Monday, August 25, 2014

August 25 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Frank Jones was a Wolverine in 1884.  He batted left but no one knows if he was a rightie or a leftie thrower.  He played two games for the Wolverines.  He played one game as a shortstop and one as right fielder.  He faced the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Quakers in those two games.  In the two games he came to the plate 8 times and got one single.  He did not advance to second.  In the field he had a total of 4 fielding chances.  He made 2 errors.  Those two games were the extent of his major league career.  He did play a few years in the minors up in Minnesota and in Indiana.  But he was done in baseball at the age of 28 having never been in a major league game his team won.  The Wolverines lost to the Giants 7-2 and lost to the Quakers 11-6.  But that was the story of the Wolverines in 1884.  They finished last in the NL, 56 games behind the first place Providence Grays.  Their record was 28-84.  They were shut out 17 times.  Their longest winning streak was four games which happened in September.  Their longest loosing streak was 12.  This was from August 11 until September.  This loosing streak beat two others they had of 11 games each including the first 11 games of the season.   To think that 100 years later the Tigers would open the season 35-5.  If history is a pendulum, I don’t think I want to see the 2084 Tigers open the season.

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