Kirk Gibson - Detroit Tigers (1979-1987) & (1993-1995)

Kirk Gibson PART 1
The following is from http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/gibsoki01.php

Kirk Gibson never played in an All-Star Game, but he was involved in several dramatic moments, including hitting one of the greatest World Series home runs ever. He won titles in both leagues, garnered the 1988 NL MVP based largely on his winning attitude and aggressive play, and starred for his hometown Tigers in two stretches. He was one of the central figures effected by the 1986-1987 collusion against free agents. He left Detroit after a falling out with the front office, owner Tom Monaghan stating "He's a disgrace to the uniform, with his beard and scruffy look." But six years later he was back in Motown, and after his playing career he joined the organization as a special instructor, announcer and coach.

Kirk Harold Gibson

Born: May 28, 1957, Pontiac, MI
Batted: Left, Threw: Left
College: Michigan State
Debut: September 8, 1979
Primary Position: OF
Primary Team: DET
Nicknames: GibbySee what happened Today in Baseball History

Played For
Detroit Tigers (1979-1987)
Los Angeles Dodgers (1988-1990)
Kansas City Royals (1991)
Pittsburgh Pirates (1992)
Detroit Tigers (1993-1995)

Awards and Honors

1984 AL ALCS MVP
1988 NL MVP

Post-Season Appearances

1984 American League Championship Series
1984 World Series
1987 American League Championship Series
1988 National League Championship Series
1988 World Series

Factoid
Kirk Gibson hit at least one home run against every major league team except the Tigers and the Dodgers.

Full Bio
Kirk Harold Gibson was born on May 28, 1957, in Pontiac, Michigan, not far from Detroit. He starred as an All-American for Michigan State University at flanker in football and outfielder in baseball. After Gibson set several Spartan football records, including 24 touchdown catches, 112 receptions, and 2,347 yards, the NFL St. Louis Cardinals drafted him in the seventh round in 1979. In 1978, the Detroit Tigers had made him a first round draft selection and signed him for a $200,000 bonus after his only season of college baseball. Gibson had decided to play baseball at MSU to get some leverage in negotiations with NFL teams. He hit .390 in 48 games, drove in 52 runs, and set a school record with 16 homers.

After starting his professional baseball career with Lakeland in 1978, he played a final season of college football that Fall and joined Evansville in 1979. Despite suffering a knee injury, he helped Evansville to the title in the American Association with a .429 batting average. In September, the Tigers promoted him. He struggled to achieve immediate stardom, feeling the pressure when Detroit manager Sparky Anderson compared him to Mickey Mantle. On September 25, 1979 he hit his first home run, off Baltimore's Steve Stone.

Gibson's first outburst of temper occurred that 1979 season in spring training when he was sent to Evansville rather than making the ML team. "I really don't know why they brought me down here. You can't do anything playing once every five days. What do they expect a guy to do, playing like that -- go 15-for-15?" Gibson had collected just three hits in 15 at-bats, all of them home runs. He had struck out eight times. Despite embarrassing flare-ups like this, the Tigers remained high on their outfielder. "There is no limit to what he can do. God was very good to this man. He gave him smarts upstairs and great ability...there's nobody that big, that strong, that fast," said Sparky. Gibson went to Evansville and was hurt in his very first game when a fellow outfielder ran into him and injured his knee.

A natural all-around athlete, Gibson exhibited power, speed, intensity, and competitiveness. Injuries plagued him throughout his major league career, as he often attacked the diamond as if it were the gridiron. In 1980 Gibson appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, touted as "The Rip-Roaring Rookie", and began the season with Detroit, starting in center field and hitting a home run and a triple on opening day. He was leading the team with nine homers when he suffered tendon damage in his left wrist in June and missed the remainder of the season.

Gibson had a painful start to his 1981 season when a ball bounced off his head in center field on opening day after he lost it in the sun. But he went on to pace the Tigers with a career high .328 batting average and swiped 17 bases in the strike-shortened campaign, finishing 12th in AL MVP voting. Gibson played 49 of the Tigers 52 second-half games in '81, hitting safely in 41 of the contests. In August he enjoyed his first dramatic Yankee Stadium moment when he entered the game in the ninth inning as a pinch-hitter with Detroit trailing 4-2. Facing Ron Davis with two men on base, Gibson belted a 2-0 fastball into the right field stands to give the Tigers the lead and the win. Six weeks later, on October 1st, Gibson blasted an historic home run in Tiger Stadium against the Orioles. The ball would have left the stadium if it hadn't hit the edge of the third deck in right field. Anderson called the shot "awesome."

In 1982 and 1983 Gibson worked to cut down on his strikeouts and improve his pitch selection, but was continually thwarted by injuries and his own temper. Tiger great Al Kaline tutored him in the outfield, helping him to use his blazing speed to his advantage. Despite these efforts, Gibson, who had a poor throwing arm, never became a great outfielder. The acquisition of Chet Lemon prior to the 1982 season ended the Bengals experiment of making Gibson a center fielder. As late as 1987 Sparky was bemoaning the play of Gibson in the outfield: "It's always going to happen, runners just go from first to third on almost every ball hit out there."

After starting the '83 season red-hot (he was hitting .400), Gibson was sidelined with a knee injury which he had suffered when he dove for a ball in the season opener. After surgery to remove bone chips, Gibson returned to the team, having missed two weeks. During this period Gibson formed his solid friendship with teammate Dave Rozema, with whom he frequently got into off-the-field controversy. Later, the two married sisters. During the 1983 off-season, at the urging of his agent, Gibson entered the Seattle Pacific Institute for a course on personal motivation. The lessons he learned there made a huge impact on his career and life, helping him set goals and properly "visualize" positive outcomes.

Gibson had seemed out of control at times in '82 and '83, lashing out at fans and the press, breaking bats and throwing helmets after strikeouts. "I wasn't happy with myself but I didn't know how to change. The fans would yell 'Gibson you stink!' and I'd yell back at them ' Yeah, you're right' I was being controlled by other people's images." The trip to the motivational class helped turn Gibson around.

In 1984, Gibson was installed as the #3 hitter and helped guide Detroit to the AL title with 27 home runs, 91 RBI, and 29 stolen bases, becoming the first Tiger to reach 20 steals and homers in the same season. He was voted MVP of the 1984 AL Championship Series after batting .417 against the Kansas City Royals. Gibson clouted two homers with five RBI in the decisive fifth game of the World Series for the victorious Tigers against the San Diego Padres. His monstrous home run off Goose Gossage in Game Five served as the dramatic exclamation point to an amazing season. Gossage talked manager Dick Williams out of intentionally walking Gibson, whom Goose had enjoyed some success against in his Yankee days. Sparky Anderson challenged Gibson to take a crack at the imposing relief ace and Gibby delivered a towering shot into the right field porch.

In 1985 he logged a career high 29 homers and 97 RBI while stealing 30 bases in 34 attempts, but Detroit failed to repeat. Although injured early in the 1986 season, Gibson led Detroit with a career best 34 stolen bases and produced 86 RBI and 28 long balls. In mid-Summer he collected game-winning hits in five consecutive games, a record. In spring training 1987 Gibson suffered pulled muscles in his rib cage while taking batting practice, missing several weeks. In April an ankle injury sidelined him, but he returned in May and hit 24 home runs and 79 RBI in just 128 games, helping the Tigers capture the AL Eastern Division. Once again he proved clutch -- blasting a ninth-inning home run to beat the Blue Jays in the next-to-the-last weekend of the season, keeping Detroit three games back. The Tigers rallied that final week to win the division crown on the final day.

Last edited by on Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:48 am; edited 1 time in total

Kirk Gibson PART 2
The following is from http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/gibsoki01.php

After an arbitrator awarded Gibson free agency status, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired him in January 1988. That spring he set the tone for the Dodger team -- exploding when Jesse Orosco put shaving cream in his hat. Gibson ripped the Dodgers intensity and wondered if the prank-filled clubhouse was the reason the team didn't win. His message was received and he assumed leadership of the club. In one of his finest all-around campaigns, he hit .290 with 25 home runs, 76 RBI, 106 runs scored, and 31 stolen bases in 35 attempts in 1988, earning NL MVP honors and helping the Dodgers win the NL pennant. His MVP award was one of the more controversial in history, since he failed to lead the league in any of the major offensive categories. But manager Tommy Lasorda supported the vote -- claiming that Gibson was one of the hardest working players he'd ever seen.

In the NLCS against the favored Mets, Gibson batted just .154, but he provided two key home runs. His solo blast in the top of the 12th inning won Game Four, and his three-run homer in Game Five provided the winning margin. Hobbled by injuries, Gibson sat out the first game of the World Series against the Oakland A's. As a pinch hitter against relief ace Dennis Eckersley in the bottom of the ninth inning, he belted a two-out, two-run homer on a 3-2 pitch to give the Dodgers a 5-4 victory. It was one of the most dramatic events in post-season history. The Dodgers beat the A's in five games, marking the pinnacle of his long career. Injuries limited his batting average to a career low of .213 in 1989. Gibson began the 1990 season on the disabled list and joined the Albuquerque Dukes on rehabilitation assignment. He rejoined the Dodgers and batted .260 in only 89 games. He also stole 26 bases in 28 attempts for a .929 success rate, the best in the major leagues. Gibson's career steal rate (78.5%) is one of the 30 best in history. He rarely grounded into double plays and was known for his aggressive base running and hard slides.

Gibson demanded to be traded at the end of the 1990 season and signed with the Royals, batting only .236 in 1991. Kansas City traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Neal Heaton in March 1992, but he was released unconditionally after just 16 games and retired. One Pirate said at the time, "He couldn't get around on mediocre stuff, his mobility was limited, his body hurt, it was tough for him to play two days in a row."

Gibson rejoined the Tigers as a free agent in 1993 after Anderson called him and invited him to spring training. Although initially used strictly as the DH, he later started in center field and hit .261 with just one error in 116 games. His arrival sparked the aging Tigers to their best season in years, with the team in first place as late as June. Teaming again with Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, and joining Cecil Fielder, Mickey Tettleton, Travis Fryman, and Tony Phillips, Gibson was part of an explosive offensive team that hit at least one home run in nearly 50 straight games.

Gibson appeared in 98 games with the Tigers in 1994, improving his batting average to .276 with 23 home runs and 72 RBI. For his efforts he was named Tiger of the Year by Detroit sportswriters, an honor he had won in 1981. "There is a right way to play this game. My job this year is to show the younger players what that right way is." After nearly retiring, Gibson agreed to sign a one-year $1.3 million contract for 1995, but was nagged by injuries and annoyed at the trades which sent buddies David Wells and Mike Henneman away. He batted .260 as Detroit's DH, but an injured shoulder forced him to retire in August. When he made the announcement he said he had been "traded to his family," and returned from Milwaukee, leaving the team.

"Kirk Gibson is one guy who will never have to look back and be ashamed of his career. He played his career to its fullest, and he's been a pleasure to manage," Anderson said. A few months later Anderson managed his last game and longtime Gibson teammate Whitaker retired, ending an era in Detroit.

Gibson was never a huge fan favorite in Detroit despite being the hometown hero. His rude demeanor and refusal to give autographs when he was a young player didn't sit well with Tiger faithful. On the field he earned their respect with his hard play and leadership qualities, but away from the diamond he was gruff, blunt, and often nasty to the media. Manager Anderson once said "Hopefully someday he'll realize that how you treat other people is important. Right now we're just glad he's finally learned to handle himself." He admitted after his playing days that he should have handled his attitude differently, expressing regret.

In his 17-year major league career, Gibson batted .268, stole 284 bases, scored 985 runs, recorded 870 RBI, clouted 255 homers, and compiled a .976 fielding average. Despite winning the MVP in 1988 and batting third on two World Championship teams, Gibson never played in the All-Star team in his long career (though he was selected a few times, he refused to attend due to nagging injuries or hunting trips). In February 1998, he joined Fox Sports as an analyst for Detroit games.

Where He Played:
Left field (477), right field (456), center field (325), DH (327). Gibson had the wheels to play center, but he never really had great judgment in the outfield. His arm was very weak, and the combination of his poor wing and bad judgment of flyballs, resulted in a mediocre to average outfielder.

Notes
Gibson is the only MVP winner to never officially appear on an All-Star roster. However, he was asked to be on the team twice -- in 1985 by Sparky Anderson and in 1988 by Whitey Herzog for the National League. Both times Gibson refused to go to the mid-summer classic, opting to go hunting and spend time with his family.

Old Man Gibby
After un-retiring, Gibson rejoined the Tigers for the 1993 season. His intense drive and spirit energized the club - which hadn't seen the playoffs since he had left six years earlier. As late as June the Tigers were in first place. "I'm here to be a world champion. I said that when I signed. Everybody looked at me like I was nuts. Nobody thought we'd be where we are now, but I talked as if we would be here." The Bengals, who had lost 87 games the previous season, improved to 85 wins and finished 10 games back.

Chasing 100
Twice in his career Gibson drove in 90 or more runs, but he never reached the 100-RBI mark. In 1994 he was on pace to eclipse the century plateau when the strike ended the season. Gibby had driven in 72 runs in just 98 games (330 at-bats). His total was just four RBI less than he had in his '88 MVP campaign. Had the 37-year old Gibson been able to reach 100-RBI he would have become the oldest player to reach that level for the first time in his career.

Matchup Data
Gibson struggled against left-handers most of his career, hitting .247 with a
.407 slugging percentage against southpaws. He hit .276 with a .486 SLG mark against right-handers in his career. He was consistent at home and on the road: batting .268 in his home parks, and .267 as a visitor. His slugging percentages (.462-.464), were also very close.

Replaced
In 1981, Sparky Anderson gave young Kirk Gibson a shot to win a starting job in spring training. On opening day, the fiery Gibson was in the lineup as Sparky's right fielder. Gibson beat out Al Cowens, who got some time in center. Ricky Peters also lost playing time due to Gibson's emergence. Gibby hit .328 in the srtike-shortened season, helping the Tigers to nearly win the second-half AL East title.

Replaced By
When Gibson retired in the middle of the 1995 season, it gave more playing time to Juan Samuel and Tony Clark. First baseman Cecil Fielder played more at DH after Gibby left, opening the door for super-sub Samuel and young Clark.

Best Strength as a Player
Competitive fire.

Largest Weakness as a Player
Staying healthy.
======================================

Named NL Most Valuable Player by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1988)

Named AL League Championship Series Most Valuable Player (1984)

Named outfielder on The Sporting News NL Silver Slugger Team (1988)

Ejections as player: 1986 (1), 1988 (1), 1989 (2), 1990 (1), 1995 (1). Total: 6

Ejections as coach: 2003 (1)

Gibby's mom was my High School Drama teacher. He must have picked up his "intensity" from her!!

I went to MSU at the same time he (Gibson) was there. I had season tickets to the 1977 football games (and basketball too, Magic Johnson time!).

Kirk was not known as a cool headed guy even then, but it worked for him in football. He was a great player. Baseball is such a different sport that takes emotional maturity, concentration, and a closeness with your team mates. I was glad to see he went to the social training sessions. He really needed it.

That is one of the things Jim Leland is working on. He tells the current Tigers to play their best, but have fun! At times they seem like kids playing, but playing well!

Magic lived in the same "sports" dorm I was in, Wilson Hall, and he was always a loving person who cared about everyone. He was the total opposite of Kirk!

I was on the 1977-78 MSU Women's golf team. I left MSU in 1979 and moved to Fla. It was through my experence there, as well as seeing what lack of professional sports Psychological coaching can do to any athlete, that I now understand how pressure can harm a players performance.

I now have a Masters degree in counseling and am thinking of going back to college to work on a "Psychological Sports Coaching degree." Then I could work with athletes, at all levels, to perform better and with a level head!

Did you know the Bookers?

Serious Golfing family......

Eastern Michigan?? I knew there was something special about you!!

That is MY Alma Mater!! GO HURONS!!

You should definitely look into Sports Psychology!!

The weard thing is that EMU allows anyone in Ohio to come there and pay MI in-state tuition. (or at least they did last I checked!) I will have to see if they have a Sports Psychology masters or PHD.

GO HURONS!!!

Where in FL are you living now? (you can e-mail me with it if you want.) I would love to take in a spring training game with you and your family, if the timing was right.

I would love to come down during spring training this year.

You definitely should come down. I try to get to a few ST games every year.

I am in St. Petersburg ("saint" petersburg....get it?). I live just about an hour from Lakeland but the Tigers play in St.Pete and Tampa too!!

I used to watch the Tigers in Dunedin when they played the Blue Jays, and Tampa when they played the Yankees. As well as Lakeland!

I lived in Tarpon Springs in Oak Hill Acres from 1979-1985 (tarpon and East Lake Rd area) and New Port Richey (1985-1992) (Oak Ridge) now known as the Trinity community area.

I just could not take the heat and humidity in the summer, otherwise I loved it down there. It makes me mad that they finally got the expansion team (Rays) after moving back north! I daily watched that neighborhood knocked down (it needed leveled puke

) and the stadium built, as I went to the St Pete campus of USF. It definately was a case of, "If they build it, they will come. But we sure thought "hopefully they will come"
You lucky thing, you can see the Tigers play in St Pete in air conditioned comfort.

How do you like living in St Pete?

St. Pete is ok. I moved here from Hawaii (which I tearfully miss daily) in 2001 to help with my parents. I was born and raised in Michigan (Oakland County) and managed to last there for 30 years before escaping to the islands.
This area is nice (Gulf Coast) but I teach in a culturally depressed school. Lots of low-income minorities that would rather battle than be taught.
The DevilRays have been more frustrating than the TIGERS ever were.....

I would move back to Hawaii in a heartbeat.

.....and now the Phillies are in Clearwater in a brand new stadium built along US-19.

Hawaii....my God it is simply breathtakingly beautiful there.
I lived on the Windward side (East) and used to travel along the ocean to get to Honolulu (South) to work.
I can't even describe the view every morning.....

We should all have a TIGER FAN vacation there!!

I remember when Winter League Ball started there. I sang the National Anthem at the very 1st game!!

His famous home run...

He fasts-forwards it in the middle! rant

Why?!
_________________
bow

The shot heard round the world in 1984 World Series. Or at least
around Detroit, as the mighty Tigers (104 wins) defeat Gossage and San
Diego in game 5.

Thanks, I want the longer version to put on here, still looking for it.

20 years later, Kirk Gibson's Series shot worth remembering

FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES • October 7, 2008

ST. LOUIS — From 20 years ago, a broadcaster's stunned call still echoes through time, about the World Series home run that replays will never let die.

"The impossible has happened!'' Vin Scully cried that night from Dodger Stadium, as Kirk Gibson limped around the bases.

Didn't it, though?

There have been roughly 800 home runs in the World Series, according to Elias Sports Bureau. None was quite like this one.

It was hit by a man who could barely walk.

A man who had spent much of Game 1 of the 1988 Series watching on television in the clubhouse, with ice on his battered right knee and screaming left hamstring, resigned to missing out.

A man who suddenly emerged from the tunnel to face the most feared closer of the era with a runner on base, two out, and his Los Angeles team trailing Oakland, 4-3, in the bottom of the ninth.

A man who had only one hand on the bat when it made contact with the full-count, backdoor slider from Dennis Eckersley, sending it into the right field bleachers of Dodger Stadium for a 5-4 miracle.

A man who, after that Hollywood ending, would never take another swing in a World Series. The underdog Dodgers would clinch the championship in five games without him. The roar for him that night would be the last October roar he would ever hear.

But 20 years later, he understands it will last forever.

"The swing and the result are unexplainable,'' Gibson said a few weeks ago, sitting in the dugout before a game in Busch Stadium, now a coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.”Other than maybe to say it was destiny.''

Gibson knows a little bit about World Series home runs. He also hit a pretty memorable one in 1984 while wearing a Tigers uniform.
As for ’88, let those who lived one of the Series' most extraordinary moments stir the memories. Gibson and his manager, Tommy Lasorda. Eckersley and his manager, Tony La Russa.

The situation

Lasorda: "Every inning, I would go down and ask, 'How you feeling big boy?' He kept giving me two thumbs down.''

Gibson: "In the eighth inning (the TV) spanned the dugout and Vin Scully says something to the effect, 'There will be no Kirk Gibson.' I got out of my chair and said, 'My ass.'

"I put a jock on, a pair of socks, a T-shirt. That was it. I had the bare minimum. I took a couple of swings. I started to kind of brainwash myself, that when I walked out there, there would be a very positive reaction from the crowd and I wouldn't hurt.''

Lasorda: "Suddenly the clubhouse boy comes up and says, 'Gibson wants to see you.' ''

Gibson: "I remember seeing Tommy waddling up from the dugout. I said, 'Yeah, I can go if you want me to.' He said, 'Damn right, I want you to.' ''

Lasorda told Gibson to stay hidden and not get in the on-deck circle, so the A's would never know what was coming. Light-hitting Dave Anderson was on-deck, so Eckersley pitched around Mike Davis. Two out, Davis on, last L.A. chance, and Gibson suddenly appeared, like a rabbit out of Lasorda's Dodger cap.

Eckersley: "He's such a competitor. I wasn't real fond of him to begin with. Professionally, he was tough to like.

"I was like, 'Oh no, how long is this going to take for him to get to the plate? I was an anxious guy. I was in a hurry to get going.

"I wasn't afraid of Kirk Gibson because he wasn't himself. In our scouting report, he was an afterthought. Just don't throw him anything soft.''

The at-bat

Gibson: "When the count went to 0-2, I had something I called my emergency stroke. I looked out at him and thought, this was a full emergency. I was just trying to survive.''

La Russa: "If you look at the video, it shows the dugout and Dunc (pitching coach Dave Duncan) is going this way (hands up and pushing back). He wanted to finish Gibson off up and out over the plate with a fastball.''

Gibson fouled off a couple, and the count eventually went full.

Gibson: "We had a scout, Mel Didier, and he had watched Dennis Eckersley for many years. He came up to me (before the Series) in his southern drawl, and said, 'Pardnuh, as sure as I'm standin' here breathin', you're goin' to see a 3-2 backdoor slider.' "You can watch it (on the video). As soon as he comes set at 3-2, I called timeout and I step out of the box and I'm looking at him and hearing, 'Pardnuh, as sure as I'm standin' here breathin', you're goin' to see a 3-2 backdoor slider.'''

Eckersley: "First of all, I didn't get to 3-2 on too many hitters, so if (Gibson) wants to give the credit to the scout, that's OK. I'm the idiot who threw the crappy slider.''

The home run trot

Gibson: "I was kind of a volatile personality, very intense. Because of that, I drew some criticism and people would say things about me, and my parents had tried to defend me. I would just tell them don't worry about. Our day will come.

"Between first and second base, I remember thinking, 'Here it is, you didn't have to say anything. You raised me right.' It was like, vindication right there.''

La Russa: "The first reflection I had is still the one. I really thought it was a classic confrontation between two of the best competitors of our time. (Gibson) wasn't someone you call one of those Monday-Wednesday-Friday guys, and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday you can't find them. If a guy like that had done it, it would have stung more.''

Eckersley: "I knew it was out when he hit it. After that, it's all slow motion. I couldn't tell you what happened. I was in a daze. As I walked off the field, I could see people standing up, going ape. But it was quiet in my head. It was a nightmare.

"I was looking for eye contact from my teammates. I had this feeling, 'Isn't anybody going to look at me?' Not many did.''

The aftermath

Lasorda: "That home run actually paralyzed them the rest of the series.''

La Russa: "Paralyzed is a strong word. I think it shocked us.''

Gibson: "I know it bugs (Eckersley) that it happened. But he's certainly topped me by going into the Hall of Fame. He knows I respect him and I know he respects me. I think we totally understand each other. It happened off the right guy.''
Twenty years later

Lasorda: "I get tears in my eyes when I see it again. It still affects me.''

La Russa: "Every time I see it come on, I turn away. I've seen it enough.''

Eckersley: "I get numb to it. It's like that's not even me.

"Time heals everything. When I look back and all is said and done, I saved more than 300 games since that moment. And we won it the next year. If that had been my only chance to win the World Series, I'd kick myself in the ass.

"All I can say is Kirk Gibson will have fond memories of that dinger, but I'm in the Hall of Fame. I'll take the Hall. He can replay that home run until the cows come home.''

Gibson: "I personally named the seat (where it landed) Seat 88. Whenever I walk into Dodger Stadium I immediately look out there.

"You ask me if it's been good, damn right it's been good. There was a perception of me, and I earned it because I was really intense, really gruff. I treated certain people poorly at times. It was because of who I was. It was almost my strength. I came in all business. I tried to find ways to fit in with that demeanor, but it's not easy.

"Now here I am almost 52 years old, it's really easy. I'm way more at peace. But when you're a competitor, and you're as intent on becoming the best in the world as I was, it comes with consequences.''

When Gibson left Detroit in 1987, he said the owner there called him a "disgrace.''

"When I left Detroit there were two pages in the paper of good riddance.

"For all the people who didn't know who I was, the 20 years since then, they do know. ... With a lot of my failures and a lot of things I wasn't in this game, I feel fortunate and happy that I could give something back to it.''

The home run ball

Ranking as one of the sport's great memorabilia mysteries, it has never been located.

Gibson: "But the bat has.''

He just won't say where it's kept.

"It's where I want it to be. I also have the uniform. And the memory.''

Last edited by GoGetEmTigers on Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:24 am; edited 1 time in total

After all these years, I still think Gibby would be a GREAT TIGER MANAGER! It would do Gibby and Detroit good if he came back a hero this time! He sure could do as well, if not better, than Leyland!

Kirk Gibson rocks! Metal

_________________
"We only work three hours a day, so the least we can do is give 100 percent."

Todd Jones