Brandon Twp.- It ain’t easy being a Yankees fan in Tigers territory.
Just ask George Thomakos.
The 49-year-old New York Yankees devotee had to endure not only his beloved team’s defeat by the Detroit Tigers in the American League Division Series, which ended with a Tigers win on Oct. 7, but also jests from his EDS co-workers, fans of the Tigers.
‘They’re giving me a lot of grief,? said Thomakos, smiling wryly last Monday. ‘They asked how I was enjoying the crow I had for lunch.?
Thomakos was confident the Yankees would win. He thought it would go four games, just as it did, but ‘in the other direction.?
‘I really thought the Yanks would dominate the Tigers,? he said, but noted that Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers threw a gem in the third game, and then in the next and last game, the Yankees just seemed defeated to him. During the fifth inning, Thomakos turned the television off and left his house, knowing it was over.
He says he’s getting used to it, since the Yankees haven’t won the World Series since 2000.
The Tigers have had a much longer drought, not winning baseball’s ultimate contest since 1984. Thomakos didn’t even arrive in Michigan until the year after the Tigers hoisted the coveted World Series trophy.
Born in New York, at a hospital around the corner from Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, Thomakos grew up attending games at both Shea and Yankee Stadium. He was always a Yankees follower, even though in his early days, he says they were terrible. His father was a casual Yankee fan.
Thomakos seems a little more than casual, as he stands in the middle of a room in his Brandon home that is devoted to more than 1,000 pieces of baseball memorabilia, most of it honoring the Yankees. Baseball bats emblazoned with names of Yankee players from the 1998 team (which Thomakos considers the best baseball team ever) adorn one wall. Signed baseballs are lined up in cases against another wall. Shelves hold figures of Yankees players. His most treasured item though, is a home plate that is signed not only by Yankees, but also Tigers and members of other teams, all of them Hall of Famers, including Sparky Anderson, Charlie Gehringer, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio and Thomakos? hero, Mickey Mantle.
Thomakos has lived in Michigan for 21 years now, and his allegiance to the Yankees holds strong, even while many of those around him cheer on the Tigers. He recalls taking his eldest son Chris, now a college freshman, to the majority of the games the Yankees played at Tiger Stadium, which he preferred over Comerica Park. He has not gone to as many at the new stadium.
Thomakos? youngest son, Glenn, 10, is a Yankees fan, as is daughter Marie, 9. In fact, Glenn Thomakos, a fifth grader at Brandon Fletcher Intermediate School, made a bet with his sister’s H.T. Burt teacher, Ms. Thurston that the Yankees would win. If they had won, he would be enjoying a lunch at McDonald’s. Instead, he will be washing her car sometime in the spring.
‘I hope she forgets about it,? he says.
‘She’s not going to forget,? says his dad, shaking his head.
Even though Thomakos is disappointed in the Yankee loss, he wishes the Tigers well.
‘I hope they do go all the way now,? he says, adding that he hopes they play the St. Louis Cardinals, as he is not a Mets fan. ‘I think they’ll do well.?