August 31 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Ramon Santiago started his major league career with the Tigers in 2002.  He was a back up shortstop/second baseman.  We traded him to the Mariners with Juan Gonzalez (not Juan from the Rangers but a minor leaguer) for Carlos Guillen.  In 2005 the Mariners released him and we resigned him for the 2006 season.  In 2010 he was our starting shortstop and in 2011 he is our starting second baseman.   Then he went to the bench.  As a hitter he is a .250 hitter who strikes out about 2 to 3 times more than he walks and he doesn’t have a lot of power.   But he is an above average fielder, but not by much.  After 2013 Ramon was granted free agency when we ended up with what appeared to be a solid middle infield of Ina Kinsler at second and Jose Iglesias.  In 2014 Ramon is a back up middle infielder for the Cincinnati Reds hitting .248 and striking out more than he walks.

Shane Loux started his major league career with the Tigers in 2002 as well as a late season call up.  He was 11-10 in Toledo before being called up that year.  He started three games and lost all three for the Tigers.  He lost to the Twins twice and the Royals once.    In 2003 he went 11-6 for Toledo and dropped his ERA to 3.02.  But when he came up to Detroit in 2003 he went 1-1 with a 7.12 ERA.  He did not get a call in 2004 and after going 7-11 in Toledo and his ERA ballooning to 5.29 the Tigers released him.   He was up with the Angels in 2008 and 2009 but did not do much different.  He was released by the Angels and signed with the Astros but never made it out of their minors before being released again.  He was picked up by the San Francisco Giants and was 1-0 in 19 games.    2014 finds him pitching for the Giants rookie ball on a rehab assignment recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Hideo Nomo pitched one year for the Tigers in 2000.  He was signed as a free agent after his one year with the Brewers and Mets before that.  He was okay with the Tigers going 8-12 but posting a 4.74 ERA on a bad Tiger team.  But the Tigers released him at the end of the season and he signed with the Red Sox and went 13-10 with a 4.50 ERA.  He returned to his Dodgers, the place he started his US career in 1995 with a sensation.  He was 13-6 his rookie year and posted a 2.54 ERA.  He also had his signature wind up with his hands raised high and his “tornado” wind up.  He threw two no hitters in his career and retired after 2008.

Morris Madden made his major league debut in 1987 with the Tigers.  He came in in relief against the Brewers in a 5-4 game with the bases loaded.  He walked Jim Gantner before getting the final out.  He came to the mound the next inning and had the bases loaded with two outs when he was pulled.  Mike Henneman came in and gave up a single scoring two of Morris’s runners.   Five days later he came in against the Blue Jays in relief of an 8-3 lead.  He gave up a double, ground out, single scoring the runner, fly out and another single before he was pulled.  He never pitched for the Tigers again.  His final line for the Tigers was 1.2 innings pitched, 4 hits, 3 walks, one intentional walk and an ERA of 16.20.  Morris was sent to the Pirates during the season to finish the deal of Darnell Coles and the player to me named later (Morris) for Jim Morrison.

Bill Nahorodny was signed as a free agent for the Tigers in 1983 after Bill had played parts of seven seasons with four clubs.  He got in two games for the Tigers he got a walk and made an out.  Although a catcher by trade, he did not get on the field for the Tigers.  At the end of the season he was releasedadn signed by the Mariners. 

Jack Burns finished his career with the Tigers in 1936 and was the starting first baseman for the Tigers that year.  Bt Hank Greenberg was our first baseman you say?  Yes but Hank broke his wrist in the 1935 World Series and rebroke in April of 1936 and was gone for the season.  The Tigers found themselves in need of a first baseman so they traded Chief Hogsett to the St. Louis Browns for Jack.  Jack then hit .283 for the Tiges with four homers.  Not quite to par for Greenberg.   When Hank came back in 1937 Jack went down to the minors and never got back to the majors.  In 1938 he started a new career as a player manager in the minors and continued in baseball until 1954 as a minor league manager but was done playing in the minors in 1946.  He even got in one game as a pitcher for the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League in 1940. He died in 1975 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Brighton, MI.

Norman Glaser made his major league debut as a Tiger pitcher in September of 1921.  He came in to a game against the Senators with the Tigers trailing 7-3.  He pitched 2.1 innings and gave up four runs on seven hits before being removed from the game.  The Tigers came back and won the game 12-11 with four runs in the bottom of the ninth.  The same number of runs that Norman had given up.  Norman never pitched in the majors again.  His career totals were a 0-0 record with a 15.43 ERA in 2.1 innings pitched.

August 30 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Randy O’Neal started his major league pitching career as a member of the 1984 Tigers. He and Roger Mason were the two hot prospect pitchers brought up when the roster expanded in September. He made his debut in relief of Roger Mason. Roger had gotten himself in trouble against the Orioles. He was down 3-0 after four innings. Randy came in and pitched three innings and only gave up one hit. However, Roger still got the loss. Randy then got in three more games starting all three and went 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA. He beat the Brewers twice and lost to the Yankees on the last day of the season. In 1985 he was in a few more games going 5-5 with a 3.24 ERA. In 1986 he was our number 6 starter and also made a few relief appearances. He was 3-7 but his ERA increased to 4.33. Before the 1987 season started he was traded to the Braves with Chuck Cary for Freddy Tiburcio (who never made it to the bigs) and Terry Harper. Randy was a big leaguer for parts of 7 seasons. His career totals were 17-19 with a 4.35 ERA.

Steve Baker made his major league debut as a Tiger pitcher in 1978. In his debut he started against the Orioles and left in the seventh inning with the game tied 1-1. John Hiller came in in relief and gave up a homer to Lee May to lose the game 2-1. But Steve got the win against Baltimore a week later for his first decision and went on to start 8 more games and beat the Orioles once more and lost once to them. He also lost to the Yankees twice and the Red Sox. His final totals for the season was a 2-4 record with a 4.55 ERA. In 1979 he was with the Tigers again and went 1-7 with a 6.64 ERA. The Tiges did not bring him up again after that and he was sold to the Blue Jays thus ending his career with the Tiger organization. He did pitch in the majors in 1982 and 1983 for the Athletics and the Cardinals. His final totals for his major league career were a 7-16 record and a 5.13 ERA.

Steve Partenheimer played his entire major league career in Detroit.  He was the team captain at Amherst College where he played for 4 years.  He graduated in 1913 and signed with the Tigers.  He was brought straight to the Tigers and made his major league debut at third base in a game against the St. Louis Browns on June 28, 1913.  He started at third in place of George Moriarty the regular third baseman.  Steve made three plate appearances that day and got on base once after being hit by a pitch.  In the field he made three assists and one error.  At the end of the game the 21 year olds major league career was over.   Steve did have two sons that played professional baseball.  His son Hal played minor league ball and his son Stan had a major league career that lasted nine times as long as his dad’s.

Pol Perritt ended his major league career with the Tigers in 1921.  He had started his career in 1912 with the Cardinals.  He played three years for the Cardinals with his best season being 1914 when went 16-13 with a 2.36 ERA.  He was sent to the Giants of New York before the 1915 season for Bob Bescher and cash.  For the Giants he did well through 1918 winning 12, 18, 17, 18 games each year.   However, in 1919 the wheels came off Pol’s career.  He went 1-1 in 1919 and was only in 11 games.  In 1920 it was worse as he went 0-0 in 8 games.  Finally in 1921 the Giants sold him to the Tigers in June after Pol pitched in only 5 games.   In Detroit he made four appearances and won one game.  He went started and with the rules of the day won on three innings pitched against the White Sox.  He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits but his opponent, Dickie Kerr gave up 7 runs on 8 hits.  Pol was done with the majors after 1921 having never won another game.

August 29 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Wayne McLeland pitched for the Tigers in 1951 and 1952.  He started his career in pro ball as a 17 year old in the Cardinals organization.  When  he turned 18 in 1943 it appears he went off to the war and did not return until 1946.  He was 21 in 1946 and he went 11-9 for the cars AAA team and posted a 3.42 ERA.  He continued to progress in the minors.  Somehow, it is unknown exactly how, he ended up in Seattle in the Pacific Coast League.  It was there that the Tigers picked him up in a deal that sent Marv Grissom and Sam Vico to Seattle for Wayne.  In his first year in the majors, Wayne went 0-1 in six games and posted a 8.18 ERA.  He was up with the Tigers early again in 1952 but it was more of what he showed in 1951.  He faced the White Sox on May 10 in relief of Art Houtteman with the score 2-0 Sox and runners on first and second.  Facing pitcher Joe Dobson, Wayne gave up a single scoring the runner on second.  Then he gave up a wild pitch before getting Nellie Fox to end the inning on a ground out.  After that, Wayne was sent down to Buffalo.  He would never return to the majors.  His career totals in the majors were 0-1 with a 8.56 ERA in 10 games and 13.2 innings pitched.

Joe Schultz never played for the Tigers but he did manage them for 28 games in 1973.  Joe got his first gig in pro ball as a minor league bat boy in 1931 for the Houston Buffaloes that his Dad managed.  Joe went on to the minors as a player in 1936.  He had a MLB career as a player from 1939 to 1948 as a back up catcher with the Pittsburgh Pirate and St. Louis Browns.  Joe started his MLB managing career as the manager of the newly formed Seattle Pilots.  The Pilots were an expansion team in 1969 along with the Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos.  The Pilots are NOT the predecessor of today’s Seattle Mariners.  Instead, the Pilots lasted one season and then moved to Milwaukee to become what we know today as the Brewers.  Joe kept the Pilots close to .500 until they collapsed in July.  The Pilots were 64-98 for Joe and finished in 6^th place out of 6 teams in the newly formed West Division.  Prior to 1969 there were no divisions and no playoffs.  There was only an American League and a National League.  With the introduction of the 4 extra teams in 1969 the leagues started an East and a West Division and playoffs before the World Series.  He was gone as manager at the end of the 1969 season and the Pilots were gone from Seattle shortly after too.   Joe went to the other American League expansion team, the Kansas City Royals as a coach for 1970.  In 1971 Joe was coach for the Tigers.  Billy Martin was the manager.  Billy took the Tigers to the playoffs in 1972.  But Billy could not finish the 1973 season as he was fired.  A trait Billy would take with him in his future managing career.  Joe took over the Tigers with 28 games left and went 14-14.  He was not brought back as manager in 1974, Ralph Houk came in as manager and Joe went back to his job as coach for the Tigers which he held until 1976.

Buck Marrow made his major league debut as a Tiger in 1932.  He was property of the tigers and in their farm system staring in 1930 with the Fort Smith Twins of Fort Smith Arkansas of the Class C Western Association.  He was 11-8 there and moved up to Class A Beaumont to end the season.  He was 6-3 at Beaumont.  He was 13-8 in Beaumont in 1931 and in 1932 started the season there again going 8-7 before getting the call to the Detroit and the majors in July.  In his debut he came in to pitch the 9^th of a game the Tiges trailed the Cleveland Indians 7-3.  He pitched a 1-2-3 9^th for his debut.   Buck pitched in 18 games for the Tiges that year and posted a 2-5 record with a 4.81 ERA.  He appears to have been a fast ball pitcher.  In his 63 innings pitched he struck out 31 but walked 29.  However, in that short time he managed to come in second in the league leaders for batters hit!  Buck hit 6 batters in those 63.2 innings.  That is about one batter every game.  Kinda reminds you of Nuke LaLoosh if he also hit the mascot.   Buck was in the Cleveland farm system by 1935 and then was purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1937.  He played 2 seasons in Brooklyn going 1-3 with a 5.50 ERA before his MLB career was over in 1938.  He was done in pro ball in 1941.    

Jack Warner was third baseman for the Tigers from 1925 through 1928.  He was the starting third baseman for 1926 and 1927.  But he only hit .251 in 1926 and not much better at .267 in 1927.  In 1928 his hitting collapsed to .214 and he was no longer the starting third baseman.  Instead Marty McManus took over at third hitting .288.  At the end of the season, the Tigers traded Jack to the Senators for Bucky Harris who came to Detroit as the new player/manager.  Jack never played for the Senators but somehow ended up playing for the Dodgers and Phils into 1933 when hs major league career was over.  However, Jack continued to play in the minors until 1946 and even did little managing in the minors including for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League in 1955. 

Frank Cox was a member of the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.  He was originally from Massachusetts and was in the minors there until 1884 when he signed with Grand Rapids of the Northwestern League.  Frank was the captain.  At that time the manager sat in the stands and the captain ran things on the field.  Cox was highly regarded with Grand Rapids.  But Grand Rapids did not finish the season.  Detroit came in and purchased their players as they had been plagued by injuries.  So in August Frank joined he Wolverines and became their captain.  Frank was the 9^th shortstop for the Wolverines that season.  But Frank proved to be a weak hitting shortstop for the Wolverines hitting .127 as the back up to starter Frank Meinke who hit .164.  The 1884 Wolverines were a terrible team.   Their record of 28-84 was the mirror opposite of the League Champion, Providence Grays who were 84-28.  The Wolverines finished back in last place back 56 games out of first.   But when your shortstop hits .164 and he is not your worst starter on the team, it is not hard to understand how bad they were.  Frank was not resigned by the Wolverines for 1885 and went home to play in New England.  He was also done in the majors after 1884.  In 1887 he was done with pro baseball altogether.  

August 28 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Joe Yeager was one of the first major league Tigers.  As an 18 year old kid he was in the minor leagues in 1894 playing with Scranton Indians/Shenandoah Huns of the Pennsylvania State League. They were fourth in an 8 team league.  Joe was quite the athlete playing every position in the minors except catcher by his third year in the minors.  However he spent most of his time on the mound.  He pitched 12 of the 22 games he played in his first year.  Four years later in 1898 he made the major leagues with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms of the NL.  (Later this team would be called the trolley Dodgers or Dodgers for short.)   He was 12-22 that first season as a major leaguer but the ace of the staff was only 16-22.  The team itself was 54-9 and finished 10^th in the league of 12 teams.  In 1900 he jumped from the National League to the “Minor League” Detroit Tigers of the American League.  They had a three man rotation of Jack Cronin, Roscoe Miller and Joe.  All three won 19 games.  All three went on to stay with the Tigers for 1901 when the American League was declared a Major League.  Joe was 12-11 that first year of the Major League Tiges with a 12-11 record and a team best 2.61 ERA.  He also was the number 2 shortstop for the team and played a game as second as well.  At the plate he was forth on the team with a .296 batting average.  He stayed with the Tiges for the next two seasons and while his time on the mound decreased his time in the field increased to the point that he was the starting third sacker for the Tiges in 1903 with 109 games.  But that was the end of his time as a Tiger.  He played 1904 in Montreal before coming back to the majors in 1905 with the New York Highlanders (Later the Yankees).  He played there for two years before ending his major league career in 1908 with the St. Louis Browns.  After his major league career was over Joe went back to Montreal and few other minor league towns before ending his pro ball career in 1915.  Joe in some accounts is credited with creating the squeeze play.  There are a couple other credits but he is one of the possibilities.  Joe died in Detroit in 1937 and is buried in Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit.

August 27 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Buddy Bell was a skipper for the Tigers.  He will be the trivia answer to who replaced Sparky Anderson as Tigers skipper.  Buddy had been an all star and gold glove third baseman and outfielder for mainly Cleveland and Texas for 18 years before retiring from his playing career in 1989.  He was working in the White Sox farm system and then moved on to the Cleveland Indians as a coach until being hired by the Tiges as the manager in 1996.  He took a team that was 60-84 under Sparky and they dropped to a 53-109 record under Buddy.  To Buddy’s defense the Tigers lost second baseman Lou Whitaker after 1995, first baseman Cecil Fielder was traded partway through the season, shortstop Alan Trammell was down to 66 games for the season.  The outfield was in transition, the catcher job switched from John Flaherty to Brad Ausmus and the pitching staff was under similar turmoil.  Other then that the Tigers were the same team from 1995 to 1996.  1997 saw Buddy take a team still in transition and go 79-83.  This was third in the AL East behind Baltimore and New York.  But in 1998, after a lot of great trades by GM Randy Smith, Buddy and the Tigers finished last in the AL Central with a 65-97 record.  Larry Parrish took the reins for 1999 and the Tiges finished only a few games above 1998 at 69-92. Keep in mind that the Tiges were also telling everyone the reason they could not compete was Tiger Stadium.  Yet only two years before a second year manager took the team to close to a .500 season.  Randy Smith’s job was to get the Tigers to a new stadium and he succeeded in this and Buddy was one of the casualties along the way.  Buddy was eventually hired by the Colorado Rockies in 2000 and stayed there for two and part of a third season.  He had his only year finishing above .500 his first year in Colorado when he was 82-80.  After Colorado he had three seasons with the Royals from 2005-2007.  He is with the White Sox organization in 2014 as a VP in charge of player development. 

Em Lindbeck

Bun Troy had a single game career in the majors of one game in 1912 with the Tigers.  That being said it is easy to assume he was part of the Ty Cobb strike game.  But that is not correct.  Bun was born Robert Gustave Troy in Bad Warzach, Germany in 1888.  I am was not aware that “Robert” was a German name.  He started playing pro ball in 1910 with the “McKeesport Tubers” of the Ohio-Penn league.  He was 6-8 for the “Tubers”.  He went to Steubenville Stubs of the same league for 1911.  He was 6-11 which was third for the team in wins.  But the teams overall record is unknown.  In 1912 Bun dropped down to class D level ball (as the Ohio-Penn League was class C).  He went to the Adrian Lions in Michigan and was 23-14 and led the league in K’s.  The Tigers must have been impressed by his record as they gave him a start on September 15 of 1912.  The Tiges were hopelessly out of the race at 34.5 games out of first and in fifth place.  He faced the Washington Senators.  He lasted 6.2 innings and gave up 4 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks.  He also K’d 1 and hit a batter.  He took the loss in the 6-3 game to the Senators.  That was the extent of his major league career.  He stayed in Adrian for 1913 and ended his career in 1914.  !914 was the year World War I started.  Bun joined the US Army.  He served in France for the US Army fighting against the country of his birth, Germany.  He died in France on October 7, 1918 while serving in the US Army.   The war ended about a month later on November 11, 1918.  He did not live long enough to see the end of the war.  He was just barely 30 years old and would become part of the lost generation as one of the millions of men killed in World War 1.

Baldy Louden

August 26 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

David Price.  Writing these birthdays has allowed me to understand what happened to David Price on August 27.  I was at the game and did my usual of signing up as a designated driver and pledging I would not drink.  In the third they announced they would not hold anyone to their pledge to not drink at the game as clearly it was too painful to watch while sober.  But I did manage to push through the third without any assistance.  Then it dawned on me.  It was David Price's birthday the day before.  I did not see his name on the sign up sheet pledging not to drink the night before at what I assume must have been a fun birthday party.  A quick look at his stats shows that twice before he has pitched the day after his birthday.  In 2012 he pitched the day after his birthday and lasted 4 innings giving up 6 runs on 10 hits.  In 2010 he took a loss the day after his birthday giving up only 3 runs but still allowing 10 hits.  My gut tells me he likes to have a birthday party.  My gut tells me, if the Tiges make the post season David may not be that effective in the pressure packed post season if he cant handle himself on his birthday.  If you are wondering, he is 1-4 in the post season with a 5.06 ERA. Based on his $14M salary and assuming he gets another five starts this year that was a party worth almost half a million dollars.

Luis Marte has spent his entire MLB career to date as a Tiger.  He signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2005 and has worked his way up the Tiger farm system as a right handed pticher.  He was a starter in the minors through 2009.  In 2010 he was moved to the bullpen for AA Erie and had his highest ERA of his career at 5.06.  He was moved up to Toledo and pitched one game before injuring his arm and going out for the rest of the season.  In 2011 he was out for the first half of the season with “right shoulder impingement syndrome”.  He returned and made the AA All Star squad as a reliever.   He moved up to Toledo in July.  On September 1, he had his contract purchased by the Tigers and made his major league debut that same day against the Kansas City Royals.  The Tigers were tied 8-8 in the 7^th with runners on second and third with 1 out.  Luis came in and promptly gave up a line drive single to Johnny Giavotella that drove in both runners.  He then got current Tiger Brayan Pena to pop up to short before giving up another single to Alcides Escobar and then loaded the bases with a walk to Alex Gordon before ending the inning and his debut with a fly ball by Melky Cabrera.  Two days later he got his first major league win.  This time it was against the White Sox.  He came in to pitch the top of the ninth in a game the Tiges trailed 8-6.  He sent the Sox down 1-2-3.  In the Tiges half of the inning Ryan Raburn tied the game with a 2 run homer and Miguel Cabrera hit a walk off to give Luis his win.  Luis played in 2 more games for the tiges in 2011 without a decision.  In 2012 Luis was again 1-0 but appeared in 13 games.  2013 finds Luis in Toledo with a 1-2 record and a 9.00 ERA  in 3 games as a reliever. 

Alex Sanchez

Chad Kreuter

August 25 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Frank Jones was a Wolverine in 1884.  He batted left but no one knows if he was a rightie or a leftie thrower.  He played two games for the Wolverines.  He played one game as a shortstop and one as right fielder.  He faced the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Quakers in those two games.  In the two games he came to the plate 8 times and got one single.  He did not advance to second.  In the field he had a total of 4 fielding chances.  He made 2 errors.  Those two games were the extent of his major league career.  He did play a few years in the minors up in Minnesota and in Indiana.  But he was done in baseball at the age of 28 having never been in a major league game his team won.  The Wolverines lost to the Giants 7-2 and lost to the Quakers 11-6.  But that was the story of the Wolverines in 1884.  They finished last in the NL, 56 games behind the first place Providence Grays.  Their record was 28-84.  They were shut out 17 times.  Their longest winning streak was four games which happened in September.  Their longest loosing streak was 12.  This was from August 11 until September.  This loosing streak beat two others they had of 11 games each including the first 11 games of the season.   To think that 100 years later the Tigers would open the season 35-5.  If history is a pendulum, I don’t think I want to see the 2084 Tigers open the season.

August 24 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Tony Bernazard

Hal Woodeshick

Frank Secory

August 23 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Raul Casanova started his major league career as Tiger.  The catcher is the son of former Washington Senators catcher Paul Casanova who played in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  Raul played three years with the Tigers from 1996 through 1998.  Only 1997 was he the starter.  If you are wondering how we got a catcher in the days of Randy Smith, it was through a trade with the Padres.  Raul came to the Tiges with Richie Lewis and Melvin Nieves for Cade Gaspar, Sean Bergman and Todd Steverson.  A Randy Smith trade just isn’t a trade without a catcher involved and/or the trade being with the Padres or Astros.  Raul was an average defensive catcher and unfortunately a below average bat.  He was a career .236 hitter.  After Detroit Raul played for the Brewers,

Allen McDill pitched part of 13 games for the Tigers in 2000.  He pitched a total of 10 innings and did not record a win.  He posted a 7.20 ERA.  He had pitched a total of 10 innings with the Royals in 1997 and 1998 before coming to the Tigers as a free agent.  He was released in June on 2000 and signed by the Cardinals but never got to the parent club.  Granted free agency after the 2000 season by the Cards he signed with the Red Sox and pitched a career high 14.2 innings for the Sox in 2001.  He was done in the majors after that.

Jeff Manto played nine seasons in the majors on eight teams, one being the Tigers.  He played for the Indians for Indians at the beginning of the 1998 season but was waived and the Tigers picked him up on April 24.  He got in 16 games for the Tiges and hit .267 as primarily a first baseman.   But Jeff was third in the depth chart behind Tony Clark and Frank Catalanatto.  So on June 12 the tigers released him and he was resigned by the Indians. 

George Kell Cult baseball players

Phil Page

Heinie Elder

Red Downs

Below is a 1907 Dietsche postcard of Red Downs from my collection.

August 22 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jeff Weaver came on to the major league scene as a Tiger.  He had a great debut in 1999 when he started against the Twins.  He pitched five innings and only allowed one hit and one walk while striking out 5.  He went on to a solid rookie season of a 9-12 record with a 5.55 ERA.  But he had some good heat as a pitcher and was not afraid to use it.  He led the league in hit batters with 17 and would so the same his next year with 15.  He continued to get better every year.  His Era dropped from his rookie year of 5.55 to 4.32 then 4.08 and then 3.18 in 2002 with the Tigers when he was traded in part of the big three way deal that sent Jeff to the Yankees and cash to the Athletics and in return the Tigers got Franklyn German, Carlos Pena and Jeremy Bonderman.  Bondy won 67 games for the Tiges over the next 8 years including having a great 2006 season for us.  Franklyn German went on to an 8-4 record with 7 saves for the Tigers and Carlos well, never wuite caught on with the Tigers.  Jeff went on to a 65 and 90 record with the Yanks, Dodgers, Angels, Cardinals and Seattle.   Jeff is out of baseball, but his brother Jerrod is still pitching for the Angels.

Doug Bair played part of three seasons for the Tigers in the 1980’s and boy did he pick the right years and the right teams for his career.  Doug was with the Cardinals when they won the World Series in 1982.  Than in 1983 as the Cardinals were just a game and half out of first, they traded Doug to the Tigers.  The Cardinals went from second place and a game and half out to fourth place and 14 games back.  Doug then played all of the 1984 season in Detroit as a right handed reliever.  Doug was the top bullpen man after Aurelio Lopez and Willie Hernandez.  He went 5-3 that season and posted a 3.75 ERA in 47 games.  He also saved four games.   He got into the series in game two and faced Carmelo Martinez with two on and only one out.  He got a double play from Carmelo by getting him to strike out and with Kurt Bevacqua being caught trying to steal second.   Doug did not have the same stuff in 1985 and in August with a 6.25 Era the Tigers released him and he resigned with the Cardinals. 

Wally Schang  had a 19 year career in the majors and only his last season was with Detroit.  Wally was in 6 World Series and was on the winning end three times with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912, the Red Sox in 1918 and the Yankees in 1923.  Wally was a good throwing catcher but was only average on the  and was not afraid at the plate.  He was in the top 10 for being hit by pitch 8 times in his career and twice led the league.  This was in days prior to helmets and during the playing days of Ray Chapman, was died after being beaned.   It is uncertain how Wally came to Detroit but in 1931 he was a back up catcher in 30 games but hit only .184.  This was a far cry from his career .284 so in June the Tigers released the 41 year old veteran.  He would never play in the majors again.  However, Wally was far from being done with baseball.  He continued to catch and was a playing manager for years to come.  His last games as a back stop were in the Ohio State League in 1946 where he was a playing manager for  the Marion Cardinals at the age of 56. 

Al Bashang played six games for the Tigers in 1912.  He made 15 plate appearances in those six games and was walked three times while getting one hit.  However, he did manage to score 3 runs.  It would take Al six more years but he did manage to get a second hit in his career.  He got back to the majors in 1918 and with the Brooklyn Robins he managed to get into 2 more games and did manage to get his second and final hit of his major league career.

Ned Hanlon is in the Hall of Fame and was a main stay in Detroit from 1881 to 1888 with the Detroit Wolverines.  He was mainly an outfielder but did manage to get a few games in at second and short.  He was one of four left handed hitters on the 1887 Wolverines who won the World Series against the St. Louis Browns in 1887.  He drew a lot of walks and stole a lot of bases in Detroit but after the 1888 season he was sold to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys for $2,500.  It was there that his career really took off.  He became their manager in 1889 and would continue managing into 1907.  Ned can be considered the father of all managers.  He managed the great Baltimore Orioles teams from 1892 through 1898 when they won three pennants in a row and were a dominating team.  The Orioles are credited with inventing the double steal, the sacrifice bunt, the squeeze play and the hit and run.  While managing Baltimore he trained such future managers as Wil Robinson, Hughie Jennings, Kid Gleason, Joe Kelley and John McGraw.   Later Ned managed other players like Miller Huggins and there is a nice article in Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers where he points out that there are essentially three families of managers, the Branch Rickey family, the Connie Mack family and the Ned Hanlon family.  The largest of these families is the Hanlon family.  You can trace such notables as Tony LaRussa, Lou Pinella, Billy Martin, Casey Stengal, Frankie Frisch, Al Lopez and many others back to Ned.  And this is why Ned is in the Hall of Fame.

August 21 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

J. D. Martinez

Dean Crow pitched his entire MLB career as a Tiger.  The Texas native went to college at Baylor and San Jacinto College before being drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1993.  Dean was a fastball pitcher and led his A team with 22 saves in 1995.  In 1996 he had 26 saves in AA.  He was working his way up the Mariners farm system as a reliever having never started a game and was up to AAA when in the middle of 1997 he was traded by the M’s to the Tigers.  He came to eh Tiges with minor leaguer Carlos Villalobos and Scott Sanders while the Tiges sent Felipe Lira and Omar Olivares to the Mariners.  Dean was 3-0 with 2 saves and a 7.85 ERA for the Mud Hens the rest of the 1997 season.  He was with the Tigers the whole of 1998.  At the end of May he made his major league debut in a game against the White Sox ahead 7-2in the top of the 7^th.  Dean put the side down allowing only a single to the second batter that was wiped out when the base runner tried to make it a double.  The Tiges scored 2 in their half of the inning off of a Damion Easley homer and Dean came back in the 8^th.  He had an almost identical inning when the second batter hit a single but was out trying to turn it into a double.  The Tigers scored 4 runs in their half of the 8^th of off homers by Kimera Bartee and another by Damion Easley.  Dean was done as were the Sox and Dean got a win in his major league debut.  On September 21 Dean was also brought into the game in the 7^th.  He faced the Royals with the game tied 5-5 and one out.  Dean got the next two batters out.  The Tiges scored in the top of the 8^th to make it 6-5 and give Dean the lead.  He faced one more batter in the Royals half of the 8^th and walked the batter.  But the Tiges held on and did not allow another run thus giving Dean his second win of his major league career.  It would also prove to be his final career win and his final career appearance.  Those two wins bookended 30 other games Dean appeared in.  His final record was 2-2 with a 3.94 ERA. He walked 16 while K’ing 18.  He was never given a chance at a save.  Before the start of the 1999 season he must have made Randy Smith giddy.  Dean was sent to the Astros in a multi player deal that included not one, but two catchers!  Dean was sent to ‘Stros with the same minor leaguer, Carlos Villalobos that he came to Detroit with plus minor leaguer Mark Persails, Brian Powell and catcher Paul Bako.  The Tiges got Brian Powell and catcher Brad Ausmus.  Dean played 1999 in the Astros AAA affiliate before his pro ball career was over at the age of 26.

Andujar Cedeno

Gerry Staley

August 20 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Gene Kingsale was the first major leaguer and first Tiger from Aruba. 

Jose Paniagua

George Zuverink is a Hall of Fame pitcher who was a starter for the Tigers.  He came out of Holland, MI high School in 1942 but was not signed by any baseball club as he was 0-7 his senior year.  He went into the Army Air Corps and served during WWII in the Pacific theatre.  He got out in 1946 and the Cardinals signed him to a minor league contract.  He was 11-13 in the Cardinals farm system in 1946.  1947 found him pitching for his home town Hope College where he was 13-0.  This got the attention of the Cleveland Indians who bought him from the Cardinals.  He worked his way up to the majors in 1951 when in his major league debut he came in from the bull pen and pitched 1.1 innings of a game the Tribe trailed the St. Louis Browns 8-1.  George K’d 2 but also allowed one run.  His first K was of Roy Sievers.  He stayed in the bull pen for the Tribe until being sold to the Cincinnati Reds after the 1953 season.  He started the 1954 season with the Reds but after only 2 games the Reds sold George to the Tigers.  "Since I was a kid in Holland, I always wanted to be a Detroit Tiger," Zuverink said. "When I first made it to the majors, I had to pinch myself. When I finally became a Tiger, that was fantastic." The Tigers converted him to a starter and he went 9-13 for his boy hood favorites, the Tiges.  He was the number three man in the rotation in 1954 and his career thrill was when on July 5 he beat the Indians and Don Mossi going the  distance in an 11 inning blanking of the AL Champion Indians.  The only run came off the bat of George’s roommate, Harvey Kuenn when Harvey put the ball into the stands for a homer.  George had given up only 3 hits in the full 11 innings he pitched.  He would have pitched the 12^th as he batted just before Harvey in the 11^th.  But things were different in 1955.   Tigers skipper Bucky Harris did not see George fitting into the rotation and he was sold for the $10,000 waiver price to the Baltimore Orioles.  He spent the next five seasons as an O’s reliever.  He led the league in 1956 with 16 saves and also in games with 62.  In 1957 he again led the league in games but his 9 saves was only 4^th in the league.  He developed shoulder problems in 1959 and was done in the majors.  He tried a comeback with the San Francisco Giants in 1960 but to no avail.  In 2009 George was selected to the Hall of Fame.  That is the Sports Hall of Fame of Grand Rapids. 

Beau Bell

Boss Reynolds

August 19 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

David Palmer finished his major league career with five games as a Tiger.  He started his major league career with the Expos in 1978 and was up and down with the Expos until the Expos let him go at the end of the 1985 season.  He signed with the Braves and played in Atlanta for two years and then one year with the Phils before signing with the Tiges in the spring of 1989.  He started five games and pitched a total of 17.1 innings with Detroit but did not get a win.  He went 0-3.  In his last game he started against the Orioles and lasted on 2.2 innings.  He gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks.  That game was on June 30, 1989.  The Tiges released him about 2 weeks later. 

Terry Harper split the last season of his career between the Tigers and the Pirates.  He started his major league career with the Braves in 1980 as a 24 year old back up outfielder.  He stayed in Atlanta as a back up outfielder with the exception of 1985 when he was a starter.  He was traded by the Braves in January of 1987 wih Freddy Tiburcio for Chuck Cary and Randy O’Neal.  With Detroit in 1987 he played in 31 games and hit .203 with 3 homers and 10 RBI’s in 74 plate appearances.  On June 26, he was sent to Pittsburgh for Pete Rice and Shawn Holman.

Fred Lasher was a member of the 1968 World Champion Tigers.  He was a right handed submarine reliever.  His submarine pitching gave him the nickname of “The Whip”.  He made his major league debut with the Minnesota Twins in 1963.  He came in to face the Kansas City Athletics in a game the Twinkies trailed 6-0.  He pitched a scoreless 8^th but the Twinkies still lost.  He went on to pitch only 11.1 innings that year and did not recorded a decision.  The Tigers picked him up in the minor league draft at the end of the 1966 season.  He was brought up to the Tiges in August the following year and showed immediate success saving 9 games and winning 2 in 17 games played.  His first win came against his old team, the Twins when he pitched three scoreless innings and K’d 4 while allowing only one hit, a single, and no walks.   He made the roster in 1968 and was in the pen for the entire season.  He won five games during the 1968 season all be the same score of 5-4.  Fred got into the World Series and pitched 2 scoreless innings of game 4.  He was also warming up in game seven in case Mickey Lolich needed help. While Fred made the roster in 1969 for opening day Manager Mayo Smith did not use him as the closer and in instead seven other Tigers earned saves in 1969 while Fred earned 0 yet still posted a 3.07 ERA.  In May of 1970 Fred was traded to the Indians for Russ Nagelson and Billy Rohr.  Fred finished his Tiger career with totals of 10-6, 17 saves, and a 3.49 ERA.  He was done in the majors after two games with the California Angels in 1971. 

Jim Finigan played one season as Tiger in 1957.  He was in his fourth major league season after spending three seasons with the Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics.  He was the starting third baseman for the first game ever played by the Kansas City Athletics.  With Detroit he was a back up third baseman to Reno Bertoia.  Jim hit .270 with Detroit and drove in 17 runs.  In the winter after 1957 Jim was traded to the San Francisco Giants with $25,000 for Gail Harris and Ozzie Virgil. 

August 18 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Bobby Higginson played his entire major league career as a Detroit Tiger.  Higgy flunked out of Temple after his third report card had four grades and the highest was an F.  He went to junior college and picked his grades back up and Temple took him back.  After his junior year he signed with the Tigers.  Higgy had a locker next to Kirk Gibson when he first came up.  He claimed Gibby taught him everything.  He split time between left and right field fairly evenly at 656 games in left and 642 games in right.  He also had 22 games in center.  His range and his fielding percentage were below the league average for his career.   At the plate he hit .300 or better twice in his 11 season career.  In 1996, his second season, he hit his career high .320 with 81 RBI’s and 26 homers.  Then in 2000 he hit .300 even, with a career high 102 RBI’s and a career high 30 homers.  Higgy got in person trouble when his former fiancé, whom he met where she was a topless dancer, filed for child support in 2002.  Higgy made a total of over $52,000,000 off the Tigers.  The suit was asking for a bit over $6,000 a year.  He certainly did learn everything Gibby had to teach him.

Bob James pitched in 16 games for the Tigers over two seasons.  In 1982 the Tiges picked up by the Tiers form Montreal as part of “a conditional deal”.   That season he went 0-2 in 12 games and posted a 5.03 ERA.  The next season he went 0-0 in four games and posted a 11.25 ERA.  Part way through the season he found his way to Montreal.  Returned as part of “a conditional deal”.   Over his 8 season career, he posted a 24-26 record with a3.80 ERA spending his time with the Expos and White Sox and only those 16 games with the Tigers.

Bob Humphreys started his major league career as a Tiger in 1962.  In his major league debut in September, he pitched the last two innings of a game against the Twins where the Twins were ahead 9-2.  He gave up one run.  He pitched in four games that fall and went 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA.  In the spring of 1963, Bob was sold to the Cardinals.  But it was with Washington that Bob is most recognized.  He was with the Senators from 1966 into 1970.  He was a reliever for them.  He finished his nine year career with a record of 27-21 with an ERA of 3.36.  He finished 116 games while only saving 20. 

Billy Consolo did not play for the Tigers but he was a coach for the Tigers from 1979 to 1992.   He got the job because he was a long time friend of Sparky Andersons.  He played with Sparky on the same high school team and on the American Legion team that won the National title in 1951 with the Championship game being played at Briggs Stadium.  Billy was known to always be in great physical shape.  One of Billy’s best stories was about the time he hit an isdie the park home run.  The umpire called him out for missing second.  Billy charged the ump and said “You’re wrong!  I touched second!  I missed third, but I touched second!”

Bob Kennedy played part of the 1956 season with the Tigers.  He played outfield and third for most of his career and with the Tigers.  The Tiges picked him up at the tail end of his career in a trade with the White Sox.  He came over with Harry Byrd and Jim Brideweser for Jim Delsing and Fred Hatfield.  Bob played most of his career with the Pale Hose or the Indians.  In his career he hit .254 with 63 career homers.  With Detroit he hit .232 with 4 homers and 22 RBI’s in 207 plate appearences.

Sam Wise started his major league career with a single game at third base in 1881 with the Detroit Wolverines.  He made three errors in the field, but he went 2 for 4 in a 7-6 win against the Buffalo Bisons in Detroit.   He struck out the two times he did not get a hit.  In fact he had a penchant for striking out.  In 1883 he finished second in the league in K’s while leading the league in errors for a shortstop.  But he redeemed himself in 1884 leading the league in K’s.  All this was done while he played for the Boston Red Stockings/Beaneaters.  He jumped to the Players League in 1890 like so many other players.  And he joined the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association when the Players League folded, like so many others.  

August 17 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Mike Maroth

Matt Anderson

Dave Lemanczyk was the only pitcher to win more than 10 decisions for the Toronto Blue Jays in their inaugural season. He was named to an All-Star team, but never saw All-Star action. He has been a full time pitching coach at the New York Baseball Academy for 20 years.  His son played for four years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

Rudy York

Pat McLaughlin

Hub Walker

Walt Justis

August 16 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Roger Cedeno played one year as a Tiger in 2001. He came to Detroit in a shocking trade by Randy Smith. The deal was between the Tigers and Astros and a catcher was involved. The deal was the Tigers sent Brad Ausmus, Doug Brocail and Nelson Cruz for Chris Holt, Mitch Meluskey and Roger. Roger became our starting center fielder replacing Juan Encarnacion. Roger led all starters with a .293 batting average as well as 55 stolen bases. At the end of the season his contract was up and he was granted free agency. He signed with the Mets and started the next two years in their outfield. His batting average dropped to the .260's and he was traded to the Cardinals in 2004. The Cardinals released him part way through the 2005 season and Roger has been out of baseball since then.

Damian Jackson played one year as a Tiger in 2002. He too came to Detroit in a shocking trade between the Padres and Tigers that involved a catcher. The Tigers sent Rich Gomez and Javier Cardona to the Padres for catcher Matt Walbeck and Damian. Damian had been a starting shortstop and then second baseman for the Padres hitting in .240-.250 and drawing about 50 plus walks. When he came to Detroit his average went up to .257 and drew 21 walks in half the at bats. But Damion Easley was the starting second baseman while hitting .224 and drawing 27 walks. So naturally the Randy Smith released Damian Jackson. Eventually Randy Smith was replaced by Dave Dombrowski and Damion Easley was also released. Damian Jackson was done with the majors in 2006 and done in professional baseball in 2009.

Billy Rhiel ended his major league career with the Tigers in 1932 and 1933.  He was a utility player over his career playing every position except pitcher and catcher.  He started his major league career with the Brooklyn Robins in 1929.  He had a career high 4 homers that season while hitting .278.  He was waived by Brooklyn before the 1930 season and was picked up by the Boston Braves.  However, he spent most of the 1930 and all of the 1931 season with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League.  For Detroit in 1932 he played 85 games and hit .280 with 3 homers and 38 RBI’s.  1933 found him getting in to 19 games and hitting only .176 with only 1 RBI.  Billy wore number 5 in 1933 for the Tigers.  Hank Greenberg wore number 7.  In 1934, after Billy was gone, Hank started wearing number 5 which he wore for the rest of his career.

Fats Fothergill played for the Tigers from 1922 through 1930, when he was waived and picked up by the White Sox.  Fats, or Bob, weighed a hefty 230 pounds at 5’10” and was the Tigers left fielder.  He was a great bat with 8 seasons in a row hitting over .300 for the Tigers.  His best seasons were 1926 and 1927 when he hit .367 and .359 finishing third and fourth in the league those years in the batting race.  He also drove in 114 RBI’s in 1927.  His career batting average was .325.  He was waived in 1930 after hitting .259 for the Tigers.  He was picked up by the White Sox but never hit above .300 again for the Pale Hose.  He did manage to hit .344 for the Red Sox in his last major league season of 1933 but that was with only 32 at bats in 28 games.  He died five years later at the age of 40 in Detroit.

Baby Doll Jacobson started his major league career in 1915 with the Tigers.  He only got in 37 games for the Tigers before being sent to the St. Louis Browns with $15,000 for Bill James.  Baby Doll, or William Chester, went on to a career .311 hitter over 11 seasons while being a solid defensive center fielder with a great glove.  Bill James would win 35 games for the Tigers over five years.  Baby Doll continued to play major league ball until 1927 and was a professional in the minors until 1929.  

August 15 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Roberto Novoa pitched in 16 games for Tigers in 2004.   He did not start a game and only pitched a total of 21 innings.  In his debut he gave up a single and a double iln the only two batters he faced.  However, he was given 1/3 of an inning pitched as the runner who got the single was thrown out trying to steal second.  He did record a win with the Tigers.  He came in to a game against the Red Sox in relief of Mike Maroth with the bases loaded and the Tigers winning 3-2.  He walked Kevin Youkilis and recorded a blown save.  He then struck out the next four batters, Orlando Cabrera, Manny Ramirez, Jason Veritek and Kevin Millar.  The Tigers came back and scored a run and Roberto snatched a win from Mike Maroth.  Before the next season started Roberto was traded to the Cubs with Scott Moore and Bo Flowers for Kyle Farnsworth.  He got up to the majors in 05 and 06 with the Cubs but was in the minors after that and last year appears to be his last year in pro ball when he was in the Mexican League.

Chris Brown ended his major league career as a Tiger in 1989.  He had started his career with the Giants in 1984 and became a starting third baseman for them in 1985 and 1986 when he was an all star.  Half way through the 1987 season he was traded by the Giants to the Padres with Keith Comstock, Mark Davis and Mark Grant for Dave Dravecky, Craig Lefferts and Kevin Mitchell.  He never quite got it going with the Padres and they soon dealt him to Detroit with Keith Moreland for Walt Terrell in 1989.  In Detroit he played 17 games as a third baseman and hit .193.  He missed a lot of games for bizarre reasons and hit teammates thought he was a malingerer.  He was released shortly after reporting to the Tigers that he had missed a game because he had “slept on the wrong eye”. After baseball he was a driver of diesel fuel tanker trucks in Iraq for Halliburton.  He was part of a convoy where several other drivers were killed.  He returned to the US and he died on December 26, 2006 from burns he suffered about a month earlier in a vacant house he owned in Texas.  It has never been determined if the fire was an attempted homicide or not. 

Duffy Dyer finished his major league career as a back up catcher in 1980 and 1981.  He had been in the majors since 1968 when he made his major league debut with the Mets.  He was primarily a back up his entire career.  With the Mets he backed up Jerry Grote.  Later with the Pirates he backed up Manny Sanguillen and in Montreal he backed up Gary Carter.  The Tigers picked him up in a trade for Jerry Manuel.  For Detroit Duffy hit .185 in his back up roll to Lance Parrish.  He was released in May of 1981 by the Tigers and his professional baseball career was over.

Arlo Brunsberg was a major leaguer for the Tigers in 1966.  He made his major league debut as a late season call up on September 23, 1966.  In the bottom of the seventh in a game against the Twins in Minnesota, he came in as a defensive replacement for Bill Freehan.  He did not make an error nor did he throw out any runners.  He had one at bat and lined out to Zoilo Versalles at short.  The Twins won the game 12-4.  His next game was about a week later when he was brought into the last game of the season against the Kansas City Athletics and Catfish Hunter.  He came in the fifth inning as a pinch hitter for pitcher Fred Gladding.  Arlo was hit by pitch.  He was stranded at first.  He came up to bat one more time in the 7^th and hit into a fielders choice.  Those two games were the extent of his major league career.  He never got a hit.   He did not commit an error nor did he get a chance to throw out a runner. 

Barney Schultz was pitcher for the Tigers in 1959.  This was a single season that was separated by time in the minors both before and after.  His most recent major league experience prior to the one year in Detroit was 1955 when he pitched his first season in the bigs with the Cardinals.  He had been sent to minors after 1955.  He was traded for another minor leaguer in 1958 and did not get up to the Tigers until 1959.  He went 1-2 with the Tigers in 13 games and posted a 4.42 ERA in 13 games without a start.  He was sent to the  Cubs in 1960 but did not get back up to the majors until 1961.  He did manage to stay in the bigs until 1965 and stayed in baseball in the minors until 1966 when he was 39.  In his seven years he played in the majors he posted a 20-20 record.  In the 21 seasons or partial seasons in the minors he posted a 155 and 168 record.

Joe Casey played three seasons in Detroit from 1909 through 1911.  This was after he had spent three years at Boston College.  He was a back up catcher to Boss Schmidt in Detroit.  He hit a wopping .170 with Detroit in those three seasons compared to Boos Schmidt’s .243.  Joe did manage 5 RBI’s in his 108 plate appearances for Detroit.  He also hit three doubles and stole a base.  Sometimes you have to take what you can get.  Joe went on to play professional ball in the minors into 1924 with one brief sojourn back up to the majors in 1918 when he played 9 games for the Washington Senators. 

Jack Warner split part of two seasons with the Tigers in 1905 and 1906.  He started his major league career in 1895 with the Boston Beaneaters as a catcher.  He played another ten years with the Louisville Colonels, New York Giants and Boston Americans before 1905 when he split time with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tigers.  He started the season with St. Louis and sold to the Tigers for $1,500 in August of 1905.  He played 36 games with the Tiges that year and hit .202.  In 1906 he started the season with the Tigers and played 50 games hitting .242 before being sold to the Senators where his major league career ended in 1908. 

August 14 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Mark Fidrych was one of my favorites.  His death inspired me to start writing to the players of 1976 and get their stories of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych.  Today I am 5 player cards short of having the 1976 Topps baseball card set signed by all the players.  Mark came on the scene in 1976 as a complete surprise to the baseball world.  In 1975 he made it as high as AAA when he pitched 6 games with Evansville.  The following year he was a rock star.  He started his major league career in Oakland as a reliever.  He came in before 3.080 fans in Oakland and pitched against Don Baylor.  It would be the smallest crowd to see him all year. With runners at the corners and only 1 out in the bottom of the ninth, Don got a single to drive in the winning run of a tie game.  The game was over and no one noticed the skinny pitcher with number 20 on his back.  Mark had one more appearance as a reliever in Minnesota before things began to change.   His next appearance was a start against Cleveland.  He got a complete game victory beating Cleveland 2-1 on 2 hits.  Mark showed that he was a showman at the least and a possibly the greatest pitcher of his generation.  He had a couple of habits that made him stand out.  He would get on his hands and knees to fill in the holes on the mound created by the opposing pitcher.  Today as in 1976, most pitchers will do this with their feet but Mark was a bit different.  The other thing he did was to talk to himself on the mound to keep himself alert.  This appeared to the batters and fans as if he was talking to the ball.  As I said, I have been asking the players of 1976 for their stories of Mark.  My favorite might be Jerry Terrall who was a second baseman for the Twins.  He said the first time he saw Mark it looked like he was talking to the ball and telling the ball what to do.  Jerry said he stepped out of the batters box and told his bat to disregard everything Mr. Fidrych had told the ball and just hit the ball squarely.  He ripped double on the next pitch and while he was standing on second Mark got the ball back and looked out at Jerry at second.  Mark grinned and tossed the ball out of play to get a "better ball" that would not allow a hit.  Mark ended up the season going 19-9 with a league leading ERA of 2.34 as a 21 year old rookie.  He had 24 complete games in the 29 games he pitched.  Remember, 2 were in relief.  Mark was a control pitcher.  If you get a chance to watch any of his games in replay you will see that rarely does a pitch of his come above the belt.  Most are down at the knees.  But most people missed this as they were watching his antics on the mound.  His big break or rather his national break came on Monday Night Baseball when he pitched against the Yankees at Tiger Stadium and he beat the Yankees 5-1 on 7 hits.  He was brought back out on the field for a curtain call after the game and was interviewed by Bob Ueker on national TV.  The national audience immediately fell in love with him.  He was immediately a phenomenon.  He made the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine.   This was something no other baseball player had ever done.  Soon he was pitching to 3 times the average crowd.  GM's would call Detroit and ask that they hold Mark back a start so he would pitch against them on the road.  In 1976 Mark was watched by almost a million fans in the 29 games he pitched.  To put this in perspective, Cleveland, Chicago, Oakland and Minnesota all drew fewer fans for their entire home season than Mark did in 29 games.  And California, Milwaukee and Baltimore were less than 100,000 fans more in 81 games each to his 29.  Mark was the starting pitcher for the All-Star game.  A rate fete for a rookie.    But as fast as his career took of it was also derailed.  He had a knee injury the following year in spring training and he changed his mechanics.  That coupled with the 250 innings pitched as a rookie blew out his arm in 1977.  Mark would go 10-10 over the next four seasons trying to get his arm back.  But it never did come back.  His final record in the majors and as a Tiger was a 29-19 record in five seasons as a Tiger.  By the way, his nickname of "The Bird" came from his resemblance to Big Bird of Sesame Street.  

Skinny Graham was a pitcher for the Tiges in 1929 going 1-3 in 13 games.  

August 13 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Roman Colon

Jarrod Washburn

Eddie Gaillard

George Susce

Fatty Brody

August 12 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Urbano Lugo pitched for the Tigers in April and early May of 1990 to finish out his major league career.  He was picked up as a free agent after having been signed and released by the Angels and Expos.  The righty pitched in 12 games in relief and made one start.  He went 2-0 with a 7.03 ERA before being sent down to Toledo.  His two wins were both in relief.  One was a game that he had been spotted to a 10-5 lead in Boston.  Frank Tanana was the starter but was pulled after 4.2 innings.  Urbano became the pitcher of record and got the win.  His second win was against the Orioles.  He came in the game down 0-2.  He pitched the 6^th and 7^th and did not give up a run.  The Tigers came back and scored three runs in the 8^th.  Urbano did not return to the mound but became the pitcher of record and got the win.  In his one start, he lasted 3.2 innings against the Twins and left the game after giving up a two run double that put the Twins up 5-4.  He had given up all five runs on 8 hits and 2 walks.  The Tigers tied the score in their half of the fourth so Urbano did not get the loss.  But the Tigers still lost 9-5.  At the end of the season he was released and he was done in baseball north of the border.  In 1994 he managed briefly in the Mexican League for the Jalisco Charros.  

Fred Hutchinson was traded to the Tigers from Seattle in 1938.  Seattle was in the Pacific Coast League and traded Fred for Ed Selway, George Archie, Tony Piet, Jo-Jo White and cash.  The price was so high for Fred because he was 25-7 for Seattle in 1938.  The Tiges actually had him under contract in 1937 but let it laps as their scouting reports were that he was not worth keeping.  Oops!  He split time in 1939 between Toledo and Detroit.  He was 9-9 in Toledo and 3-6 in Detroit.  He continued to split time between the minors and majors in 1940.  He pitched one inning in the World Series that year and did not get a decision as he was brought in in relief of a loosing game.   When the war came Fred enlisted in the Navy and served four years.  He reached the rank of Lt. Commander.  After the war he came back and pitched for the Tigers and won 10 games or more every year from 1946 through 1951.  His high was in 1947 when he was 18-10 with a 3.03 ERA.  He had arm problems in 1952 and missed much of the season as a pitcher.  However, he was named player manager that year, replacing Red Rolfe.  He continued to manage the Tigers through 1954 but was done pitching in 1953.  The Tigers fired him after the 1954 season.  He came back and managed the Cardinals and Reds and took the Reds to the World Series in 1961.   Fred was known as a fiery manager.  At one point his Reds dropped a double header to the lowly Mets.  The players ambled into the club house while Fred stewed in the dugout.  He then called into the clubhouse and stated “have those fellows out of there in 15 minutes.”  Needless to say, the entire team succeeded in easily beating that goal by not seconds but minutes.   In 1964 he was the still the manager for the Reds but missed part of the season due to lung cancer.  He died in November of that year at the age of 45.  The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle is named in his honor.  Fred’s brother, William, a Doctor founded the center in 1956 and named it after Fred when he died.     

Marc Hall pitched two seasons with the Tigers in 1913 and 1914.  Like so many of his era, he is an interesting player in that I see so little info about him.   He pitched in the majors for his home team, the St. Louis Browns in 1910.  He was the number four starter for the Tigers in 1913 going 10-12 with a 3.27 ERA.  He was on the Tiger staff again in 1914 and was 4-6 with a 2.69 ERA when he had to go back home to Joplin, MO at the end of July due to “an illness”.  He died in his home on February 24, 1915 from the same “long illness”.   He was 27.  There is nothing I can find that explains what the illness was.

August 11 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Al Pedrique finished his major league career with the Tigers in 1989. He signed as a free agent after being released by the Mets and Pirates. He played in 31 games for the Tiges as a third baseman, second baseman and shortstop. He was released by the Tigers after the season and went on to play for another 5 years in the minors before getting into managing. His last managing job was as the Diamondbacks manager in 2004.

Bill Monbouquette pitched for the Tigers in 1966 and part of 1967 after his days as a Red Sox starter. He won 10 or more games for the Sox from 1960 through 1965. His best year was 1963 when he went 20-10 for the Sox. That same year he gave the home run crown to Harmon Killebrew over his teammate Dick Stuart. Dick was a poor fielder and the Sox pitcher resented him for it. Bill gave a couple of homers to Harmon who hit three homers in the game and after the series the final homer standings were Killibrew 45, Stuart 42. He came to Detroit in a trade for George Smith, George Thomas and Jackie Moore. For Detroit Bill went 7-8 in 1966 and then played in only two games in 1967 before being released by the Tigers and then signed by the Yankees. He did not get a decision in the two games in 1967.

Vada Pinson 

Bob Scheffing skippered the Tigers from 1961 into 1963. His first season as the Tiges manager he guided the Tigers to a 101 victories. But the Tigers still finished 8 games behind the pennant winning Yankees who won 109. He was fired by the Tiges in 1963 after the Tigers went 24 and 36. Chuck Dressen, former manager of the 1953 and 1954 Dodgers as well as other teams, replaced him. Bob did some radio broadcasting for the Tigers and also some scouting before joining the Mets and eventually becoming their GM. He was the one who made the deal that sent Nolan Ryan to the Angels for Jim Fregosi.

Bobo Newsom played three years with the Tigers which was one of his longer stints in a 20 year major league career. Bobo went from Brooklyn to the Cubs, Browns, Senators, Red Sox, Browns again, Tigers from 1939 to 1941, Senators again, Brooklyn again, Browns for the third time, Senators for the third time, Philidelphia Athletics, Senators for fourth time, Yankees, Giants, Senators for fifth time, and finally Athletics, again. Bobo got his nickname because he was terrible at names so he called everybody Bobo. For the Tigers Bobo was the Tiger hero for the battle that was the 1940 World Series. Bobo pitched a complete game and won the first game 7-2. He went out to celebrate that night with his family. The next morning, Bobo found out that his Dad had died that night after dinner in the hotel. Bobo's family took their Dad back home for the funeral and Bobo was called to pitch game five. He pitched it for his Dad and pitched a complete game blanking of the Reds 8-0 allowing only three hits. Bobo was then called to pitch game seven two days later. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the third. It looked like it would hold up as Bobo only allowed 4 hits in the first six innings. But in the seventh, the Reds got to him and scored two runs. The two runs held and the Reds won the game 2-1 and the series 4-3. Bobo having pitched three complete games and posting a 1.3 ERA.

August 10 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jeff Frazier came to the Tigers in a couple of different ways. He was drafted by the Tigers in 2004. In 2007 we sent him to Seattle in a trade for Yorman Bazardo. Then in 2008 he was traded back to Detroit for future considerations. I’m not sure what those amounted to. He did play 9 games for the Tigers in 2010 in a 16 day major league career. In his debut he was DH against the Red Sox in Fenway and faced Jon Lester. He went 0-3 against Lester and struck out twice. Tim Wakefield came in in relief and Jeff got a walk and scored later on a wild pitch. The Tigers went on to win 6-5. For the season Jeff went 5 for 23 with the one walk. At the end of the season the Tigers released Jeff who had hit .256 in Toledo for the season.  He was signed by the Washington Nationals but was released after a season in the minors.  The Tiges picked him back up and put him back in Toledo.  But he hit only .190 and the Tiges released the 29 year old one more time. He finished his pro career as a minor leaguer for the Cubs in 2012.

Josh Anderson played part of one season with Detroit in 2009. He split that season between Detroit and KC who we sold him to at the end of July. For Detroit he hit .242 and drove in 16 runs. He was an outfielder for us. He is  done in baseball at this time. He was picked up and released by the Reds, Brewers and Braves in 2010 while never again making it to the show.  No one picked him up for 2011 and his pro career was over.

Brandon Lyon was signed as a free agent for $4.25M by the Tigers before the 2009 season. The year before he had saved 26 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks and posted a 4.70 ERA. For Detroit in 2009 he saved 3 games but had a decent ERA at 2.86. He was granted free agency at the end of the season and signed with the Astros for $4.25M. He shared closing duties with Matt Lindstrom last year in Houston. This year he had a rough year and is now out with a torn bicep and is out for the season after the surgery.

Tom Brookens and his cousin, Ike Brookens, played for the Tigers. Tom’s twin brother Tim was in the Tigers organization but never made it up to the bigs. Tom was the utility player for the Tigers on the 1984 team as well as the other 10 years he played for the Tigers. While mainly a third baseman, he played every other player position on the Tigers with the exception of left field. He caught five innings of a game in 1985. Tom was known for his range and was the soul of the Tigers in my opinion. At the end of his career he was traded to the Yankees for Charles Hudson. I was living in Massachusetts at the time and had many “Sawx” fans tell me the Tigers just traded away their heart and soul. Sure enough, the Tigers dropped from 88 wins in 88 with Tom to 59 wins in 1989 without him. Tom played one more season in the majors in 1990 with the Cleveland Indians.  15 years later the Tigers called again.  This time they wanted Tom for his smarts.  He became the minor league manager for the class A Oneonta Tigers.  They were a 10^th place club before Tom and Tom took them to a second place finish.  Tom continued to perform as a minor league manager and moved up to high A West Michigan and took them to the league title.  He moved up to Erie and they did well and eventually he was brought back up to the majors as a coach.  He was one of the leading candidates to replace Jim Leyland.  But he did not and today Tom is no longer in the major leagues.

Rocky Colavito came to the Tigers in the great Harvey Kuenn deal in 1960. The deal was the batting champ in Harvey for the home run champ in Rocky. Rocky hit 20 or more homers in a season for 11 straight years including all four years he spent in Detroit. He became the first outfielder to record a perfect 100% fielding percentage while playing the entire season. He had a very distinctive way to loosen up in the on deck circle of rolling his shoulders with bat behind him. While in Detroit he had a long feud with writer Joe Falls. Joe started keeping stats for Rocky such as RNBI's or Runs Not Batted In. Rocky eventually was traded out of Detroit after four years, in a deal that sent Bob Anderson, Rocky and $50,000 to Kansas City Athletics for Dave Wickersham, Ed Rakow and Jerry Lumpe. His last year in baseball was 1968 when he was with the Yankees. That was also the year he got his one win as a pitcher. He came in in relief in a game against the Tigers and pitched two and two thirds innings and won the game 6-5.

Cult baseball players

Ed Beatin was a member of the 1887 World Champion Wolverines. He was a 20 year old lefty who went 1-1 for the Wolverines that season. He did not get in to the post season classic as the Wolverines bested the St. Louis Browns 10 games to 5. He did not get in as the Wolverines went with a three man staff. Not quite a rotation as Pretzels Getzien pitched 6 complete games, Lady Baldwin pitched 5 complete games and Pete Conway pitched 4 complete games in the 15 game series. Ed returned to the Wolverines in 1888 and was the number four starter and replace Lady Baldwin as the number one lefty on the team. He went 5-7 with a 2.86 ERA and hit .250 at the plate. After the Wolverines dropped out of the National League after the 1888 season Ed went on to play for the Cleveland Spiders from 1889 through 1891. He won 20 games in 1889 and 22 in 1890 when the Spiders only won 44 for the whole season.

August 9 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Dusty Allen had a baseball career that lasted one season split between the Tigers and the Padres.  Yes, Dusty was a Tiger product by way of Randy Smith’s San Diego trail.  He was with the Pads when Randy traded Gabe Alvarez straight up for Dusty.  Dusty would play 18 games with the Tigers in 2000 and went 7 for 16 with 2 homers.  Not bad numbers percentage wise.   That is a .536 slugging and a .438 batting average.  If only we could extend that for a full season.  But heck, how many major leaguers can say they hit over .400 for their entire major league career?

Troy Percival was paid $12,000,000 by the Tigers over two years.  However, Troy only played for the Tigers for one year, 2005.  He came from Anaheim where he played ten years with 316 saves.  He was going to be our closer of the future in 2005 taking the place of Ugeth Urbina.  But Troy got injured after only 8 saves.  Ugeth ended up with 9.  Troy was still on the Tigers payroll in 2006 but was injured so he did not even make an appearance.  In 2007 Troy was a free agent and signed with the Cardinals.  The 8 saves comes out to $1.5M per save. 

Bob Scanlan split 1996 between the Tigers and the Royals.  For the Tigers he was in 8 games and did not record a decision nor a save.  He posted a 10.64 ERA.  For the Royals that year he pitched in 9 games and went 0-1 but had a 3.18 ERA.  For his career Bob won 20 games over 9 years with the Cubs and Brewers mainly but also spent time with the Expos and Astros.  Bob was part of the trade that sent Mitch Williams to the Phils.  I think Curt Schilling liked Bob better.

John Moses played for the Tigers for 20 days in the month of August, 1991.  He had six seasons for the Mariners from 1982 thru 1987 and then went to the Twinkies until 1990 when he was released by Minnesota.   He then was picked up by the Red Sox in 1991 and released before playing the season started.  He was picked up by the Rockies and released before playing a game in Colorado and then did the same with the Pirates.  They released him on August 5 and the Tigers signed him the same day.  He played in 13 games for the Tiges that August and got one hit in 21 at bats.  He also got an RBI.  On August 25, he was released by the Tigers.   

Kevin Saucier played two seasons with the Tigers in 1981 and 1982.  He came to the Tigers from the Rangers in a trade for Mark Wagner.  He was a left handed closer for the Tigers in 1981 with 13 saves in that strike shortened season.  He posted a 4-2 record and a 1.65 ERA.  In 1982 he lost the roll of closer to Dave Tobik and Elias Sosa.  The two of them combined to finish 58 games and make 13 saves to Kevin’s 14 games finished and 5 saves.  He finished the season in Evansville and was released before the 1983 season started.  His professional career was over.

Bill Campbell played the 1986 season with the Tigers as a right handed reliever.  Bill had been signed by the Tigers in January of that year after he was released by the Cardinals.  He had spent his career with the Twins, Red Sox and Cubs.  And even one year with the Phils before coming to Detroit.  He was 3-6 in relief with a 3.88 ERA.  After being released, Bill was picked up by the Expos and played only seven games before being released on May 1, 1987.   His professional career was over.

Jerry Moses played 9 years in the majors on seven teams including the Tigers.  He came to the Tigers in a wild three way trade that didn’t amount to a whole lot.  The Jerry came to the Tigers from the Indians.  The Tigers sent Ed Farmer to the Yankees and Jim Perry to the Indians.  The Indians sent Walt “No neck” Williams and Rick Sawyer to the Yankees.  Jerry was the starting catcher in 1974 as Bill Freehan was aging and spent a lot of time at first base.  Jerry hit .237 for the Tigers and hit 4 homers and 19 RBI’s.  He was sold to the Mets after the season. 

Milt Bolling and his brother Frank both played with the Tigers in 1958.  That was Milt’s only year with the Tigers while Frank played several more years with the Tigers.  Milt had played six years with the Red Sox as a shortstop before going to the Senators for one of the Throneberry brothers.  For the Tigers, Milt played in 24 games and hit .194 with no RBI’s, homers or triples.  He did hit two doubles.  He was done in the Majors and in pro ball after 1958.    

This Side Of Copperstown

George Vico’s major league career consisted of two seasons with the Tigers in 1948 and 1949.  He was the starting first baseman for the 1948 Tigers.  A mediocre team that finished 5^th in the league with a 78-76 record.  The leftie, George, hit .267 with 8 homers and 58 RBI’s.  In 1949 George was low man of three that played first for the Tigers.  He as behind Paul Campbell and Don Kolloway in the depth chart and his .190 batting average did not help his case. He continued to play in pro ball after 1949 but never again in the majors. 

Ralph Houk managed the Tigers from 1974 thru 1978.  The team was not a very good team and was only above .500 in 1978 thanks to some young talent in the likes of Lance Parrish, Alan Trammel and Lou Whitaker.  Ralph is often demonized for pitching Mark Fidrych too much in 1976 and ruining his arm.  But that is said with 20-20 hindsight.  There were no pitch counts in 1976 and Ralph had a team to manage that was not a very good team.  He had to put his best foot forward and the Bird was it.

Jake Wells played one year for the 1888 Detroit Wolverines.  He was a back up catcher behind Charlie Bennett of Bennett Park fame.  In 16 games Jake hit .158 with no walks.  He managed 1 double so that his slugging percentage was brought up to .175.  But he did score five runs and drove in 2.  At the end of the 1888 season Detroit was done in the National League.  Jake stayed on and played for the Wolverines of the In

August 8 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Alexis Gomez played for the Tigers in 2005 and 2006.  He was an outfielder and DH for the Tigers.  The Tiges picked him up off of waivers from the Royals in 2004.  We gave him free agency and then resigned him later in 2005.  For the 2006 Tigers he hit .272 with 21 K’s in 103 at bats.  He was selected for the post season roster and went 4 for 9 against the Athletics with a home run in game two off of Esteban Loaiza.  However in the World Series against the Cardinals he did not fair as well going 0-3.  He never played again in the majors.   Today you will find Alexis playing for the Diablos Rojas del Mexico of the Mexican League as a 32 year old utility player from the Dominican Republic.  

Mike Ivie played for the Tigers in 1982 and 1983 as a DH/1B.  He hit .229 for the Tigers with 14 homers in 301 at bats.  He came to us after playing for the Astros and Padres before Randy Smith was the GM!  He had been a starting first baseman for the Padres from 1975 thru 1977 when he was traded to the Giants for Derrel Thomas.  The Giants traded him to the Astros for future Tiger Dave Bergman and Jeff Leonard.  After the Astros released him the Tigers signed him as a free agent.  

Frank Howard, “Hondo”, was a member of the 1972 Tigers who won the AL East flag.  He came to Detroit after playing for years as a Washington Senator and making the move with the Senators to Texas to become the Rangers.   The Tigers purchased him from the Rangers but he was traded to the Senators in a block buster deal at the time that sent Claude Osteen and John Kennedy to the Dodgers for Hondo, Ken McMullen, Phil Ortega, Pete RIchert and Dick Nen.  The Dodgers got a solid pitcher in Osteen and the Senators made out with Frank as their starting left fielder and McMullen as their starting third baseman for years to come.   But Frank did not last too long in Detroit.  He only played 14 games for the Tigers in 1972 and was not eligible for the playoffs and then played the 1973 season as a DH.  He hit .256 with 12 homers.  But frank was known for his power. He led the AL in homers in 1968 and 1970 and also led the AL in RBI’s in 1970 as well as walks.  I saw him years later in the late 1980’s at Yankee Stadium when he was a coach for the Mariners.  Jay Buhner and some of the other Mariners were having a ball having Frank hit pop ups that towered over anything I have ever seen.  As the ground crew was breaking down BP they players were still begging Frank to hit some more for them to shag.

Marlin Stuart pitched for the Tigers from 1949 until he was traded to the Browns in 1952.  He went 10-11 for the Tigers in that time with a 4.96 ERA.  The Tigers traded him to the Browns with Don Lenhardt, Dick Littlefield and Vic Wertz for Bud Black, Jim Delsing, Ned Garver and Dave Madison.  This trade went through even though Marlin would end up leading the league that season.  Then again, maybe it was because he ended up leading the league that he was traded.  Marlin led the league for most errors by pitcher that season and he only pitched 117 innings that season.

Ken Holloway pitched for the Tigers from 1922 thru 1928.  He was used mainly as a reliever ad spot starter in that time.  But he did make it into the rotation in 1923 and 1927 as the number 3 and 4 starter.  His best year had to be in 1924 when he went 14-6 with a 4.07 ERA.  In 1926 Ken led the league in a category that Marlin Stuart was not thinking of in 1952.  Ken led the league in fielding percentage as a pitcher with a perfect 100%.  At the end of the 1928 season he was traded with Jackie Tavener to the Indians for George Uhle.   He finished his major league career in 1930 sharing the season with the Indians and the Yankees and posting a combined record of 1-1 with a 6.72 ERA..

Jack Smith played for the Tigers in 1912.  He led the league that year in fielding percentage for third baseman with a perfect 100%.  Of course he only had three chances.  But he was flawless.  He also was able to say that no pitcher ever stuck him out.  In fact, Jack never struck out in his entire professional career.  That is because Jack’s professional career lasted all of one game.  In 1912 Ty Cobb was suspended for beating up a fan.  His teammates felt the suspension was not justified and so they struck.  In order the Tigers to field a team they ran around Philadelphia gathering as many players as they could and 18 year old Jack Smith became a major leaguer.  The league told the Tigers if they did not get back to work they would all be in serious trouble and Ty told them all to go back to work and he would serve his suspension.  So the Tigers went back to work and Jack Smith was no longer a major leaguer.  But for one day Jack was a big leaguer and never recorded and out at the plate (he had no plate appearances) and was perfect in the field with a 100% fielding percentage in 3 attempts.