1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,000 Prior to the 60's season, you got another phone call. 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,000 And this one's from your old friend George Kell. 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,000 And this one takes you to Tiger Town. 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:21,000 What happened was the Orioles were finishing the season in New York 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,000 and we had a game at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,000 It was a night game and I got back to the Hotel Roosevelt 8 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,000 and it was fairly late and the phone rang. It was George Kell. 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,000 And he said Ernie VanPatrick is out. He's not going to be the announcer anymore here with the Tigers. 10 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,000 I've worked with him this year, 1959. 11 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:44,000 The Tigers asked me to call you and find out if you're interested in leaving Baltimore 12 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,000 and coming to Detroit to be the announcer. 13 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,000 And I said, well George, I love Baltimore. I'm having a good time there. 14 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,000 Things are going good, but I'd be foolish not to listen to some kind of an offer. 15 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,000 Tell them that I'm interested and we'll see what happens. 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,000 So I went to my sponsors, Gunther, and told them that I'd had this conversation. 17 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,000 And they wanted me to come out and talk to them in Detroit. 18 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,000 And they said, well go ahead and just give us the courtesy of coming back 19 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,000 and telling us about the offer and see if we want to meet it or not. 20 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:18,000 I went out and I talked to Mr. Harry Sesson during the World Series of 59. 21 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,000 And he took me over to meet John Strode. 22 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,000 The Strode Brewery was buying the rights to the Tigers beginning the next year. 23 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000 And I met Mr. Strode at the brewery and they made me an offer. 24 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,000 It was pretty good and I was attracted to it. 25 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,000 I went back and talked to Gunther and they said, well that's more than we can manage. 26 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,000 So good luck and we enjoyed having you here and so forth. 27 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:44,000 So I left and went to Detroit and it's probably the best move that I ever made 28 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:49,000 because I stayed there a while and I really appreciated the great love and affection 29 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,000 that the people of Michigan have shown me over the years. 30 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,000 Again, sponsorships played a big part in a job change. 31 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:56,000 Oh it did. 32 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Van Patrick had been working for a brewery called Goble and they switched to Strode. 33 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,000 And Strode wasn't too anxious to have Van continue as the announcer 34 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,000 because he had identification with the brewing rivals. 35 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:12,000 So I think that at least partially led to his dismissal. 36 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,000 Now George Kell had replaced Mel Ott. 37 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,000 Right, Mel Ott had been killed in an automobile accident in 1958 38 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,000 and he and his wife were hit by a car down in Louisiana. 39 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Mrs. Ott survived but Mel died and George replaced Mel. 40 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,000 So he'd had a year under his belt when I came there. 41 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:34,000 The last day of spring training there was a blockbuster trade 42 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,000 between the Tigers and the Cleveland Indians. 43 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000 What precipitated that trade? 44 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,000 Well that was one of the great trades of all time because generally when you, 45 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,000 two clubs trade, they usually trade a couple of Humpty Dumptys 46 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,000 as Clint Courtney once said, guys that don't help either team. 47 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,000 But this was Harvey Keene of the Tigers going to Cleveland 48 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,000 in exchange for Rocky Colivido. 49 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,000 Harvey Keene was the America League batting champion. 50 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Colivido was a home run champion. 51 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,000 So you had two stars being traded for each other. 52 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,000 And I can remember Rick Farrell who was Vice President, 53 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,000 General Manager of the Tigers came to the press box 54 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,000 the final day of spring training. 55 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,000 We were finishing up our broadcast and he came into the press box 56 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,000 and said we've got a deal and he told us what the deal was. 57 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:26,000 And sure enough the Tigers and the Indians opened the season in Cleveland, 1960. 58 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,000 And these two guys who had been traded for each other 59 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,000 played against each other in that first game. 60 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:35,000 Had it ever happened before or has it happened since when the batting champion 61 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,000 and the home run champion were swapped for each other? 62 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,000 Not that I know of. It might have but I can't recall it, Bob. 63 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:45,000 It's entirely possible but it was a unique situation at that time. 64 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,000 What were your first thoughts when you walked into Tiger Stadium? 65 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,000 My first time in Tiger Stadium actually was with the Orioles. 66 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,000 I had gone there in 1954. 67 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,000 Baltimore opened their modern big league history 68 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,000 with a game at what was in Briggs Stadium in 1954. 69 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,000 And Steve Gromack shut out Baltimore, beat them 3-0. 70 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Boone hit a home run. I remember that. 71 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,000 There were two or three home runs off the Tiger bats. 72 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,000 And that was my first look at Tiger Stadium. 73 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Then the Orioles beat them in the second game and went back to open in Baltimore. 74 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,000 But when I went in as a Tiger announcer, it was something special 75 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,000 because now this was going to be my home. 76 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:28,000 I was going to be in this little booth as much as I was going to be in my living room during the summer. 77 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,000 And I was going to be part of the Tiger franchise. 78 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:37,000 So it was a great moment for me when I went back there in 1960 and became the Tiger announcer. 79 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:46,000 The Keen for Calo Vito trade was not the only trade that got headlines that season for the Tigers and the Cleveland Indians, was it? 80 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:51,000 No, and they had another very interesting situation, another unique trade. 81 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,000 I don't think this has ever happened before or after. 82 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Two managers were traded for each other. 83 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:03,000 Jimmy Dykes was the manager at Detroit and Joe Gordon was the manager at Cleveland. 84 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:09,000 And Bill DeWitt was the president of the Tigers and Frank Lane was the big boss in Cleveland. 85 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:15,000 And they got together and decided that they couldn't switch a lot of players, so they would trade managers. 86 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:19,000 And Gordon came to Detroit, Jimmy Dykes went to Cleveland. 87 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,000 And I don't think either one of the managers liked that very much. 88 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,000 They thought it denigrated their position being traded. 89 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,000 And Gordon quit after a year with the Tigers. 90 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,000 He announced his retirement on the trip back from Kansas City after the final game. 91 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,000 And Jimmy went ahead because Jimmy always showed up somewhere, you know. 92 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,000 He was a great little pixie who loved cigars and stories and a terrific guy. 93 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,000 And he stayed in baseball for quite a while. 94 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:51,000 1961, Ernie saw quite a few large events in baseball. 95 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:56,000 The one that's gotten the most publicity, of course, was the Mantle Maris chase for the home run record. 96 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,000 And then, of course, Roger eventually breaking Babe Ruth's single season record. 97 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:07,000 We've seen 1961, we've seen the documentaries that have been done about that year in his life. 98 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,000 What did you observe in that chase that summer? 99 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:14,000 I saw Mantle and Maris battling each other for the whole season. 100 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:18,000 And the pressure really got to Roger. I really liked Roger Maris. 101 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,000 I thought he was a terrific guy. 102 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,000 He was an underrated player. 103 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:29,000 He was a fine defensive outfielder, had a great arm, and certainly everybody knows he could hit. 104 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:35,000 But he was under a great deal of pressure, and I don't think he could handle the relationship with the media. 105 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:40,000 He couldn't understand why these guys in every town would ask him the same question. 106 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:45,000 You know, he'd go to Detroit, and they'd ask him, how you doing, how you going to break the record, 107 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,000 are you going to beat Mantle and so forth. 108 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,000 And then he'd go to Chicago, he'd get the same set of questions. 109 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,000 And he just couldn't comprehend why that would be happening. 110 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,000 And he began to be very standoffish with the media. 111 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:02,000 His teammates loved it. They really did. They thought he was a great guy and a great team guy. 112 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:08,000 But I noticed that he was nervous, not at ease at all. His hair began to fall out. 113 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,000 And he just had a miserable time. 114 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:15,000 And he should have been enjoying the year because he was going to be a footnote to history, 115 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:17,000 or maybe a headline to history. 116 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:21,000 But he couldn't take the media attention, and I think that was his big problem. 117 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:27,000 And added to that, even the Yankee fans wanted to see Mickey break the record and not Roger. 118 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:33,000 Yeah, that's ironic too, because at one time the Yankee fans weren't that fond of Mantle in the early going. 119 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,000 And when he began to challenge Babe Ruth's record, they didn't like that. 120 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,000 But now they turned because Mantle had become a hero. 121 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,000 And Maris was sort of a villain in a sense. 122 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,000 And you're right about that. That's a good observation that I hadn't thought about. 123 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,000 But that was the way the Yankee fans turned on Roger. 124 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,000 And he wasn't as big a hero, certainly, as Mickey Mantle was to them. 125 00:07:54,000 --> 00:08:03,000 Let's fast forward now to 1967, another very monumental year, not just for the Tigers, but for the city of Detroit. 126 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:10,000 Because as you have described, one night you're at the ballpark and you see smoke rising over the outfield fence. 127 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,000 What goes through your mind when you see that? 128 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,000 Well, that was a terrible feeling when the riots started in Detroit. 129 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:21,000 The city was divided. It was a very unsafe atmosphere. 130 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,000 Rumors were rampant about what was going to happen. 131 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Nobody felt safe. 132 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:31,000 There was all sort of anxiety and worry among the people of Detroit. 133 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,000 And the National Guard was finally called out and they quelled the riots. 134 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,000 But a lot of people were killed. 135 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:42,000 The property was destroyed, and it was a great blot on the city. 136 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,000 And it was a terrible, terrible time. 137 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,000 The Tigers tried to play through it. They didn't play that season. 138 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,000 And almost won the pennant in 67. 139 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:57,000 With a little bit of break on the last couple of days, they could have been the champions. 140 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,000 But they lost out. 141 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:06,000 And when they went to spring training the next year, I think the fact that they had come so close weighed on their minds. 142 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:11,000 And they said, if we can come this close, maybe we can win it in 68. 143 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:16,000 In 1968, Detroit came back very determined. 144 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 They did not fall short this time. 145 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,000 They won their first World Series since 1945. 146 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,000 But what was the big difference in the 68 team versus 67? 147 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Not too much difference in those two teams, Bob. 148 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,000 It was a magical year for the Tigers in 1968. 149 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:41,000 I think they were determined in spring training that since they'd come so close in 67, they could do it all and win it all in 68. 150 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:48,000 And they had a combination of power hitting and great pitching, had terrific defense, had a good bench. 151 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:54,000 The bullpen didn't make a whole lot of difference in those days, but they had a pretty fair bullpen. 152 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:59,000 But they had Denny McClain and Mickey Lowlich as the two great pitchers. 153 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:06,000 And it was a team that had a different hero every day, and they stayed in first place practically the whole season. 154 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:12,000 Three men on, two men out, game tied, one to one in the ninth inning. 155 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:16,000 McDaniel checking his time with Jake Gibbs. 156 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:20,000 The tall right-hander, ready to go to work again. 157 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,000 And the windup and the pitch. 158 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,000 He swings a line shot, base hit, right field, the Tigers win it. 159 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,000 Here comes K-line to score, and it's all over. 160 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,000 Downward singles, the Tigers bobbed on. 161 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:36,000 K-line is score, the fans are steaming on the field. 162 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:41,000 And the Tigers have won their first minute since 1945. 163 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 Let's listen to the badmothers here at Tigers Stadium. 164 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:56,000 1968 also sees a young pitcher go 31-6. 165 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,000 What propelled Denny McClain to that kind of year? 166 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:03,000 Denny McClain got that kind of year because he was a great pitcher for that one season. 167 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:08,000 He was a great pitcher a couple of seasons, but especially in 1968. 168 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,000 He had great confidence in himself. 169 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,000 He had a tremendously effective fastball. 170 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,000 He had great control. 171 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:19,000 The players loved to play behind him because he did work quickly. 172 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,000 And he also seemed to have a good bit of luck, 173 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:25,000 which you have to have when you're going to have a record like that. 174 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:30,000 He just amazed the baseball nation with his accomplishment. 175 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,000 And he breezed through that season, won 31 ball games, 176 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:39,000 the only guy to do it since Dizzy Dean had done it back in the early 1930s. 177 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,000 And it's a remarkable feat that's never happened since then. 178 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,000 Well, this is the big day for the maestro, Denny McClain. 179 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:51,000 Saturday afternoon at Tigers Stadium, September the 14th, 1968. 180 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:55,000 And Denny will be going for win number 30. 181 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:59,000 Pitching rival of the Oakland Athletics, Chuck Dobson. 182 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,000 And we've got a tremendous crowd here. 183 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:08,000 And everybody looking forward to Denny's test, trying to get win number 30 of this season. 184 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:13,000 The count on Horton is now two balls and two strikes. 185 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,000 And Campanaris comes in from short. 186 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,000 Chuck with his pitcher, Diego Seguin. 187 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:21,000 Here's the set by Seguin, the pitch. 188 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,000 Wenger on the top of the map. 189 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:24,000 That'll be the ballgame. 190 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,000 It's over the head of Gosner. 191 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,000 McClain wins his 30th pitch. 192 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,000 The score, Winning Horton has a single. 193 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,000 And the ballgame is over. 194 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,000 And the Tigers win it 5-4. 195 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:41,000 Denny McClain is one of the first out of the run-out, racing out and Horton is mobbed as the Tigers come from behind. 196 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:48,000 And McClain has his 30th victory of the 1968 season. 197 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:58,000 When we go to the World Series, the Tigers make a move, moving a center fielder to shortstop, a rather unusual move, especially at the time it was done. 198 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,000 That was one of the great strategic moves in World Series history. 199 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,000 Mayo Smith was the manager of the Tigers. 200 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Mickey Stanley was the center fielder. 201 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Mayo wanted to get Al Kailin, who had been injured part of the year, back into the lineup to play in the outfield. 202 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:18,000 So he moved Stanley in to replace Ray Euler at shortstop. 203 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:27,000 Euler, a great, great defensive player, but he hit about 130 or 135 and was one of the poorest hitters in baseball history. 204 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:32,000 But Stanley was a great athlete and he adjusted perfectly. 205 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,000 He had a ground ball hit to him early in the first game of the World Series. 206 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,000 He relaxed and played a great shortstop. 207 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:44,000 But I can remember going to St. Louis with the Tigers when they opened the World Series in St. Louis. 208 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:52,000 And the night before, I went around and I talked to, I'd say, 15 or 20 so-called experts about that move that was impending. 209 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,000 And they all agreed that it was a bad move. 210 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,000 Nobody told me that it was a good move. 211 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:01,000 And I didn't think it was either, but it turned out to be a great move and it worked. 212 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:05,000 Detroit gets down 3-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals. 213 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:15,000 Game 5 sees the series in Detroit and you had a hand in the opening of that World Series game with the national anthem. 214 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:20,000 Well, I sure did and I almost got fired because of that, Bob. 215 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:24,000 What had happened as the resident songwriter there at the ballpark, 216 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:30,000 I was appointed by General Manager President Jim Campbell to pick the anthem singers. 217 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:35,000 And the Saturday game, I picked Margaret Whiting, who was a great ballad singer. 218 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:43,000 She was the daughter of a great songwriter, niece of another great songwriter, both the Whiting boys from Michigan. 219 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:47,000 And she did a very standard rendition of the national anthem. 220 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:52,000 And the second man I selected was Marvin Gaye from Motown. 221 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,000 And it was a little ironic that Mr. Campbell came to me and said, 222 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:01,000 now we're a little concerned that Marvin might make it a little bit too bluesy and too much Motown. 223 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:05,000 We'd like to have a straight rendition. Would you mind asking them to do it that way? 224 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:09,000 So I did and Marvin said, sure, I'll do it. So he sang it straight. 225 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:18,000 And my third selection was a young man who had been born in Puerto Rico, grew up in the Bronx, New York, and was beginning to get the fairly famous. 226 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,000 He'd had a big hit on the charts. 227 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,000 Come on, light my fire. And he was playing at Las Vegas. 228 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,000 And a friend of mine who'd been in Hollywood in the record business said, 229 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Jose Feliciano had done a great job of the national anthem at the Greek theater in California. 230 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:40,000 And he would be a great selection. So I went on the advice of this gentleman and we got in touch with Feliciano. 231 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,000 He said he'd be happy to come. He was playing in Vegas. 232 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,000 He took the red eye to Detroit, got in in the morning. 233 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:51,000 Olly McLaughlin, a record producer that was a good friend of mine. 234 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,000 And I went out to meet him at the airport. We took him to the hotel. 235 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:58,000 He freshened up, went to the ballpark and went out to the clubhouses. 236 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,000 The guys loved him there. They came out to the little laddie room. 237 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:07,000 And he made up a few songs about Al K. Lyon and Denny McLean and everybody else and sang them. 238 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:15,000 And then he went out into the center field area with his leader dog and his dark glasses all by himself. 239 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:20,000 And in front of the microphone with his guitar, he rendered the national anthem. 240 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,000 And it was sort of a little bluesy anthem. 241 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:32,000 And at that time I think people thought it was a real departure from the regular anthems of Lucy Monroe and Kate Smith and people like that. 242 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:37,000 And they were a little disturbed about it. But he sang it from the heart. 243 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,000 And I thought he did a great job. 244 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:47,000 All of a sudden the headlines hit the paper about Feliciano and how he had crucified the national anthem. 245 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,000 American Legion clubs rose up in anger. 246 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:58,000 They said that they wanted a resolution passed that whoever sang the anthem had to do it straight ahead, completely on the notes and so forth. 247 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:03,000 And that Feliciano was a communist and a traitor to the flag and everything like that. 248 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:08,000 Well, I defended him because I had to. I picked the guy and it was my responsibility. 249 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,000 And the Tigers were pretty good about that. 250 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:18,000 I got a little note from Jim Campbell and John Fetcher saying, watch out about your next election if you ever get the chance to do one. 251 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:26,000 But there were a lot of letters sent in and they had a picture of Jose on the front page of the New York Times singing the national anthem. 252 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,000 And it got to be quite a cause celeb. 253 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,000 But we became great friends. 254 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:38,000 Later on I introduced Feliciano to the young lady that he eventually married and now is living in Connecticut with. 255 00:17:38,000 --> 00:18:01,000 They've raised a great family and he is still singing and playing that great guitar. 256 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,000 The. 257 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,000 Was. 258 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,000 Right. 259 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,000 You. 260 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,000 Oh. 261 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,000 We. 262 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:40,000 Yeah. 263 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Yeah. 264 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:49,000 Yeah. 265 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,000 Yeah. 266 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,000 Yeah. 267 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Yeah. 268 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:04,000 Yeah. 269 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,000 Yeah. 270 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,000 Yeah. 271 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,000 Yeah. 272 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,000 Oh. 273 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,000 Oh. 274 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,000 Oh. 275 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,000 Oh. 276 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:30,000 Yeah. 277 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:31,000 A Robert Merrill version. 278 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:37,000 It wasn't, but it was tame compared to some of the modern day renditions that we see. 279 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,000 Well, that's a great observation. 280 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:50,000 I think now if you hear the renditions you get almost daily, you'd think that Feliciano's rendition was very tame compared to them. 281 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,000 OK, back to the field now. 282 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:56,000 Mickey Lowlitch, the story of the World Series in 1968. 283 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,000 Mickey was always overshadowed by Denny McClain. 284 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,000 Denny had the 31 game victory season. 285 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,000 Lowlitch had been a real good strong arm left hander. 286 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,000 He had worked as a starter. 287 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,000 He didn't put in the bullpen from time to time. 288 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,000 He got out there and did everything you could ask of him. 289 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,000 And he was a magnificent pitcher. 290 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,000 He was a good strikeout pitcher and he had a good strong left arm. 291 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:25,000 He would do 350, 360 innings a season and do it beautifully. 292 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,000 But in the regular season, he was overshadowed by Denny. 293 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:37,000 But came the World Series, the Tigers lost the first game in St. Louis to Bob Gibson and then Lowlitch pitched the second game and they won that one big. 294 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:41,000 They went to Detroit and it looked like the Tigers just weren't going anywhere. 295 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:45,000 They played very bad baseball and they were down to the Cardinals. 296 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:51,000 And they came back and forced the seventh game of the World Series with Lowlitch against Bob Gibson. 297 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:57,000 Two great pitchers and I think the odds were certainly in favor of Gibson because he'd already won two games. 298 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:01,000 And he was a magnificent pitcher, no question about that. 299 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:08,000 He set the strikeout record in the first game when he beat the Tigers handily and he was ready to pitch this final game. 300 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,000 And there was never any better one game pitcher than Bob Gibson. 301 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:17,000 But Lowlitch was equal to the occasion and they battled for seven innings. 302 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,000 It was nothing to nothing. 303 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:23,000 And the Tigers were two out, got singles from Cash and Horton. 304 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,000 And then Northup stepped up and hit a three base hit over the head of Flood. 305 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,000 He set a field, a two run scored and the Tigers went on to win the World's Championship. 306 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:36,000 Lowlitch became one of the few pitchers ever to win three games in a World Series. 307 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,000 And he was a World Series hero and he certainly deserved it. 308 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,000 How about Kurt Flood's play of that hit? 309 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:48,000 Well, there was a lot of question about that, whether it was a legitimate triple or not. I thought so. 310 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:55,000 It just seemed to me as I saw it then and looked at it later on in the replays that he took one misstep probably. 311 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,000 And then almost tripped and the ball got over his head. 312 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:04,000 But it might have been over his head even if he hadn't come in on it at first, you never know. 313 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,000 And you've got to give the credit to Jim Northup. 314 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:11,000 And as they say, look at the box score and you know what really happened. 315 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:19,000 As divided as the city had been in 67, what did the 68 World Series do for bringing the community back together? 316 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:29,000 Well, it was a great factor in the healing of the city because people could root for a black guy or a white guy or a purple guy or a green guy or whatever if he was a Tiger. 317 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,000 And they all forgot about the other stuff. 318 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:40,000 And I think another factor in the whole scheme of things was that the newspapers had gone on strike around Thanksgiving of 1967. 319 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:47,000 So there was no print coverage of the Tiger 68 season at all until maybe mid-August. 320 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,000 So they got through almost the whole season without any newspapers. 321 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,000 And that put the emphasis on radio and on TV. 322 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:01,000 So people could be in a car next to a guy and he'd be listening to the radio and they'd say, well, how are the Tigers doing? 323 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:07,000 Or you could walk through the neighborhood, hear the ball game, you could see TV and all the taverns and all the restaurants. 324 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:35,000 And it was the topic of conversation all through the summer, what the Tigers were doing.