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.
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.
ReplyDeleteGames pitched by an individual for a season. Tom Timmermann pitched 61 games in 1970, which was a record then.
DeleteJapanese aviator? The hell?
ReplyDelete