Mike Ilitch has passed away

Wingsrule

As a lifelong Detroit resident, thank you for everything you have done for the region. RIP.

bronco2078

its national pizza week what are the odds ? We used to have little Caesars around here but they are all gone now , that was one of my favorite pizzas . they used to do a buy 1 medium get one free deal.

Watched quite a few hockey games over the years with a stack of his pizzas on the table

Justacommeman

RIP Mike

mark

Justacommeman

@bronco2078 said:
its national pizza week what are the odds ? We used to have little Caesars around here but they are all gone now , that was one of my favorite pizzas . they used to do a buy 1 medium get one free deal.

Watched quite a few hockey games over the years with a stack of his pizzas on the table

My brother worked in store #1 in Garden City Michigan

mark

Justacommeman

Mike Ilitch has died, and the first thing you’ll hear about him was that he wanted to win. Well, we all want to win. What separated Ilitch was how much he wanted to win, and how hard he tried to do it. It was like nothing else mattered. He ran the Red Wings and Tigers the way he lived his life: without a net.

If Ilitch ever worried about risk in his 87 years, he didn’t show it. He was one of the least pragmatic owners in sports history. Marian Ilitch would tell people that when she and her husband started Little Caesar’s Pizza, she worked in the back, in the kitchen, while he was in the front with the customers. But there was a problem. Mike’s friends would show up and he wouldn’t charge them.

It was a theme in Ilitch’s life, again and again: when passion competed against common sense, common sense never had a chance. His heart beat his head every time. The results were extraordinary: four Stanley Cups, two American League pennants, and a record of sustained success in the city of Detroit.

When Ilitch bought the Red Wings, in 1982, they were struggling to attract fans. He gave away a car at every home game. You didn’t even have to buy a ticket to enter the drawing; you could just show up at Joe Louis Arena and put your name in.

Ilitch later said after giving the cars away he got two thank-you notes—and one guy sued him. But the giveaways were classic Ilitch. There was no business plan behind them. Ilitch said he did it because he “had to do something.” He wanted the city to feel as much passion for the Red Wings as he did.

It must have been fun negotiating with Mike Ilitch. He could never hide his true desires. He would rather get caught eating Domino’s than lose a player he really wanted.

He once told baseball super-agent Scott Boras he would do “whatever it takes” to sign a Boras client. When Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez tore up his knee one January, Ilitch spent $214 million replacing him. That was the price for Prince Fielder. It was crazy to almost everybody except Ilitch. He did not dwell on price tags. When he saw something he wanted, he bought it.

Reporters could not predict his plans, because they changed on a whim. Some of his own employees were sometimes shocked at how far he would go to improve his team. His tendency to act like the payroll was just Monopoly money could even startle his own family.

In 2001, the Red Wings responded to a rare first-round exit by adding future Hall of Famers Dominik Hasek, and Luc Robitaille. They were far over any reasonable budget, but Ilitch wasn’t done. He signed future Hall of Famer Brett Hull. He did not tell Marian about the negotiations until the deal was done.

Ilitch was a very smart businessman—he didn’t become a billionaire by accident. But when he looked in the mirror, he did not just see his net worth. He really, truly believed he had a role as both private businessman and public servant.
It wasn’t charity work—Ilitch squeezed taxpayers in the building of his new hockey arena, and some people bristled at his habit of holding onto abandoned buildings instead of doing something with the real estate. But look around. Think about Art Modell leaving Cleveland, or the York family banking the revenue from the 49ers’ new stadium instead of pouring it into the team, or James Dolan alienating Knicks fans and former players. In the last decade, especially, Detroit fans would not have traded Ilitch for any other owner.

Ilitch won those four Stanley Cups with the Red Wings, yet he openly admitted: He wanted a World Series title more. As a young man, Ilitch played in the Tigers’ minor-league system; he said a knee injury kept him from reaching the majors.

It took him awhile to figure out how to win in baseball. First he spent too much, then he was too patient with the wrong management team, and finally he hired a great executive, Dave Dombrowski, and he pushed his payrolls near Yankees territory.

And while so many other franchises moved to the suburbs—the Pistons and Lions both operated in the ‘burbs during Ilitch’s tenure—he was committed to the city of Detroit. The Tigers moved from Tiger Stadium to Comerica Park. The Red Wings will move from Joe Louis Arena to Little Caesars Arena in Midtown. When the Pistons were up for sale a few years ago, Ilitch nearly bought them, largely, I believe, so he would have another tenant for the arena he wanted built for the Wings.

He needed whatever leverage he could find. Everybody knew he would never move the Wings out of the city. He also restored the Fox Theater in Detroit. All this arena-building may not seem like a big deal in other cities. But Detroit was a city in terrible decline until the last few years. Ilitch was a bulwark at a time when Detroit desperately needed one. No, he did not win that World Series. But he made it clear he would win or die trying, and that’s a hell of a way to live a life.

This article was originally published on si.com

Justacommeman

Mike Ilitch didn't get to live his World Series dream, but he never stopped trying

Mike Ilitch, the former minor-league baseball player and U.S. Marine turned billionaire businessman and owner of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings, died Friday at the age of 87.

The legacy Ilitch leaves behind is extraordinary in measure. He rose from humble beginnings on Detroit’s westside to iconic status in the food, entertainment and sports industries. But despite those successes he never achieved the goal many believe he coveted most: bringing a World Series winner to Detroit.

Ilitch bought the Tigers in 1992, exactly 10 years after he purchased the Red Wings. But unlike the Stanley Cup trophy, which Ilitch’s Wings won four times during his tenure, the World Series trophy managed to elude him. The Tigers got painfully close twice, earning World Series bids in 2006 and 2012, but the fell short both times, leaving a baseball championship as the one dream he failed to realize.

Ilitch earned his fortune as the co-founder of Little Caesars pizza, along with wife Marian Ilitch. What started as a $10,000 startup in 1959 has since grown into a business empire, with annual revenues reaching $3.3 billion. Ilitch invested much of his money back into his community, building new stadiums for both of his franchises and even helping to restore the city’s iconic Fox Theatre.

He was also more than willing to open his checkbook to make sure the Tigers had the best roster possible. There were definitely some lean times along the way, which included having to rebuild from a disastrous 43-119 record in 2003. But Ilitch saw it through, helping to build and maintain a perennial contender that made the playoffs five times between 2006 and 2014.

Now, the Tigers are routinely among baseball’s highest-spending teams despite coming from a mid-sized market. That was all born from Ilitch’s commitment to his players — which includes franchise cornerstones Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander — and the fans. The goal was always to win a World Series, and the sadness that’s being felt right now is in some part fueled by the collective disappointment that he never attained it.
Jim Leyland, who managed the Tigers from 2006-2013, expressed that exact sentiment after learning the news on Friday.

Leyland, like many others, formed a special bond with Ilitch that began with a business deal, but extended well beyond that as time passed. You don’t always find sports owners or billionaire businessmen willing to connect and invest on that level, but Ilitch never hid behind his fortune or allowed it to define him.

Instead, he used it to build relationships and help restore the fabric of his hometown. In that regard, Ilitch truly was a winner. He may not have lived to see a Tigers championship parade, but the day it happens will be just as much a celebration of his contributions to Detroit as the success of the Tigers.

Justacommeman

Mike Ilitch, the former Detroit Tigers and Red Wings owner who died last week, quietly paid the rent for civil rights icon Rosa Parks during her later years.

Ilitch was known for his philanthropic efforts, but news of his intervention with Parks was unknown to the public.

“They don’t go around saying it, but I want to, at this point, let them know, how much the Ilitches not only meant to the city, but they meant so much for Rosa Parks, who was the mother of the civil rights movement,” federal Judge Damon Keith, of Detroit, told WXYZ-TV.

Shortly after Parks’ iconic decision to defy segregation rules in Alabama by not giving up her bus seat to a white passenger, she moved with her family to Detroit and became an important figure in the community.

Parks, at age 81, was robbed and assaulted in her home in 1994.

Keith told the Sports Business Daily in 2014 that he helped find Parks a safer place to live. She eventually settled at the Riverfront Apartments in Detroit, according to the journal.

Ilitch read the story in the newspaper, contacted Keith and offered to pay her rent for the rest of her life, which he did until Parks died in 2005.

Ilitch’s help, without any fanfare, showed his commitment to the area. Keith told the station that Illitch helped usher in a new beginning for the city.

“You’ll never discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. Mike and (his wife) Marian had the courage to lose sight of the shore and discover new oceans,” Keith said. “They kept pushing Detroit, and had it not been for them, I am saying, Detroit would not be in the renaissance that they’re in now.”

Barndog

thanks for those stories about Ilitch. Even though I'm a Sox fan, makes me wish he had won a WS for the Tigers. When they do win one, we know who will get the dedication

Wingsrule

Coinstartled

Ilitch's most notable hire was a guy with a zero batting average that never struck out.

Within hours of his announcement as Tiger's new owner, Ilitch rehired Hall of Fame announcer Ernie Harwell who had be dumped by earlier owner and pizza magnate, Tom Monaghan.

Wingsrule

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Wingsrule

Coinstartled

BLUEJAYWAY

Nice tribute.