Throughout the years, I’ve been very fortunate to interview some of the all-time great Detroit Tigers.
Some of the players that come to mind on the 1968 World Championship team include: Al Kaline, Mickey Lolich, Willie Horton and Jim Price.
When the Tigers made the playoffs in 1972, I crossed paths with Billy Martin, Duke Sims and Joe Coleman.
Who can forget the 1984 World Championship squad?
I have good memories with Sparky Anderson, Alan Trammell, Lance Parrish, Kirk Gibson and Dan Petry.
As the Tigers get set for their 40th anniversary celebrating the 1984 team in August, I had the opportunity to spend time with Petry as you’re going to see in the video which is inserted in this story when I covered the Miami Marlins series vs Detroit a couple weeks ago in Comerica Park.
It was great reminiscing with Petry about the 1984 team, plus the 1987 Tigers playoff team that lost to the Minnesota Twins.
We talked about players that should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame from the 1968 and 1984 squads. When I approached Petry about talking about the 1984 Tigers, he smiled and was glad to talk about the memories and teammates on that squad.
The 65-year old native of Palo Alto, CA., compiled a 125-104 record with a 3.95 ERA and 1,063 strikeouts in a career that began in 1979 and ended 1991. Petry pitched in 370 games, 300 as a starter, threw for 2,080.1 innings, and amassed 52 complete games.
He had two stints with the Tigers. His first was from 1979-1987 and was an All-Star in 1985, in addition to winning the World Series in 1984.
His second stint with the Tigers occurred from 1990-91. He also had stops with the California Angels (1988-1989), Atlanta Braves (1991) and Boston Red Sox (1991).
During our conversation, he talked about Jack Morris, Frank Tanana and Milt Wilcox among others.
Petry is currently a studio analyst for the Tigers on Ballys Sports Detroit.
In addition to talking about the past, we also talked about today’s game which consists of new rule changes to speed up the game, Tommy John surgeries, as well as the lack of complete games.
There is no doubt that once you view this video, you’re going to be much more knowledgeable about the two different eras. First, the one he played in and second, the once he’s analyzing.
When an opportunity comes to talk to former Tigers, there is no doubt that I will pounce on it.
Petry is a Tigers legend and a very important part of the teams’ history.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and he can he reached on Twitter/X @TribuneSouth.
You can see his broadcasts by subscribing to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel at no cost.
Finally, Scott wrote a book “Lessons From The Microphone” which talks about Old School Media vs New School Media. It’s available on Amazon-Kindle and Barnes & Noble.
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