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 6th and 7th
and did not give up a run. The Tigers
came back and scored three runs in the 8th. 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.
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