In Bill James' book, "The Historical Baseball Abstract," he talks often about how players are forgotten in the decades over time, and eventually become nothing but numbers on a page. At one point, he even says that, if he had time, he would write a book collecting the unique mannerisms of baseball players so that they wouldn't be forgotten.
Given his work with the Red Sox and other projects, it's not likely that James is ever going to write that book, and even if he did, it would be limited to baseball. His point, though, is valid, which is why I'm starting a project to chronicle the habits, superstitions and mannerisms of Detroit's greatest athletes. That way, the next generation will have a mental image of the Detroit sports figures who came along were before their time, beyond numbers and a few highlights scattered around YouTube.
We started this Tuesday afternoon on Twitter, and the response was overwhelming. Here are a few of the first batch of suggestions:
-- Miguel Cabrera appealing his own checked swings, along with his incredibly complicated handshake with Prince Fielder and his habit of wearing Duquesne University baseball t-shirts.
-- Rasheed Wallace's "Ball Don't Lie!" and his pre-game dance surrounded by his teammates.
-- Barry Sanders handing the ball to an official after every touchdown.
-- Jimmy Howard's glove snap and pose after a tough save, along with the way he always taps the goal posts.
-- Rip Hamilton's bounce-bounce-side bounce free-throw routine.
-- Fielder's bat flip after a long homer.
-- Ernie Harwell's stories and "Long Gone!"
-- Phil Coke's finger point at every ball hit in the air in any direction.
-- Tayshaun Prince throwing his arms up in digust at nearly every foul ever called against him.
-- Roy Williams signaling for a first down.
-- George Blaha's "two and 27 to play."
-- Jose Valverde's hop and spit coming out of the bullpen, and Coke's sprint.
-- Ben Wallace's handshakes.
-- Denard Robinson's shoelaces.
-- Todd Bertuzzi's slow, wide approach on shootouts, compared to Pavel Datsyuk's magic with the stick.
-- Torii Hunter and teammates "suiting up" after a big play.
-- Jud Heathcote's self-headslap.
-- Nick Lidstrom's shot fake. Greg Monroe's pump fake.
-- Jim Leyland's jacket. Chuck Daly's suits. Mike Babcock's ice chips.
And that's just the beginning. There have to be 100 more that we're missing, and that's where you come in. If you have an idea, post it on Twitter with the hashtag #DetroitMannerisms, and we'll add it to the list. At the end, we'll have created something that puts a human face on the last generation of sports in the Motor City.
