Darrell Evans played 21 years in the majors with only 5 as a
Tiger. His major league debut was in
1969 with the Atlanta Braves and in 12 games he did not hit a homer and only
had 1 walk. He would play 9 seasons in
Atlanta as one of their big sluggers with Davey Johnson and Hank Aaron, all of
which hit 40 homers or more in 1973.
That was also the first year Darrell was an all-star. He led the league that year in walks with
124. This raised his .281 batting
average to a phenomenal .403 OBP. The
following year the lefty hitting third baseman had a league leading 126
walks. Darrell would always be known for
his ability to take a pitch. But after 9
years and averaging 16 homer and 53 RBI’s the Braves sent Darrell to the San
Francisco Giants. Darrell would spend 8
seasons with the Giants and once again had over 100 walks in 1978. While in San Fran in 1982 Darrell had one of
his greatest trials to his career. He
drew a lot of criticism when he came public with his experience. The following is his story. “One night we were sitting on our porch -- it has a great
view, into a canyon -- and we saw something that I'm sure was a UFO. There's no
question what it was. It wasn't anything natural. It was about 100 yards away,
and 100 or 200 feet up.
"It was triangle shaped, with a wingspan of about 30 feet. It had a line of red and green lights, and it had a bank of white lights in the back. It didn't make any noise. We thought it might be some kind of experimental craft, because we live near a small airport, but it was midnight, and it didn't come
from that direction. And my wife is a stewardess, so she knew it definitely wasn't a plane.
"It kind of dipped its wings. It was like, 'OK, you see us.' It seemed like it just stopped. It stayed there for 30 seconds. It definitely wanted us to notice it. Like, 'We're here, and maybe because you believe, and we're showing you, it's a sign.' Like what we're going through right now doesn't matter.
"Then, of course, we wanted to get up and look at it. My wife said, 'Get the camera,' but as soon as I got up, it went away, like, 'You've seen us, but you're not going to take our picture.' It went off at about a million miles per hour.
"We talked about it. We decided if you go and ask someone they're going to think . . . Well, we read the papers and watched TV for two days, but no one else saw it. We told my dad, and he believed us. He surely didn't doubt us. After all -- it's mathematically impossible to not have other beings in the
universe.
"I know this -- we'll never forget it, as long as we live."
"It was triangle shaped, with a wingspan of about 30 feet. It had a line of red and green lights, and it had a bank of white lights in the back. It didn't make any noise. We thought it might be some kind of experimental craft, because we live near a small airport, but it was midnight, and it didn't come
from that direction. And my wife is a stewardess, so she knew it definitely wasn't a plane.
"It kind of dipped its wings. It was like, 'OK, you see us.' It seemed like it just stopped. It stayed there for 30 seconds. It definitely wanted us to notice it. Like, 'We're here, and maybe because you believe, and we're showing you, it's a sign.' Like what we're going through right now doesn't matter.
"Then, of course, we wanted to get up and look at it. My wife said, 'Get the camera,' but as soon as I got up, it went away, like, 'You've seen us, but you're not going to take our picture.' It went off at about a million miles per hour.
"We talked about it. We decided if you go and ask someone they're going to think . . . Well, we read the papers and watched TV for two days, but no one else saw it. We told my dad, and he believed us. He surely didn't doubt us. After all -- it's mathematically impossible to not have other beings in the
universe.
"I know this -- we'll never forget it, as long as we live."
Two years after this Darrell was signed as a free agent by
the Tigers. Darrell was the starting DH
for the Tigers in 1984. While his
average was only .232 he hit 16 homers and drove in 63 RBI’s. His 77 walks gave him a .353 OBP. Darrell was the starting first baseman 3 out
of 5 games in the World Series despite being the DH during the regular season. The following season Darrell moved to first
replacing Dave Bergman and hit a league leading 40 homers for the Tigers. By doing so he became the first player to hit
40 homers in each league and the oldest player to hit 40 in the AL at the age
of 38. Darrell stayed at first for 1986
and 1987. In 1987 Darrell was involved
in a tragic play in post season. In game
4 of the ALCS the Tigers trailed 2 games to 1.
In the 6th inning the
Tigers trailed 4-2 to the Minnesota Twinkies,…er,…Twins. The Twins were a lowly 85-77 compared to the
Tigers league leading 98-64. They had no
business being in the playoffs! Ok, take
breath. I’m over it. Anyway, back to the story, I was in the
centerfield bleachers at Tiger Stadium and we could sense the Tigers were going
to win the game, tie up the series and win the series. But Darrell was picked off third. The wild pitch, walk and pop fly to center
which ended the inning did not drive in the addition 3 runs that would have won
the game because we now had two outs.
From centerfield I was confused by the play and then heartbroken. The Tiges lost the game and were down 3 games
to 1 and did not come back to the Twinkies.
But I am over it. Really. I think I am.
1988 was Darrell’s last year as a Tiger.
In his five seasons as a Tiger he averaged 28 homers and 81 RBI’s per
season and was a fan favorite. He spent
his last season, 1989, back in Atlanta with the team he started his major
league career. He has been a manager in
the minors as late as 2010.
Jack Cronin
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