Yesterday, the Tigers traded Austin Jackson. While this was good news because it made the team better, it was also sad news because Austin was a big part of the team for the last five years. I was planning to offer a nice tribute to Jackson’s time in Detroit today centered around his best moments.

Then, some jerk named HookSlide at Bless You Boys did that exact thing!

I’m kidding of course. HookSlide went ahead and made up for his idea-theft by locating and packaging some wonderful Dan Dickerson calls of big Austin Jackson moments for publication here at New English D. Hook and I share a fondness for Dan as a play by play guy, so it makes sense to showcase that here. So big thanks to HookSlide, Dan, and Austin on this one.

*****

I was skeptical when the Tigers traded for Jackson. This was a long time ago in internet years. It was 2009 and the Tigers were dumping salary after a really poor year in the ledger. I didn’t think Scherzer was ever going to be a star, but man did he work at it. And I had see Jackson play a little in AAA and didn’t see anything special in that regard either.

Truth be told, Austin Jackson was not a special player. He’s a good player who had one really great season and a few very nice ones in Detroit. He has an average bat and used to have a great glove. The glove is more like average now and he’s more of a regular than any type of star. So I was basically right about Jackson, but only by accident. Forgive me, that was before FanGraphs was popular and you could get detailed scouting information by sneezing on Twitter.

At any rate, for this reason, I was slow to warm up to Jackson. It wasn’t personal, but Granderson was a favorite of mine and it was hard to separate the two. But he was a Tigers and he’s a good guy and there’s really nothing else that matters to me when it comes to welcoming a player in.

I could write about Jackson’s saga, but I think I’d rather just share the moments that made his time in Detroit special. These aren’t all inclusive because the archives only allow you so much access. But here you go, Austin Jackson’s time as a Tiger through the voice of the game’s best non-Vin Scully voice.

 *****

Note: Having some trouble embedding them, but the links work for now!

Let’s warm up with a nice inside the park home run.

Did you know that Jackson dove a couple times? No really.

And how about his big playoff home run in 2012?

And who could forget this season defining play in 2011?

And, of course the defining moment of his Tigers career. Saving Galarraga’s perfect game…

That is, of course, until Thursday. I’m not one for emotions, but this one made you feel things. Watching Austin leave the field like this was certainly something I’ll remember for a long time.

We’ll miss you, Austin.