Jim Schmakel, the Detroit Tigers' clubhouse manager for 47 years, is the thread that ties Tram and Lou to Tork and Greene.
Jim Schmakel, the Detroit Tigers' clubhouse manager for 47 years, is the thread that ties Tram and Lou to Tork and Greene.
Tiger Stadium to Comerica Park.
Ralph Houk to A.J. Hinch – not to mention the 12 managers wedged between them.
“Jim was awesome,” said Steve Kemp, who played for the Tigers from 1977-81. “He was not only a clubhouse guy, he was a friend. Then he became a very close friend.”
“He’s the godfather of my son,” said Dan Petry, who pitched for the Tigers for 11 seasons (1979-87, 1990-91) and is now a broadcaster for the team. “We were extremely close.”
Schmakel, who worked for the Tigers from 1978 until he retired in February, will be honored before their game against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, Aug. 8.
“People are coming in for his day from all over the country — I mean, Hall of Famers — because of everything that he meant and did for them,” Petry said. “Not just what he did as far as equipment manager in a clubhouse. It's just him being the person and the friend to everybody.”
Everything for the players
So what does a clubhouse manager do? His duties included setting up everything in the clubhouse before every game, but it was so much more than that.
“You just can't understand how much he does or did for you as a player,” Petry said. “For instance, I was leaving Tiger Stadium on my way home one night, and unfortunately, I had car trouble and not in a good area. I had to find a pay phone in order to call him in the clubhouse. I got a hold of him, and we call it 'the great rescue.' He was able to get in his van and come down and pick me up, take me home, made sure I was able to get my car towed and everything to get it fixed.”
“He represents so many things that people don't get to see,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who was helped by Schmakel both as a player and a manager. “There's a stability, there's the camaraderie, the culture, that's represented through the through the clubhouse, the work that's done in the clubhouse. They're usually the first people you see, and they're usually the last people you see when you leave, and that means they were there before you, and they're there after you. So I'm not sure that anyone put more hours into their job than Jim did.”
“He did all kinds of stuff for me,” Kemp said. “Not just the baseball stuff and I'd take him out for dinner.”
“He had to know what's in my locker for each game,” said Andy Dirks, who played for the Tigers from 2011-13. “Which pairs of cleats are in there? Because everybody's different and you start dealing with baseball superstitions. He has to know, which side does a guy like his glove on, whenever they get to the park.”
“One of the things that Jim did for the manager is he always wanted to personally pick you up at the airport when you arrived at Lakeland,” Hinch said. “I remember when I first got the Tigers job, and he picked me up at the airport in Tampa and got me to the rental car that was in Lakeland. And I thought: I am officially old in baseball, because he was doing that for Tram when I played here, and now it was me. That's when I felt like I was officially a manager, eight or nine years in.”
“It goes back to my first year in Detroit, 1979, one of the first people I met was Jim in the clubhouse, and I didn't know anything or anybody,” Petry said. “Couldn't go anywhere, because I was only 20, you know, and I just sat in the clubhouse and just talked to Jim. So that was really my first indoctrination. He was a good friend.”
“I would sit and have a beer in the clubhouse with him and we'd just talk and he'd take care of my passes,” Kemp said. “Make sure nothing got screwed up or had any conflicts. He just did everything. I mean, anything I needed, and he was like family to me. So I just love him to death and I'm glad they're doing this for him.”
“Back then, Jim was responsible for feeding us,” Petry said. “It was a matter of, you know, him trying to find a local restaurant or just having something cooked up for us.”
“He was around before all of us were even born,” Dirks said. “He's the guy that knows more about baseball players than most people that exist because he sees all the behind-the-scenes stuff. And he was very player-focused, whatever it took to help the player.”
But it wasn’t just with the players. He was a tremendous influence on bat boys.
“He always made sure we were saving money and he always made sure we were doing the right things,” said Dave Cowart, the Tigers' bat boy from 1980-85. “He’s almost like a father figure to me. He turned a lot of boys into men working for him.”
“He was very meticulous,” said Karl Dobronski, who worked as a batboy at Tiger Stadium during the 1978-79 seasons. “Just did a great job. A great role model.”
The Tigers Clubhouse Manager of nearly 40 years, Jim Schmakel,talks equipment and superstitious breakfast cereal on Tigers Equipment Night. pic.twitter.com/Bk94NT4Eqg
— FanDuel Sports Network Detroit (@FanDuelSN_DET) June 8, 2017
Oh, so many memories
So, I called Schmakel and asked him a simple question: “Do you have a favorite memory?
“Oh yeah, numerous ones,” he said. “I think you can't beat the 1984 team and the success they had. That was incredible.”
Another one of his favorite memories? In 1986, the Tigers visited the White House. “That was awesome,” Schmakel said. “We had lunch in the in the area outside the Oval Office. It was a really neat experience, which I'll never forget.”
But nothing compares to the final game at Tiger Stadium – Sept. 27, 1999.
“Whoever was in PR or community relations at that time comes to me about a month before the end of the season,” Schmakel said. “They gave me a list of players, former players, alumni players and coaches, and they wanted me to get them pants and jerseys with their names on the back of the uniform, which I did. And they wouldn't tell me what they were going to do. They dressed these guys in the old batting cage, out in center field. About 20 minutes after the game ended, all of a sudden… ”
Mark “The Bird” Fidrych walked out.
“I’ve never heard it so loud,” Schmakel said. “Bird actually got to the rubber. He pulled out of a plastic sandwich bag and scooped dirt into it and put it back in his pocket. It is was really neat and the last two people out were Tram and Lou. Side by side. I'll never forget that ovation.”
He hung up the phone and then called back a few minutes later. He wanted to make sure he mentioned Brandon Inge taking him to play golf at Augusta National, home of the Masters.
“He could have taken his dad or a teammate or a coach or his next door neighbor or his brother or his best friend. But he took me. I'll never forget that.”
I have a feeling he will never forget Friday night, either.
“He's a character, eclectic, with his high socks that are never matching,” Tigers right-hander Casey Mize said. “He's been a part of this organization for a really long time, so I'm glad we get to honor him and I know he's excited about it.”
Contact Jeff Seidel: [email protected]. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers behind-the-scenes star Jim Schmakel gets his day
Category: General Sports
