Kenny Rogers back with Tigers as special instructor

Posted: 8:48 p.m. Feb. 20, 2010
Kenny Rogers back with Tigers as special instructor

By JOHN LOWE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER


Kenny Rogers is re-entering the Tigers’ world.

Rogers will serve as a special instructor in spring training. His stay in Tigers’ camp will go from March 2-5, a club spokesman said Saturday.

Several Tigers pitchers have talked about how much they learned from Rogers during the left-hander’s three years with the team, 2006-08. Those three Detroit seasons marked the final stop of Rogers’ 20-year big-league career. He was out of organized baseball last season.

Although Rogers spent much of his career with Texas, his decision to come to the Tigers’ camp illustrates anew how much he enjoyed his time with the Tigers. Rogers had a case as the Tigers’ MVP — both in the regular season and postseason — when they reached the World Series in 2006.

Rogers and Rick Knapp, the Tigers’ pitching coach, were teammates in the Texas farm system in the 1980s.

Knowing Rogers, here’s a guess at how he’ll react to serving as an instructor: He’ll laugh and point out that when he signed his first pro contract, he hadn’t been a pitcher. He’ll probably say something like, “I had to learn everything about pitching after I signed, so maybe I have a little bit to pass along.”

While Rogers begins as a spring instructor, former second baseman Lou Whitaker isn’t serving as an instructor this year. He had served several springs as an instructor for the Tigers since his retirement in 1995.

It’s not clear what caused Whitaker’s tenure to end. However, Whitaker didn’t attend the 1984 reunion staged by the Tigers last September in Detroit.

Rogers not coming to instruct
BECK'S BLOG
Posted on March 3, 2010 at 1:11 PM

That Kenny Rogers stint in Tigers spring training as a guest instructor isn't going to happen, at least not this week. Rogers had to cancel his scheduled trip to Lakeland due to a family matter, manager Jim Leyland said Wednesday. He was supposed to be in camp March 2-5.

When the Tigers confirmed earlier in camp that Rogers was coming, Leyland said there was a chance he might make another visit later in the month. Not sure if that might still happen.