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Most baseball pundits would agree that perhaps the greatest attribute of the 1984 World Champion Detroit Tigers was the team’s strength up the middle with three time Gold Glove winner Lance Parrish behind the plate, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, one of baseball’s greatest middle infield combinations in history ( 19 years together, a record), and Chet Lemon, a ball hawk in centerfield who was one of the best of his era. The foursome was selected for the ’84 All Star game. (along with pitcher Jack Morris.)
Lemon played a key role in helping Detroit capture the 1984 World Championship when he batted .287 with 20 home runs, 60 extra base hits, and 76 RBIs while compiling a career high .995 fielding percentage. That season he made only two errors in 438 chances and had 430 put outs.
Acquiring Lemon had no doubt been one of the most important moves made by the Tigers that helped them get over the top.
In a blockbuster trade that shocked most fans, on November 27, 1981, the Tigers traded the popular slugging left fielder Steve Kemp to the White Sox for Lemon, who had starred for Chicago over seven seasons, was an All-Star centerfielder in 1978 and 1979 and who set an American League record in 1977 (that still stands) for most put outs by an outfielder. (512)
In a 2021 interview, Lemon told me that he had verbally agreed to sign a new five-year contract with Chicago that would have made him the highest paid player on the team but was miffed when the White Sox who had obtained catcher Carlton Fisk signed the former Red Sox backstop to a bigger contract.
“It turned out to be perfect for me because I knew the Tigers were on the verge of being a great team an it was just a matter of putting it all together. Sparky first put me in right field and that was tough because I had established myself as one of the best centerfielders in the game but I was new to the club and I didn’t want to be difficult. By mid-season he put me back in center.”
Tiger fans quickly became enamored with Lemon’s aggressive play and many still recall how he would occasionally make head first slides into first base. He was also known for often getting hit by pitches with his close to the plate batting stance. He led the American League in that category in in ’79, ’81,’82, ’83..
And although Lemon finished his 16-year MLB career with an impressive .273 lifetime batting average, he is best remembered for his sparklng play in centerfield despite having first been signed originally as an infielder.
Of the many circus catches Lemon made, two stand out most for me.
On July 24, 1983 in a game in Anaheim and broadcast in Detroit on WDIV, Lance Parrish belted a 12th inning home run to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead against the Angels but then in the bottom of the 12th with a man on and two out, Rod Carew smacked a shot to deep centerfield that everyone thought was going to be a walk off homer.
Instead, Lemon committed grand theft as he raced back to the wall and jumped at the last minute with his glove 18 inches above the wall while reaching over it and snaring it in his glove to preserve the thrilling victory.
Regarding the catch, Lemon told me:
“I always played Rod Carew shallow because he was a line drive hitter. I never feared anyone hitting a ball over my head because I figured that I could always run back and get it. Rod hit the ball good and to me it wasn’t complicated. You just try to time your jump and hope you come down with it. But I probably made 100 plays in my career that were more difficult. I learned not to be afraid to play shallow because I knew I had the speed to go back. I loved the big outfields like in Chicago and Detroit because you had all that space to chase balls down and then see the hitters make a U turn into the dugout.”
The second catch and one of his most important occurred in Game 3 of the World Series at Tiger Stadium.
With the Tigers tied in the Series with a game apiece, Detroit held onto a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning as the Padres were mounting a comeback having scored a run with a runner on second, two outs and catcher Terry Kennedy at the plate. With Lemon playing in his typically shallow position, Kennedy launched a long fly ball to deep center as Tiger fans held their breath. Lemon raced back and made a spectacular pirouette catch to end the threat as the crowd went wild. After the game San Diego slugger Tony Gwynn simply remarked, “that really hurt”.
The play cemented the Tigers’ momentum as they took Game 3 and then defeated the Padres the next two contest to capture the World Championship.
“I felt like there wasn’t a ball that they could hit that I wasn’t going to catch,” Lemon told me. “I wanted them to try and hit the ball over my head. When Terry Kennedy hit it I got a great jump off the ball and I was off to the races. I first turned to my right but I eventually turned to my left and caught it. That crowd was fired up when I made the play and my teammates were so excited when I got to the dugout.”
One particularly interesting aspect of Lemon’s 16-year career is that even though players typically obtain two to three new gloves each year, Lemon told me he only used two his entire career. His second Rawlings glove was used for the last twelve.
“My glove had been stitched up and patched so many times that you couldn’t see the printing on it,” Lemon told me. “The company wanted to put a new face on it but I didn’t want them to mess with it. It had been so reliable for me. No one else would ever have wanted to use it because it had been stitched up so many times. Guys on other teams, like George Brett always wanted to see it. The Hall of Fame even asked for it. One time in Cleveland, someone hid it on me and man I was really upset. I told Sparky and he told the team, ‘if one of you have Chet’s glove you need to give it back to him now’. All of sudden I got it back. I still have it and it’s in my pantry.”
John B
Nice article about a great Tiger center fielder. My favorite Chet Lemon memory is that catch in the 84 World Series. That would the wind out of the Padres sails. Nothing was going to get by that guy. THANKS, CHET!