Sunday, August 31, 2014

August 31 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Ramon Santiago started his major league career with the Tigers in 2002.  He was a back up shortstop/second baseman.  We traded him to the Mariners with Juan Gonzalez (not Juan from the Rangers but a minor leaguer) for Carlos Guillen.  In 2005 the Mariners released him and we resigned him for the 2006 season.  In 2010 he was our starting shortstop and in 2011 he is our starting second baseman.   Then he went to the bench.  As a hitter he is a .250 hitter who strikes out about 2 to 3 times more than he walks and he doesn’t have a lot of power.   But he is an above average fielder, but not by much.  After 2013 Ramon was granted free agency when we ended up with what appeared to be a solid middle infield of Ina Kinsler at second and Jose Iglesias.  In 2014 Ramon is a back up middle infielder for the Cincinnati Reds hitting .248 and striking out more than he walks.

Shane Loux started his major league career with the Tigers in 2002 as well as a late season call up.  He was 11-10 in Toledo before being called up that year.  He started three games and lost all three for the Tigers.  He lost to the Twins twice and the Royals once.    In 2003 he went 11-6 for Toledo and dropped his ERA to 3.02.  But when he came up to Detroit in 2003 he went 1-1 with a 7.12 ERA.  He did not get a call in 2004 and after going 7-11 in Toledo and his ERA ballooning to 5.29 the Tigers released him.   He was up with the Angels in 2008 and 2009 but did not do much different.  He was released by the Angels and signed with the Astros but never made it out of their minors before being released again.  He was picked up by the San Francisco Giants and was 1-0 in 19 games.    2014 finds him pitching for the Giants rookie ball on a rehab assignment recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Hideo Nomo pitched one year for the Tigers in 2000.  He was signed as a free agent after his one year with the Brewers and Mets before that.  He was okay with the Tigers going 8-12 but posting a 4.74 ERA on a bad Tiger team.  But the Tigers released him at the end of the season and he signed with the Red Sox and went 13-10 with a 4.50 ERA.  He returned to his Dodgers, the place he started his US career in 1995 with a sensation.  He was 13-6 his rookie year and posted a 2.54 ERA.  He also had his signature wind up with his hands raised high and his “tornado” wind up.  He threw two no hitters in his career and retired after 2008.

Morris Madden made his major league debut in 1987 with the Tigers.  He came in in relief against the Brewers in a 5-4 game with the bases loaded.  He walked Jim Gantner before getting the final out.  He came to the mound the next inning and had the bases loaded with two outs when he was pulled.  Mike Henneman came in and gave up a single scoring two of Morris’s runners.   Five days later he came in against the Blue Jays in relief of an 8-3 lead.  He gave up a double, ground out, single scoring the runner, fly out and another single before he was pulled.  He never pitched for the Tigers again.  His final line for the Tigers was 1.2 innings pitched, 4 hits, 3 walks, one intentional walk and an ERA of 16.20.  Morris was sent to the Pirates during the season to finish the deal of Darnell Coles and the player to me named later (Morris) for Jim Morrison.

Bill Nahorodny was signed as a free agent for the Tigers in 1983 after Bill had played parts of seven seasons with four clubs.  He got in two games for the Tigers he got a walk and made an out.  Although a catcher by trade, he did not get on the field for the Tigers.  At the end of the season he was releasedadn signed by the Mariners. 

Jack Burns finished his career with the Tigers in 1936 and was the starting first baseman for the Tigers that year.  Bt Hank Greenberg was our first baseman you say?  Yes but Hank broke his wrist in the 1935 World Series and rebroke in April of 1936 and was gone for the season.  The Tigers found themselves in need of a first baseman so they traded Chief Hogsett to the St. Louis Browns for Jack.  Jack then hit .283 for the Tiges with four homers.  Not quite to par for Greenberg.   When Hank came back in 1937 Jack went down to the minors and never got back to the majors.  In 1938 he started a new career as a player manager in the minors and continued in baseball until 1954 as a minor league manager but was done playing in the minors in 1946.  He even got in one game as a pitcher for the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League in 1940. He died in 1975 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Brighton, MI.

Norman Glaser made his major league debut as a Tiger pitcher in September of 1921.  He came in to a game against the Senators with the Tigers trailing 7-3.  He pitched 2.1 innings and gave up four runs on seven hits before being removed from the game.  The Tigers came back and won the game 12-11 with four runs in the bottom of the ninth.  The same number of runs that Norman had given up.  Norman never pitched in the majors again.  His career totals were a 0-0 record with a 15.43 ERA in 2.1 innings pitched.



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