9601240831
DETROIT FREE PRESS
960801
Thursday, August 01, 1996
METRO FINAL
1D
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1996, Detroit Free Press
TIGERS THROW IN THE TOWEL
Well, that was a nice, big, fat towel the Tigers just threw in.
Cecil Fielder to the Yankees? There goes the last piece of the portfolio.
There goes the last blue chip stock. Detroit has officially become the
carcass of professional baseball, ready to be picked for the right
cost-cutting measures. I guess the people running the team feel it can't get
any worse, why not take all the hits now?
So there goes Cecil, emerging from Buddy Bell's office with his fist high
and a smile. I'm outta here! Whoo-hah! Tell me something. If your players
react that way when they get traded, what do you expect your fans to do?
"I can't say anything bad about Detroit," said Fielder, who somehow kept
himself from bursting into "New York, New York" until he was out of earshot.
This is a great move for him. He finally gets what he always wanted, after
years of playing backup in Toronto, a year of playing stranger in Japan, years
of playing for an also-ran in Detroit.
Now he gets to play for a winner -- a World Series hopeful this season.
And he gets a huge spotlight at Yankee Stadium. The new Bronx Bomber? Cecil
stretching the limits of pinstripes? Whoa. They'll eat it up in New York.
Funny, isn't it? In the past four weeks, Detroit has sent its most
promising basketball shooter and its only baseball attraction to the Big
Apple.
Don't expect a thank-you note.
What do we get in return? Well, in the case of Allan Houston, nothing. And
in this latest case of Fielder, we get somebody's else's headache, Ruben
Sierra. If you haven't followed this guy's career, let me tell you the words
that most often pop up: 1) Showboat. 2) Disappointment. 3) Disgruntled. 4)
Traded.
Try to contain your excitement.
Why watch this team?
Yes, Sierra can hit home runs -- although nowhere near what Fielder can
hit -- and yes, there is a minor-league pitcher involved, Matt Drews, whoever
he is. If this strikes you as a great move for Cecil, a fine move for the
Yankees and a "What's going on here?" move for the Tigers, well, join the
club. You can understand Detroit unloading Fielder's fat salary in exchange
for a future. But Sierra is 30. I don't see him changing his pattern. Maybe
Drews turns into a great pitcher. He has a fastball, they say. Fine.
But we're talking one of the premier home run hitters in the game. This is
the best the Tigers could get?
Maybe it is. And maybe they are so desperate to stop the hemorrhaging of
money at Michigan and Trumbull that saving even $4 million over the next two
years -- the difference in Fielder's salary versus Sierra's -- is worth it to
them.
But they have to know they have killed the goose. People go to baseball
games to watch home runs. However few were showing up at Tiger Stadium these
days, you can bet most of them would answer the question of "What are you
doing here?" with the response "Maybe Cecil will hit one out tonight."
Forget that now. The Tigers are looking toward the future. That is what
they will say. But remember that just saying it doesn't mean you know how to
do it.
They were looking to the future with Chris Pittaro, too.
They're long gone
A few months ago, I ran into Fielder at a local restaurant. He had been
eating out most nights, because his wife and kids were down in Florida, in the
massive mansion he had purchased with the money Detroit gave him to play
baseball here.
"Man, it's terrible down at the park," he told me. Cecil had a way of
smiling as he moaned, and you never minded it much. But he was truly unhappy.
That much was obvious.
"I don't even like going to work, man," he said. "I get down there and
it's like, I can't wait until it's over.'
"What are they doing here, Mitch? What are they doing here?"
He's asking me?
I can tell you this much. They are not thinning ranks. They are thinning
payroll. They are downsizing, as it were -- only in corporate business, you
downsize to get leaner and stronger, to pass your slow, fat competitors. The
Tigers are getting leaner and weaker, and the idea of passing competitors
seems about as likely in Detroit this summer as hosting an Olympics.
There goes the last star. You know this is about business. All of sports
is. But it seems lately, the business moves have been leaving Detroit fans
empty. Chris Spielman takes off. Allan Houston takes off. Juwan Howard won't
come here. Cecil Fielder takes off.
Is it our breath?
Or is it simply the reality of sports -- that players say, "I need to take
care of my family" and demand a fortune, then say, "I need to play for a
winner," and demand to be traded. I am happy that Fielder gets his dream, but
I am disappointed that he was so anxious to jump ship from a place that made
him filthy rich. That was once his dream, too, remember?
So be it. The towel is tossed. The stock is sold. Cecil Fielder, the last
big reason to go to a Tigers game, will now be one of many big reasons to go
to a Yankees game. Maybe five years from now, we can point to some good
coming out of this, some move we can't even anticipate this morning.
For the moment, it just proves that losing chases everyone away, even
players. Man, as Cecil would say. Can you even remember when this was a
baseball town anymore?
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE.
CECIL FIELDER; COLUMN; TIGERS