Tuesday, October 7, 2014

no. 336 - tigers


Who is the man: After six years of prosperity and a World Series title, the Tigers suffered their first losing season since 1963, going 79-83 in 1970. Manager Mayo Smith was shown the door after the season.

Can ya dig it: Those are some beautiful old style seats in the background. They look about as comfortable as cement steps.

Right on: Guys in suits don't belong in team photos.

You see that cat Smith is a bad mother: I believe Mayo Smith is seated in the middle of the first full row, which is the customary position for the manager in a team photo. Good to see he's protecting his crotch here.

Shut your mouth: Since the Tigers don't feature uniform numbers on the front of their jerseys, I'm going to forgo trying to identify anyone here. Eagle eyes are more than welcome to take a shot.

No one understands him but his woman: When Smith was fired, he surprisingly fumed about the Tigers fan base, saying, "The baseball fans in this town are ignorant. They couldn't tell a baseball player from a Japanese aviator. And that's a quote."

 
(A word about the back): The Tigers were setting one team pitching record per season at this point. In 1970 it was games pitched, in 1969 it was shutouts, and in 1968 it was strikeouts.

3 comments:

  1. The Tigers were two years removed from being WS champs. Question when you say team record for games pitched is that the total number of appearences for all pitcher combined? I think the great downfall of the 1970 team was losing Denny McClain because of MLB suspension.

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    Replies
    1. Games pitched by an individual for a season. Tom Timmermann pitched 61 games in 1970, which was a record then.

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