Rogers brings a fire sorely needed
George Bernard Shaw, that clever old chap, once said, "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." You got that right, Georgie, and the only thing worse than losing is losing in a vacuum, ignored by your brethren.
The Tigers have been losers, for sure, for the last dozen years or so, but what’s worse, they’ve been losers not in grand fashion, but with all the zest and spice of flour, and with the same amount of color. They can’t even lose with some histrionics.
Our baseball team has been mostly made up of "gee, whiz" swell guys who brag about how harmonious things are in the clubhouse, but yet who proceed to go out and lose 60% of the time, or more. Nice guys really do finish last in Detroit, where baseball is concerned.
Where are all the snarling beasts who have the truculence of a bear disturbed from his hibernation? Where are the loose cannons who play with recklessness and whose uniforms are forever dirty and untucked? Where are the eccentrics who always seem to have that look in their eye that, had they not been wearing a baseball outfit, would cause you to turn and hightail it the other way?
Not in Detroit, I can tell you that. Until now, maybe. Finally.
The Tigers signed lefthanded starter Kenny Rogers a week or so ago. The move was rightly lauded, except maybe by the TV cameramen around town. Rogers, at age 41, brings something to the mound that no Tiger since Jack Morris has possessed: an internal restlessness and simmering anger, combined with real pitching skills. Rogers takes the hill with a chip on his shoulder. He isn’t flour -- he’s ground cayenne pepper.
Rogers chose Detroit, he said in a conference call, for several reasons, besides the two year, $16 million contract that I would presume caused him to return the Tigers’ phone calls to begin with. He says the team is on the verge of contention (of course, that’s what Pudge Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez said, too), he likes the idea of pitching in Comerica National Park, and he feels a good vibe between himself and manager Jim Leyland. He has history with Rodriguez. Maybe Pudge will play nice now that he has a supporter in the clubhouse, which will be, by my estimations, his first.
The much-publicized shoving incidents with the television cameramen last summer notwithstanding, Kenny Rogers brings an edge -- and 190 career wins -- and a fierce, almost fearless competitiveness to the Tigers’ pitching staff that has been gaping in its vacancy and crucial in its need. The kids who play at being Tigers pitchers nowadays can stand to learn something from Rogers. And the Tigers haven’t had a mentor type on its pitching staff since perhaps Frank Tanana, and that’s going back over 15 years.
Ryne Duren: celebrated Yankee drunk
Pitchers can be funny types. Ryne Duren, the old Yankee and celebrated alcoholic, used to purposely throw pitches ten feet over the catcher’s head during warmups to give the hitters the notion that maybe he had no idea where the ball was going to go, or that he was possibly inebriated. Or both. Dizzy Dean, incensed at a hitter who was overly-digging in at the plate, called out to him, "Dig yourself a deep one, boy, cuz ole’ Diz is gonna BURY you in it!" Bob Gibson, it was said, was so surly and unapproachable on the days he was scheduled to pitch, his own teammates would part when he strode by like the Red Sea’s obeying of Moses. Don Drysdale had a simple rule for the other team: if one of my guys gets hit by a pitch, two of yours goes down.
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If I could change one thing with the Tigers....I would give the team some personalities -- some misfits, even.
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The Tigers actually had a guy like that for half of last season: reliever Kyle Farnsworth, a big, good ole boy who was imposing on the mound at 6’5" and who had that slightly off-of-center personality that I find so alluring in a pitcher, especially a late-inning man like Farnsworth. It impressed me to no end when Farnsworth, during a brawl with the Kansas City Royals at Comerica, not only drove one of the Royals pitchers -- also a big dude -- into the ground like a croquet stake, but also had that wild look in his eye that made his size seem all the more intimidating. But Farnsworth was dealt near the trading deadline, and has since signed on with the Yankees. I think the folks in the Bronx are gonna fall in love with that guy.
Jeremy Bonderman, I think, has the potential and the makeup to be that kind of edgy pitcher, but he’s still a baby -- 22 years old -- and he is one of those who desperately needs a Kenny Rogers type around him every day. To his credit, Rogers himself said that he can also learn from the youngsters like Bonderman, that being around such talented youth might even make Rogers feel younger and more productive. That’s wisdom, folks -- such as we aren’t accustomed to in Detroit, coming from one of its ballplayers.
Of course, the fact that Rogers is lefthanded doesn’t hurt, either. Comerica has vastness in the left field alley, which should play into his hands.
But it is the vastness in his experience and the never-satisfied approach to the game that will prove to be invaluable to the Tigers’ young stable of pitchers.
If I could change one thing with the Tigers, right behind driving in runs with less than two outs and treating a ball three count as if it was poison, I would give the team some personalities -- some misfits, even. I don’t mean the kind of troublemakers -- read: Pudge -- that permeated 2005’s clubhouse and turned it into Romper Room’s evil twin. I mean, I’d want to sprinkle the roster with a blend of experience, eccentricity and competitiveness. Just about every World Series champ has that, to varying degrees. At least if the Tigers lose with my roster, they might be fun to watch and talk about.
Kenny Rogers says another reason he likes Detroit is because of all the beautiful suburbs and the golf courses in the area. So here’s a word to the videographers in the Metro Area:
Fore!
1 comment:
Just keep the cameramen away from him.
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