"Gum Time" Nate Robertson Is Back in the Motor City

Few Tigers fans will ever forget the joy of Gum Time.   Nate Robertson started what would become a season-long joy in 2006 by stuffing his mouth a bit too full, hoping to start a late-innings rally.   It worked that game, and throughout the season as that edition of the Tigers earned the nickname “Cardiac Cats” for its ability to come back to win games with only a handful of outs remaining.   Like all good things, Gum Time eventually came to an end, and for awhile it appeared as if the career of the man who started the fun was going to disappear from fans' minds, too.   Bad luck in 2008, coupled with bad pitching in early 2009, seemed to spell the end for Gum Time himself.   With so much money owed this season and next, however, the Tigers tried to let him pitch through it all before finally discovering the source of his troubles in June: The growth of what was termed “masses” in his pitching elbow may have been what rendered his ...