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American League Division Series Game #1 10/5/24 1:08PM Tigers @ Guardians


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9 minutes ago, Dan Gilmore said:

In one of the Bill James Baseball Abstracts from the 80s, he wrote up medium length pieces on most of the current managers. Tendencies, strength and weaknesses, etc. And he ended with what they would be doing in life if there was no baseball. He had Sparky as a manager (maybe assistant) at a paint store. Cruel but fair?

That sounds about right. I was really into it in 84 and I thought he did a bunch of really dumb stuff but came up smelling like a rose. At the same time, those guys just got it done. So it was kind of like the Reds, make out a lineup and let them win games.

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2 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Sparky was a great clubhouse guy and he was fine managing his offense, but I didn't think he never had a good sense for pitchers. After Roger Craig left he never made up that loss.

I was a fan of Craig and thought he had more to do with their success than Sparky.

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3 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Sparky was a great clubhouse guy and he was fine managing his offense, but I didn't think he never had a good sense for pitchers. After Roger Craig left he never made up that loss.

Another thing was he semed to be better managing star egos than he was developing young players.   

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I get it about sparky.  But I can’t look past the reverence his former players had for him. Tram and Gibby especially.  Travis Fryman named his son George in his honor.  That has to mean something doesn’t it?  

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That's a great point. It seems all the guys loved him. I can understand why. Let me offer this one up;

The beauty of all that is how he pumped Gibby, like he needed any pumping. But it was great.

Edited by Screwball
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2 hours ago, Screwball said:

When I was a kid mowing yards, I saved enough money to buy Baseball Digest each month. I followed him from when he played, then a manager at Lakeland, and beyond. He coached many of the 84 guys. Then Mayo (not sure) left and Sparky got the job.  I thought it should be Jim. I was not at all happy.

Then years later he goes back there. They get good, my family were huge Tiger fans (required), we were having a ball. Than that debacle. I was so bummed. I want to watch is HOF speech but I can't. I would ball like a baby.

Screwball that is what I felt at the time too, Ralph Houk left and Jim Leyland had been managing all these young guys, Trammell and Whitaker and the others, and I really wanted him to get the Tigers job...and they gave it to Les Moss.  Les Moss?  Come on, wtf.  To be fair Les Moss had been managing in the Tigers' system too and had developed Lance Parrish as a catcher.  But it should have been Leyland.

That really, really disappointed me.  And then Moss gets booted out after less than half a season for Sparky Anderson who, with that incredibly loaded team from 1983 to 1987, gets to exactly 1 World Series.  It should have been Jim Leyland.

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10 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

This is what I've been thinking. I saw a graphic somewhere that showed a very low winning % for teams after a long rest.

Think Detroit Tigers World Series in 2006 and 2012. That’s all you need to know. 

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9 hours ago, oblong said:

I get it about sparky.  But I can’t look past the reverence his former players had for him. Tram and Gibby especially.  Travis Fryman named his son George in his honor.  That has to mean something doesn’t it?  

He was very likeable and loyal. A lot of players gave him credit for helping them in life which is more important than beng a good manager.  It's hard to evaluate managers,but I felt that group should have won more.  1984 was a dream season, but 85 and 86 were disappointing.  It was harder to make post-season back then, so I cant say they should have made the World Series every year, but I think they had the talent for more than one dominant season.  

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I get the love for Sparky with the '84 team, but as a kid who lived in Western Pa in the late 50s and early 60s I hated the Big Red Machine. Especially after losing the '72 playoff (thanks Bob Moose) .Give me Leyland and Danny Murtaugh. 

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11 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

It's hard to evaluate managers,but I felt that group should have won more.  1

They never had enough pitching. They were lucky that Petry and Wilcox each had their career year at the same time. When the best a wannabe championship org can do to shore up their pitching is Walt Terrell, you have an org which really isn't serious either within their farm system or on the market.

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On the subject of Travis Fryman, he’s throwing out the first ball today for Cleveland.  

Had a great career here during some very lean years and has been a coach in the Cleveland system for many years after ending his career with the Tribe.   

Edited by Hongbit
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4 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

They never had enough pitching. They were lucky that Petry and Wilcox each had their career year at the same time. When the best a wannabe championship org can do to shore up their pitching is Walt Terrell, you have an org which really isn't serious either within their farm system or on the market.

I never understood the front office decisions to refuse requested pay raises to Roger Craig and Gates Brown after the 1984 season. Contrary to today’s plethora of staff coaches, Brown and Craig accounted for the gist of the dugout staff. Letting both your pitching and hitting coach walk at that point is puzzling to this day to me.

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15 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

I get the love for Sparky with the '84 team, but as a kid who lived in Western Pa in the late 50s and early 60s I hated the Big Red Machine. Especially after losing the '72 playoff (thanks Bob Moose) .Give me Leyland and Danny Murtaugh. 

I’ll always see Sparky as my guy in the AL but from 1980 to 1990 Whitey Herzog was my guy in the N.L. I loved those teams he put together. 

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7 hours ago, lordstanley said:

The ‘84 Tigers are halfway between D-Day and now. 

Mind blown but true.   Halfway between Market-Garden and now is slightly more accurate. 

because I'm always studying up for my WWII final exam that I hope to take when i am 100 years old.

Quote

October 5, 1944 (Thursday)

I don't know what the word inenarrable means.

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48 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

They never had enough pitching. They were lucky that Petry and Wilcox each had their career year at the same time. When the best a wannabe championship org can do to shore up their pitching is Walt Terrell, you have an org which really isn't serious either within their farm system or on the market.

I thought Terrell was fine, not someone to build a staff around, but someone who could give them innings and win with the kind of team they had.  The fact that they traded Howard Johnson for him was not good though.  I do remember that the 80s teams always lacked one more starter.  I remember dreaming up trades they could make for Floyd Bannister or someone like that.  

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12 minutes ago, Tigermojo said:

Montero on the roster. Mize and Maeda off the roster.

Of course, Maeda was already off the roster.  

There is not much difference between Mize and Montero.  I imagine the change has something to do with matchups.  

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