Anyway, enjoy him, folks. He’ll be frustrating another team’s fans next year.

And now this:

• How well are things going for the Tigers? They at last moved into the top eight of The Sporting News‘ power poll (last week they were #10). Breaking through that barrier means the Tigers, at least for this week, aren’t a division-leader sitting behind better-rated, non-playoff teams. And maybe — maybe — Detroit is starting to gain some respect out there. TSN’s take:
  

  8. Tigers. The Tigers are finally starting to play like a team grabbing control of the division title instead of backing into the division title.

  Other polls: ESPN #7, last week #11; Fox Sports #9 (#10); SI #10 (#10); CBS SportsLine #11 (#13).

  On this morning’s ESPN Baseball Today podcast Peter Pascarelli gives the Tigers big props (he rates them #5 on his list) and he says he’d take Justin Verlander over Cliff Lee in a World Series matchup. On both points Eric Karabell disagrees — big time. Oh, and Karabell thinks the Rockies are a better club than Detroit. Pascarelli doesn’t buy that. Neither do I.

• Here are some notable Tigers historical nuggets from Baseball-Reference.com:
  • On this date in 1967, the Tigers moved into a first-place tie with the Twins. Eddie Mathews and Jim Northrup hit home runs and Mickey Lolich out dueled the White Sox’ Tommy John 4-1 at Chicago.

  • On Sept. 8, 1983, Yankees (and former Tigers) outfielder Steve Kemp was struck in the face by an Omar Moreno line drive during batting practice in Milwaukee; Kemp misses the rest of the season with a fractured cheekbone. Kemp hit just .242 with 12 home run and 49 RBI in the first year of his five-year, $5.45 million contract.

  • In 1995, the Tigers traded Juan Samuel to the Royals in exchange for a player to be named. A week later, the Royals sent Phil Hiatt to Detroit to complete the deal.

  • And on this date a year ago, Gary Sheffield hit a grand slam for the official 250,000th homer in MLB history. The blast is Sheffield’s second of the day and his 13th career grand slam. Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Mike Hessman also homer as the Tigers outslug the A’s 14-8. I was there for that game and, man, was it wet, cold and blustery.

If you’re a Twitter person, be sure to follow us and you’ll get Tigers birthdays, trivia and historical notes — all in a crisp 140 characters. Find us at @DailyFungo.

Before then-TV analyst Al Kaline reminded us at every turn that Tony LaRussa is also an attorney in Florida, Mr. Tiger liked to talk about Staub being an accomplished chef. More on that shortly.

Daniel Joseph Staub debuted in 1963 at the tender age of 19 with the Houston Colt .45s and spent six years in H-Town — two of those seasons were pre-Astrodome which means he played outdoors. In Houston. In the summer. If you’ve been there, you know.

In 1967, he hit .333 with 10 home runs and 77 RBI and made the All Star team for the first of five consecutive seasons. Two years later the Astros traded him to the expansion Expos where he spent three seasons. In 1972, the Expos sent him to the Mets for Ken Singleton, Mike Jorgensen and Tim Foli. All he did in New York was hit.

On Dec. 12, 1975, Staub was traded along with Bill Laxton to the Tigers for Mickey Lolich and Billy Baldwin. (Laxton appeared in only 26 games for the 1976 Tigers: 0-5, 4.96, 2 saves. He was selected by the Mariners in the expansion draft.)

In Detroit, Staub wore #10 and posted solid numbers during his first three seasons:

• 1976: .299 – 15 HR – 96 RBI (All Star)
• 1977: .278 – 22 HR – 101 RBI
• 1978: .273 – 24 HR – 121 RBI

Things got ugly in 1979 as Bill Anderson described in his excellent book The Detroit Tigers:

Staub had a disastrous season, holding out for weeks trying to renegotiate his contract and unsettling the team. He finally signed in May but was then peddled to Montreal and had a lost season.

You have to give Staub credit for having the guts to hold-out on former Tigers’ GM Jim Campbell. He had to know that wasn’t going to end well.

The Tigers didn’t get much for him in the July 20, 1979 trade: a player to be named later and cash. About five months later the Expos sent minor-leaguer Randy Schafer (December 3, 1979) to the Tigers to complete the trade.

In the offseason the Expos sent Staub to Texas where, in 1980 at age 36, he merely hit .300. He returned to the Mets for his final five seasons, retiring after the 1985 season at 41. Staub’s final numbers for a 23-year career: .279 – 292 HR – 1,466 RBI – .362 OBP.

Now, about the culinary side. Here’s a clip from a review of Staub’s second Manhattan restaurant, Rusty’s on 5th Avenue, which appeared in The New Yorker 20 years ago:

Staub has an extensive background in cooking. It started when he was in the Instructional League in Scotsdale, AZ when he agreed to do the cooking for his roommates if they would clean up. Then a few years later, when he was in the Majors, he did all the cooking for a large Christmas party & the response was tremendous.

In 1969-71 when he was with Montreal he dated the manager of a restaurant in the Old City. He worked with chefs there. When he came to NY in 1972 chefs were interested in atheletes who cooked. While rehabilitating from a hand operation in ‘72, Staub put in 1500 hours working with chefs.

The original Rusty’s opened in 1977 when Staub was with the Tigers. Rusty Staub’s on 5th was first proposed by Fred Wilpon, co-owner of the Mets & chairman of the board of the company that manages the building, in the late summer of 1987.

According to this site, Staub appears to be out of the restaurant business for now. Back in the day, though, he performed awfully well in his day job.

Happy Birthday, Rusty.

1945 – The Detroit Tigers score five runs in the first inning of Game Seven of the World Series, and rout the Cubs 9-3 behind Hal Newhouser, who strikes out 10 to win the World Championship.

1968 – Mickey Lolich won the World Series for the Detroit Tigers by defeating Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 in Game Seven. It was Lolich’s third win and came after the Tigers had lost three of the first four games.

For more on the ‘68 team, pickup a copy of the terrific book Sock It to ‘Em, Tigers.

(And in case you missed it, listen to my interview with the book’s editor Mark Pattison on the Detroit Tigers Podcast.)

Mickey Lolich? Padres pitcher?

I knew he played for the Mets and Padres but he looks odd wearing the mustard and brown, doesn’t he?

P.S. It’s not a crooked scan of the card, the card itself isn’t printed or aligned perfectly.

• Mickey Lolich, 68
• Mark Thurmond, 52
• Masao Kida, 40

The Lolich FileFull name: Michael Stephen LolichBorn: September 12, 1940 in Portland, OregonFirst Game: May 12, 1963 — Final Game: September 23, 1979Bat: Both Throw: LeftHeight: 6′ 1″ Weight: 170