As a Detroit Tigers’ area scout in Michigan, Ken Madeja received plenty of calls from the team’s general manager, Bill Lajoie.
“We had a call about a can’t-miss shortstop, his father phoned ...”
“Mind stopping by and taking a look at this outfielder. They tell us he’s a prospect ...”
And one day in the spring of 1984, Lajoie called Madeja and asked him to check out the grandson of a member of the Tiger Stadium grounds crew.
“I told Bill I was not going on another wild-goose chase. Bill said: ‘Go make the grandpa happy,’” Madeja was saying this week.