For some of the baseball team, Tuesday night’s 4-2 victory over rival Michigan at Comerica Park will be a memory they carry with them for the rest of their lives.
Some were experiencing what it was like to be on that stage for the first time.
“Just very appreciative for the opportunity — to stand there before the game during the national anthem and think about what’s happening here and to be able to participate in a game like this is part of what being a student-athlete and coach at Michigan State is all about,” head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. “It’s a dream for every one of our guys to play at this level on a daily basis.”
However, for junior outfielder Cam Gibson, Tuesday’s game in Detroit was a trip back home to where it all began for him. Cam Gibson, the son of former Spartan and Detroit Tigers legend Kirk Gibson has been coming to Detroit as long as he can remember.
“This is where I grew up, on the field with my dad, and this is basically where I learned how to play baseball,” Cam Gibson said.
Even though his father played at the old Tiger Stadium instead of the newer Comerica Park, he still has fond memories of playing baseball in Detroit.
Cam Gibson recalls receiving lessons in the game of baseball from his father and fellow Tiger legend Alan Trammell. Trammell and Kirk Gibson are a part of Detroit legend as they were two major pieces of the Tigers’ 1984 World Series winning team.
Cam Gibson remembers those times running around as he was learning the game and took a moment to reflect on them now that he’s back in Detroit on a more serious stage of his own playing career.
“Running around with Mr. Trammell and my dad, I’m grateful to have two guys like that teach me how to play the game (and the) fundamentals of the game,” Cam Gibson said. “It’s always nostalgic to come back — this is where I was always running around as a little kid, and now I’m running around as a big kid on a little bit more serious stage.”
When it came to his father asking him about his experience at Comerica and what it was like to play at the park the conversation was very quick.
“All he asked me was if I liked playing here, and I said, ‘Yeah.’ And then he goes, ‘It’s a nice ballpark,’ and then he went right into critiquing me on my swing. So that didn’t really last very long about the park.”
Like Cam Gibson, some of the other players have been to Comerica before and some have even played before as Spartans or in high school, but according to Boss that takes nothing away from this experience for either side.
“A lot of guys played here in high school, a lot of their guys played here in high school. That doesn’t take anything away from it.”
