Nearly four months to the day that he called in to Costa & Jansen to ask for more patience and positivity surrounding the Tigers, Kirk Gibson dialed back in Thursday morning with the club headed off to the ALDS.
"Let's just say, we can agree no one saw this coming," Gibson cracked.
*Click.*
Gibson got back on the line moments later and announced, "I said what I had to say. I was done."
After a long pause, he laughed and said, "Just messin' with you."
"Honestly," said Gibson, the Tigers legend who's an analyst color in the team's TV booth, "I knew they were going to be better. Because I'm around enough and have been within the organization for the development of the nucleus of this team.
"I just saw more and more positive things happening, little things. I saw the buy-in, No. 1. Early on, the buy-in was to control the zone, for pitching and hitting. The effort was coming, the results weren't there. But when the effort comes, the buy-in comes and then the results come, things can really take off."
It wouldn't happen for the Tigers for another couple months, but they took off in August and haven't looked back. It's been an incredible ride for a team that looked doomed to miss the playoffs for a tenth straight season. Gibson, who played a pivotal role in Detroit's last World Series title as ALCS MVP in 1984, said that positivity is "just my nature."
"That's the reason that I called in that day," he said. "I listened to you the morning before and I understand the frustration and everyone's point of view, but my personality is, let's not let that in. Let's not let the negative get us down or get us not believing in ourselves.
"And it does help the team when the fans come down and they can continue to dig in there. Comerica Park, from the beginning of June to now, how far has that transformed to what we're used to hearing? That reminded me of Tiger Stadium."
So, how far can the Tigers go?
"They're very dangerous. I think they can go all the way, I really do," said Gibson. "And A.J. Hinch has had a stellar year. The psychology he has used to get these guys to believe in themselves ... by the end of the year doing the games, you could feel the expectation that they were going to come back, no matter how late it was in the game.
"They could fight a bulldozer right now and I think they'd win," Gibson said.