A selfie (before they were cool) during batting practice at Game 3 of the 2011 ALDS between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees

There's nothing like playoff baseball in October. Led by American League CY Young and MVP Award winner Justin Verlander, the Detroit Tigers won the American League Central by 15 games and earned a spot in the playoffs against a familiar foe -- the New York Yankees. 

It had been a couple of years since I had attended a Tigers game in person. As a broke college student, it was hard to come up with the money, and living in Central Illinois it wasn't very practical to drive to Detroit, a 7-hour drive, for a single game. As a gift for taking him to games in the past, my older brother offered to buy me a ticket to the third game of the series (the first home playoff game for the Tigers) and drive me to the game from Kalamazoo if I made the trip up to Michigan. Sold!

My ticket from Game 3 of the 2011 ALDS Playoff Series. "Home game 1" was the third game of the series

Game 3 was shaping up to be a key game in the series after the teams split their first two meetings played in New York. Verlander was going to face off against Yankees' All-Star pitcher C.C. Sabathia who had won 19 games in the regular season with a career-low 3.00 ERA. 

Thank you for joining me as I detail #7 on my list of the ten greatest games I've ever attended. If you're new to this series, welcome! Please read the previous posts here: 

Let's take a trip in my time machine back to the game itself and my experience. 

The Game

It was a cold night in Detroit but the New York Yankees jumped out to a hot start, scoring two runs in the first inning off of Verlander. The Tigers chipped away at New York's lead with two runs in the third inning. Verlander recovered quickly from the first inning, and in the fifth, he struck out the side. 

Verlander would go on to strike out 11 batters in the game, a new personal best in the playoffs. The Tigers added a run in the fifth and six innings only to blow that lead in the seventh on a Brett Gardner 2-run home run. I could feel the game getting away from the Tigers and didn't think they would be able to pull out the victory. 

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Delmon Young hit a solo home run to left field to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead. Verlander completed the eighth inning and closer Jose Valverde was able to complete the save with two men on base during the ninth giving the Tigers the win. 

The game was dramatic until the final pitch. The Tigers now had a 2-1 lead in the series, and they would go on to win the ALCS in five games. They later lost to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS 4-2. 

My Experience 

Spending time with my brother Jef is always entertaining. He spells his name with one f; you'll have to take my word for it -- he's a very interesting guy. After driving up from Illinois to his house, we jumped in his little Ford Ranger pickup truck to make it to the game early, which we hardly ever did. 

Our hope was that if we got to the stadium two hours before the first pitch, we might be able to catch batting practice. Jef brought along two baseball gloves, which I felt dumb carrying into the stadium, but I figured it was worth a shot. 

We arrived just as they were opening the gates to the stadium and we headed to the outfield. Batting practice had begun, and every now and then a ball would reach the outfield bleachers. As a ball rolled into the outfield, Yankees' pitcher Joba Chamberlain picked it up and looked into the stands. He tossed the ball up and I was able to catch it thanks to the glove. 

Out of all of the games I have attended in my life, this is the only ball of any kind I've been able to catch. Being from a playoff game, this made the ball an even more special souvenir. 

The actual ball I caught that is currently in a case in my basement

I cannot find the image, but a photographer from the Detroit Free Press took a picture of me catching the ball and published it online. The ball wasn't the only souvenir I took home from the game. 

The souvenir towel I received at the game, which I still have today

I also collected several ticket stubs I found off the ground as we left Comerica Park.  

This game was also special because of a conversation I had with my brother. I knew that I would marry my then girlfriend, but I had not yet planned to ask her to marry me. After our discussion, I decided that I would propose, and I knew when I would do it (she said yes!). 

We had such a great time at this game that we bought tickets for the next day's game. I changed my plans to get time off of work and we headed back to Detroit for another game. The Tigers lost 10-1. You can never recreate magic moments, so sometimes it's better off just leaving great memories as great memories. 

Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure through my past. Stay tuned for #6. At this next game, I run into a few celebrities at a big sporting event.