Inside Pitch: Roger Craig's '84 Tiger Journal

by Roger Craig

Pitching coach Roger Craig's diary of the Detroit Tigers baseball team's 1984 World Championship Season.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1984

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was fun! Especially in the year that Jack Morris and Alan Trammell made it into the Hall of Fame.

Wow, some of the stats are so foreign to me. Like a 94 mph fastball being crazy fast. What? Or not winning a game 1-0 in two seasons. The other weird things were pitchers pitching on such short rest; a four-man rotation being the norm; pitchers having a fluid roll between bullpen and starter; the way pitchers were used. It's so different now.

I forget all the time that Tom Brookens played for us. And Rod Allen.

Crazy stat: the '84 Tigers were 98-0 in games they led in the ninth!!!!

Honestly, I am kind of surprised how well the '84 team did, with all the egos and such they had to deal with. There were several guys who were very self-focused and that's not good for a team. Jack Morris especially surprised me with his pettiness. Fortunately, he got over it and at the end of the season, was like Justin Verlander on our modern Tigers teams.

A neat peek back into Tigers history.

[Brent Darling · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book about the 1984 Detroit Tigers that I have read ("Bless You Boys" and "Wire to Wire" are the others). Very enjoyable book that gives you a great inside look at the pitching staff of this legendary team by their pitching coach, Roger Craig.

[Pete Iseppi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another insiders account of the 1984 Detroit Tiger's run to the World Championship. I used to read a TON of baseball books. I'm just now remembering a lot of them.