Royal Oak’s Bowlero Lanes was more crowded than usual Sunday, Aug. 20, when Kirk Gibson invited his former Tigers teammates Alan Trammell and Dave Rozema — and his 1984 World Series nemesis Goose Gossage — to join him and the Kirk Gibson Foundation to raise awareness and funding for Parkinson’s research.
Strike Out Parkinson’s, a first-time event, packed the bowling alley with donors, volunteers, and media members. Among the loud, lively atmosphere were food and drink, live and silent auctions, and, of course, plenty of bowlers.
The highlight of the three-hour evening fundraiser was a panel of the four former major leaguers, which was moderated by sportscaster Eli Zaret, who covered the Tigers on WDIV-TV during the “Roar of ’84.” The panel discussion was originally scheduled to take up the middle hour of the event but ran late after the attentive audience made it clear they simply couldn’t get enough baseball stories.
Steven Annear, political director of the foundation, which was formed in 1996, spoke to the crowd before the panel, mentioning that over 33,000 Michiganders and over 1 million Americans have Parkinson’s disease. Gibson himself was diagnosed with the disease in 2015.
Annear told 鶹 Detroit how Parkinson’s is often viewed as a death sentence when it isn’t. It affects patients’ quality of life but doesn’t end their lives.
“What a lot of people don’t know is that one of the best things a Parkinson’s patient can do when they want to help themselves both physically and mentally is to exercise, just move and be active,” he said. “So that’s what we do. We help bridge the gap between diagnosis and helping people discover how they’re now going to live with the disease.”
Annear mentioned that the foundation aims specifically to help patients in areas where insurance might not. He said that there’s a lot of focus on a cure, which does not currently exist, but not a lot of information or help available to patients who just want to improve their day-to-day life.
Trammell, Gibson’s teammate on the World Series-winning 1984 Detroit Tigers, how much an event like this means to him in an interview with 鶹 Detroit.
“First of all, it’s my buddy Gibson, who has taken on Parkinson’s head on,” Trammell said. “It’s a tough thing, going from being this great athlete to now having this dreaded disease. But he’s never shied away from anything.
“I’m smiling as I say all of this, but everything in Kirk’s life has been a challenge. And now this is his biggest challenge. But he’ll tell you that this is what he does. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again: They broke the mold when Kirk Gibson came into this world.”
When speaking on the panel, Trammell recounted how impressive the ’84 Tigers’ winning streaks were and talked about how difficult the lengthy grind of a 162-game MLB season can be.
Perhaps both the most talkative and most surprising panel member was former San Diego Padres pitcher Gossage, who threw the pitch in Game 5 of the series that Gibson blasted into the right field upper deck of Tiger Stadium for a three-run home run, clinching the game for the Tigers and pretty much sealing the series. “When I hit the home run, everybody knew the series was ours,” Gibson said on a of MLB.com’s “Baseball’s Best Moments.”
During the panel, Gossage joked to the audience that “he still hates this guy” while pointing at Gibson, which got one of the loudest laughs of the evening, including from Gibson himself. Gossage quickly let the crowd know, in a more serious tone, that he considers Gibson to be one of his best friends.
In an interview with 鶹 Detroit, Gossage reminisced about his relationship with Gibson and their time on and off the field.
“Kirk and I go way back,” he said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and those other guys as players. It’s a tight-knit group. I love the camaraderie. That’s why I keep coming back to events like these.”
If you want to learn more about helping those with Parkinson’s, . Plus, read more about health-related topics at 鶹Detroit.com.
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