Growing up in Dearborn in the late 1950s, comedian Thom Sharp became a rabid Detroit Tigers fan, partly because of one player who became a Sunday legend of sorts among his fellow baby boomers. Sharp, who now lives in Sherman Oaks, California, often made the trip to Briggs Stadium, the green baseball cathedral at Michigan and Trumbull.
“Watching Charlie Maxwell hitting home runs on a Sunday was a lot more fun than going to church and it didn’t require going to confession,” says Sharp, known for his comical appearances in TV ads in the 1980s and '90s, including for Goodyear tires, Glad trash bags, Buick and more.