Detroit Lions All-Pro wide receiver and Madden '13 cover Decepticon Calvin Johnson will be tossing out the ceremonial first pitch on Friday night before Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers take on the Pittsburgh Pirates.
↵Megatron will also take batting practice with the team, allowing him to relive a little bit of his childhood when he was a baseball player before his mother gave him permission to start playing football in the seventh grade:
↵↵↵"I've played baseball ever since I was five or six," he said.
↵"I know more baseball history than I know football history," he said. "I've always been a Ken Griffey fan. I've just always been a baseball fan."
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It would've been cool to see Matthew Stafford throw out the first pitch to his favorite target, but Stafford threw out the first pitch on April 22 before the Tigers took on the team he grew up watching, the Texas Rangers.
↵Calvin Johnson won't even be the first NFC North wide receiver to throw out a first pitch at a Tigers game this year -- Greg Jennings of the Green Bay Packers, who is a Michigan native and went to Western Michigan, threw out the first pitch before Thursday's loss to the Twins.