August 1 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Kevin Jarvis played part of one season with the Tigers in 1997.  It was a busy season for him.  Kevin started his major league career with the Reds in 1994.  He started the 1997 season with the Reds, however, the Tigers picked him up off waivers on May 2.  One week later on May 9, the Twins selected him off waivers from the Tigers without having pitched a game for the Tigers.   About a month later, on June 17, the Tigers selected him off of waivers back from the Twins.  He had made six appearances without a decision with the Twins and had racked up a 12.46 ERA.  With Detroit he went 0-3 in 17 appearances and had a 5.40 ERA.  At the end of the season he was released by the Tigers and signed on with Chunichi Dragons of the Japan Central League to play in 1998.  However, before the season was over, he had signed back with his original team, the Reds.    He went on to further travels with Oakland, San Diego, Seattle, Colorado, St. Louis, Arizona and Boston.

Brian Bohanon pitched one season with the Tigers in 1995.  He was signed as a free agent by the Tigers after he had played five seasons with the Rangers and posted a record of 11-13 for the five seasons.  He made a career high number of appearences with 52 in Detroit.  However, he only won 1 game.  It was August 15 against the Blue Jays.  He pitched 1.1 innings of relief and got the win.  At the end of the season he was granted free agency by the Tigers and he signed with the same Blue Jays for 1996.  Brian did not record a win with the Blue Jays.  Brian was done with his major league career in 2001 after having played with Mets, Dodgers, and Rockies.

Gregg Jefferies finished his career with the Tigers in 1999 and 2000.  He had been fairly well traveled prior to signing as a free agent with the Tigers for $1.375M.  He was a DH for the Tiges and hit .200 with six homers and 18 RBI’s.  The next season he was rewarded with a $3.125M pay day.  But at the end of the season Randy Smith gave Gregg his free agent status back and only had to pay an additional $375K for the buyout of his contract.  Gregg had a total of 80 hits for the Tigers.  This equates to about $61,000 per hit. 

Milt May was a catcher for the Tigers from 1976 through 1979.  In those four years he hit .251 with 22 homers and 87 RBI’s.  He came to Detroit in the deal with the Astros that brought Jim Crawford and Dave Roberts to the Tiges for Terry Humphrey, Mark Lemongello, Gene Pentz and Leon Roberts.  I first saw Milt play as a catcher for the Columbus Jets of the International League when they played the Winnipeg Whips in 1970.  Milt was part of the Pirates organization at the time and the Whips were part of the new Expos team.   I became an Expos fan because of these games.  Milt was a 19 year old kid at the time and in his third year in pro ball.  He had started his pro career as a 17 year old playing for Bradenton Pirates in the Gulf Coast League.

Slim Love ended his major league career with the Tigers in 1919 and 1920.  He was born in Love, Mississippi of all places.  He made his major league debut with the Washington Senators in 1913 and went 1-0 with the Senators in five games.  1914 and 1915 found him out with the Los Angeles Angels of the PCL.  His last season there he went 23-15 for the Angels.   That caught the attention of the Yankees who signed him for 1916.  Slim played three seasons with the Yankees before being traded to the Red Sox.  At the end of the 1918 season.  Less than a month later Slim was traded to the Tigers without ever having pitched for the Red Sox.  Slim went 6-4 for the Tigers in 1919 and posted a 3.01 ERA.   In 1920 Slim pitched one game for the Tigers.  He came in in relief of Doc Ayers against the Indians and pitched 4.1 innings.  He gave up 4 runs on six hits and 4 walks.  The Tigers were already behind 7-1 so Slim did not get the loss.  In fact, Slim never had a losing season in the majors.  But Slim never did pitch in the majors again.  After retiring from baseball he was a steamfitter in a Navy shipyard, but in 1942 he died at the age of 52 when he was hit by a car.

Ed Gastfield played for the Detroit Wolverines in 1884 and 1885.  In 1884 he was the youngest player in the National League at 18.  He played mainly catcher as a back up to Charlie Bennett.  Ed hit .073 that season with 2 RBI’s and scored 6 runs.  The .073 equates to 6 hits as well.  In 1885 Ed started the Wolverines and played one game before going to the Chicago White Stockings of the National League.   He played one game Chicago as well.  For both his teams in 1885 he went 0-3 each.  This gave him a career .068 batting average.