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.