myself, who in this life is mistake-free? Certainly, not me.
What a lesson I've learned.
Theodore Lewis is the former CEO of Guam Memorial Hospital and has a healthcare consulting business in Bridgman, MI. He is collecting stories about lessons learned in life and can be reached at theodorelewis@yahoo.com.
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