George Steinbrenner. Tim Mara. Jerry Jones. Robert Kraft. John Henry.
Those are names of some of the most influential owners in sports history. They have established or set the bar for organizations in their league and are prime examples of sporting excellence.
One name also deserves to be on that list. Mike Ilitch. The driven, rigid, and hard-working Detroit native, born from Macedonian immigrants, passed away this past Friday at 87 years old. He exemplified the true spirit of Detroit in one lifetime, and then some.
After starting a very successful business venture, Little Caesars Pizza, Mr. Ilitch purchased the Detroit Red Wings in 1982 in a time when the team was widely considered “The Dead Wings.”
Persevering through a tough stretch in the 80’s, he turned the Red Wings into one of the most successful hockey dynasties in NHL history. They won four Stanley Cups (’97, ’98, ’02, ’08), including several Presidents Trophies (NHL-best record) in the process. The success was in large part due to his organization’s savvy scouting department.
The team drafted Steve Yzerman just after Ilitch purchased the team and, also, Detroit was one of the first in the league to widely invest in Russian players with the likes of Fetisov, Kozlov, Larianov, Fedorov, and some others. The Russian-style, puck possession-heavy play rendered Red Wings teams as one of the most skillful and successful teams in history during the 90’s.
Ilitch’s passionate determination and desire to win rubbed off on his hockey club and has led to the largest active postseason appearance streak in NHL history at 25 seasons.
Additionally, Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers baseball organization in 1992 with the intention of doing the same thing. However, success with the Tigers also took him some time after they set a league record for losses in a season in 2004.
Of course, in this period of time, Ilitch was having no more of it.
With the purchases of Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez, Placido Polanco and others, the Tigers surprisingly roared back to the World Series in 2006 (unfortunately losing in 5 games to the St. Louis Cardinals).
With Ilitch getting up there in age, many believed he was putting all his cards on the table in order to win a World Series title. In the offseason after, every Tigers fan was at the edge of their seat. We knew Mike Ilitch was probably in GM Dave Dombrowski’s ear demanding another deal be done to bring more players to Detroit.
After a blockbuster Miguel Cabrera trade, the development of Justin Verlander and the rest of the pitching rotation, Ilitch went out and made a splash for heavy-hitting Prince Fielder. After offering him over a $200 million contract, many believed Ilitch had lost in mind (and he most likely had). However, it exemplified how much he really wanted to win.
Nevertheless, after getting swept in the 2012 World Series by the San Francisco Giants, the 2013 season rolled around and the Tigers were the club to beat. Vegas odds placed them in the top three to win it all, many believed their pitching rotation was the best, and the big bats have another shot to back them up. Many of us Detroit fans believed this had to be the year. Contracts were to be up, some players were going to walk and some were going to be paid, but not all.
Then, they got to Boston in the American League Championship Series. Detroit won the first game and jumped out to a 5-0 lead and looked to go back to Detroit, up 2-0 in the series.
After Boston knocked in a run later in the game, the bases were loaded for Boston’s golden bat, David “Big Papi” Ortiz. Us fans know how that one ended. Ortiz smacked a line drive to right field, and as Torii Hunter raced back to the wall and reached up, he flipped over the wall and it was gone.
Tie game. And Detroit never recovered.
Us fans wanted a World Series title for Mike Ilitch just as much as we wanted one for ourselves. But unfortunately, that title never came.
This does not tarnish Mr. Ilitch’s legacy as an owner, however, I am sure he would do just about anything to have won a World Series. His passion and unparalleled desire to win made him one of the most successful businessmen in his time. Following his passing, many current and former players publicly reached out to remember him and speak about his legacy and their personal experiences with him. Many of them spoke of a similar characteristic: He was like a second father to them.
Not only was he influential to his teams, but he has also done wonderful things for the city of Detroit, during the good and bad times. The city and its fans cannot thank him enough for the man he was for them.
