Jerry Mabbott's Blog

The prognosticators are busy trying to determine what the result will be. I care deeply about the final result but here is my level of interest of opinions now: The Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants need to have very strong finishes to make the playoffs. 

I love baseball. I love football, too but baseball is still my favorite sport. I don’t care if it’s a Jr. High school game, the Pioneer League team here in town, the Triple A team downtown, or a simple softball game. Even though I can no longer play, I love to watch the games. 

I played baseball for a very long time. That’s not to say that I didn’t make it past the Joe DiMaggio league. There a couple of guys who were picked up by major league clubs, most notably a pitcher named Randy Neiman, I think. Who knows? With my fading memory, he could have been named Pete Wilson. 

In the end, he made it to “The Show”, as the major league level is called. He was a hard throwing pitcher and everyone in the league was following his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, he blew his arm out during his rookie season and that was that. That was a real bummer. 

But there is always my friend, Lance Parrish, then a very good catcher for the Tigers. He was an eight time all star, multiple Golden Glove award winner (the best defensive catcher) hit a lot of home runs and was on the amazing 1984 Tigers who led the league from start to finish and beat the San Diego Padres in the World Series. He also hit a home run in the series. 

He had a great career and it is still a thrill to know him. He’s now manager of a Tigers minor league team and I think he will one day manage the Major League Tigers. He’s still a friend. There are a couple of other friends affiliated with the Tigers that are also good friends. Peggy and Larry Thompson. I’ve known Larry since 1987, I think. 

They’re great people. Larry and I did comedy together during those early years. They did something very special for me last year. Lance wore number 13, so they gave me a real 2012 World Series jersey with my name on the back, along with the number 13. I couldn’t believe what a kind and special gesture that was. Great people. 

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