Detroit – In a corner of the Brushfire Grill, where in a few months beer and sandwiches and fans and (hopefully) warmer temperatures all will converge, a new Tigers manager, Ron Gardenhire, sat at a mid-day Thursday table.
He was shaking hands and answering questions. Wearing glasses, a white beard, and a gray sport-coat ensemble, there were thoughts that, for a new skipper, this might as well have been Opening Day 2018.
This was his first public day of a new year as Detroit’s latest baseball commander.
An instant curiosity, beyond how exactly he and pitching coach Chris Bosio expect to somehow turn baseball’s worst pitching staff into something more competitive (word of warning: they probably can’t), was about residences.