Tigers take lumps and losses in 1990s

Steve Perez / The Detroit News Tony Clark has lived through some awful Tigers seasons, but is being counted on to lead the team into the new century.

By Joe Falls / The Detroit News

    If the Tigers would like to forget any decade in this century, it would be the 1990s.

    They were the worst team in baseball, losing more games than any other team in the game. No one knew more of this frustration than first baseman Tony Clark.

    He has been with the Tigers for five years — five big losing seasons. They’ve had records of 60-84, 53-109, 79-83, 65-97 and, before Saturday night’s game against Kansas City, 62-91.

    That’s 319 victories and 464 losses — a percentage of .407.

    They’ve been 1381/2 games out of first place in this time.

    As Clark said a year ago, “We haven’t had bad players, just a bad mix.”

    Clark was one of the players being blamed for the poor play of the Tigers in the first half of this season. He took the trade talk in stride.

    “People can judge it any way they want,” Clark said. “We play 162 games. There is a reason we play 162 games. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

    In a way, Clark was a victim of his size. Big athletes get less sympathy and understanding than others. Wilt Chamberlain said: “Nobody roots for Goliath.”

    Clark, articulate and intelligent, responded with a strong second half, and now is being counted on as one of the players to lead the Tigers into Comerica Park and the new century.

    “I just got my head straight,” he said. “I was trying to do too many things. I wasted 21/2 months getting to be where I wanted to be.”

    Usually very quiet, as well as unemotional, the losing got to Clark and he did something on a recent road trip that he doesn’t normally do. He went to see Manager Larry Parrish to talk about the problems of the team.

    They spoke for 75 minutes.

    “Nothing out of the ordinary,” Parrish said. “Just a guy who cares about losing too much and doesn’t like what what we’re going through.”

Detroit in the 1990s

Longtime Tigers GM Jim Campbell dies. ... Mayor Coleman Young declines to run after 20 years in office. ... Dennis Archer is elected mayor. ... The Pistons win a second consecutive NBA title. ... The Red Wings win back-to-back Stanley Cups. ... Voters back casino gambling. ... Comerica Bank buys naming rights to the new Tigers stadium. ... General Motors buys the RenCen.