BRIAN HUNTER:
TIGER ON THE PROWL

By J. H. Dama

Brian Hunter, at 6'4" and 180 lbs. is by no means the largest baseball player for Detroit, but has made his presence felt, by stealing bases with the agility of a tiger. Last December, Hunter became a Tiger when he was one of ten players involved in a trade with the Houston Astros.

Detroit Tigers centerfielder Brian Hunter, faces the Toronto Blue Jays.

Hunter made his major league debut with the Astros in '94, due to another player being injured, and only had a few weeks to make an impression on the club. "I wasn't nervous at all the whole time, until they started announcing the starting lineup," he said as Hunter recalled his first major league game. His voice shook with emotion, "then they announced my name as lead-off. "My whole stomach just.....started flying everywhere."

Hunter went from having 35 stolen bases in 132 games with the Astros in '96, to lead the major leagues in '97 for the Tigers with 74 stolen bases in 162 games. Chuck Knoblauch followed with 62 stolen bases for the Minnesota Twins. Hunter explained, "the key to stealing bases is to stay healthy. "By no means, do I think I'm the fastest guy, but I stayed healthy. There were some injuries to some other guys." Hunter credits Tigers' first base coach, Jerry White, in helping him with his steals. According to Hunter, you "have to pick up those certain keys off the pitcher, and I started doing that this year."

Hunter welcomed the change when joining the Tigers, because he felt that the Astros had never given him the chance to develop as a player. There was a lot of expectations and pressures placed on the outfielder to do good immediately.

Hunter said that although the Astros were a very talented high salary team, they continued to place second every year. In comparison the Tigers are a young low salary team and sees the future as being very bright. Hunter defined the main difference between the two teams as Tiger manager, Buddy Bell.

Bell admitted he didn't know what to expect from Hunter, "I had never seen him play before, so I just pretty much waited to see what kind of player we (the team) got there." Defensively Bell sees Hunter as having played as good as any center fielder in the league, but added that the transition from the National League to the American League took a little longer than expected.

Hunter explained that the pitching differs between the two leagues. In the American League the pitchers throw more off-speed pitches. With ball parks being a lot smaller, pitchers are more afraid of home runs.

Bell depends on Hunter to play every game and views him as a catalyst for the team as the lead-off hitter for the Tigers. He is one of the players that Bell considers very low maintenance; and rarely does he need to talk to him. "The thing I like most about Brian though, is his intensity in which he plays the game with," Bell added. "He never half steps anything. He's always playing hard, doing what it takes to give the best possible game that he can."

For the season Hunter ended up with a .269 average, 45 RBIs, 112 runs scored, and 4 home runs, including his first grand slam.


Always one to take time to sign autographs, Hunter, known affectionately as B-Hun, admitted that baseball was not his first choice.

As a child he did play in little league, starting with T-ball at age 6. Living in Washington state, many games were rained out and they would end up indoors hitting in the batting cages.

Hunter feels that "baseball chose me," but says that basketball was his first love. He used to play basketball in the minors to keep in shape, but does not even go on a court anymore. Hunter's dream did come true, while playing for the Arizona Fall League in 1994. He met and became friends with Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. "You're talking about a guy I used to have up on my walls and stuff. The best player to ever tie a pair of basketball shoes and then get an opportunity to play against him. It was awesome," Hunter added with excitement.

He avoids the nightclub scene in Detroit, but still loves to be involved with music. A lover of all types of music he spends his off time mixing songs to make different tapes. He has a keyboard and was in drum class in junior high. He had a drum set when he was younger, but broke it after two weeks. Hunter stressed the importance of music in his life, "I listen to it on the way to the field, before the games, and I even got a tape made to play for batting practice here. Music is good for me and is like a big part of my life."

Another love of Hunter's is his love of animals. He has three rottweiler dogs and a parrot that his mother takes care of for him. Hunter sadly recounted the death of his 5 foot pet iguana, "before I left for spring training I built a bigger cage for it and had heat rocks put in. The cage was so big it didn't find the heat rocks and ended up dying. It kind of froze. They need plenty of room and attention."

He considers the Tigers family now, and explained another difference between the Tigers and the Astros. "This is a real different team from Houston. In Houston I had a few friends, but this team everybody gets along." The Tigers stretch by their lockers where they are all mixed together, whereas most teams stretch outside and are able to separate and form little cliques. "You're kind of forced to be friends with everybody."

Hunter concluded that he finally gets a new start with the Tigers, getting the opportunity to play his game........his game of baseball.