“Old friend alert” is a popular phrase that comes up on Twitter every time a former player for a team does something worthy of note. We bring it up when former Tigers retire, or in instances like earlier this month when old friend Alex Avila and Ian Kinsler both took a turn as pitchers for their respective teams.
There are always the obvious choices for former players we keep up with: Justin Verlander, whose noted love of astrophysics and distaste of business cards was in the news lately; or Max Scherzer, who consistently reminds us of what an absolute maniac he is, pitching with a black eye (in addition to his blue and brown ones) and a broken nose.