Morton finds motivation in failure, not fear

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DETROIT -- Charlie Morton is a 41-year-old throwing 96 mph fastballs and buckling curveballs. He has two World Series rings and two All-Star selections, and he’s headed for his eighth postseason berth with the manager who led him to his first World Series title in Houston in 2017. Ask the newly acquired Tigers right-hander what keeps him going, however, and the answer might not be what you expect.

“Part of what draws me back to the game is the failure,” he said after beating the Astros last week. “It’s not incessant failure. Like for me, earlier on in the year with the Orioles, that was difficult.”

It’s not necessarily fear of failure at this stage of his life, but it’s a personal investment he puts into his game and his teammates, and a gut-wrenching feeling when it doesn’t work out. He’s still affected, he said, by his 2010 season in Pittsburgh, when as a 26-year-old he went 2-12 with a 7.57 ERA in 17 starts for a Pirates team that lost 105 games. And after going from Baltimore to Detroit at last month’s Trade Deadline, he’s still impacted by what he sees as his role on a Baltimore team that entered the season with World Series aspirations but struggled mightily out of the gate, leading to manager Brandon Hyde’s dismissal and a Trade Deadline selloff.

“The way I explain it,” he continued, “is I’m failing on the field with a group of guys that don’t really know me, a new organization, high expectations, plus the time that I have left on this earth I’m spending failing at baseball while I’m present at home with my wife and kids. That was really tough. But the failures, I think, you get that feeling in your stomach that just won’t go away. And part of why I play is that feeling. I think that friction that you have with success and failure is a place where it’s not really comfortable, but it’s a good place to be sometimes.

“The thing with the Orioles was that I have a desire to be close with the guys I play with. I have a desire to uphold my end of the bargain with the team, the city, the guys in the clubhouse, the front office. And especially at this stage of my career, if you’re not doing that, then what am I doing? That’s why 2025 will always eat at me, no matter what happens the rest of the year, because I let a group of guys down in a way that was really difficult. Getting the opportunity to come here to Detroit, I’m thankful and I’m excited. This group has been nothing but awesome. But like I said, the bad things from the earlier part of the season, I’ll never forget it. It’s going to eat at me.”

Morton has quickly fit into a Tigers clubhouse stacked with players from a younger generation. Part of it is admiration and respect, not just for what he has accomplished in his career, but also for what he continues to do.

“He’s honestly just a great human being, to be honest with you,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “Just talking with him about just who he is as a person, debuting in 2008 and striking out Chone Figgins as his first punchout, it’s just crazy. He’s been through everything. He’s been through sinker-slider guy and he’s been in the air where it was four-seam and curveball, and now we’re kinda getting back to sinker-slider and opposite-handed sinkers. He’s been through the ups and downs of baseball and it’s pretty cool to just talk to him and see kinda how he has survived this long. It’s honestly just a tip of the cap to him for taking care of his body and coming back and being a great human and a good teammate.”

Part of it, too, is his ability to bridge the generation gap. When he arrived in Detroit, he bought an espresso machine for the clubhouse, which he and his teammates could use. He’s not a coffee snob, but he sees coffee as a way to connect with teammates.

“I think this generation of player is into coffee,” Morton said, “but more discerning about coffee, about food and those kinds of things.”

So far, he likes the results.

“I think the guys are interested and excited,” he said.