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.