HOUSTON — Al Crawford, Steve Plumb, Steve Rosneck and Mark Wejrandt grew up together as Michigan teenagers in the 1970s. They've always been passionate sports fans, but they especially love the Detroit Tigers.

Once they became adults, they wanted to keep in touch with their fandom for the Tigers. So they decided to take one trip per season to watch the Tigers play as the visiting team against every other MLB franchise, even before there were 30 teams in the majors.

Thirty-two years later, the friends from Fraser — approximately 20 miles northeast of downtown Detroit — completed their lifelong quest Friday night in Houston, watching live from the stands as the Tigers played their series opener against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

"That first pitch made it official," Crawford said. "For me, it was like, 'Holy (expletive), we've done it.'"

Going the distance

The friends, who met long ago in middle school and grew close in high school, began their 32-year journey in 1992. They planned to go to a Toledo Mud Hens game to watch the Triple-A affiliate of the Tigers, but someone suggested an MLB road trip instead.

Plans changed.

And their lives changed forever.

"Over the years, there have been good teams and bad teams," Plumb, age 60, said. "We've probably lost more than we've won, but we always have a great time."

"The Tigers have been good and bad, good and bad," Wejrandt, 60, said. "One guy I used to work with, when I just started doing this, he's like, 'Why do you go across the country to see them lose?' I said, 'I'm seeing America.'"

"It's the camaraderie of it," Crawford, 60, said. "Everything else is always happening with our wives and families. This is that time that it's not anything but us."

"I'll be honest," Rosneck, 61, said. "I laugh more this weekend, this trip always than any time of the year. I'm just laughing all the time. It's a hell of a lot of fun."

They took their first trip to watch the Tigers face the Chicago White Sox at what was then called Comiskey Park II in Chicago. The ballpark, now called Guaranteed Rate Field and previously called U.S. Cellular Field, opened the year before their visit.

After that, they went to see the Tigers visit Cleveland — renamed as the Guardians since 2022 — at Cleveland Stadium in 1993, but they made a repeat visit to Cleveland in 1994 because that's when Jacobs Field (now known as Progressive Field) opened, replacing the old "Mistake by the Lake."

Seeing the transition from Cleveland Stadium to Jacobs Field helped them cope with the Tigers' decision to leave Tiger Stadium in 1999 for Comerica Park in 2000.

"It was all we knew," Crawford said. "I had my arms around Tiger Stadium, and then we went to Jacobs Field, and I'm like, 'OK, you can tear it down.'"

In 1995, the friends left the United States for Canada to watch the Tigers play the Blue Jays at the SkyDome, (now called Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

"Chicago and Cleveland were one-dayers," Plumb said. "Toronto was the first overnight trip."

Fans in disguise

They've made countless memories over the past three decades.

"Good places, bad places, Oakland," Rosneck said.

"We saw some things," Wejrandt said.

The friends from Fraser wore paper bags on their heads during the 119-loss season in 2003, then ditched the paper bags for plastic baseball head masks with the Old English "D" logo in 2004 — a way to celebrate the Tigers, despite their struggles — until retiring the masks after the 2015 season.

The Tigers-themed baseball head mask — specifically, a photo of Crawford wearing his mask and cheering on Opening Day — was featured as the first of 10 photos selected by ABC News for the "Top Photos From Around the Globe" on April 5, 2013. The masks appeared in Sports Illustrated, FOX Sports Detroit and several newspapers.

"In 2006, we did Seattle that year," Plumb said. "There were a lot of Tiger fans out there. We were wearing the masks at that time, so we got a lot of attention."

In 2000, they had nosebleed seats at Oriole Park at Camden Yards to watch the Tigers play the Baltimore Orioles, only to move down to the first row on the third-base line. There was a hard-hit ground ball down the third-base line that resulted in two of them getting kicked out of the game.

"It was a fair ball," Wejrandt said.

"We didn't know that at this point," Crawford said.

Crawford reached over the short wall to grab the ball, seeking a souvenir, but he fell onto the field and landed on his head. Meanwhile, Plumb lost his hat on the field during the play, so he jumped over the wall to grab it. Both of them were kicked out by security, but Wejrandt got to stick around.

"I knew it was a fair ball, so I backed up," Wejrandt said, "but these two guys went for it."

There are many other memories: getting heckled by high school kids in St. Louis, fighting with each other for batting practice balls in the parking structure behind the seatless Green Monster in Boston, arguing with reliever Jason Grilli during batting practice in Seattle, seeing manager Jim Leyland smoking a cigarette outside of their hotel in San Diego and running into manager A.J. Hinch during their stadium tour in Houston.

They're always friendly to fans of all teams.

"We never boo the other team," Crawford said. "We never try to be confrontational. We want to be ambassadors. There are times that we don't even talk to each other because we're meeting other people."

"Think about it," Wejrandt said. "We walk into Yankee Stadium and say, 'Yankees suck,' then you have 44,000 people ready to kill you. And I'm a small dude. We keep it clean and G-rated."

Now what?

Back in Fraser, there's a Tigers-themed backpack covered in pins — purchased from the team store during each trip — to commemorate their travels to watch the Tigers play against the other 29 franchises. They've had the backpack since the beginning but can't travel with it anymore because of MLB bag policies.

Once they get home, the Astros pin will be added to commemorate the completion of a journey that began 32 years ago.

"It's kind of weird because now that we're done, what do we do next year?" Wejrandt said.

"So, we've talked about a couple of things," Plumb said. "Spring training, Cooperstown, new stadiums that have popped up since we've completed the tour. We'll see."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers fans' Houston trip finishes goal of a lifetime