Tigers' Dan Petry keynote speaker at Bronco baseball event

KALAMAZOO—Former Detroit Tiger and 1984 World Series champion Dan Petry will be the keynote speaker for Western Michigan University's third annual Bronco Baseball Leadoff Dinner on Thursday, Jan. 17. The event will be held at the Cityscape Event Center in downtown Kalamazoo.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m., beginning with a social hour and autograph session with the 2013 Bronco baseball team, as well as the chance to bid on silent auction items. The program and dinner will begin at approximately 6:15 p.m. A cash bar will be available.

Individual tickets are $65, and corporate sponsor tables of 10 are $600. Attendees can sponsor a Bronco player meal for $50 or a player table for $500. Attire is business casual. Ticket holders will receive a commemorative gift and a Bronco baseball poster. All proceeds go to the Bronco baseball program.

Dan Petry

Petry played 13 major league seasons and was instrumental in helping the Detroit Tigers win a World Series title in 1984. He posted an 18-8 record in 35 starts during the 1984 championship season, tossing seven complete games and had a 3.24 ERA in 233 innings pitched. Petry finished fifth in the voting for the American League Cy Young Award that season.

A fourth-round draft pick of Detroit in 1976, Petry had two stints with the Tigers from 1979-1987 and 1990-91, totaling 11 years in the Motor City. For his career, Petry compiled a 125-104 record with a 3.95 ERA.

In 2012, Petry served as a color analyst for the Detroit Tigers Radio Network team with play-by-play announcer Dan Dickerson for several road games while regular analyst Jim Price recuperated from health problems.

For more information, contact Stacy Thinnes at (269) 387-3062 or @email. To register online for the 2013 Leadoff Dinner, visit wmubroncos.com.