A Detroit baseball legend shares then-and-now reflections that have to do with urban tensions, not on-field games.
Willie Horton: "The young people, they're just tired of it."
"I'm more scared now than I was then," Willie Horton says of the city's 1967 riot. "Every time I see something like this, I think about that,” he tells Detroit News columnist John Niyo.
That was a Sunday evening, the 23rd of July in 1967, when Horton left Tiger Stadium — still in his uniform after a doubleheader against the Yankees — and drove himself into the middle of the bloodiest chapter of the long, hot summer of '67.
It was there near the intersection of 12th Street and Clairmount that Horton stood on the hood of his car, pleading for calm amid the chaos sparked by a police raid on an unlicensed drinking club the night before. ... He stayed for a few hours before trudging home as the rebellion grew.
"When you're young, you don't think. you just do what you do. And I just followed my mind."
The All-Star, back in his heyday. (Photo: Topps)
The 77-year-old former slugger who played for the Tigers from 1963-77 also talks about a dramatic change from Detroit's unrest 36 years ago:
"What I like about it now is you see an integration. There's no color to this, there's no religion to it.
"The young people, they're just tired of it. And I respect that, because they've picked up more than I thought they have through the years. They're just tired of all this nonsense."
In Monday afternoon's phone conversation with the sportswriter, Horton also comments on the haunting video of George Floyd's death, the president's responses and how he and his wife of nearly 60 years, Gloria, taught their three sons and four daughters "how to police each other." It's well worth a look at the link below.
