Tiger Inge and Freep's Rosenberg Bid Sports Fans Adieu

Brandon Inge has left the ballpark. Mike Rosenberg is leaving the newsroom.

Inge was both a beloved player and a booed player, as Rosenberg makes clear in one of the last Free Press columns he will write before he joins Sports Illustrated. 

Inge was active in charity and a nice guy. But he was batting .100 (2-for-20) with a home run and two RBIs this season. Over his career he is a .234 hitter, with 140 homers and 589 RBIs.

The Tigers will have to pay him the rest of his $5.5-million contract for this season, plus a $500,000 buyout for his 2013 option. He'll most likely become a free agent Sunday, meaning he'll be eligible to sign with any team for the minimum salary.

Rosenberg was a popular and award-winning sports columnist and humor writer for the paper. He grew up in New York and attended the University of Michigan.