Monday, August 11, 2014

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.


No comments:

Post a Comment