This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Jack Flaherty is a California kid born and raised, drafted by the Cardinals out of famed high school baseball power Harvard-Westlake in 2014. But it wasn’t hard to find some Detroit sports ties for him once he signed with the Tigers last month.
When the one-year, $14 million deal was announced, Flaherty’s mom Eileen posted a photo of Jack in a Tigers uniform, complete with the Olde English D. It wasn’t a new picture, but one that went back to his days in Little League in Southern California nearly two decades ago.
“Who knew that when this picture was taken, you would get the opportunity to play for the Tigers? 18 years later, you’ve arrived,” the post read, complete with Tiger emojis.
It wasn’t like Flaherty grew up a Tigers fan, but it tugged at the heartstrings regardless.
“I remember that team,” Flaherty said on a conference call with reporters once his deal became official. “I was 11, played with a couple of my good friends on that team. In Little League, you always end up on different teams, and so she’s got all the pictures and whatnot. It’s just funny looking back on a team like that.”
By that point, Flaherty had already gotten in his plug for Detroit fandom. As news spread about the agreement, he acknowledged the pending deal with a simple picture of former Pistons great Isiah Thomas sitting at the podium during the 1989 NBA Finals, when the Pistons swept the Los Angeles Lakers for their first NBA title.
The 28-year-old Flaherty wasn’t alive to see that, but he knows the history, for good reason.
“I did not grow up a Pistons fan,” Flaherty admitted. “I actually grew up a Lakers fan, so there’s definitely a long time period where I was not the biggest Pistons fan after ’04.”
The 2004 Pistons also beat the heavily favored Lakers in the NBA Finals, which Flaherty does remember. So do his friends.
“Yeah, it’s still haunting,” Flaherty said. “But one of my friends sent that picture to me and I thought it was just a great picture, and that’s kind of where it came from. But there’s probably a reason he sent that one and not something from the 2000s.”
Now, Flaherty is ready to immerse himself in the Detroit sports scene. He told MLB Network shortly after his signing that he talked with fans during his visit and got a sense of the passion from how they spoke about the Lions. He also fondly remembers being at Comerica Park in 2018, when the Tigers hosted the Cardinals while honoring the 50th anniversary of their 1968 World Series championship team, which beat St. Louis.
“It was awesome. It was a great place to pitch, great place to be,” Flaherty said. “And then you go back and you think about when [Max] Scherzer and [Justin] Verlander were here and competing for pennants. I remember watching those [postseasons] when I was young and just the energy and the way that the city is — it’s a passionate group.”