Former Tigers Bat Boy Dave Cowart Fondly Recalls Sparky Anderson and the 1984 World Champions

At some point nearly every kid dreams of being a bat boy for the Detroit Tigers. And for Dave Cowart, 61, a retired Ford Motor Company electrical engineer, that dream came true.

After his mother saw an article about how to become a bat boy, Cowart, then 16 and a junior in high school, wrote a heartfelt handwritten letter to Tiger clubhouse manager Jim Schmakel who invited him down to Tiger Stadium for an interview. He was hired immediately.

From 1980 to 1985 Cowart served as a clubhouse kid and bat boy along with two others which ultimately helped him pay for his college education at the University of Detroit. (Cowart’s son Cody served as a Tiger bat boy from 2015 to 2017.)

Cowart revered Tiger manager Sparky Anderson, and recently he shared stories about the beloved skipper.

“Every game the three of us working in the clubhouse were always the last to leave and Sparky would always come by and say, “there’s three of the all-time greatest,” and that really energized us to keep working hard.”

One time when Cowart had started working in the clubhouse Tiger player Ricky Peters yelled at him leaving him upset and wondering if his job was in jeopardy. When Anderson heard about it, he let Peters have it.

If you want to get a sense of Sparky Anderson’s character, the following story by Cowart says it all.

In June of 1981 Cowart’s parents were throwing a high school graduation party for him at their home in Detroit. Schmakel gave Cowart permission to leave early after the day game to attend the party.

 Later that afternoon Sparky asked Schmakel where Cowart was. When the clubhouse manager told him that he left early to attend the graduation party Sparky asked for Dave’s address.

“There I am at the party and who shows up unannounced but Sparky, and coaches Roger Craig, Billy Consolo, and Dick Tracewski.  Can you believe that?” says Cowart., “Before I knew it the whole neighborhood showed up when people heard Sparky was there. He didn’t just make an appearance but stayed and signed autographs for everyone. I can still picture him drinking Altes beer with my dad. He always remembered people’s names. A few years later he sees me and my dad at a CATCH event and greets my dad by name. When my mom was in the hospital with cancer, he sent flowers and when I went to college, he gave me three of his sports jackets.”

Years later Cowart wrote Anderson a letter telling him how much he appreciated what he had done for him and what a pleasure it had been working for the manager.

“I had included my phone number and one day my phone rings and it showed ‘unknown caller.’  This voice says, ‘this is the FBI we’re looking for Dave Cowart.’ I recognized his voice and I said, ‘how are you doing Sparky?’ He said, ‘I’m glad you included your phone number because I never wrote a letter in my life.’”

During the 1984 World Championship season Cowart alternated the bat boy assignment with Dominic Nieto and Bobby Mical and always did the games when Jack Morris pitched including game 4 of the World Series when Alan Trammell hit two, two run homers.   “That game was so special for me and being the bat boy I never felt so much excitement especially greeting Trammell after he hit those homers,” says Cowart whose photo of him running back to the dugout with Trammell graced the front page of the Detroit News the following day.

When the Tigers won the World Series in game five Cowart was working inside the clubhouse that day and just before the game ended, he went into the dugout to collect the batting helmets but then got back inside the locker room as quick as he could.

“Sparky was superstitious and even though we were ahead I was not allowed to start putting stuff away until the game was over,” says Cowart. When the game ended it was like a wall of people coming at you and I was petrified. The celebration was crazy. Those players were so nice to us and it was great to see them so happy celebrating.”

A few weeks later Cowart received a phone call from Jim Schmakel telling him to come to the stadium to pick up his bonus check.

“I went up to the Tiger offices and picked it up and then got into my car, ripped it open and I was flabbergasted. I received a check for $15,000 and was so grateful that the players had voted to split up one $50,000 share for the bat boys. I used it to pay help pay for my college education.”

Dave Cowart certainly knows the 1984 meaning of “Bless you boys.” And in the same breath he would say, “Bless you Sparky.”