The Tigers were one strike away from dropping a double header to the Yankees today. A couple of walks and a Craig Monroe homer in the ninth put them up 5-3 in the second game; a three-up-three-out relief performance by Todd Jones and his enormous mustache earned him his 35th save.
What is it about relief pitchers and mustaches? The most famous baseball mustache belongs to relief artist Rollie Fingers. The great Tiger reliever of the 1970’s, John Hiller, wore a big handlebar. 1984’s Cy Young and MVP award-winner, Willie Hernandez, sported facial hair on his upper lip. As did Goose Gossage for most of his career. Dan Quisenberry. Bruce Sutter. Dennis Eckersley. What could it be?
A side note on preparing this post: When I was a little kid (6 or 7) and collected baseball cards, I used to sort them according to various criteria. One common distinction I made was between players older and younger than my dad. According to the Tiger’s web site, only three of the men on the Tigers’ 40-man roster are older then me. By the time he’s old enough to collect baseball cards, Ray probably won’t be able to divide them up the way I used to.
