Edgar Renteria
Steve Kemp
Rocky Bridges
Art Houtteman was one game shy of being a 20 game winner for
the Tigers. He was signed by the Tigers
16 days after turning 17. This is
significant in that his dad, being a sandlot ballplayer of Detroit had stated
the day he was born that he would be a major leaguer by the time he was
17. Half a dozen clubs were vying for
the Detroit Catholic Central High School player when he signed for the Tigers
for $20,000 in 1944. At 17 he was too
young for the war time draft and went to spring training in 1945 with the
Tigers and another 17 year old, Billy Pierce.
He was brought up to the Tigers at the age of 17 and pitched in 13 games
for the Tigers who would win the World Series against the Cubs that year. He was 0-2in 13 games. In 1946 he was considered a phenome going
19-13 at AAA Buffalo of the International League. He also led the league in K’s with 147. Mid way though 1947 he was called up to the
Tigers to stay and went 7-2 and was praised highly as a solid major leaguer who
also hit .300. In 1948 the right hander
was considered the closer before they had closers when he recorded 10 saves in
43 games. In one game he showed off his
batting skills when he drove in the winning run himself as he beat the Senators
in relief. In spring training of 1949 Art was in a car accident and suffered a
fractured skull. He went home to
recuperate. But the year saw him move up
to the starting rotation and Art went 15-10.
In that his survival after the car crash was not a certainly he was
voted Most Courageous Athlete in some circles.
In 1950 he won 19 games and pitched 3 innings in the All Star game. He failed to get his 20th win two
times in September and the Tigers finished second to the Yankees. He married an Olympic swimmer at the end of
the season but two days after returning from their honeymoon Art was drafted
into the Army. He missed the entire 1951
season to the military. When he returned
in 1952 but on the way home from spring training he wife had car accident and
the Houtteman’s 7 month old daughter was killed. Art was part of the starting rotation again
but was 8-20 yet had a decent 4.36 ERA.
By this time he had the nick name “Hard Luck” Houtteman, not just for
his hard luck in life but also for his pitching hard luck. An example was in 1952 when he was 1 out away
from a no hitter against the mighty Indians.
He shook off his catcher Joe Ginsberg for the first time the whole game
with two out and the batter singled to left to end his no hit bid. 4 of his losses were when the Tigers were
shut out and another 4 came when the Tigers scored only 1 or 2 runs. He was 2-6 with the Tiges in 1953 when he was
traded to the Indians with Joe Ginsberg and Owen Friend and Bill Wight. The Tiges got Ray Boone, Steve Gromek, Al
Aber and Dick Weik. He was 15-10 for the
Tribe in 1954 when they went to the World Series. But that was his last season in the starting
rotation. He was 10-6 in 1955 and traded
in 1957 to Baltimore. He was released by
the O’s and signed a minor league contract with the Tigers in 1958 but was gone
from baseball entirely after spring of 1959.
In 8 years as a Tiger he was 53-69 with 16 saves and an All Star
appearance.
Les Fleming
Clyde Hatter spent his entire troubled time in the majors with
the Tigers. He was in the minors
starting in 1929 and while his won/loss record was never very good he had a
decent ERA that continued to drop. By
the end of 1934 the Tigers decided he could be of great help to them as they
tried to repeat as American League champs and possibly win their first World
Series. Clyde had a good fastball as
well as several different curves and was known for a great change of pace. But Clyde also had a substance abuse
problem. He also was thought to be a
discipline problem. He developed the
nickname “Mad” Hatter. He pitched in
three games in relief in April until he pitched a game in Cleveland where he
went 4.1 innings allowing no runs on only 1 hit. He got a start next and did well pitching 6.2
innings and allowing 3 runs on 5 hits.
But he also walked 9. He got one
more start against the Red Sox but did poorly going only 3.1 innings and giving
up 7 runs (4 earned) on 4 hits and 3 walks.
Two of the hits were homers. He
got one more chance as a Tiger in 1935 but was hammered. He was brought in as a reliever and left
in. He lasted 6.1 innings but gave up 11
earned runs on 19 hits and 5 walks. He
spent the rest of the season in the Minors with the Milwaukee Brewers of the
American Association. He was still there
in 1936 when he was 16-6 which was his best season ever in terms of won
loss. The Tigers gave him a second
chance in 1937. Clyde pitched in 3 game that season all in relief. He even got a win in the majors. He pitched 5.1 innings of relief and actually
gave up 5 runs on 11 hits and 4 walks.
But the Tiges scored 12 and he got the win 12-9. But he was having problems. According to Marv Owen, Tiger third baseman,
Clyde had missed a few games nad he went to check on him in his room. He stated he had been sick so Marv went and
got the team doctor. He diagnosed Clyde
as drunk and found two glasses of whiskey in his dresser. Clyde was sent down to Toledo and continued
having problems. He was suspended for 30
days for an undisclosed reason. He then
was taken to hospital in July when he was found unconscious in a taxi due to an
overdose of sleeping pills. He was home
in the off season when he got his dad to take him into Danville, KY to send out
some telegrams. On the way back he
climbed into the back seat to take a nap.
When they got home his dad could not wake him as Clyde was dead. The coroner reported “died suddenly before I
was called – Probably heart disease”.
Others felt it was the substance abuse or alcohol. Clyde was 29.
No comments:
Post a Comment