Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Griffey is a good example, and ironically, Barry Bonds was too when he was a young player. I will put Ott on my list of future topics to cover. He was a great ballplayer and he is largely forgotten.

Dan

As for Mel Ott, you might want to do a whole column on him. He was a great player, a player-manager, a manager who had been a player, and a broadcaster. He ended up broadcasting Tigers games with Van Patrick. He was the guy on the radio with the southern accent before George Kell and Ernie Harwell.

First, you “detest” sports reporters? Detest?

Second, Babcock did not have the near-impossible task of succeeding Bowman; David Lewis did. Babcock succeeded Lewis. And to imply that Scotty just had to fill out a lineup card (implied by the story of him not showing up to a practice) is simplistic. If it was that easy, the Wings would have won under Bryan Murray and David Lewis- but they did not. By the way, Bowman did not rescue the Wings from “desolation”; Murray (or Jacques Demers, 2-time Adams award winner) did. Point- check your facts or turn down the exaggeration.

Third, while you dismiss the success of coaches working under Adams, you have completely dismissed the job Ken Holland has done. The Wings won in the free-spending period and made an almost impossible transition into the salary cap era without much of the downturn most expected.

I am not saying you are wrong about Babcock possibly being the best coach ever in Detroit. All I’m saying is that you can back up that argument without discrediting so many others.