Pistons rookie center Greg Monroe got quite the experience at his first big league baseball game: he got to throw out the first pitch before the Detroit Tigers faced the Minnesota Twins on Friday.
↵↵↵"Coming out here and seeing the mound, I'm a little bit less nervous," Monroe said a couple hours before taking the mound. "That's all I'm worried about right now, just making sure I make it to the plate."
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Monroe didn't pull a Barack Obama with his throw, easily making it across home plate. He also got to see a great effort from the home club, as the Tigers clobbered the division-champion-to-be Twins, 10-1. Not bad for your first MLB game.
↵Monroe, a 6-foot-11 center who the Pistons took with the seventh overall pick in the NBA draft this year, mingled with the Comerica Park crowd before the game and even got to chat it up with Tigers manager Jim Leyland.
↵↵↵"He was actually talking to me about basketball," Monroe said. "He said he's from Pittsburgh, so he was talking to me a little bit about the Big East and a little bit about basketball. He told me good luck and I told him good luck."
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It's always nice to see new arrivals like Monroe making an effort to support the other sports teams in the area. The Pistons rookie will join his teammates for training camp on Monday. The Pistons open their exhibition slate on Oct. 5, which will present a unique challenge for Monroe in his first NBA contest; the Pistons will play the super-best friends, the Miami Heat.