I have to be honest about this: I’m a Detroit Tigers fan. Nonetheless, what has happened to Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers is exceedingly rare in the realm of professional sports. You need to read the whole story to get the full context but here are a couple of quotes:
“They could have released me,” Inge said of the Tigers’ front office. “That was an option. That was something I could have done. I could have said, ‘Fine. Release me and I know I could go to probably 20 other teams and play. Especially National League teams, too.’ But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to go out like that.
“I still have a lot left. A lot left. I don’t care what people say — I know in my heart that I have a lot left, especially after going down now. I understand how I work best.”
Inge said that his head cleared up as soon as he got to Toledo. He didn’t care when the Tigers would call him back, he just wanted to go down and have fun. Playing without the stress helped him realize how much that stress in Detroit had gotten to him.
“I played baseball as a kid because I loved it and because I had fun with it,” he said. “Somewhere along the way, during this year, I lost sight of that. Going down there was a pleasant change.”
Part of Inge’s decision to stay with the organization was the loyalty that the Tigers have shown him throughout his career. He wanted to be just as loyal.
“There’s tons of other teams that everyone says they want to go to,” Inge said. “But in my opinion, if you’ve been treated well by an organization and your teammates, why would you buck the horse on that one? Just stay there, ride it out.”
