“My instinct,” Dombrowski continued, “is that we would add somebody that could hit from the right-hand side that, if [Nick Castellanos and Avisail Garcia] don’t make it, could go out there and play with Dirks. But we’ll wait and see.”

September 27, 2011; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers right fielder Magglio Ordonez (30) hits a two RBI single during the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

In all likelihood this means a guy that has made a career out of being a platoon bat – someone like Jeff Baker was supposed to be – or an aging veteran role player that could still be a plus bat versus left-handers. In either case the Tigers are probably only looking to spend something like $2 or $3 million for a guy that would be making 40-50 starts and providing something in the neighborhood of a half to one WAR in total value.

But the Tigers could go a third route and see if a former superstar and fan favorite still had the fire burning in his belly. Magglio Ordonez officially announced his retirement in late May last season when he realized the major league contract offer that he was waiting for simply wasn’t coming. He wanted to play and he kept himself in shape to play, but he apparently received only minor league offers.

Magglio battled injury and general ineffectiveness in 2011 and finished the season with a disappointing .634 OPS, but he still managed a .292/.331/.385 slash line against southpaws. His power was non-existent, and the .716 OPS isn’t going to win any awards among outfielders, but that line isn’t going to kill the team at all. Heck, the organization gave Delmon Young and his .707 OPS over 600 plate appearances at designated hitter (and in the five-slot, no less).

And that was Ordonez at his worst. We could say that the decline was expected for his age (and we wouldn’t be wrong) – he was 37 in 2011 and would be 39 in 2013 – but the two years before when his home run power fell off initially he was still smashing lefties (a .937 OPS in 2009 and a 1.171 OPS in 2010). What if the time off and occasional use would allow him to return even somewhat to that type of platoon hitter?

The risks, of course, are big: he’s old, he hasn’t played in over a year, and his medical file is thick. The questions are equally big: does he even want to play ball right now, would he accept a platoon role, and would he require a guaranteed contract to come to spring training? The nostalgia here is probably getting in the way of rational thought, but I think it would be great if the Tigers gave him a call and worked something out.

There are almost certainly too many issues and roadblocks for something to materialize here – and I’ll admit to this being more than 99.9% fantasy – but allow me a few moments to dream about long flowing locks and opposite-field singles.

June 3, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tiger former player Magglio Ordonez throws out the first pitch before the game against the New York Yankees at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

I know why Delmon Young isn’t producing – Delmon Young has a long track record of swinging at bad pitches that leads him to walk very little and strike out a bit too much. His whole offensive contribution is dependent on balls flying out of the park – and they haven’t been, nor should we expect them to suddenly start jumping. Brennan Boesch is a guy who seemed to be figuring things out and primed for a very good season at the plate. Both of these guys are in the absolute prime of their careers and should have been and were expected to better or at least match their career averages at the plate. Neither is or was a defensive plus, but you take what you can get. Before the season (after the Fielder signing, anyway) the debate wasn’t whether either of these guys was good enough to be in the lineup so much as whether one of them (Young) should be a full time DH for defensive reasons. As it turns out, Leyland ultimately came around to the consensus view of the blogosphere and has used Young accordingly. By the numbers, unfortunately, Boesch has been every bit as bat in the field as Young – but a team can only have one DH.

The problem now is that neither of these defensive liabilities is hitting well enough to deserve a spot in the outfield or as the team’s DH. What each has accomplished at the plate is more along the lines of what we would have expected from defensive specialist Don Kelly. And now the debate is whether either of the two deserves a spot in the lineup (or on the 25-man roster) at all. My how quickly things change. And here’s where I get back to Magglio Ordonez…

Ordonez wasn’t pursued by the Tigers specifically for two reasons – one unique to the team and one shared generally by all the other teams that ultimately did not sign him. The latter is, of course, the long recovery time from the ankle injury that kept Maggs out of last years ALCS (where he was desperately needed). Ordonez was healthy enough to play last year after recovering from the same injury, but he wasn’t healthy enough to play well until after the All-Star break. If he isn’t interested in signing a minor league deal, why sign a guy who may not be able to contribute in the first half of the season? Might as well sign Manny Ramirez, who only had to sit out the first 50 games. What’s more, that particular injury can take significantly longer to fully heal than it took Ordonez last year, so… At any rate, it’s nearing the end of June now so perhaps that ankle is feeling a bit better than it was?

The second reason was unique to the Tigers – who might very well have signed Ordonez in spite of all the risks (like they did after the 2010 season) out of loyalty had they had a genuine need for a player that could do the things that Ordonez could do. This offseason, it appeared that the Tigers did not. Ordonez hadn’t been a very good defender for a while, but due to that ankle injury he was even worse than usual in 2011. If the Tigers had resigned him they would not have wanted to play him much in right. Boesch was going to play somewhere, as was Delmon Young (for reasons I cannot fully comprehend). Victor Martinez was going to DH (until he wasn’t) and if the Tigers ever really needed a DH, that was where Young belonged and Cabrera could have been forced had the 3B experiment gone badly. So the Tigers felt that they had an overabundance of guys to play right or DH.

They also felt that they had an overabundance of right-handed bats who could tee off on left-handed pitching. Neither seems true anymore. Who could have imagined that the Detroit Tigers would struggle to hit lefties? With Brandon Inge, Ryan Raburn and Delmon Young (not to mention Cabrera and Peralta, who actually have been hitting)? Inconceivable! Young and Boesch are not contributing, other options have been tried and found wanting. This team NEEDS a DH and NEEDS a functioning right-handed bat, to the extent that they might consider trading the farm for Carlos Quentin.

And that sad and sorry state of affairs has me wishing “If only we could get Magglio Ordonez back now…” I wouldn’t mind seeing him at DH and either Boesch or Young out of the lineup. That’s probably just me – I’m sure many Tigers fans would rather stay away from him and his mostly poor 2011. But that September stretch run, to help the Tigers pull away from the competition and finish 15 games up? That was something else. Even if more people did feel like I feel, the train has probably sailed on this one anyway. Ordonez has formally retired already (though, as we know, that doesn’t always mean much in professional sports) and is taking a more active role in Los Caribes de Anzoategui, the Venezuelan club that he co-owns. My Spanish is a little rusty (and Google Translate is really only good for laughs) but according to El Nacional it appears that he has taken up the role of Director of Operations for the team – a job active players are not allowed to fill. That said – it’s a given that Ordonez did not want to retire. He wanted to play another year for a championship contender in Detroit.

September 15, 2011; Oakland, CA, USA Photo Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

I was in a bowling alley when he hit it.

Saturday night was bowling night in 2006, and October 14th, the night of game 4 of the 2006 ALCS, was in fact a Saturday.  With all due respect to Hartfield Lanes of Berkley, MI, fine bowling establishment that it is, let’s say at that time the TV situation was less than stellar.

There were no flat screens. No rear projection, no LCD or plasma. There were 3 working TV’s in our half of the alley, the kind that sit nestled between the score screens above the lanes. Good old fashioned 21 inch boxes covered with a warped sheet of plexiglass and mounted 6 feet over your head.

Did I mention there was no sound?

Fortunately our anchor man came to the rescue. Charlie was in his 70′s, a retired Ford Rouge Foreman who once told me the greatest night of his life was being in Baltimore on a Tuesday night in September of 1974 to watch Al Kaline record his 3,000th hit.

Charlie fixed old electronic things in his garage, particularly radios. He brought with him that night a beautifully restored Lincoln transistor radio. Sound problem solved, in style. As an added bonus we heard Dan Dickerson and Jim Price call the action rather than the FOX national team. All was right in the universe.

When Magglio Ordonez crossed homeplate after hitting that home run, that iconic shot that spawned a new generation of Tigers fans, I was jump hugging a 70 something year old ex-marine in a bowling alley. Charlie and I both had tears streaming down our cheeks, neither of us cared, and we were hardly alone.

The Lincoln was at full blast. About 30 people were packed in around our deco-classic swinging chair table, eyes on the box, ears on the radio. Our waitress was working overtime keeping us lubricated. People paced. There was rocking in chairs and a woman knitting while whispering the rosary. The flourescent lights flickered, the sound of pins bouncing on the lanes nearly disappeared.  Bowling was on pause.

I can still hear the utterly perfect call from Dan Dickerson crackling through that 4 inch speaker.

In Detroit, Michigan, 2,405 miles as the crow fly’s from his hometown of Caracas, Venezuela Magglio Ordonez evolved before our eyes from All-Star right fielder into legend.

It was his second home run of the contest. Some forget it was Ordonez who tied the game at three in the 6th inning with a solo shot. 22 years to the day after Kirk Gibson hit a pair of home runs to help the Tigers win the 1984 World Series, Magglio Ordonez hit a pair of his own to send the boys back.

You can’t script that. You can’t predict it or statistically plan for it to happen. When Ordonez signed his 5 year, $85 million contract prior to the 2005 season the last thing reasonable Tigers fans expected was October glory in his 2nd season.

But great players exceed expectations, and truly great players are at their best when it means the most. This is perhaps the singular facet of legend. Beyond putting a team on your back, or dominating statistical categories – both of which Ordonez did. Legend is about creating a moment that will be everlasting, and Magglio did just that, and for that we owe a debt of tremendous gratitude.

There was more to Magglio as a Tiger than that night in 2006, and I don’t dare sell him short in bypassing that. He arrived in Detroit 1 year after Ivan Rodriguez, step two as some say in the transformation of an abysmal baseball team. His contract massive, and Ordonez caught his fair share (and then some) of critiques from his former Manager as well as his new fans.

His first campaign in Detroit was cut short due to injury, playing only 82 games, the lowest total of his seven years as a Tiger. There were flashes that first season of what was to come. He hit a respectable .302 and drove in 46 runs. Then in 2006 it was the first of three consecutive seasons with 20+ home runs and 100+ RBI. His .298 batting average in ’05 was one of only two in Detroit where he failed to break the plane of .300. And then came 2007.

117 runs scored. 216 base hits, among which were 54 doubles and 28 home runs. 139 RBI. A 1.029 OPS highlighted by a Major League best .363 batting average. These are not video game numbers, this was 2007 Magglio Ordonez.

In more than 100 years of Detroit Tigers baseball only Hank Greenberg and Rocky Colavito have recorded more than 139 RBI in a single season. Only 6 Tigers have ever posted a higher single season batting average, 5 of them are in the Hall of Fame.

in 2007 Magglio was a force of nature, an unstoppable hitting machine, and a joy to behold. If it weren’t for 54 home runs and 156 RBI from Alex Rodriguez, there would be an American League MVP trophy on his mantle today. Ordonez registered 20 or more RBI in every month of the season except June, where he posted 19. With runners in scoring position he hit .429 over 191 at-bats with 107 RBI. Let that sink in for a moment.

2008 was another ho-hum .317/21 HR/103 RBI season, and the final one where he was fully healthy. At some point everyone breaks down. The body betrays you, and it becomes clear that you can’t play forever. 2009 was the start of the process for Magglio. He still hit .310, and there were moments when his power surfaced, but Ordonez hit a total of 26 home runs in his final 3 seasons as a Tiger, driving in 141 in that time.

The last years were dark in some regards. Many fans turned on him, on the organization for picking up his option and then signing Ordonez to a 1 year 10$ million for 2011. How quickly they forgot.

There was still thunder in his bat and his mind and heart were committed to the game at a level few ever achieve. Never have I heard a teammate or coach question his work ethic, his pride, his dedication to the game. His reputation is that of a warrior, and I’ll remember him that way.

I’m 37 years old. I never saw Al Kaline play. He retired 6 months before I was born. Thanks to my father I grew up knowing what a remarkable ball player he was. Then in my youth there was Kirk Gibson. The greatest baseball day of my life was game 5 of the 1984 World Series. Enough said. And there was Magglio Ordonez. Three Iconic right fielders that anchor the memories of three generations of Tigers fans.

This afternoon at Comerica Park Magglio Ordonez will say goodbye to Tigers fans, making his retirement official in the public eye. With the weather looking better than expected and Justin Verlander on the hill I expect a capacity crowd. I’m heading for the ballpark as soon as I finish blathering on here. I’ll clap until my hands hurt when Magglio is introduced. He’s earned that, and I hope you’ll do the same, wherever you are.

Wherever your heart and mind are currently along the rollercoaster perception of Magglio ordonez as a Tiger, know that today is a day to celebrate. If you’re one of those curmudgeons who still grumbles about the way it ended, who used to boo him when he struggled, who wasted air howling “Magglio Sucks” on message boards and bar stools – do the rest of us a favor and give your ticket to someone with a little class, and respect.

Today is a day to rekindle the memories, to celebrate Magglio and everything he gave this team and this town. And now if you’ll excuse me, I don’t want to miss that.

J. Ellet Lambie covers the Tigers for Motor City Bengals and writes weekly columns on fantasy baseball and card collecting for Full Spectrum Baseball. You can find him on twitter @lembeck451