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Originally Posted by Hrycaj
My love affair with baseball and the team can be traced back to the ‘84 Tigers. As a young elementary school aged kid that had just discovered baseball that team was the perfect storm that created a lifelong love. However, that is not where this story goes. My player memory comes from the ‘87 club that had to sweep Toronto at home to take the division. I still remember the Detroit policemen on horseback roaming the field in an effort to keep fans from storming the field after the last out in the season finale. The ‘87 team would end up getting beat (some would say upset) by a Minnesota club that would eventually take the series from St. Louis in 7. For that reason I think the ‘87 team gets lost to history some. That ‘87 team was amazing though, which brings me to my player. What people may not know is that Tiger club could bash. They hit 225 home runs that year which still stands as the most in team history for a single season. In the middle of all of that slugging was a little known catcher by the name of Matt Nokes. Nokes was not a big imposing presence at the plate and I swear that he swung the shortest, smallest bat in the league, but he raked in ‘87. I loved all of the Tigers on that team but I had a special spot for Nokes because he just seemed smaller than everyone around him and he blasted a career high 32 homers and 87 RBI’s that season. He was the underdog that everyone could root for. That summer my father took me and my friends to a game and by chance it was a day they let all kids 12 under onto the field to get tips from the pros. Nokes was one of the guys talking about how to be a catcher. It was a pretty sweet day. One that I never forgot and was happy to share now that UK opened the door for such stories! Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
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I loved Matt Nokes!! I was really sad when he was traded to the Yanks.
My overall favorite is hands down, Sweet Lou. I played second base and always tried to wear #1 in every level of baseball because of him. I liked baseball before '84, went to a few games at Tiger Stadium before then, but it was '84 that made me fall unquestionably in love with baseball. I turned 10 that year and I think my brain finally understood the majesty of the game in a way it hadn't before.