A kid growing up in Oklahoma has to cross boarders to find a big-league baseball team. Many go south and root for the Rangers. Others go north for the Royals or the Cardinals. Jackson Jobe was different. To find his favorite team, Jackson Jobe went West.
"This is going to sound weird but it’s always been the San Francisco Giants, because I was a huge Tim Lincecum fan growing up," Jobe told the Stoney & Jansen Show.
Who wasn't a fan of The Freak? The boyish pitcher with the rockstar hair and the unruly windup won back-to-back Cy Youngs in 2008 and '09. He helped the Giants win their first world title in San Francisco in 2010. He climbed the mound and cut sluggers down to size, like Henry Rowengartner in Rookie of the Year. For four years, he was the best pitcher in baseball.
Lincecum's reign was mostly over by the time the Giants met the Tigers in the 2012 World Series. All the torquing and twisting had taken its toll. That didn't matter to a 10-year-old Jobe. His favorite team and his favorite pitcher were on baseball's biggest stage, and he wanted to watch. Lincecum shut down the Tigers out of the bullpen in Games 1 and 3, setting up the Giants to clinch at Comerica Park.
"I was there," said Jobe. "I was at Game 4. So it’s kind of ironic, I went there rooting for the Giants and now I’m a part of the Tigers organization."
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That was the last time Jobe was in Detroit. He said he doesn't "remember much from the city," but he surely enjoyed watching the Giants pour out of the dugout after winning it all. The next time will be in September, when the third overall pick takes a trip into his future. The city is starting to buzz again about Tigers baseball, stirred to life by a trio of young arms in Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning. Jobe could one day be the fourth.
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"They’re awesome," he said. "I think it’s pretty incredible that they’re having as much success as they are this early. I mean, Casey Mize is their ace and he’s a rookie, and then you got two other super young guys who are having success as well. I think there’s a pretty bright future ahead of the Detroit Tigers. It’ll be a lot of fun."
Jobe turns 19 on Friday. When he leaves the city in September, he'll have a long road to return. He's in Lakeland for the summer with fellow members of the Tigers' 2021 draft class, and that's where he'll be next spring. But Jobe knows where he wants to be eventually, because he's been there before. He's already tasted a title at Comerica Park. Now he wants to win one.
"The end goal is definitely to be in Detroit, win games and win a World Series," he said.