Anderson Drills Tigers With a Goal in Mind: First All the Way Again

It was obvious in spring training. The Detroit Tigers not only came to play--they came to work.

And what they’re working on is one of those obscure records Manager Sparky Anderson delights in plucking from the murk as he wanders through the jungle of baseball history.

Detroit stands 6-1 after its first loss of the season, which is impressive regardless of who you play because there is always a question of how much hunger there will be in a defending champion.

“It’s good to see,” Anderson said of the will to win shown so far by his world champions, who hold a one-game lead and can’t fall out of first place until Friday at the earliest. “Every day they hit the dugout, it’s a new day and they want to win.

“It’s very hard to do for 162 games. This is the first group I’ve ever had that did that.

“Back-to-back, wire-to-wire,” Anderson mused in a quiet voice. “Wouldn’t that be something. I don’t think it’s ever been done.”

Anderson is right. When Detroit led from first day to last in 1984 it was the first time the feat had been accomplished since the 1927 New York Yankees and only the third time in baseball history (the other team was the 1923 New York Giants).

The 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers led from their first game to last but Cincinnati opened a day ahead of Brooklyn and won to hold first place for 24 hours that season.

Detroit has held or shared first place since it began the 1984 season. The Tigers now must contend with their opponent in last year’s league playoffs, the Kansas City Royals, in a three-game series starting tonight.

“You must always want more,” Anderson said. “You have to want to devour your opponents. So far I’ve seen that in our team.”

That’s part of the reason Anderson works his team hard. He knows the more you accomplish, the harder it becomes to accomplish more.

“We work harder than anybody else,” Anderson said. “They put up with an awful lot from me. If you come here, you’re going to work. There’s no other road to success except work.”

But hard work isn’t enough. The toughest part of repeating in any sport, team or individual, is the mental part. “But if your priorities are straight,” Anderson argues, “the mental thing is easy. And our guys have their priorities straight.”

During spring training Anderson set his team’s sights at 20-20--winning half its first 40 games. “If we do that, the other teams had better watch out,” he said.

He said that with the idea of planting a stone in his team’s shoes. He knew a .500 goal would go over like termites in the bat rack.

“We’re not going to be satisfied with that,” snorted shortstop Alan Trammell, who got real good marks in reading when he was a kid.

Now Anderson admits to a 30-10 goal for the first 40 games. And zero days below first place.

He sometimes takes offense when Detroit is picked below first place--or even if it isn’t considered the favorite to win it all again.

“People don’t realize how long this has been going on,” said Anderson, whose team since about late May or June of 1983 has a .640 winning percentage--some 80 points higher than the second-best team in baseball in that period.

“This is a good team,” he said. “And it’s going to get better.

“We’ve got the talent out there to win it all again,” Anderson admits. “It’s my job to help see that it happens.”