There are occasions in every sport when a player who has departed one city for another returns to his roots, and he is welcomed. The fans remember what he accomplished for them, and they are gracious about it all, even as he tries to make them miserable.
On Sunday night, when Jeff Weaver returns to the city where his major league career began, there will be no such warm, fuzzy moments. When he takes the mound to pitch Game 2 of the World Series, Weaver will wear the red cap of the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Detroit Tigers' fans — not to mention some of the Tigers themselves — aren't likely to be so kind.
"It's kind of surreal," Weaver said Saturday.
On Sunday, it'll feel quite real. Weaver pitched for the Tigers from 1999 through the middle of 2002, when he was traded to the New York Yankees. Always loaded with potential, Weaver never posted a winning record with Detroit, and the Tigers never had a winning season with him on the roster. He was emotional, immature, and just starting to figure out how to pitch in the majors.
He did not, apparently, leave a good impression on everyone.
"I am the wrong guy to ask about Jeff Weaver," Detroit closer Todd Jones told reporters Friday. The remarks were published in Detroit papers on the eve of Weaver's start here.
"I am not a big advocate of his, and I wasn't a big advocate of his when he was here," Jones said. "He was a good pitcher who never really panned out here. Maybe he found a home in St. Louis, but there's no love lost here [now] that he's gone."
The comments added some sizzle to Weaver's return, which is a complex tale in and of itself.
"I was disappointed, because to me, comments like those should be addressed privately among teammates or ex-teammates," St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa said. "To air them publicly I thought was a disappointment. . . . The teammate that Jeff has been with us, we would rally around him against those comments."
It is, at this point, worth it for La Russa to stick up for Weaver, because the Cardinals would not be in the World Series without him. He is, without question, a reclamation project. After the trade to the Yankees, he bombed in New York in just a season and a half. The final pitch he threw for the Yankees came in the bottom of the 12th inning of the fourth game of the 2003 World Series. It was a 3-2 fastball, and Alex Gonzalez hit it for a home run that provided the Florida Marlins a 4-3 victory.
From there, Weaver went to the Anaheim Angels, then the Los Angeles Dodgers, then back to the Angels this season. But he was, quite simply, one of the worst starters in baseball, going 3-10 with a 6.29 ERA. On June 30, he was designated for assignment. The Angels, essentially, chose to keep his younger brother, Jered, and rid themselves of Jeff Weaver.
It is a measure of the Cardinals' desperation -- with an injured Mark Mulder and with a struggling Jason Marquis -- that they traded for Weaver in early July. Weaver, now 30 and well traveled, welcomed the change.
"I just knew when I came to St. Louis, it was a fresh start," he said. "I was going to be out there every five days. They were going to let me work through whatever troubles I had. I had always stayed confident through the whole experience. It was just a matter of getting in that groove and getting comfortable."
Weaver went to work immediately with Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan. The pair sat down to hash out a plan. Duncan wanted to know what Weaver considered his strengths. The plan was not to completely change Weaver's approach. Just a nip here, a tuck there. Weaver appreciated that tack.
"Some people, when you go through struggles, they want to change everything and do things that they know," Weaver said. "That wasn't the case here. They said they loved the way I competed. They loved the stuff I had. It was just a matter of finding it and getting back out there and doing it."
To be sure, Weaver didn't instantly become some sort of Cy Young contender. He went 5-4 with a 5.18 ERA in 15 regular season starts for the Cardinals. But it appears, thus far in the postseason, he has righted himself. In three starts, he hasn't allowed more than two runs, allowing hitters just a .197 average.
And when he takes the mound Sunday night, he will try to repeat that performance against the organization with which he came up. He has memories here, not just from Comerica Park, but from making his first career start back at old Tiger Stadium. His first win, his first loss, his first trade, his first rocky relationships with teammates -- they all happened here.
"This is where it started for me," Weaver said. "So I have nothing but good things to say. I owe them the opportunity, and I always look forward to coming back here. It will always be a spot in my heart, here in Detroit."
It will be a more special spot, perhaps, if he pitches well Sunday.
