Kirk Gibson accepted his NL Manager of the Year plaque in a pregame ceremony Friday with humility, keeping the words of mentor and former Detroit manager Sparky Anderson in his heart.
"Players make the manager. It’s never the other way around," Gibson said, quoting Anderson.
Gibson felt the same way about his 1988 MVP award won with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"Those are team awards. I am pretty humble and shy about receiving individual awards, to be honest with you. There is a screwed-up mechanism in my mind that feels like when I stand up and individually accept an award, it takes something away from my team, which I would never want to do," Gibson said.
"If the whole team could have gotten award, like a World Series trophy and rings, that would be fun. I would have enjoyed that. It’s just the way I was brought up. My father, my mother just made me a team guy, and it’s always been that way. Was never allowed to celebrate individuality."
Gerardo Parra received his Gold Glove and Daniel Hudson and Justin Upton received their Silver Slugger bats at the ceremony Friday.
If you are expecting to see Gibson’s plaque at Chase Field, don’t.
Gibson is not a big displayer, and he plans to keep it in storage before eventually auctioning it to raise money for his foundation, the Kirk Gibson Foundation. His 1988 MVP plaque and World Series trophy already have been sold to raise money for the foundation, formed to provide high school seniors with a scholarship to his alma mater, Michigan State.
"My goal is to be able to give four scholarships a year by the time I leave everybody. I’m not there yet, but I’m trying all I can to build that foundation up," Gibson said.
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