After the PR disaster that was the Jeff Weaver trade, Mike Ilitch sat down with Denise and Atanis to discuss how to get Detroit fired up about baseball. They were at a loss until Atanis came up with an idea that everyone found intriguing.
“You know all these people like to remember all the old players,” Atanis told his dad and sister. “I mean everyone loved Al Kaline and Hank Greenberg and Jack Morris but no one seems to be as excited about Juan Acevedo or Shane Halter. What if we built a retro team and play with all those old guys for the rest of the season.”
Well big Mike loved the idea! He gave his kids some money for Crazy Bread and sent them outside to play while he implemented their plan. Dave Dombrowski was a little shocked at first but eventually got excited about the idea. It reminded him of dismantling the Marlins after the 1997 World Series. 
Unfortunately, many of the players Dombrowski and Ilitch initially wanted were not available. Denny McLain was in jail. Lou Whitaker said no. Al Kaline and Willie Horton were interested but didn’t want to give up their front office jobs. They made several unreturned calls to Hank Greenberg until the Greenberg family issued a statement that read: “While we are sure Hank would have loved to play baseball again, he is not available to rejoin the Tigers since he died in 1986!” Jack Morris said yes but wanted more money than Ilitch would pay him.
That’s not to say the Tigers didn’t get some really good alumni to rejoin the club. Elden Aucker, the hard throwing 91-year-old right-hander, jumped on board. As did his former teammate and Detroit City Councilmember Billy Rogell (age 96). Despite using a walker, Rogell ran a faster 40 than anyone did in the Tigers Spring Training Camp.
Some baseball “experts” thought this retro team would be too old to compete but compared to Aucker and Rogell the rest of the team was relatively young. Longtime catching great Johnny Wockenfuss and Steve Kemp were resigned. As was Billy Bean. Indecently Bean’s signing lead to a surge of season ticket sales in Ferndale. Eventually they were able to fill every roster spot except third base but Chris Chelios will play the hot corner when the Wings don’t have a game. Dean Palmer was the only current Tiger to stay with the team and can hopefully back-up Chelios when he's healthy again.
