Duane Singleton played with the Tigers after the Sparky
Anderson era. He was a product of
Milwaukee Brewers who drafted him from high school on Staten Island, NY, in the
1990. This was one year after I left
Staten Island. He had his break out year
in 1994 when he moved from A ball to AA, then to AAA and finally made his major
league debut 2 days before his 22nd birthday. He entered the game as a defensive
replacement in the bottom of the 9th of a game the Brewers were
leading 5-3. The Orioles were batting
and Duane made one play. He was playing
center and fielded a Brady Anderson line drive and held him to a single. Brady would not score and the Brewers won
5-3. 4 days later Duane got into one
more game against the Tiges as a
defensive replacement in the 7th .
With the Brewers up 12-3, Duane was again in center field. Again, Duane did not get a plate appearance
but this time he did make a put out of a Chad Krueter fly ball to center. That was the extent of Duane’s first year in
the majors. The next season Duane got in
13 games for the Brewers and collected his first major league hit and his first
stolen base. Unfortunately he only got 2
hits in 31 at bats and one walk for an .065 average. Before the 1996 training camp started Duane
was traded to the Tigers for minor leaguer Henry Santos. For Detroit Duane had his best season in the
majors. He was in 18 games as the Tigers
played the their first season since 1978 without Sparky Anderson. Buddy Bell took over a Tiger team that was
clearly rebuilding from the ground up.
Duane played 18 games for the Tigers as they tried to find a team to
field. For the season in the three
outfield spots only one player would start half the games in one of the three
spots. That was Melvin Nievis who
started 83 games, just barely half of the 162, as the starting right
fielder. In Duane’s 18 games, most were
in center and while his fielding was good, (Duane never made an error in the
majors.) his bat was poor. He was 9 for
56 with 4 walks for a .161 batting average and a .230 OBP. He was caught stealing twice but did drive in
3 runs. At the end of the season Duane
was release by the Tigers. Duane never
played in the majors again.
Herb Moford had his winningest season in the majors with the
Tigers. He started his career in pro
ball in 1947 in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system. He worked in the minors for years before
finally getting to the majors in 1955.
He was in 14 games that first season and only started 1. He was 1-1 with a 7.88 ERA. He was back in the minors in 1956 and again
in 1957. But finally the Cardinals gave
up on Herb and sent him to the Tigers half way through the 1957 season for AA
outfielder, Bob Thorpe. Herb as traded
on July 14 and the Tigers wasted no time and threw him into the game that day
as the starter. He went the distance
that day against the Baltimore Orioles and only gave up 2 runs on 6 hits and 2
walks. But the Tiges only scored one run
and Herb was tagged with the loss. About
2 weeks later Herb got his first win as a Tiger when he allowed the Senators
only 1 run in 9 innings while striking out 7.
At the plate Herb was 1 for 4 for his first hit as a Tiger. It was a single to second that drove in what
would be the winning run. He went on to
11 starts and 14 relief appearances for the Tigers. Later he got revenge on the Orioles for his
first Tiger appearance defeat by going the distance and beating the O’s 3-1 on
5 hits while K’ing 4. Herb also beat the
Cleveland Indians in a game where he went the full 9 and allowed only 2 runs on
3 hits and 3 walks. He beat Hoyt Wilhelm
that day. Hoyt lasted only 6 innings and
then the Indians brought in future Tiger outfielder, Rocky Colavito to finish
the game. Herb would end the season at 4-9 with a 3.61 ERA. He struck out 58 while walking only 42. But the Tiges traded him in the off season to
the Boston Red Sox for catcher Lou Berberet.
Herb would never get another win in the majors. He went 0-2 with the Sox in 1959 and played
only one more season in 1962 with the expansion Mets. Herb was 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA. Herb did manage his second major league hit
with the Mets but did not drive in a run nor score. After his playing days Herb would manage Jim
Bunning’s run for governor of Kentucky.
1983. Bunning lost the election
but would later serve in the US house and Senate without the help of Herb.
Clem Labine was most famous for being a Brooklyn Dodger but
he also spent some time as a Tiger. Clem
started his professional career in the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system at age 17
in 1944. He was 2-4 as a rightie but at
age 18 found himself in the military in 1945.
He returned to the Dodgers in 1946 and made it to the majors in
1950. He became the Dodgers top bullpen
man and in 1955 lead the league in appearances with 60. That was also his first year as an all
star. He led the league in saves in 1956
and again in 1957. He made the move to
Los Angeles with the Dodgers in 1958 but in 1959 he was no longer the ace of
the bull pen. Larry Sherry had replaced
him but Clem was still effective. In the
World Series that season he appeared in the first game and pitched one inning
and was perfect for the one inning. But
Larry Sherry won 2 games in relief and saved the other two Dodger wins. Clearly Clem’s days with the Dodgers were
numbered. He started the 1960 season
with the Dodgers but in June he was traded to the Tigers reliever for Ray
Semproch and some cash. Clem got in only
14 games for the Tiges and pitched only 19.1 innings. He was 0-3 with a 5.12 ERA. The Tiges were not going anywhere in 1960 and
so exactly 2 months after the Tigers acquired Clem they released him. He was picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates
and went on to the 1960 World Series with the Pirates as they beat the Yankees
in 7 games. Clem did not do well in the
series. He made 3 appearances and
pitched 4 innings but gave up 11 runs on 13 hits, 1 BB and 1 wild pitch. To his credit, only 6 of the 11 runs were
earned. But his 1.48 ERA for the Pirates
during the season meant he was coming back in 1961. In 1961 he was in 56 games and was 4-1 with 8
saves and a 3.69 ERA. At the end of the
season the Pirates released him and he went back to the City of New York but
rather than playing in Brooklyn, he was playing in Manhattan and the Polo Grounds
with the New York Mets and Herb Moford.
1962 would be his last year in pro ball.
At the end of the season he called it quits. He was 77-56 overall with a 3.63 ERA and 96
saves for his career but only 0-3 with a 5.12 ERA and 2 saves as a Tiger.
Van Fletcher was a 30 year old Tiger rookie. He started his professional career in 1949 as
a 24 year old with the Tyler Trojans of the East Texas League (Class C) and
moved down to the Class D Elkin Blanketeers of the Blue Ridge League. He did turn his career around and while in
Vancouver at Class A level he pitched a no hitter. He was with the Seattle Rainers in 1954 and
had a record of 4-6 but a good ERA of 2.77 when the Tigers traded for Earl
Harrist and cash for him. He made his
major league debut on opening day for h Tigers in Kansas City against the
Athletics. He came in to pitch the 7th
inning replacing Ned Garver in a game the Tiges trailed 5-2. He sent the Athletics down 1-2-3 in the 7th
and came back in the 8th. The
lead off hitter, center fielder Bill Wilson hit a homer to make the score
6-2. Ban gave up a single to the next
batter but got the side out without any more runs. The game ended 6-2 Athletics but Van was a
major leaguer. His next game was three
day later and he came in to end a game against the Indians that the Tiges trailed
7-3. He put the tribe down 1-2-3 but the
Tiges still lost. His next game was
against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium.
The Tiges were down 9-1 in the 9th when Van replaced Ned
Garver again. Pitcher Bob Turley reached
on an error by shortstop Harvey Kuenn.
Hank Bauer then got second life on an error by catcher Frank House. In his second chance Hank reached first on an
error by third baseman Ray Boone. Andy
Carey then hit a grounder to Ray Boone who started a double play but second
baseman Fred Hatfield then committed an error and failed to get the runner at
first and Bob Turley scored. Next up
were the two best Yankee hitters of the 1950’s, Mickey Mantle and Yogi
Berra. Van got Mantle to fly to center
without scoring a run and then Berra grounded out to first to mercifully end
the inning. Van ended up getting in a
total of 9 games for the Tigers but did not get a decision. He pitched 12 innings and had an ERA of 3.00. At the plate he made one appearance and got a
walk. He was done in the majors after
May and was done in the minors after 1957.
Tom Hughes spent his entire cup of coffee with the
Tigers. Tom played college ball at the
University of Texas in 1928 and 1929.
Then he signed contract in the minors and finished the 1929 season with
the Des Moines Demons of the Western League and hit .281. he continued with Des Moines in 1930 hitting
.333 with 16 triples and 6 homers when he got a contract with the Tigers to
finish the season. He debuted as a
September call up and appears to have come into the game as a catcher to finish
a game against the Philadelphia Athletics in Detroit. The Tigers lost 3-1 and Tom never got to the
plate. The next day Tom got the start as
the centerfielder for the Tiges again against the Athletics. He went 0 for 3 but did not make an error
playing the entire game in center. The
following day Tom again got the start in center but now it was against the
Yankees. This time he got a hit and a
walk going 1-3 but he did make an error in the field. He may have had his best day the following
day when he went 3 for 5 against the Yanks and scored 2 runs in a 11-10 Tiger
victory. He followed that up with a 2
for 3 day against the Yanks as the Tiges won again 9-4. Tiger skipper Bucky Harris knew Tom was hot
and kept him in center. He went 2-4 the
following day even though the Tiges lost 10-3.
The Tiges had one more game against the Yankees and Tom again got the
start and again Tom did not disappoint going 3 for 4 driving in a run a scoring
a run. Tom had gone 11 for 19 in the
five game series against the Yankees. Tom
got in a total of 12 other games with the Tiges that season outside of the 5
with the Yanks and was 10 for 40 the rest of those games. His combined average
for the season was a .373 average. Tom
was done in the majors after that season and never again hit above .282 in the
minors. But Tom may have been the first
“Yankee Killer”.
Chad Kimsey ended his major league career with the
Tigers. He had started it in 1929 with
the St. Louis Browns. He was 3-6 that
first season with a 5.04 ERA being used mainly as a reliever. He followed up that season with the first of
three seasons where he led the league in games finished with 30, 35b and 29
games finished. He was basically todays
closer, yet he only recorded 13 saves in those three years. In 1932 he was again with the Browns and
finished 22 games when he was sold to the Chicago White Sox. He played out the 1932 season and played the
1933 season for the Southsiders. He was
traded to the Montreal Royals in the minor International League. He was 16-7 with a 3.14 ERA when the Tigers
gave him another call to the majors for 1936.
He got into 22 games all in relief as a Tiger and was 2-3 with a 4.85
ERA. He did not finish the season in
Detroit but rather back in Montreal where he was 5-1. He played two more seasons in the minors his
last season he was able to play closer to home in Oklahoma when he split time
with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League and the Tulsa Oilers of
the Texas League. He was done with pro
ball at the age of 31. His career stats
were a 24-29 record with a 5.07 ERA and 17 saves. Five years after he was done playing ball at
the age of 36 he was driving a truck of gravel when he crashed into a bridge
near Pryor, OK and was killed.
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