Tigers sign J.D. Martinez to 2 year extention

Monday the Detroit Tigers agreed to a 2 year, $18.5 million dollar contract extension with All-Star right fielder J.D. Martinez. 

Martinez has become one of the Tigers most productive players since he signed a free agent contract prior to the 2014 baseball season after being released by the Houston Astros.




In his two years in the Motor City Martinez has batted .296, hit 61 home runs, and has 178 RBIs.




Last year Martinez made his first ever All-Star team, and played right field like the second coming of Al Kaline, with 15 outfield assists and a .993 fielding percentage.




The signing of Martinez will solidify a great off season for the Tigers, who have added free agents Jordan Zimmermann and Justin Upton, along with trading for players like Cameron Maybin, Mike Pelfrey, and Francisco Rodriguez.



New Tigers General Manager Al Avila has made is imprint on the team in just a few montgs on the job, and the extension of Martinez is a welcome sight for all fans.



J.D. Martinez baseball reference page.



Pitchers and catchers report to Tigers Spring Training in Lakeland, Florida a week from Friday, on February 19th.




PLAY BALL!

Happy Baseball Birthday... Babe Ruth

715 Home Runs... Happy Baseball Birthday! to The Sultan of Swat, the one and only, George Herman "Babe" Ruth.


The Babe was born in Baltimore, Maryland on February 6, 1895.


Baltimore is also the home of the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum.



In case you're not sure who Babe Ruth is, or why his birthday is a big deal to baseball fans, here's the Babe's baseball reference page.

Happy Baseball Birthday! Babe! 



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First Topps Baseball Cards of 2016

Yesterday I puchased my first two packs of Series 1 Topps 



2015 National League MVP Bryce Harper is the Topps cover boy this year.




The pack is also stamped with the Topps 65th Anniversary logo.

I went to the closest Walmart on Friday, and even though Topps just released Series 1 on Wednesday, all that was left to buy were packs with 36 cards per pack...hangers packs I think they're called.



Walmart sells what are called "retail" packs of baseball cards, packs that have all the base cards for players and some inserts.



Too make sure the Hobby stores are able to survive and sell packs and boxes of cards as well, Topps sends the stores "Hobby Boxes" that are sold onky in the card stores.


Those packs include special inserts, autographed cards, and memorabilia cards that you cannot get in the retail packs at Walmart,  Target, etc.



In the first pack I opened, 3rd card from the top of the pack, was this card...and my day was made.

Miggy in the very first pack of new baseball cards...yeah baby!



Also in the first pack with Miguel Cabrera was 2014 American League MVP Mike Trout and 2014 A.L. Rookie of the Year Jose Abreau.

Topps has brought back its popular First Pitch inserts, and I was fortunate to get a Jordan Speith card.

Maybe the coolest insert of the two packs was a shinny, colorful refractor looking card of Indians catcher Yan Gomes.

Pretty neat...you can see the difference in the regular issue card and the parallel insert card.



This year marks another year of me collecting baseball cards.... Topps Baseball Cards... I'm closing in on 50 years of collecting cards.


I once proudly owned complete sets of every Topps set of baseball cards from 1968 to 1980, before selling them off because I needed the money.


I'm always excited when I see the new designs for the upcoming baseball card season, and in a couple of weeks I hope to purchase some Hobby Packs at a local card store.



If you're a collector, let me hear ftom you in the comments section below,  or on Twitter... @freehan11 ...I'd love talking baseball and baseball cards with you.


Have a great year collecting....and... PLAY BALL!

Happy Baseball Birthday...Alice Cooper

Today we say Happy Baseball Birthday! to legendary rocker and lifelong Detroit Tigers fan, Alice Cooper. 

Cooper was born Vincent Damon Furnier in Detroit, Michigan on February 4, 1948.





If you're someone who loves music then you know all about Detroit and it's famous musicians, and Alice Cooper is right up there with the best of Motown.

Cooper, Kid Rock, Eminem, and the late Glenn Frey of The Eagles were all born in Detroit, and they're also passionate fans of the Tigers.



Cooper attended public school in the Motor City before suffering health problems that forced the family to move to Phoenix, Arizona where Cooper finished up high school.


Cooper has had a very successful career in rock since forming the band in the late 1960s.


Later in life Cooper embraced his love of baseball and rock music by opening up his restaurant Coopers'Town in Phoenix.

I love that Coopers'Town logo!



Just to be fair, although I've long know about Alice Cooper, his Detroit roots, love of baseball, the Tigers, and his adoptive Arizona Diamondbacks, I cannot tell you one song that Alice Cooper had recorded...that music wasn't my thing...but I respect him and his band for all their success.



Alice Cooper also celebrates a Birthday with former Tigers Germany Schafer,  Joe Sparma, and Rusty Kuntz.


Schafer played on the Tigers 1907-08 American League Championship teamd, Sparma won the World Series with the 1968 Tigers, and Kuntz was on the 1984 World Series Champion Tigers.


That's some pretty good company... a big Happy Baseball Birthday! to them all!



PLAY BALL!

Happy Baseball Birthday... Matt Boyd

Today we say Happy Baseball Birthday! to Detroit Tigers pitcher Matt Boyd. 

Matthew Robert Boyd  was born on February 2, 1991 in Bellevue, Washington and played baseball in high schhol at Eastside Catholic HS in Sammamish, Washington.




After high school Matt moved on to play collegiate baseball for the Beavers at Oregon State.



Matt was originall drafted in 2012 by the Cincinnati Reds (rd. 13), but returned to Oregon State, and in 2013 he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 6th round of the amatuer baseball draft.




Matt made his big league debut on June 27, 2015 for Toronto, before being traded to the Detroit Tigers in the David Price deal on July 30th.



On August 5th Matt made his Tigers debut, allowing 1 run on 7 hits in 7 innings of work.




When I heard about the Tigers acquisition of Matt I was very happy that my team got such a quality young pitching prospect, but the fact that his last name was Boyd, well, Matt instantly gained a new fan in yours truly... John Boyd.


Yes, my middle name is Boyd.


Boyd isn't a household name.



My middle name was given to me by my Dad, who at the time worked for and admired a Kalamazoo businessman named Boyd Alan Sutton.



My entire life growing up as a kid all my relatives called me Boyd, and so anytime I heard my name, such as in former big league pitcher Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd of the Red Sox, I'd always pay attention to that players career.



So, when Matt Boyd made his debut for my beloved Tigers, well, I was extatic, and, well, I'm hoping to get a #48 BOYD Tigers jersey for my 56th Birthday later this month.

Heck, maybe I'll be able too meet the one and only Matt Boyd during Spring Training this year.



Matt will be facing a big challenge in the spring as the Tigers have established starters in veterans like Justin Verlander, Jordan Zimmermann, Anibal Sanchez, Shane Greene, Mike Pelfrey, and buddy Daniel Norris, who came over from the Blue Jays in the trade.



I hope he makes the club, of course, and I've heard nothing but good things about Matt's pitching future in Motown.




You can find Matt on Twitter... @mattboyd31 ...he's a great guy...and remember, you can always talk baseball with me on Twitter... @freehan11 ...




Matt Boyd has worn the Olde English D, and that means once a Tiger, Always a Tiger!



It all starts on February 19th when pitchers and catchers report to Tiger Town in Lakeland, Florida.



Happy Baseball Birthday! Matt Boyd... Go Tigers!

Happy Baseball Groundhog Day!

                                             Happy Groundhog Day!

Black History Month

February is 29 leap year days long this year, giving us 29 days to celebrate Black History Month.



As a baseball fan, we all know about April 15, 1947, the day Jack Roosevelt Robinson broke the big league color barrier debuting for the old Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbetts Field.

My hope is that besides baseball fans, all children in America are taught about Jackie and Dodgers owner Branch Rickey, who signed Robinson to play for the Dodgers Triple A club, the Montreal Royals. 



Yes, it's just baseball to many people, but, in the history of our country, the story of how big league baseball kept players of color out of the game for 60 some years between the great Moses "Fleetwood" Walker, a star player in 1880s professional baseball after playing college ball at The University of Michigan, and Robinson's debut in '47.

And it's also important that we talk about the late Larry Doby, the first African-American ballplayer in the American League, breaking the A.L. color barrier with the Cleveland Indians  just months after Jackie Robinson.

Baseball and America have basically grew up together, with all the growing pains of racial discord constantly prominent all along the way.




We now live in a day where the first African-American President of the United States, Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have led Americans into the 21st Century and a country that includes inclusion for all Americans, regardless of their personal preferences.




Of course President Obama is also a big baseball fan, cheering on his beloved Chicago White Sox whenever possible.

We salute President Obama, Jackie Robinson, Lary Doby, and Fleetwood Walker, to start 29 days in celebration of Black History Month.



Play Ball!

Happy Baseball Birthday...Zane Grey

Today's Happy  Baseball Birthday! is famed author of the old America West,  Zane Grey. 

Now, to be honest, I had no idea that Zane Grey played baseball until logging onto baseballreference.com today.




Zane was born in Zanesville, Ohio, and played college baseball for the Quakers of the University of Pennsylvania and professional baseball in the summer.





Zane never made it to the big leagues, but he did write about baseball in a few books, including The Shortstop, The Redheaded Outfield, and The Young Pitcher.

Now that I know Zane Grey played baseball and wrote about baseball, I'm gonna have to read some Zane Grey.



Zane Grey passed away on October 23, 1939, at the age of 67.



Today, 144 years after his birth, we wish Zane a Happy Baseball Birthday!



Play Ball! 

Remembering Tiger Stadium

My Twitter baseball friend Displaced Tiger Fan was talking about old Tiger Stadium in Detroit, and asking his followers to post comments about a certain game or remembrances about the grand old ballpark.


He also wrote a terrific post about Tiger Stadium on his blog...read it here.

My Uncle Bob started taking me to games at the corner of Michigan & Trumbull in 1967, and, although I don't remember the first couple of games, I do remember the 1969 game, on August 1, when Tigers Cy Young Award Winner Denny McLain shutout the Chicago White Sox, 8-0.





That game has always stood out to me because we got the '69 Tigers Yearbook, and instead of paying attention to the entire game, I couldn't stop reading about the 1968 World Series Champions, and that's what I did, cover to cover, over, and over, and over, again.

The other thing about that game, and the reason I kept going over that yearbook was the fact that my baseball hero, Bill Freehan, didn't play...something that crushed me as a 9 year old Tigers fan...my favorite player wasn't going to play  in the one and only game I'd be at for another year.





The Tigers beat the ChiSox that night, 8-0, a complete game shutout for Cy Young Award Winner Denny McLain, who won his 16th game of the '69 season.




Bill Freehan's backup, Jim Price, was 0-2, with two walks, and a run scored.





As I said, my Uncle Bob to us to Tiger Stadium every year between 1967-74, until he married my Aunt Karen in '74 (?), and started his own family.




As an adult I managed to get back to the grand old ballpark a few times, including the last weekend of the 1999 season, and I was in attendance at the next to last game, a win over the Kansas City Royals.




The next day, as ai sat in my hotel room right fown the street, the Tigers beat the Royals again, and that was it, the last game to ever be played by my team at the greatest ballpark I've ever seen a baseball game at.




From the Original, Bennett Park, to Navin Field, then Briggs Stadium, and finally Tiger Stadium, over 100 years of big league baseball was played at The Corner. 

For those of you who never got to watch a ballgame at Tiger Stadium, I'm sincerely sorry for you.


I think sometimes about how great it would've been to go to old Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn, a place that was gone before I was born, so I could see the great Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella play at one of the great ballparks ever built.


Those old parks, Ebbetts Field, Tiger Stadium, the original Yankee Stadium, Crosley Field, The Polo Grounds, Shibe Park, thry all had a certain ambiance about them...something that Fenway Park and Wrigley Field still have...a link to the glorious past of our National Pastime.



While Comerica Park is a terrific ballpark, it simply cannot, and shouldn't, replace Tiger Stadium...Comerica will, in time, will carve out its own heritage to new generations of Tigers fans.



If you're inclined to, please leave a comment about TigerStadium in the comments section, or hit me up on Twitter... @freehan11 ...I love talking baseball, especially Tigers baseball, with other fans.



Go Tigers!


PLAY BALL!

The DH fix is simple.

The last month or so there had been a lot of talk about finally getting the Designated Hitter installed in the National League, so that both the N.L. and American League are playing the same game.


That simply isn't going to happen, and it shouldn't.



In 1973 the A.L. started inserting an additional batter into the lineup so the pitcher would no longer hit during games.


The N.L., the oldest organized professional baseball league, founded in 1876, has fiercely rejected the move toward pitchers not batting in games.


The current designed hitter rules are this...


In the N.L. the pitchers hit, usually occupying the 9th spot in the batting order, although some managers, like Hall of Famer Tony LaRussa, who would, at times, bat his pitcher 8th.


The A.L. pitchers don't hit when they play other American League teams, and when visiting National League teams play in the A.L. home park.


The N.L. pitcher is replaced by a DH in the A.L. ballpark.


When A.L. teams play on the road at N.L. ballparks, the A.L. must bench the DH, and the starting pitcher is added to the lineup.


The problem, as I see it, is that the American League is always at a disadvantage in Interleague play.


When the N.L. team goes to play in an A.L. park, they simply insert an additional bat into the lineup.


However, the N.L. is never at a disadvantage because the A.L. pitcher must hit on the road, but the N.L. pitcher NEVER has to bat in the A.L. park.


So, the debate rages on, should the DH be used in both leagues, should the DH be abolished, making A.L. pitchers hit, or should the DH remain status quo?


I've got the answer, and, frankly, it's quite simple...


...let the two big leagues play baseball the way they play baseball, in every game, home, or on the road.


That's it...no matter where the Interleague Games are played, in the N.L. or A.L. ballpark, the American League team plays with a lineup of 9 batters in the lineup, and the National League has 8 batters and a pitcher, and that pitcher has to grab a bat and hit.


The A.L. manager continues to run his club the same way all 162 games with the DH, and the N.L. skipper has his pitcher batting, and he can use all the double switch moves he has too make.



Pretty darn simple, don't you think?


No having A.L. pitchers worrying about taking batting practice instead of working on their pitching, no N.L. manager trying to figure out what bench player has to DH one night, and not the next.




Disagree, think I'm wrong...or, do you agree, or have your own solution to the DH issue?



Comment below and please vote in the DH Poll at the upper right of the blog.



If you'd like, hit me up on Twitter, at @freehan11 ...I'll be glad to hear from you.


PLAY BALL! ⚾