95 Reasons

“Oh, baseball, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…”
And here’s 95 of them – one for every game the Tigers won in 2006.

1. The smell of hotdogs
2. The taste of hotdogs
3. The tiny scorebook pencil
4. Triples
5. Out-of-town scores
6. Curtis Granderson’s smile
7. Jim Leyland’s honesty
8. A first baseman’s mitt
9. A child with a ballcap on
10. “Play ball!”
11. The payoff pitch
12. The knickers of the late-1800s
13. The collared shirts of the early-1900s
14. Nicknames like Dr. Strangeglove
15. “The weatherman says we’re gonna get this one in”
16. Purpose pitch
17. Pitchers batting
18. The rosin bag
19. The on-deck circle donut
20. Magic numbers
21. 6-4-3
22. A cannon arm in the outfield
23. Julio Franco
24. The ambient ballpark sounds on radio when the announcers aren’t talking
25. A good manager/umpire argument
26. A good bunt
27. The Charley Lau way of swinging the bat
28. September callups
29. A popup to kill the opponent’s rally
30. Champagne showers in a victorious locker room
31. Shoe polish marks on a baseball that’s hit a batter’s foot
32. Yogi Berra
33. Pete Rose slamming into Ray Fosse
34. Willie Horton throwing out Lou Brock
35. Bill Freehan blocking the plate
36. Sandy Koufax shutting out the Twins on two-days’ rest in Game 7 of the ’65 Series
37. The fact that even the most pedestrian pitcher can throw a no-hitter on any given day
38. Players who homered in their first big league AB
39. Games of pepper
40. And pickle
41. And ‘500’
42. “A fan from Lapeer caught that one”
43. And the man who said it on the radio
44. The postgame spread
45. Baseballs still rubbed with Delaware River mud, before every game
46. Retired players who become spring training instructors
47. A three-run homer
48. Stealing third base
49. Brandon Inge
50. Norm Cash
51. A gapper into left-center
52. Slow guys running the basepaths
53. Lou Brock’s daring leads from first base in the 1968 World Series
54. And Mickey Lolich picking him off
55. Peanuts and Cracker Jack
56. Waving everyone off so you can catch the popup/flyball
57. Dick McAuliffe’s batting stance
58. “They’ll be off at the crack of the bat; EVERRRYONE will be running”
59. Knuckleball pitchers
60. And the fact that they’re NEVER lefthanded (other than Wilbur Wood)
61. Eating ice cream out of a miniature batting helmet bowl
62. Keeping score
63. Dizzy Dean
64. “When It Was A Game” (and its sequels)
65. The 3-0 pitch is always a strike
66. And the 3-1 pitch is always fouled off
67. That men actually hit .400+ once upon a time
68. And pitchers routinely won 30+ games in a season
69. A “bang-bang” play at first base
70. Ladies/Retirees Day
71. Family Night
72. Doubleheaders
73. No lights at Wrigley Field until 1988
74. The Green Monster
75. “The short porch in right”
76. Game time temperature of 78 degrees
77. Games under three hours in length
78. The Gates Brown “sliding into second base with a hot dog in his pants pocket” story
79. And the fact that it’s not apocryphal
80. A cleanly-fielded bunt followed by a rifle throw to first base
81. Watering down the infield dirt
82. And changing the bases in the fifth inning
83. Rally caps
84. Batting helmets at Tiger Stadium for $2.00
85. Fat Bob Taylor singing the National Anthem, because that meant it was an important game at The Corner
86. Booing politicians on Opening Day
87. And the commissioner, if he shows up at your ballpark
88. A game of catch
89. The throw from catcher to second base after the pitcher’s warmup tosses is always dead solid perfect
90. Joe Garagiola
91. Bob Uecker
92. Ernie Harwell
93. “He comes out of the dugout swinging”
94. The Hot Corner
95. Called strike three to end the game for the hometown team

So there you go. And beware, Kwame Kilpatrick and Jennifer Granholm; you’re about to hear the boobirds Monday afternoon.

Hey, it’s only tradition.