Tigers Draft Cam Gibson 37 Years After Picking His Dad

Cam Gibson has until July 17 to decide whether to sign with the Tigers or return to Michigan State University to play a final season with the Spartans. (Photo via Flickr)

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No, it wasn’t a time warp, though it may have seemed as if the clock had been turned back a few decades when the Detroit Tigers announced their pick in the fifth round of the first-year player MLB draft.

The Tigers drafted Cam Gibson, son of former 1984 World Series champion Kirk Gibson, who was drafted by the Tigers 37 years ago, almost a month to the day.

Speaking to The Lansing State Journal from his home in Grosse Pointe Tuesday, the second day of the MLB draft, Cam Gibson said he was nervous as he watched the process with his family and girlfriend. Then he heard his name.

“And it was kind of a delayed reaction,” the Michigan State University junior said. “I popped up and was like, ‘Wait!’ And my mom was like, “Yeaaaah!’ ”

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Gibson has a few weeks before the July 17 signing deadline before deciding whether to join the Tigers or return to MSU for his senior season with the Spartans.

Playing for his hometown Tigers has a certain pull, though, and he wants to repeat another of his dad’s feats and bring home a World Series championship ring.

“I’m gonna go out there and bust my (butt) day in and day out to obviously reach the ultimate achievement, which is being a World Series champion,” Gibson told the Lansing newspaper. “I still have to talk to the guys about the ins and outs of it and everything. But obviously right now, I just want to spend some time with my family and do what I gotta do before I take off for my big-boy job.”

Gibson told the Detroit Free Press the experience has been “pretty surreal.”

“You don’t really get offered to play in your hometown every day,” he said. “You grow up rooting for them, and then all of a sudden they ask you to play for them.”

Gibson was drafted by Arizona in the 38th round of the 2012 draft when he was a senior at Grosse Pointe High School, but followed his father’s path to MSU, where he has hit .310 with seven homers, 67 RBIs,123 runs scored and 45 steals.

David Chadd, the Tigers’ director of amatuer scouting, told The Detroit News that father and son have much in common on the baseball diamond.

“We love Cam Gibson,” said David Chadd, the Tigers director of amateur scouting. “He’s a lot like his father, a very intense young man. We think he’ll be able to play center field.

“Speed’s his tool. Like his dad, he brings a level of intensity that I like to see. He makes players around him better. He’s what I call a grinder. Cam Gibson is going to will his way, work his way, to being an everyday player in the major leagues.”

Kirk Gibson may have had an inkling that his son’s name was about to be called and pulled out his cell phone to record the moment.

“I think my dad had a clue it was going to happen, or we all think so. He won’t admit it,” Cam Gibson told the Lansing newspaper. “He already had his phone out and was pointing it at everyone and was just smiling.”

Kirk Gibson offered his son his hand after hearing “Redraft Gibson.”

“He tried to shake my hand,” Cam Gibson told the Free Press. “I said, ‘Give me a big hug.’ And he gave me a big hug.”