Dave Rozema, also known as Rosey, was a baseball standout at Central High and Grand Rapids Community College as well as in the summers with the Wyoming A’s and Sullivan’s before being drafted by the Detroit Tigers, pitching 10 years in the Major Leagues and being part of the 1984 World Series Champion Tigers.
At Central High, Rozema was All-City in baseball as a junior and senior. He was originally drafted right out of high school by the San Francisco Giants in the 22nd round of the 1974 MLB Draft, but opted to play for Grand Rapids Community College’s standout baseball program.
He was drafted again in 1975, this time in the fourth round by the Tigers and made a splash in the farm system by leading the Montgomery Rebels to the Southern League championship. Rozema led the league with a 1.57 ERA.
Rozema made his MLB debut at age 20 with the Tigers in 1977. He shut out the Boston Red Sox 8-0 for his first major league win and finished his rookie season 15-7 with a 3.09 ERA. He was eighth in the voting for the American League Cy Young Award, and fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting. He was named Rookie Pitcher of the Year by the Sporting News.
His 15 wins in his rookie season ended up being a career-best, and he credited learning to throw a palm ball changeup to go with his curve ball as helping him last 10 years in the big leagues. In the ’84 championship year he was 7-6 for the Tigers.
Rozema, a friendly affable person, is remembered as one of the all-time “characters” in Tigers history. In 1982 he was 3-0 with an ERA of 1.63 when in a televised game against the Minnesota Twins on May 14, a brawl broke out over hit batters. Rozema attempted to defend his teammates and deliver a flying karate kick to the Twins’ John Castino. He missed, tore eight ligaments in his knee and missed the rest of the season. He found humor in it often and took part in a 2008 West Michigan Whitecaps promotion in which fans were presented with a “Dave Rozema Karate Kick Bobbleleg” figure.
Rozema spent his last two seasons in baseball with the Texas Rangers. He posted a career pitching mark of 60-53 and 3.47 ERA with 248 pitching appearances 1,106 innings and 132 starts.
In 1985, Rozema and former teammate Kirk Gibson married sisters, JoAnn and Sandy Sklarski in a double ceremony in Grosse Pointe. Rozema started a business career in sales after baseball.