August 28 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Joe Yeager was one of the first major league Tigers.  As an 18 year old kid he was in the minor leagues in 1894 playing with Scranton Indians/Shenandoah Huns of the Pennsylvania State League. They were fourth in an 8 team league.  Joe was quite the athlete playing every position in the minors except catcher by his third year in the minors.  However he spent most of his time on the mound.  He pitched 12 of the 22 games he played in his first year.  Four years later in 1898 he made the major leagues with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms of the NL.  (Later this team would be called the trolley Dodgers or Dodgers for short.)   He was 12-22 that first season as a major leaguer but the ace of the staff was only 16-22.  The team itself was 54-9 and finished 10^th in the league of 12 teams.  In 1900 he jumped from the National League to the “Minor League” Detroit Tigers of the American League.  They had a three man rotation of Jack Cronin, Roscoe Miller and Joe.  All three won 19 games.  All three went on to stay with the Tigers for 1901 when the American League was declared a Major League.  Joe was 12-11 that first year of the Major League Tiges with a 12-11 record and a team best 2.61 ERA.  He also was the number 2 shortstop for the team and played a game as second as well.  At the plate he was forth on the team with a .296 batting average.  He stayed with the Tiges for the next two seasons and while his time on the mound decreased his time in the field increased to the point that he was the starting third sacker for the Tiges in 1903 with 109 games.  But that was the end of his time as a Tiger.  He played 1904 in Montreal before coming back to the majors in 1905 with the New York Highlanders (Later the Yankees).  He played there for two years before ending his major league career in 1908 with the St. Louis Browns.  After his major league career was over Joe went back to Montreal and few other minor league towns before ending his pro ball career in 1915.  Joe in some accounts is credited with creating the squeeze play.  There are a couple other credits but he is one of the possibilities.  Joe died in Detroit in 1937 and is buried in Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit.