Kyle Finnegan couldn't help but smile at the customary sing-along in Comerica Park after his 1-2-3 eighth inning against the Astros in the Tigers' latest win Tuesday night, specifically the lyric that lit up the crowd. Raised in Houston, Finnegan was born in, well, north Detrooiii-iiiit. Close enough.
Like his son, Willy Finnegan was a hard-throwing right-hander. Still is, he'd probably tell you. He was drafted by the Cardinals in 1981 and spent a couple years in the minors before changing lanes into investment banking. While working for a firm by the name of Paine-Webber, he was relocated from New York to Detroit. He moved to town with his wife and their first of four boys. Kyle, their second, was born in 1991 in Rochester Hills.
In August of 1994, MLB players went on strike, which carried into spring training the following year. Owners threatened to start the season by assembling rosters of replacement players, most of whom were retired big-leaguers or minor-leaguers who never made it. Willy Finnegan's arm was still sharp. While he hadn't pitched professionally since 1983, "he was playing in men's leagues because he loved it," said Kyle. "He says he was still throwing in the 90’s." The Tigers invited him to Lakeland. Pictured below, he was 36.
"I think he just got a rare opportunity and was like, why not?" said Kyle.
A local paper ran a blurb on each player in camp. Willy's went like this: "Finnegan, born an identical triplet, was a late-bloomer. He didn’t play high school ball growing up in West Islip, N.Y., because he weighed only 110 pounds. Walked on at UNLV and began to develop. The St. Louis Cardinals made him an eighth-round draft pick and signed him in 1981 after he graduated."
Kyle was too young to really remember this, but he visited his dad in camp with his mom and his two brothers. (He's seen in the blue shirt.) The Tigers played about a month of exhibition games with their replacements. As the season drew near, Willy was told he'd made the club, which promised a salary of $115,000. Because he was still working his day job, he arrived late to the team photo and got dropped off on the field by a yellow taxi that entered the stadium through the center field gate.
But the dream came to a screeching halt. The strike ended in early April, the day before the season was scheduled to start with the subs. Willy returned to life as he knew it, but kept pitching recreationally. As soon as Kyle and his younger brother Jack learned how to throw, guess who became their pitching coach? With Willy's guidance, both boys would reach the pros.
"The three of us did a ton of workouts together. Even when I was in pro ball coming up through the minor leagues, he would catch our bullpens," Kyle said. "And he still plays in men's league himself. He loves it. He’s obsessed. Watches every game. It’s been fun to share this journey with him."
Their paths are intertwined now more than ever. After six strong years in the Nationals' bullpen, and "three years in a row of rumors and trade speculation," Kyle was dealt at last month's deadline to Detroit. Right away, his dad texted him a photo of himself (below) wearing his Tigers jersey from the spring of 1995, with his name and No. 38 on the back. 30 years later, in No. 64, Kyle Finnegan is bringing his dad's dream to life. And his own.
While he loved his time in DC, Kyle is pitching in meaningful games for the first time in his big-league career. He debuted for the Nationals in 2020 the year after they won the World Series, then watched them sink slowly into "this transitional phase of retooling the roster." In some ways, it was a boon to his development. He's grateful that it granted him opportunities to pitch in big spots, which is how he came to prove himself as a closer.
"But you play the game to win," he said. "To be somewhere that is doing a lot of that is really refreshing."
Prior to joining the Tigers, Kyle Finnegan had never pitched in a playoff race. In fact, he had never pitched for a winning team on this side of the All-Star break. You wouldn't know it. In eight outings in the back of Detroit's bullpen, Finnegan has been flawless. He's yielded two hits, one walk and zero runs with 11 strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings. He has four saves. He's adjusted his pitch mix to throw more splitters, which was "something the Tigers identified" as a way to help him keep hitters off-balance.
"You gotta constantly change in this game and be open to anything," he said. "People are constantly making adjustments to you, and you gotta make adjustments back. I wouldn’t say that what I was doing before wasn’t working, but I think there was just room for more, and that’s what they’re helping me find."
Finnegan, 33, relies on his dad for pitching advice to this day. He probably hasn't heard from him in a bit. Willy, 67, is quick to offer feedback on his son's outings, but "more so when I’m struggling, because when I’m doing well he’s very superstitious," Kyle said with a laugh. "He’ll think, like, oh, I didn’t text him and he pitches well, so I’m not gonna text him for days."
Give Scott Harris and the Tigers credit. Finnegan's arrival has come at the right time. While he wasn't as heralded as some of the other relievers traded last month, Finnegan -- who was an All-Star last year -- has pitched as well as any of them. He's stabilized a wobbling Tigers' bullpen, which is third in the majors in ERA (2.74) since the deadline, even if some of the underlying numbers (4.64 FIP) point toward regression. With Will Vest, Finnegan has rebuilt the sturdy late-inning duo the Tigers lost when Tommy Kahnle came undone.
A.J. Hinch only ever knew Kyle Finnegan from the opposing dugout. And as Hinch said Monday, "You don’t want to know Kyle Finnegan when you’re the other manager, because he’s a closer." When they met for the first time after the trade, Hinch asked him, "How many games have you pitched against us, and were you leading in every game?" Hinch much prefers knowing him on this side.
"What I’ve learned about him is just how adaptable he is and how open he is to small adjustments, a subtle pitch usage change, a unique, hybrid role of pitching when we’re up and pitching when it’s important but not necessarily getting the last three outs," said Hinch. "I see what makes him tick, I see the calm heartbeat, why he’s been comfortable at the backend of games. And he’s been awesome in the clubhouse. He’s a fun guy to see every day. Super even-keel and consistent personality.
"You get a pretty good first impression from Kyle on the type of guy he is and the type of vibe that he brings to the club."
The Tigers, likewise, have brought a vibe to Finnegan. He feels it in the clubhouse, on the field and especially in the bullpen, where he says relievers are so in tune with Hinch's thinking each game that one of them will get up and start stretching "before the phone even rings and boom, it’s for him." He hears it after home wins when another familiar song -- Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) -- rings from the loudspeakers at Comerica Park.
"I hope to hear it many more times this year," he said with a smile. "When the game ends and the Tigers are on top, it’s hard to not have fun."
Mostly, Finnegan can sense it in the significance of playing for a team that intends to be busy deep into October.
"You got a lot of eyes on you when you’re in first place and you got a target on your back, a lot of teams trying to chase you down," he said. "And teams that have a good chance to make the playoffs are also jockeying for those byes and staying out of the wild card round. You try to tell yourself every game (in the majors) is the same, but it matters more down the stretch, and you want to go into the postseason playing good baseball."
Shortly after his spring training stint with the Tigers, Willy Finnegan moved his family to Chicago when Paine Webber got bought out. They eventually settled down in Houston, which remains home for Kyle, his wife Rachel and their three children (including twins who turn four later this month). Recently, they visited Kyle on an off-day in Detroit, like Kyle once visited his dad in Lakeland. "The summers are amazing up here," he said. They relaxed at a park in Birmingham, not far from "where I was from."
Finnegan is a free agent after this season, a rental arm for now. Maybe his future will lead back into his past. Having lived in Texas for most of his life, he said he's enjoyed "revisiting stories with my parents" of their time in Detroit, "just looking at the map and seeing where we lived and stuff like that. It’s fun trying to find more of those connections to the city."
However long he stays this time, he has a chance this fall to leave a lasting impression.