Willing his team to the playoffs, one “Don’t let the Tigers get hot” sign at a time

DETROIT– It started as a joke.

Tigers superfan Josh Tebeau, who went to around 50 games this year, always heads to Comerica Park armed with two things: a lot of layers and an armful of signs intended to help to pump up the crowd. Tebeau, a 41-year-old lifelong fan who started going to more games over the past few seasons, likes to keep things positive — even if the Tigers play in early July didn’t always inspire a ton of whimsical messages.

Detroit sank to a season-low nine games under .500 on July 4. On July 8, after a win over the Cleveland Guardians established a modest four-game winning streak, catcher Jake Rogers said in an on-field interview: “Don’t let the Tigers get hot.” A few weeks later, after Detroit sold at the Trade Deadline, Tebeau asked some friends for sign ideas.

“Make one for the playoff push,” one joked. Tebeau, ever the optimist, had held a sign, “What if we win out?” in June. At the time, a turnaround still seemed possible. By August 10, however, the Tigers’ chances of a playoff spot were 0.2 percent.

On August 27, Tebeau and a few thousand others waited out a nearly three-hour rain delay. Bored, Tebeau — who had made a “Storming Past .500” sign — thought of Rogers’ interview. The Tigers were playing better. So he scrawled, ‘Don’t let the Tigers Get Hot’ on a sheet of posterboard. A few hours later, Detroit won 6-2, over the Angels and climbed over .500 for the first time since June 4. Tebeau and his signs were shown on the telecast, Tebeau wagging his finger as if to caution the rest of the league.

A week later, the Tigers were still winning. Tebeau’s original, “Don’t Let the Tigers Get Hot” sign didn’t measure up to his usual handiwork. So he went to the St. Clair CVS, where nearly all of Tebeau’s signs are printed, and spent $6 on a better one. He brought it to every game he attended. Meanwhile the Tigers, who were 10 games out of a playoff spot in mid-August, were attempting to do the impossible.

Detroit went 31-11 after August 10. Following one of the team’s late-September wins, Tebeau saw former Tigers pitcher Dan Petry, part of the team’s last World Series title in 1984, and Petry laughed at the sign. “Too late,” he told Tebeau, who grabbed a marker and wrote that phrase.

Tebeau’s sign, which generated enough buzz to be used in multiple Tigers team social media posts, kept evolving. The team kept winning. “Don’t let the Tigers get stay hot,” Tebeau held up when security — at the request of several Tigers players — came to get Tebeau in the team photo when Detroit clinched a playoff spot.

“It was the coolest thing that ever happened to me in my life,” said Tebeau, who also took Tarik Skubal tossing him a pumpkin seed in May as a premonition that the Tigers would be playing October baseball. He left his sign on the field during the team’s celebration, but still has the seed.

He needed to go to CVS anyway to make a new one: “Don’t Let the Tigers Get Hot in the Playoffs.”

When Detroit upset the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series, manager A.J. Hinch kicked off the clubhouse celebration with the line, “I’m not sure who, but somebody let the Tigers get hot,” a phrase that sent the group into a bottle-popping frenzy.

That phrase, of course, made it onto one of Tebeau’s signs. The Romeo Middle School teacher spent $600 to attend Game 1 in Cleveland, and will be in attendance for Wednesday’s Game 3 in Detroit, the city’s first home playoff game in 10 years. Tebeau will arrive hours early, like he always does, going by the team’s bullpen to fire up the pitchers and meticulously selecting multiple Tigers shirts to rip off and get the crowd going at various points. He has learned there’s a threshold to this gesture, as he once estimates he had 15 different t-shirts on and couldn’t actually move his arms to disrobe.

“I looked like the Michelin man,” said Tebeau, who layered a Torkelson jersey, Kerry Carpenter jersey and A.J. Hinch Stanford jersey for Game 1 and had dozens of signs. “It’s not so much about the shirts or the signs, it’s about spreading good vibes.”

Tebeau with the infamous pumpkin seed (Courtesy of Josh Tebeau)

Tebeau’s viral sign and being part of the team’s clinch has made him a pseudo-celebrity among his students. Kids will ask him for the pumpkin seed or to do the “Tork” chant, and those wary of his hobby have come around.

The Tigers enter Wednesday’s game tied 1-1 in the best-of-five set against Cleveland. They are underdogs, again. Tebeau, who the team asked to yell “Play Ball!” before first pitch, will fire up the crowd and then take his customary seat by the Tigers dugout to display his shirts and signs. He will yell loud, positive things and hope the Tigers still have a little more to this hot streak. And on Thursday, Tebeau will do it from Romeo Middle School, where parent-teacher conferences will prevent him from attending a potential clincher.

“It’s not about me,” Tebeau said. “I’ll be there in spirit. People ask, ‘Why am I like this?’ Being energetic spreads more energy. I hope someone feels inspired that if you are good to other people, good things can happen. They asked what would it mean if we won the World Series? It would show even more people what A.J. Hinch has done, which is buy into something that’s bigger than themselves. This run has been selfless.”

(Top photo: Mark Cunningham / MLB Photos via Getty Images)