Putz remembers ‘84 Tigers

SEATTLE – Memories don’t come any better than the ones J.J. Putz has of the 1984 baseball season.

Putz was a 7-year-old rooting for the Detroit Tigers, who sprang to a 35-5 start, rolled to the American League pennant and then beat the San Diego Padres, four games to one, in the World Series.

Born in Trenton, Mich., Putz said Tigers catcher Lance Parrish and shortstop Alan Trammell were his childhood heroes. He said he had Tigers “pennants and all that stuff” hanging on the walls of his bedroom.

“It was cool growing up because that’s when they were in their heyday,” said Putz, the Seattle Mariners’ closer. “I still remember watching the 1984 World Series-clinching game at my grandparents’ house. I was there because my parents were at that game.”

Putz said it’s too early to compare that Detroit team to this year’s Tigers, who are in Seattle for a three-game series beginning tonight. But if the Tigers keep playing like they have been the comparisons will come.

Detroit sits atop the American League Central with the best record in the majors (57-28). That’s a pace only two games behind the ‘84 Tigers (59-26) after 85 games.

“They definitely have some really good, young guys with a good mix of veterans,” Putz said. “Mr. (Jim) Leyland has them playing well.”

Leyland, of course, is the gruff baseball lifer who came out of semiretirement this year to replace Trammell as the Tigers’ manager. Like a wise, old wizard, he has come up with a potent mix of young stars, old All-Stars and journeymen that has made his team the talk of the first half.

Until this season, the Tigers had become synonymous with losing. Detroit has not posted a winning record since 1993, and has not been in the playoffs since 1987.

“Detroit is definitely the surprise team, but I said in spring training that I thought four teams could win the division, so I obviously thought they were good,” Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro recently told reporters. “The thing that’s a complete shock is Detroit leading the majors in pitching. No one could have anticipated that.”