DETROIT -- Sawyer Gipson-Long rolled the shopping cart through the aisles of Meijer with a quiet efficiency that rivaled the Tigers right-hander’s strike-throwing, adding items at each stop. By the time he made it to the checkout counter with the youngster with whom he was shopping, the toys were piled over the sides of the cart.
“We cleared this place out,” he joked.
It was a little bit over the $200 budget for the 12th annual Hometown Holiday Assist for Detroit PAL youth, he acknowledged.
“But it was worth it,” he said with a smile. “She deserves it.”
The entire event is worth the trip for Gipson-Long. At a time when most Tigers are in warmer climates, the Georgia native -- who spends much of his offseason in the Tampa area -- is flying north into the winter weather to give back. While the Holiday Assist includes several Red Wings players and broadcasters, Gipson-Long is becoming a constant as a Tigers presence. This is the third consecutive year he has taken part, including last year while he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
It’s a big event to help kids and their families enjoy the holidays while also setting an example.
“From the kids’ perspective, they look up and they’re seeing Red Wings and Tigers and personalities and police officers, and it’s just bigger than life for them,” Detroit PAL CEO Fred Hunter said. “And just to have dollars available for them to shop to their hearts’ desire, it’s just really special. We just want kids to have a tremendous holiday.”
Monday’s event kicked off a week of community activities for Gipson-Long. On Tuesday, he was scheduled to visit The Children’s Center in midtown Detroit, as well as attend a Red Wings game at Little Caesars Arena. Later in the week, he’s set to revisit Kids Kicking Cancer as well as reconnect with now 6-year-old Cailen Vela, whom he met at the event two years ago and developed a friendship that included a ceremonial first pitch at Comerica Park.
This is how Gipson-Long is accustomed to spending his holidays, focused more on giving than receiving. He learned that generosity from his family growing up. Now, he not only demonstrates it with his community work as a Tiger, he includes his family on the journey. His fiancée Carly and his mom Lily joined him on the trip this week and made the rounds at Meijer.
“We’ve always served at Christmas time rather than received,” he said. “It was just in Georgia, where I’m from. And now that I have a little more connections up here with the Tigers and the Red Wings and Ilitch Charities being able to put on events like this, I feel it’s a little easier to do all this stuff because they do such a good job coordinating all this for me.”
Off the field, Gipson-Long has made a big impact in a short amount of time in Detroit. On the field, the soon-to-be 28-year-old poised to play a potentially big role on a retinkered Tigers pitching staff. He made three starts and five relief appearances last year in his return from Tommy John surgery. He posted a 7.18 ERA, but 13 of his 25 earned runs allowed came in two September outings against the Mets and Yankees in an ill-fated return from neck spasms. His slider and changeup were swing-and-miss pitches for him just as before surgery, but opponents hit his fastball hard. Yet with 35 strikeouts over 32 2/3 innings at Triple-A Toledo, the swing-and-miss capabilities are still there.
Now on a normal offseason workout program for the first time in two years, he’s upbeat about getting the bounce that often comes with a pitcher’s second year back from surgery.
“It’s like a two-year recovery process,” Gipson-Long said. “The first year is to get healthy, try to stay healthy. Now, you can focus more on performance, which is way more freeing. You’re not worried about your elbow or your hip or whatever surgery a player in my position might have.”