Back to the Detroit Tigers Newsfeed

Detroit native Richie Martin breaking in with Orioles: 'I grew up a Tigers fan'

Free Press sports writer Anthony Fenech breaks down the Tigers' 5-3 loss to the Orioles on Monday afternoon in Baltimore, May 27, 2019. Anthony Fenech, Detroit Free Press

BALTIMORE — Richie Martin didn’t know if he was allowed to say it.

He’s still new to this whole Major League thing as the Orioles’ first overall pick in this past offseason’s Rule 5 Draft, but it was OK, he was told. He can say it.

“I always grew up a Tigers fan,” he said.

Martin, 24, was born in Detroit, not that he remembers much of his early life there — he moved with his family to Tampa before his second birthday.