Ten-Year-Old Fan Is Tigers' 3 Millionth Of The Season

DETROIT (AP) _ Before Charlie Woody was born, Jim Leyland was spending frigid winter days selling baseball tickets with a giant parrot. <br/><br/>As a rookie manager in Pittsburgh, Leyland was pulled out

Tuesday, September 25th 2007, 8:21 pm

By: News On 6

DETROIT (AP) _ Before Charlie Woody was born, Jim Leyland was spending frigid winter days selling baseball tickets with a giant parrot.

As a rookie manager in Pittsburgh, Leyland was pulled out of spring training to spend a day with the Pirate Parrot in a promotional gimmick.

``We sold some tickets that day,'' he said. ``That was a bad situation _ people used to call and ask when the game was, and we'd say 'When can you be here?'''

Two decades later, Woody has become a symbol of how far Leyland's managerial career has evolved.

The 10-year-old Plymouth resident was honored before Tuesday's game as the Tigers' 3 millionth fan of the season, the first time the franchise has ever reached that mark.

``That's an unbelievable number, once you actually think about it,'' Leyland said. ``You don't notice the fans while you are managing, but then you stop and realize that three million people have come to see us play this year. That's a lot of people.''

In 2003, the Tigers drew only 1,368,245 fans, while losing a league-record 119 games. By 2005 they had rebounded slightly, drawing 2,024,485 fans.

But everything changed last season, when Detroit made an improbable run to the World Series and drew just over 2.5 million fans. Another strong season this year pushed them past 3 million.

``I didn't put the Detroit Tigers back on the map,'' Leyland said. ``But I'm extremely proud that I may have played a tiny role in putting this organization back on the map. This is a great baseball city, and we can't say enough how much we appreciate our fans.''

During a pregame ceremony Tuesday, Woody received a framed Tigers jersey bearing the number 3 under the name ``Million.'' He also received a four-seat 27-game ticket package for next season.