The next day Lemon played in his first opening day at Tiger Stadium in a Detroit uniform and led off the bottom of the first with a single. In his second at-bat, naturally, Lemon was hit by a Dave Stieb pitch. He finished his first year in Detroit with a.
On July 24 he made a game-saving catch that ranks as one of the finest of his time in Detroit. The Tigers and Angels played a nail-biter in Anaheim and Detroit took a lead in the top of the 12th on a home run by Lance Parrish.
In the bottom of the inning, with the tying run at first and two out, Angels first basemen Rod Carew launched an Aurelio Lopez pitch to the deepest part of Angels Stadium. Lemon turned, tracked the ball, and with impeccable precision leaped to take away a game-winning home run with a beyond-the-wall catch, securing the win and keeping Detroit a half-game behind the Baltimore Orioles. The Tigers finished six games back of Baltimore, and were confident of what the emerging club could accomplish in As the Tigers marched through the regular-season schedule toward the playoffs, Lemon was carving out his finest season in Detroit, hitting.
He never complains. Combine all that with his little-boy desire to want to play every day and it is no wonder Chester has all those fans who sit in the bleachers in the palm of his hand. In the World Series, he showed the rest of the country what Tigers fans had grown accustomed to. In Game Three, an otherwise ugly game, Lemon dazzled. After I got back on it, I just looked up, reached up, and it was there. The rest is history. Lemon batted. He maintained his sturdy and reliable play for Detroit over the next three seasons, averaging games in the field and 17 home runs at the plate.
In the Tigers made a late-season charge into the playoffs by sweeping the Toronto Blue Jays on the final weekend of the season to capture the American League East title. Though the Tigers lost in five games to an overachieving Minnesota Twins club, Lemon had his best postseason, batting. The next season, , he found himself moving back to right field, making way for newly acquired center fielder Gary Pettis. On April 5, , at the end of spring training, the Tigers gave the year-old Lemon his unconditional release.
It was during that final spring in Lakeland that Lemon noticed a change in his health. The Tigers thought the numbers they got were wrong. My stomach was always hurting. I thought maybe I had an ulcer or it was just stress. They finally did an ultrasound and discovered that I had tiny little blood clots in my portal veins. About 30 minutes after they discovered that, I was rushed to intensive care, hooked up to machines and given blood thinners. Not only did I have blood clots but I had too much blood and it was too thick, like a slush.
The doctors were fearful that if one of those clots became loose … well, you know what happens when that takes place. Lemon nearly died from his blood disorder, polycythemia vera. He spent nearly three months in the hospital in the spring of Just trying to turn over in bed was agonizing.
I was being fed intravenously. There was no way to have any type of major surgery done because I was on blood thinners to prevent clots. If they took me off the blood thinners my blood would thicken up again and I could die because of a clot. In the bottom of the twelfth inning with two outs, Tigers centerfielder Chet Lemon made a game-saving catch, leaping above the wall, to take a game-winning home run away from Rod Carew of the Angels.
Copyright Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family. Follow BaseballAlmanac Find us on Facebook. In a blockbuster trade Nov. During nine seasons with Detroit, Lemon batted. He finished his year career with a.
In he was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder and, while nursing multiple injuries, he played in just games before being waived by the Tigers following spring training in He nearly died from a blood clot later that year. Lemon, 66, lives near Orlando, Florida with his wife Gigi. His baseball program has produced 71 first-round MLB draft choices.
I also liked Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente. I knew in high school that one day I would make it to the big leagues. I was all over the place trying to get every ball that was hit. Lemon, I want you to take flyballs every day because we need to get you out of the infield before you kill somebody. I took great pride in learning the position so I could become the very best. A sign of a changing sports scene?
I was immature then and decided not to sign the contract even though they had given me everything I asked for so they traded me. You knew that team was on the verge of being great and that it was just a matter of putting it all together.
By midseason he put me back in center. I never feared anyone hitting a ball over my head because I figured that I could always run back and get it. You just try to time your jump and hope you come down with it. He was the man.
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