The next day we hit the road for Detroit. The matchup for game #2 on our trip was a little less than sterling (the Tigers and the Indians each finished 20+ games out of first place in 1992). Even so, we were extremely excited to attend a game at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. As one of the older stadiums in baseball at the time, it was one of the jewels of our trip.
In our planning process, this was the last stop we found a place to stay overnight. I had a friend named Jay, and about a month or two before the trip, I met a friend of his named Charles over at Jay's house. We only talked briefly. In the week or so leading up to our trip, I was talking about it with Jay and he asked where we were staying in Detroit. I told him that we didn't have a spot yet. He informed me that Charles had just moved to the Detroit area the previous week, and he was sure that Charles would be happy to host us and go to the game. He arranged it for us, and the next thing you know, we had a generous host who we barely knew!
As for the game itself, the Tigers were the top scoring team in the AL that year. They were a free-swinging bunch of heavy hitters like Rob Deer, Mickey Tettleton and Cecil Fielder, all of whom had over 30 home runs and 130 strikeouts (both numbers that were quite substantive in those days, regardless of how commonplace they are today). Travis Fryman looked like an up-and-coming star, having his first of five all-star seasons posting 20 HR and 96 RBIs. While Alan Trammell missed most of the season with an injury, Lou Whitaker, his partner for so many years in the middle of the Tigers' infield, pitched in with 19 HR and 71 RBIs too.
The Indians were still a young team, but they had a group of players that would, in a few years, make up the core of a team that from 1994-2001 was one of the best teams in baseball. Kenny Lofton,(66 SB & 96 R in 1992), Albert Belle (34 HR & 112 RBIs) and Carlos Baerga (.312 AVG, 20 HR & 105 RBIs) were already coming into their own. Just two weeks later, future Hall of Famer Jim Thome would join them after finishing a stint on the DL.
As for that night's action, it was a decent game. Tettleton would register three doubles that night for Detroit (having rapped out just three doubles in his last 156 plate appearances before that), but the hitting star of the evening was Cleveland DH Glenallen Hill, who hit a home run in the 7th and another in the 11th (when he went back-to-back with Brook Jacoby).
The winning pitcher that night for Cleveland was Steve Olin, who was born six years to the day before me. Nine months after our trip, Olin and teammate Tim Crews would die in a tragic boating accident during spring training that also injured Bob Ojeda. A favorite song of Olin's was The Dance by Garth Brooks, which two years later, when the Indians clinched the 1995 AL Central title, manager Mike Hargrove had them play over the stadium's PA system.
The song is a poignant reminder that you never know what the future holds. And as we watched the game that night, I had no idea that I was less than 75 miles from the place where my wife (then my girlfriend) and I would one day raise two children of our own.
On a much lighter note, Eric and I were big fans of Vess Soda, which was locally produced in St. Louis. We had always noticed that there was a 5 cent deposit returned for cans in a few states (not including Missouri) and a 10 cent deposit for cans returned in Michigan. Being the smart guys we were, we saved up a big trash bag full of cans and brought it on the trip to return in Michigan. Alas, we were rejected. The store we went to (rightly) refused to give us any money for our cans. We went away disappointed that we hadn't picked up an easy ten or fifteen dollars, but excited to soon become international travelers...
Miles Driven Today: 338
Total Miles Driven: 823
Click here to see an index of posts in this series.
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| There she is...Tiger Stadium |
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| The crowds poured in through the turnstiles that night, huh? |
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| Fortunately for everyone, I didn't wear my fence-climbing shoes |
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| I'm not sure where our actual seats were, but the usher suggested that we should sit in this section. We didn't argue. |
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| Prince Fielder's dad was BIG back then |
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| Boy, those are some sweet glasses |
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| So close to the bullpen that if we had a bat, we could've swung and missed |
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| What we referred to affectionately as "The Bullpenitentiary" |
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| The "CHA-CHING" sign amused us, every time an Indian struck out |
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| This fan hopped onto the field right next to us and sprinted for the flagpole in center |
Indians
4
24-35
Won 2
7th, 13 GB
|
1 2
3 4 5
6 7 8
9 10 11 R
H E
-
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - - -
Indians
0 0 1
0 0 0
1 0 0
0 2 4
9 1
Tigers
0 0 0
0 0 0
1 1 0
0 0 2
6 0
|
Tigers
2
25-33
Lost 2
6th, 11½ GB
|
BATTING
Cleveland Indians AB
R H RBI BB SO BA
OPS Pit PO A
Details
K Lofton CF 2 1
0 0 4
0 .261 .639
30 4 0
2·SB
T Howard RF 4 0
0 0 1
2 .310 .703
26 4 0 SH
C Baerga 2B 4 0
1 1 1
0 .295 .740
20 4 3
2B,IW
A Belle LF 5 0
1 0 0
2 .257 .812
17 2 0
P Sorrento 1B 5 0
3 0 0
0 .237 .669
18 11 1
2B,CS
G Hill DH
5 2 2
2 0 0 .262 .768
21 0 0
2·HR
B Jacoby 3B 5 1
1 1 0
1 .276 .684
17 0 3 HR
M Lewis SS 5 0
0 0 0
2 .268 .679
26 2 2
J Ortiz C 5 0
1 0 0
1 .227 .553 13 5
1
J Armstrong P
1 2
K Wickander P 0 0
E Plunk P
0 0
D Lilliquist P
0 1
S Olin P
0 0
Totals 40
4 9 4
6 8 188 33 13
BATTING
2B:
C Baerga (9, off K Ritz);
P Sorrento (3, off W Terrell).
HR:
G Hill 2 (6, off M Munoz, off K Ritz; 7th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep LF; 11th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep LF-CF);
B Jacoby (3, off M Munoz; 11th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep LF).
SH:
T Howard (5, off M Henneman).
IBB:
C Baerga (1, by M Henneman).
TB: G Hill 8; P Sorrento 4;
B Jacoby 4; C Baerga 2; J Ortiz; A Belle.
RBI: G Hill 2 (13);
B Jacoby (24); C Baerga (33).
2-out RBI: C Baerga.
Team LOB: 10.
With RISP: 1 for 9.
FIELDING
DP: 1. C Baerga-P Sorrento.
E: B Jacoby (6).
BASERUNNING
SB:
K Lofton 2 (26, 2nd base off K Ritz/M Tettleton 2).
CS: P Sorrento (2, 2nd base by K Ritz/M Tettleton).
Detroit Tigers AB R H
RBI BB
SO BA OPS
Pit PO A
Details
T Phillips LF-3B 4 0
1 0 2
1 .232 .769
22 1 0 CS
L Whitaker 2B 3 0
0 0 1
0 .272 .896
17 1 1 SH
T Fryman SS 4 0
0 1 0
0 .283 .766
13 2 3 SF
C Fielder DH 5 0
0 0 0
1 .229 .758
15 0 0
M Tettleton C 4 0
3 0 0 1
.237 .833 17
5 1 3·2B
S Barnes PR-1B 1 1
0 0 0
0 .167 .436
3 5 0
D Bergman 1B 1 0
0 0 2
0 .254 .628
9 8 0
P Clark PH-LF 1 0
0 0 0
0 .333 1.096 6
0 0 SH
S Hare RF-LF 2 0
0 0 1
0 .091 .322
13 4 0
C Kreuter PH-C 1 0
1 0 1
0 .226 .621
10 3 0
S Livingstone 3B 2 0
1 0 0
0 .292 .671
9 0 2
R Deer PH-RF 3 0
0 0 0
1 .202 .797
12 1 0
GDP
M Cuyler CF 3 1
0 0 1
1 .254 .641
22 2 0
SB,HBP
K Ritz P
0 1
W Terrell P
1 1
M Henneman P
0 1
M Munoz P 0 0
Totals 34 2
6 1 8
5 168 33 10
BATTING
2B:
M Tettleton 3 (10, 2 off J Armstrong, off E Plunk).
SF:
T Fryman (3, off E Plunk).
SH:
P Clark (1, off D Lilliquist); L Whitaker (1, off K Wickander).
HBP:
M Cuyler (3, by K Wickander).
TB: M Tettleton 6;
C Kreuter; S Livingstone; T Phillips.
GIDP: R Deer (4).
RBI: T Fryman (34).
Team LOB: 11.
With RISP: 0 for 9.
BASERUNNING
SB:
M Cuyler (5, 2nd base off J Armstrong/J Ortiz).
CS:
T Phillips (6, 2nd base by S Olin/J Ortiz).
PITCHING
Cleveland Indians IP
H R ER BB SO
HR ERA BF
Pit-Str GB-FB GmSc
IR-IS
J Armstrong 5.2
3 0
0 5 3 0 4.73
25 97-48 4-10
61 -
K Wickander, H (5) 0.2
0 1 1
1 1 0
2.35 4 14-6
0-0 2-0
E Plunk, H (4) 0.2
1 1 1
0 0 0
3.97 3 9-7
1-1 2-1
D Lilliquist, H (7) 0.1
0 0 0 0 0
0 1.93 1
1-1 0-0 1-0
S Olin, BS (3), W (1-3) 3.2
2 0 0
2 1 0
2.43 13 47-27
5-2 1-1
Totals 11 6
2 2 8
5 0 46
168-89 10-13 6-2
Detroit Tigers IP H
R ER BB
SO HR ERA
BF Pit-Str GB-FB
GmSc IR-IS
K Ritz 7 5
2 2 3
5 1 5.92
28 110-61 6-8
61 -
W Terrell 1 2
0 0 0
0 0 6.04
5 22-15 1-2 0-0
M Henneman 2 0
0 0 2
3 0 3.71
8 31-15 2-0 0-0
M Munoz, L (0-1) 1 2
2 2 1
0 2 3.91
6 25-14 2-1 0-0
Totals 11 9
4 4 6
8 3 47
188-105 11-11 0-0
E Plunk faced
1 batter in the 8th inning.
Balks: None.
WP: S Olin
(1).
IBB: M Henneman (4; C Baerga).
HBP: K Wickander (1; M Cuyler).
OTHER
Umpires: HP - Rick Reed, 1B - Tim McClelland,
2B - Drew Coble, 3B - Durwood Merrill.
Time of
Game: 3:37.
Attendance: 11,767.
Field
Condition: Unknown.
Weather: 75° F, Wind 5mph from Right to Left,
Sunny, No Precipitation.
Scrib!!! How on earth do you remember some of these things? The Vess soda thing had me rollin' as that had completely escaped me. I vividly remember the lot we found and our 1st view of the stadium......and how amazing it was to me that there was a flag pole on the field. I just kept staring at it the entire game.
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