Book Description:
The 1984 Tigers were one the greatest teams in baseball history. After jumping off to a record 35 5 start, they shook off a determined Toronto team to win the division title, swept Kansas City for the American League Championship, and handily defeated San Diego in a five game World Series. In doing so, they became just the third team in major league history to lead wire to wire and win the World Series joining the elite of the elite: the '27 Yankees of Babe Ruth and the '55 Dodgers. And now veteran sportscaster Eli Zaret recreates this extraordinary season in exhilarating detail from incredible start, through midseason doubts, and on to a dominant postseason finish. Best of all, Zaret provides, for the first time, insights into the season from the key players themselves. The real behind the scenes story. We hear from Kirk Gibson, whose home run blast against Goose Gossage clinched the final game of the World Series, about how he pulled himself out of the worst year of his life to play such a key role in the '84 season. And from Jack Morris, the moody leader of the Tigers' pitching corps, who jumped off to an amazing start, fell into an inexplicable personal and professional slump, and then rose to the occasion to help Detroit put the series away. We share the season's intimate details and previously untold moments with Alan Trammell, Willie Hernandez, Chet Lemon, and many more key players. And we get the inside scoop from the maestro himself, Sparky Anderson, who melded a disparate collection of personalities and styles into a unified team, and a winning machine. Zaret shows how General Manager Bill Lajoie completed a brilliant 10 year construction project in assembling the right talent. How critical the performance of the bit players and the role players was in the Tigers' championship season. And how players suddenly cast into the spotlight performed like they never had before and never would again. Zaret also lets us listen in on the negotiations between players and their penny pinching, old school CEO Jim Campbell. Fans of any sport will love Zaret's book because it reveals the strategies and inner workings of how a championship is won. Baseball fans will savor this insightful look at a team that has become an icon of the sport. And Tigers fans, who have had to endure much since '84, will be ecstatic in reliving that championship feeling.
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