This is a yearly tradition here at Bless You Boys. We’re all going to be hanging out in game and article threads all year long, so let’s take advantage of the first off day for a little meet and greet.
Bless You Boys is roughly 20 years old. We don’t actually know the early origin story, but Ian Casselberry, now at Awful Announcing, took over BYB in the mid-00’s and brought the site to the SB Nation platform as they looked to add the best team sites and build one integrated sports blog network. Kurt
Mensching and then Rob Rogacki took over from Casselberry, carrying us through the club’s peak seasons from 2011-2014 and through much of the rebuild. Yours truly became the site’s lead writer in 2016, and officially took over as managing editor back in 2021.
Assistant managers Ashley MacLennan and Adam Dubbin have been on board for this whole 10 year ride, continuing to contribute both on the site and behind the scenes. Most of our other contributors and moderators have been with the site or were at least regular commenters for the whole last decade and more.
Basically, we just like to hear a bit about who you are, and how you became a baseball, and specifically a Tigers, fan. Notes about your work, family, and hobbies are good as well. As much or as little as you’re comfortable sharing. We’ve had plenty of people meet up in real life through BYB, though unfortunately we’re so scattered across the US and Canada now, that the old Comerica meet-ups have gone by the wayside.
I’ll start it off. I grew up in Canton, Michigan, in the 70’s and 80’s, back when much of the township was still undeveloped and Ford Road was still lightly traveled out that way. We used to ride our bikes from Maria’s Pizza at Cherry Hill and Haggerty, to the Superbowl and Meijer on Ford Road, back when the neighborhoods between Lilley and Sheldon were just being laid out, to give locals an idea. Family is German-Irish Catholic, with my grandparents hailing from Redford and Wayne, by way of Hougton/Calumet, Alpena, and Lapeer if we go back a ways. So, Michigander born and bred. I don’t foresee myself ever leaving for long. I’ve since lived in Chicago and the suburbs, Kalamazoo, where I went to Western Michigan and then lived in town for the next decade, Waterford, and Port Huron.
Grew up with the ‘84 team, and as a Little League shortstop and a pitcher, my favorite players were Alan Trammell and Jack Morris. Still remember listening to Ernie Harwell with my radio under my pillow that whole summer. Anyway, I was okay, but not enough of a player to have pro aspirations. Followed the 80’s Cubs a bit too as that was my only other good option in those days. Really bailed on baseball in the 90’s, but they eventually reeled me back in full-time with the 2005-2006 seasons. Read Moneyball and a lot of other sabermetrics and got entirely hooked. Then got into scouting stuff and then I was really hooked deep. Found Bless You Boys mainly through SB Nation’s Bloody Elbow MMA blog in the late 00’s and early 10’s. Other favorite players include Justin Verlander, Miggy, and Ian Kinsler.
Hobbies these days are golf, hiking, kayaking, camping, and general wandering in the U.P. in summer and fall, playing a bit of guitar and baseball. Big music fan. Classic rock, 80’s/90’s indie rock and hip-hop, some jazz and classical, some pop and more modern stuff, although the library is getting pretty full up these days and I understand better now why people appear to lose interest in new music as we get older. I still want to listen to the thousand and one records I already love, and openings for new artists get more limited.
The Beatles, the Velvets, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Bjork, Of Montreal, Talking Heads, Elliott Smith, Nick Cave, Beach House, Bowie, Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, the Mars Volta, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Motown, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, George Benson, Jimmy Smith, Woody Shaw, and Sierra Ferrell gives you a random small sample of stuff I love.
Fairly big movie guy. Not much of a television guy, though I’ll knock out a few shows a year. Still a reader, but much less the last few years. Seem to have hit a wall in terms of ability to sit still. Mostly history and lit fiction, bit of sci-fi/fantasy, some popular science, religion/philosophy, adventure memoirs by climbers and other outdoor explorer types, and of course, baseball. Looking forward to Pitching Ninja’s new book on the pitch design revolution.
Really glad to have a team we can seriously believe in again. We covered the darkest parts of the rebuilding years. Now we’re back in the light and hoping for at least a deeper postseason run. Glad to have you all along for the ride.
