COOPERSTOWN – Former pitcher Milt Wilcox knows something about Detroit and the World Series. He toed the rubber for the Tigers the last time the team was in the Fall Classic, 22 years ago. A 16-year major leaguer, Wilcox was in Cooperstown last month, just five days before the Tigers were slated to return to the World Series. Now a businessman with several interests, Wilcox met with Hall of Fame officials to discuss an idea for a baseball product, and also took time to reminisce about his big league career, which was punctuated by a world championship with the Tigers in 1984. “Individual accomplishments are not what baseball is about,” Wilcox explained. “It’s all about winning as a team” The pain that Wilcox pitched in over the last few seasons of his career illustrates that unselfish approach. In 1984, the tall right-hander received cortisone shots in his arm throughout the season, but still gutted out 17 victories for the Tigers, forming a powerful pitching trio with teammates Jack Morris and Dan Petry. “My (biggest) game was the playoff game against the Royals,” Wilcox recalled. “I was up 1-0 after eight and had good stuff – maybe the best stuff of my career.” Behind Wilcox, the Tigers defeated the Royals in that contest, sweeping their way to their first pennant in 16 seasons. This year, after a long 22-year wait, the team is back in the postseason, again following a playoff series sweep. Wilcox understands how special it is to make it to the Fall Classic. “When I was 20 with the Reds in 1970, (pitcher) Jim Maloney got hurt, and I was added to the postseason roster. I thought I would be in the World Series every year. “Now the Tigers have (Justin) Verlander and other young pitchers (who might) think it’s going to happen every year, but it doesn’t.” As a rookie that season, Wilcox pitched in two World Series games in relief, but his best performance came in the playoffs against Pittsburgh, when he twirled three innings of shutout relief and earned the victory in pennant-clinching Game Three. “As a kid, I struck out Willie Mays a bunch of times in my mind in my back yard,” Wilcox grinned. “Pitching against Roberto Clemente and the Pirates lineup in the playoffs (in 1970) was a big thrill.” Like many long-time major leaguers, Wilcox rubbed shoulders with the greatest in the game, and was eye-witness to a historic moment that took place in an unlikely venue – a bullpen in Kansas. With the Cubs farm team in Wichita in 1975, Wilcox was there when Bruce Sutter was first taught how to throw the split-fingered fastball, by Chicago’s roving pitching instructor, Fred Martin.
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