File this under "who knew?"
The Tigers' owner wore seven minor league teams' uniforms and played 336 games during four seasons in the minors -- hitting .280 overall. (Photo by Brian Smith)
Sports fan/history buff Bill Shea, blogging at Crain's, goes back, back, way back to catch what he reasonably assumes helps explain why Mike Ilitch "wants to win his first World Series championship to accompany the four Stanley Cups his Red Wings have won."
The desire for a return on his investment isn't 84-year-old Mike Ilitch's only reason for seeking a championship. He was a professional baseball player from Detroit -- and not a bad one.
In 1952, the 23-year-old Detroit native was fresh off a four-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps and working to establish a baseball career, toiling as a young infielder in the far reaches of the minor leagues. That year, he signed a $5,000 deal to play for the Jamestown Falcons, a Detroit Tigers rookie-level affiliate in western New York. He split time that year with the Cotton States League's Hot Springs Bathers in Arkansas.
By 1955, Ilitch's baseball career had taken him to seven teams in seven cities. A leg injury — along with the responsibilities of being a new husband — forced him out of the game.
He appeared in 336 games during his four seasons in the minors, during which he was a career .280 hitter. His best full season was 1953 with the Tampa Smokers of the Florida International League, where Ilitch, who played second base, appeared in 115 games and was second on the team, with a .310 batting average.
Shea lists highlights of Ilitch's four-season minor league career.
And here's a fitting footnote: The 39-year-old Crain's writer also has a pro sports gig in his background.
He was third-string quarterback in 2006 for the Port Huron Pirates, an arena football team that posted 26 straight wins and a championship in what's now the Continental Indoor Football League. "All good things come to an end, and the Pirates were no more after 2007," he notes in a 2012 post.
