Wayne McLeland pitched for the Tigers in 1951 and 1952. He started his career in pro ball as a 17
year old in the Cardinals organization.
When he turned 18 in 1943 it
appears he went off to the war and did not return until 1946. He was 21 in 1946 and he went 11-9 for the
cars AAA team and posted a 3.42 ERA. He
continued to progress in the minors.
Somehow, it is unknown exactly how, he ended up in Seattle in the
Pacific Coast League. It was there that
the Tigers picked him up in a deal that sent Marv Grissom and Sam Vico to
Seattle for Wayne. In his first year in
the majors, Wayne went 0-1 in six games and posted a 8.18 ERA. He was up with the Tigers early again in 1952
but it was more of what he showed in 1951.
He faced the White Sox on May 10 in relief of Art Houtteman with the
score 2-0 Sox and runners on first and second.
Facing pitcher Joe Dobson, Wayne gave up a single scoring the runner on
second. Then he gave up a wild pitch
before getting Nellie Fox to end the inning on a ground out. After that, Wayne was sent down to Buffalo. He would never return to the majors. His career totals in the majors were 0-1 with
a 8.56 ERA in 10 games and 13.2 innings pitched.
Joe Schultz never played for the Tigers but he did manage
them for 28 games in 1973. Joe got his
first gig in pro ball as a minor league bat boy in 1931 for the Houston
Buffaloes that his Dad managed. Joe went
on to the minors as a player in 1936. He
had a MLB career as a player from 1939 to 1948 as a back up catcher with the
Pittsburgh Pirate and St. Louis Browns. Joe
started his MLB managing career as the manager of the newly formed Seattle
Pilots. The Pilots were an expansion
team in 1969 along with the Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres and Montreal
Expos. The Pilots are NOT the
predecessor of today’s Seattle Mariners.
Instead, the Pilots lasted one season and then moved to Milwaukee to
become what we know today as the Brewers.
Joe kept the Pilots close to .500 until they collapsed in July. The Pilots were 64-98 for Joe and finished in
6th place out of 6 teams in the newly formed West Division. Prior to 1969 there were no divisions and no
playoffs. There was only an American
League and a National League. With the
introduction of the 4 extra teams in 1969 the leagues started an East and a
West Division and playoffs before the World Series. He was gone as manager at the end of the 1969
season and the Pilots were gone from Seattle shortly after too. Joe went to the other American League
expansion team, the Kansas City Royals as a coach for 1970. In 1971 Joe was coach for the Tigers. Billy Martin was the manager. Billy took the Tigers to the playoffs in
1972. But Billy could not finish the 1973
season as he was fired. A trait Billy
would take with him in his future managing career. Joe took over the Tigers with 28 games left
and went 14-14. He was not brought back
as manager in 1974, Ralph Houk came in as manager and Joe went back to his job
as coach for the Tigers which he held until 1976.
Buck Marrow made his major league debut as a Tiger in
1932. He was property of the tigers and
in their farm system staring in 1930 with the Fort Smith Twins of Fort Smith Arkansas
of the Class C Western Association. He
was 11-8 there and moved up to Class A Beaumont to end the season. He was 6-3 at Beaumont. He was 13-8 in Beaumont in 1931 and in 1932
started the season there again going 8-7 before getting the call to the Detroit
and the majors in July. In his debut he
came in to pitch the 9th of a game the Tiges trailed the Cleveland
Indians 7-3. He pitched a 1-2-3 9th
for his debut. Buck pitched in 18 games
for the Tiges that year and posted a 2-5 record with a 4.81 ERA. He appears to have been a fast ball
pitcher. In his 63 innings pitched he
struck out 31 but walked 29. However, in
that short time he managed to come in second in the league leaders for batters
hit! Buck hit 6 batters in those 63.2
innings. That is about one batter every
game. Kinda reminds you of Nuke LaLoosh
if he also hit the mascot. Buck was in the Cleveland farm system by 1935
and then was purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1937. He played 2 seasons in Brooklyn going 1-3
with a 5.50 ERA before his MLB career was over in 1938. He was done in pro ball in 1941.
Jack Warner was third baseman for the Tigers from 1925
through 1928. He was the starting third
baseman for 1926 and 1927. But he only
hit .251 in 1926 and not much better at .267 in 1927. In 1928 his hitting collapsed to .214 and he
was no longer the starting third baseman.
Instead Marty McManus took over at third hitting .288. At the end of the season, the Tigers traded
Jack to the Senators for Bucky Harris who came to Detroit as the new
player/manager. Jack never played for
the Senators but somehow ended up playing for the Dodgers and Phils into 1933
when hs major league career was over.
However, Jack continued to play in the minors until 1946 and even did
little managing in the minors including for the Los Angeles Angels of the
Pacific Coast League in 1955.
Frank Cox was a member of the 1884 Detroit Wolverines. He was originally from Massachusetts and was
in the minors there until 1884 when he signed with Grand Rapids of the
Northwestern League. Frank was the
captain. At that time the manager sat in
the stands and the captain ran things on the field. Cox was highly regarded with Grand
Rapids. But Grand Rapids did not finish
the season. Detroit came in and purchased
their players as they had been plagued by injuries. So in August Frank joined he Wolverines and
became their captain. Frank was the 9th
shortstop for the Wolverines that season.
But Frank proved to be a weak hitting shortstop for the Wolverines
hitting .127 as the back up to starter Frank Meinke who hit .164. The 1884 Wolverines were a terrible
team. Their record of 28-84 was the
mirror opposite of the League Champion, Providence Grays who were 84-28. The Wolverines finished back in last place
back 56 games out of first. But when
your shortstop hits .164 and he is not your worst starter on the team, it is
not hard to understand how bad they were.
Frank was not resigned by the Wolverines for 1885 and went home to play
in New England. He was also done in the
majors after 1884. In 1887 he was done
with pro baseball altogether.
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