The Sports Pages: Blasts from the Past, Pumpkins, and More Links

“I always turn to the sports pages first, which records man’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures.”

– Earl Warren

This week, the Tigers made it official by declining the option on Magglio Ordonez’s contract for next year. No new news to report there, as Dave Dombrowski still plans to try to bring him back.

With that out of the way, let’s see what’s happening in the Tigersphere these days.

No reason not to start with Rogo, right? He posted his season grades for each position player the other day. The grades aren’t the fun part, anyone can do that. Hell, Kurt has an entire series devoted to just this thing, what’s fun is Rogo’s comments. If you’ve read him before, you’ll know what I’m talking about, suffice to say that most of the stuff I could never get away with reprinting here.

That said, he also made some good points. Like his explanation of handing Ramon Santiago a D+ for the season:

"That may seem harsh for Little Ramon, a longtime favorite of mine, but though he’s never been considered a great hitter, an OPS+ of 82 in his best opportunity ever to become the starting shortstop is a disappointment to me. Ramon’s the ultimate utility infielder, but he showed this year that he’ll never be able to cut it in an everyday role."

The Tigers are holding a pumpkin carving contest and that got Samara all excited over at Roar of the Tigers. Sadly, she is not eligible to play or win, but she did offer another fantastic illustration or two. Go see.

The Freep tells us about Don Kelly and his induction into the Athletics Hall of Fame at Point Park College. Jim Leyland was there as well to witness the ceremony. I guess that’s kinda cool. I’m not shocked that Kelly was an outstanding player in college, I mean the guys a major leaguer, so yeah. What shocks me is that Point Park even has an athletics Hall of Fame.

Also from the Freep, which happens to host Jamie Samuelson’s blog, JamSam rambles on about role players in Detroit sports. I think his piece was supposed to tell us who was the best, but it ended up just being a bunch of definitions with no real conclusion. Anyway, I suppose anytime you can get Dave Bergman into the same article as Kevin McHale you do it. Wait, McHale didn’t play for the Pistons, why is he mentioned? I’m confused.

Hey! Skip finally posted something at D-Town Tigers! It’s only been six weeks, Skip, welcome back. He gives his top five moments of the season for the Tigers. I gotta tell ya, I’d flip numbers one and two.

One more thing from Rogo at DesigNate Robertson. He does this thing where he tracks former Tigers every once in a while. I always appreciate the updates. Curious about what Mike Rivera has been up to this season? Check it out. After all, once a Tiger…

And speaking of long-forgotten men of Motown, did you know that Rico Brogna was named as the new Director of Player Development for the Diamondbacks? It’s true. With Kirk Gibson managing and Alan Trammell set to join his staff, Kevin Towers is turning the desert into Detroit-SouthWest.

Speaking of Gibby, on this date in 1988, the then soon-to-be-crowned NL MVP hit the most famous home run in Dodgers history. Yep, that one.

That’s all I got this week, kiddies. Enjoys the links!

Like what you see here and want to stay informed on the happenings at MCB? Make sure to follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook, or grab our RSS feed.