Detroit Free Press
LAKELAND, Fla. -- At the Governor’s Baseball Dinner on Thursday at Joker Marchant Stadium, Rob Manfred credited late Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch as one of the reasons he was promoted to Major League Baseball commissioner in 2014.
“Mr. Ilitch was the best of baseball, in the sense that he was a pillar of the community in Detroit,” Manfred said in a news conference hours earlier. “He used the club as a centerpiece to redevelop Detroit. He was a true sportsman. No one wanted to win more than Mike did.