Joel zumaya retired

I once found myself in a group of passionate Tigers fans in Lakeland who were fighting over each other to shake the hand of a former Detroit pitcher. A few feet away from the crowd was Mickey Lolich, sitting at a small table, his arms crossed, only occasionally interrupted by a fan wanting to shake his hand. Lolich practically tossed that many innings in half a season in for the Tigers, and Mick won games, all but 10 of them wearing the Old English D.

Why is Mark Fidrych more remembered than players who spent dozens of years in baseball?

Joel zumaya net worth

Zumaya, like Fidrych, belongs in a small group of Detroit athletes who delighted us, but were taken from us too soon. Zumaya tossed his last pitch in the majors more than a decade ago, in The last batter he faced was Jim Thome, who has a Hall of Fame plaque now. The last game home run he allowed was to Chipper Jones, another Hall of Famer. But as the baseball season begins, Zumaya is still only 36 years old, younger than Max Scherzer, younger than many who still earn a living playing the game.

But his magic right arm, where thunderbolts lived, has nothing left in it. When the season started, when the Tigers inched their way north to start the schedule, there were many changes with the team. Gone was Alan Trammell, replaced as manager by Jim Leyland, the cigarette-sucking, mustache-wearing pound ball of energy and spitfire.