Mud Hens callup makes good

  As it so happens, Toledo, as much as we mock it, has a couple really great things going for it, not the least of which is the (fairly) new and best minor league baseball stadium in the United States. They know how to entertain over at the Mud Hens and people respond by turning out in droves. (Of course, in its usual tone deaf reasoning Toledo itself frequently eyes putting additional taxes on ticket prices to milk the stadium's popularity.)
  The other night, a Mud Hens player named Max St. Pierre was called up from Toledo to the Tigers. (Northwest Ohio swings between alliance to Michigan and Ohio in sports.)
  He was called up after fourteen years in the minor leagues.
  Those of us who follow the Tigers cling to hope year after year of another winning season. Jim Leyland, a Perrysburg native who graduated from PHS along with Jerry Glanville and is the Tigers manager, is a colorful and well-loved figure around these parts.
  So what's the story, considering the ups and downs of the Tigers' season this year? Read over at BlessYouBoys:

Here we are, Sept. 1. The Tigers are not playing meaningful games. We're celebrating the callup a career-.251 minor leaguer catcher. You could look at this as proof of how poorly this season has turned out for the Tigers.

But isn't this exactly what enjoying sports is all about?

  In reaction to being called up at the age of 30, St. Pierre was "speechless," as he told the Toledo Blade. 
  And then, in even better news, the other night St. Pierre hit a ball that led to a Tiger win. Again, from BlessYouBoys:

St. Pierre was greeted in the dugout as if he had hit a game winning home run, and had a smile from ear to ear. The scene had to warm the heart of even the most jaded of Tigers fans.

So the Tigers got the win. But the win is that much sweeter sweeter because Max St. Pierre will now have his name listed in the database at Baseball-Reference.com...as a major league ballplayer.

  In times of economic distress and in sieged areas such as the Rust Belt, sports have taken on great importance to fans.
  And after 978 games in the minors, this particular game certainly was important to St. Pierre.