Charlie Gehringer is the most famous person ever to come out of Livingston County and now he’s finally getting his due in his hometown.
And it’s the best thing ever.
Charlie grew up in Fowlerville, graduated from Fowlerville High School, and went on to spend 19 seasons playing for the Detroit Tigers, where he became one of the greatest second basemen of all time. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1949.
Until now, though, you could drive through Fowlerville and not really know that it was the hometown of a legend. The street that Walmart sits on is called Gehringer Drive and the high school baseball field is named for him, but that was it.
Now, though, Charlie is being featured on a beautiful new mural that’s being painted on the back of the Livingston County EMS building (the old fire station) that faces Fowlerville Centennial Park.
It pays homage to Charlie as both a Fowlerville and Detroit legend, and it’s beautiful. It should be done within the next week.
This was all made possible by the Fowlerville Downtown Development Authority, which received a $25,000 grant from the Consumers Energy Foundation to pay for it.
Consumers held a “Put Your Town on the Map” competition, and Fowlerville won.
So the DDA contracted with artists Sarah Elaine and Tina Tagle to paint it, and it’s almost done.
Now everybody who hangs out at the park or drives through Fowlerville from the north will see it.
How cool. Charlie Gehringer is getting his due.
Way back in 1986, when I was the fresh-faced young sports editor of the Livingston County Press, I had the honor of interviewing Charlie at his house in Birmingham. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
This mural actually isn’t the first time that Fowlerville honored Charlie Gehringer.
Way back in 1929, when he won the American League batting title, the folks in Fowlerville threw him a huge celebration and gifted him a set of golf clubs as a present.
One problem: the golf clubs were right-handed. Charlie batted left-handed.
Rather than make the folks in Fowlerville feel bad for giving him the wrong set of golf clubs, he simply learned how to golf right-handed.
That story perfectly illustrates what a nice guy Charlie was. A true Fowlerville kid, through and through.
And now he has a mural in his hometown. That’s just awesome.
