Southgate Tutors Come To You

Southgate, a suburb of Detroit, is a typical town of Michigan; with nice homes, commercial activities, recreational zones, and a low crime rate, Southgate has a somewhat surprising link to the world of athletics. This community has been the native land for several players in Major League Baseball, as well as coaches. Rick Down is one of these coaches, who currently resides in Southgate after working most recently with the New York Mets.

Down has had a long, fruitful career as a hitting coach for the MLB. Though Down never made the majors as a player, making it only to AAA ball in the 1970s, his talents have been much appreciated by hundreds of players that have worked with him. Down also coached at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 1979 to 1984. Afterwards, he went on to professional baseball in 1985 as a special assignment coach and roving hitting instructor for the Angels. He then worked with the Yankees in 1989, beginning the season as the club’s roving minor league hitting instructor before being promoted to manager at Triple-A Columbus for the final 16 games of the season. At the time, Bucky Dent was named manager of the Yankees. In 1990, Down’s Double-A Albany club was at a 24-21 mark when he was promoted to manage Columbus in June after Stump Merrill was named Yankees manager. In 1990, Down went on to guide Columbus to three consecutive International League Western Division Titles and two consecutive Governor’s Cup Crowns. Down’s Columbus team was in first place in 385 of 391 games while he was manager, and he later became the hitting instructor for many other major league clubs.

Down’s work with the Yankees in the early 2000s is perhaps best known; in 2002, the team 223 home runs. These were second most in the American League and second highest single season total in franchise history. The Yankees also lead the majors in batting averages in the 1990s—again, under Down’s tutelage and work with individual players. In 2000, he also helped the Dodgers achieve a 211 franchise record of home runs for the team, not to mention in 1996 when he helped the Orioles achieve a similar record of 251 home runs as a team.

Rick Dows shares many attributes with Grade Potential tutors in Southgate. Tutors work with dozens of students per year—if not more—and act as roving coaches of learning, just as Down is a roving coach for hitting. In addition, tutors specialize in different subject areas more often than not. Math, English, Science, History, and other subjects are all areas of expertise for individual tutors, so specialized help is available for students struggling in one or more areas. With patience, dedication, and a collaborative spirit, tutors help students get back on their game, so to speak, just as Down has done for countless baseball players over his illustrious career.