Obviously “not” the same Mike, but I got to hear that “tiger roar”, many times when I was in Tiger Stadium as a Boy Scout. Back in the late ‘70’s, when I was running a lot, we had a Sunday morning 20 mile training run that started at “Mike’s” cage! An inspiring way to start your training run! memtb
Back in the Day there were double doors that you went thru as you entered the visitors tunnel at Death Valley. The 'caretakers' for Mike would wait until the visitors had finished 'warm-ups' and gone back to the locker room, then they would close one door and park the cage in front of it. As the visiting team was doing their thing in the locker room, the 'caretakers' would make Mike roar and the sound would echo through the tunnel, into the visiting locker room. One of the pro players that was on a visiting team and had to set there and listen to Mike roar said, "After the first roar, you didn't hear anything the coaches said, from then on. That was the most intimidating thing I've ever had happen in my life."
Then as the visiting team exited the tunnel, thru just one door, they had to pass within a couple of feet of the cage that held Mike. Same player that talked about the roar said, "When I had to pass by that tiger, my playing football was over for that day. All I could think about was that tiger getting loose on the field."
Geaux Tigers!
