Key players from Tigers renaissance up for HOF

DETROIT — Thirteen years ago around this time, Tigers owner Mike Ilitch talked with the media in the back of the Tiger Club at Comerica Park about spending what it takes to bring in talent and revive the franchise. The players that followed are now being judged for their place in history.

It’s fitting that as baseball ponders whether the Tigers’ decade-long window of contention has closed, the key figures that first opened it are now up for Hall of Fame consideration. Ivan Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen all appear on the Hall’s ballot for the first time as it arrives to eligible members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

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Yes, it has been that long.

“I remember in ’04, when I signed with Detroit, my family and some friends told me, ‘Are you sure you want to go to Detroit? They lost [119] games last year, and you’re going there?'” Rodriguez said before being honored at Comerica Park in May. “I really wanted to go. They didn’t know the reason I wanted to go was because they told me they’d put together a good team around me to win.

“It was a great organization with great players in the past. They offered me the chance to be here for five years, so why not? I came over, and after that, Magglio, Carlos, [Placido] Polanco, [Justin] …

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