Lovullo reminisces on tenure with Tigers

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WASHINGTON -- This past Thanksgiving, Torey Lovullo traveled with his family to Detroit to spend the holiday watching the NFL’s Lions play the Buffalo Bills. They were in the region visiting Lovullo's wife Kristen’s family, who are native Buffaloans. But the trip was nostalgic, too, for Lovullo, whose pro baseball life began with the Tigers and who made his Major League debut for Detroit in 1988.

Lovullo had returned to the city before both as a player and a manager. But this was the first time since his playing days that he revisited the famed corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenue, where Tiger Stadium stood before it was demolished in 2008. Standing there, the memories came rushing back to the parts of two seasons Lovullo spent as a Tiger, playing under Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson as a 22- and 23-year-old.

“It was sad for me to go back and see that the stadium was torn down, but I understand why it happened,” Lovullo told MLB.com this week in Washington D.C. “It brought back some good memories. I was able to tell stories to my wife and my youngest son … how on game day, this place was bustling and alive. And now it's a bunch of restaurants and a field with apartment buildings around it. I think it was hard for them to understand, but I told them how it was a very historic but rundown facility.”

The Motor City is back on Lovullo’s mind this week, with the D-backs in Detroit for a rare series against the Tigers at Comerica Park this weekend. It is the club’s first trip to Detroit since 2017, Lovullo’s first season at the helm.

“I have nothing but the fondest memories [of Detroit],” Lovullo said. “So going back there, I'll still reminisce and go through some of the things that I went through as a young player. But times have changed a little bit. The field is different. The vibe is different. But I'll always remember the Tigers in a very special way.”

Lovullo also credits those formative years playing under Anderson for helping shape him, calling it “one of the highlights of my playing career.” He said Anderson imparted lessons that he still utilizes today, more than three decades later.

“I have unbelievable memories of that team, unbelievable memories of those fans,” Lovullo said. “They gave me unconditional love and support through the good times and the bad. I just didn't play good. I wasn't a good player. And for the year-plus time that I was around Sparky, I learned so many valuable lessons as to what a true big league player looks like, inside and out.

“I bring those lessons to [my] players today. I want good baseball players to continue to be trained every single day with the vision of being good baseball players, and I also want to raise young men in the right way. That's what Sparky was for me. Sparky was a baseball father. Sparky was somebody that paid attention to me and took special care of me and taught me what it was like to be a young man inside of the baseball culture.”