September 30 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Danny Worth

Carlos Guillen was a 2006 Tiger.

Jose Lima was always confused with Felipe Lira.  Lima played with the Dodgers and died in 2010. Lira is still alive and did not play with the Dodgers.

John DeSilva

Scott Lusader was an up and coming prospect in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s that never quite panned out.

Dan Gonzalez

Ike Blessitt was a 1972 Tiger that is a tough signature. 

Johnny Podres was one of the “Boys of Summer” by Roger Kahn (1955 Dodgers) but was a Tiger for part of two years towards the end of his career.

Ben Taylor is a tough signature from the early 1950’s.

Frank Skaff was one of the three skippers in 1966.  He is the one that lived.  Chuck Dressen (who skippered Johnny Podres in Brooklyn) was first.  When he died he was replaced by Bob Swift, who was then in the hospital for the rest of the season until Frank took over.  Frank was 40-39 and was replaced by Mayo Smith in 1967 who was the skipper in 1968 when they won it all.

September 29 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jermaine Clark

Rob Deer

Jim Crawford is an odd Tiger.  He went to high school in Arizona and was drafted by the expansion San Diego Padres in the 1968 free agent draft but did not sign.  Instead he went to school at Arizona State University thru 1972.  He was drafted by the Houston Astros and signed and was on the opening day roster for the Astros.  He got in his first game in the majors on April 6.  He was brought in in the 12^th inning and K’d the first batter he faced, shortstop Marty Perez.  He then gave up a walk to pinch hitter Dick Dietz and was pulled.  Jim got into 47 more games for the Astros that season all in relief.  He got his first at bat 4 days after his pitching debut when he had to hit for himself in a game against the Dodgers.  It was the 12^th inning and he hit a walk off double for his first hit and his first win.  He ended up at 2-4 with a 4.50 ERA and 6 saves.  He was with the Astros again two years later in 1975 and was 3-5 with a career best 3.63 ERA mainly out of the pen again with 2 starts.  At the end of the 1975 season the Tigers and Astros mace a trade with lots of players and it involved two catchers.  Shockingly, Randy Smith was not the GM in 1975.  The trade was back up catcher Terry Humphrey, Gene Pentz, Leon Roberts and Mark Lemongello for back up catcher Milt May, Dave Roberts and Jim.  He was used as a reliever mainly but did get a few starts.  One of his starts was a complete game loss to Texas where the Tiges failed to get a run.  He did manage to get a lone win for the Tigers in 1976 when he beat the Yankees in a start in September.  In 1977 he had a career high 7 wins for the Tigers going 7-8 with a 4.79 ERA.  He had one more season with the Tigers in 1978 when he was 2-3 in relief.  His final record for the Tiges was 10-19 with 3 saves and a 4.62 ERA.  Where Jim becomes odd is that Jim is one of the toughest autographs for Tiger collectors.   He does not sign through the mail and does not do sports shows.  No one seems to know why as he does not reply to any letters. 

Rich Reese

Bob Anderson

Tony Rensa

A Brief History of Sign Stealing

The other day the Tigers were facing the White Sox and Sox pitcher Chris Sale threw at Victor Martinez.  Sale claimed that Martinez was stealing signs from the outfield bleachers.  I was in a meeting when this subject came up and everyone was upset with Sale basically saying there was no way anyone could get signs from the outfield and that Sale’s argument was a joke.  

I finally weighed in on the argument.  I stated that it was easy to steal signs from the outfield and in fact the Tigers have been known to do it.  The all said I was crazy.  I then told them that the 1940 Tigers would put a pitcher or a coach in the outfield bleachers with a pair of binoculars.  I was then asked rather doubtfully how they would relay the signs.  I explained that they would hold the binoculars with one hand if it was a fast ball and two if it was an off speed pitch.  I explained that the Tigers won the pennant that season by one game.  Their power hitters, Hank Greenberg and Rudy York went on a tear in September when one or the other hit a homer in 17 straight games.   In the World Series, the Tigers were afraid to put anyone in the bleachers for fear they would be found out and strung up.  In a bizarre twist of fate, the Tiger opponent in the series was the Cincinnati Reds.  They had a hall of fame catcher Ernie Lombardi.  But Ernie was injured during the season.  His back up was Willard Hershberger.  Willard was a troubled man who felt he was letting the team down by being a poor player.  So in August of the season he committed suicide.  The Reds had to call in former catcher and then coach Jimmie Wilson to catch the series.  Wilson held his hands so low the Tigers could see the signs from the dugout!  But they still lost the series in 7 games. 

I then gave a brief history of some of my favorite sign stealing incidents in baseball history.  One of the best and earliest is from 1899.  The Phillies had set up a buzzer system from the center field club houses all the way to the third base coaching box.  The Phillies were caught when on a particularly rainy day the third base coach for the Phils kept his foot in a puddle up to his shoelaces.  The Washington Senators third baseman figured out that when the coach kept his foot in the puddle the Phil’s could hit.  Between innings he called an up over and started pawing around in the mud and water and found a wooden box with a buzzer in it.  They pulled up the wire that was buried in the ground about an inch deep or so and traced it all way out to the clubhouse. 

The next big one was Bobby Thomson’s shot heard round the world.  There is a whole book about that called the Echoing Green (I highly recommend it.).  It tells the story of how the Giants set up a buzzer system from the center field clubhouses and with the help of a telescope would signal the coaches who relayed to the batters if it was a fast ball or breaking ball.  So Bobby Thomson’s homer was really cheating.  Part of the real irony is that the electrician who set up the buzzer system was a Dodger fan. 

Another famous example was the 1959 game between the Milwaukee Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Harvey Haddix pitched 12 innings of perfect ball against the Braves.  He ended up losing the game when he gave up a walk and then the lone hit of the game, a homer to Joe Adcock.  Adcock was so excited he passed the runner on the base paths.  The Braves stole the signs all game from the bull pen and relayed them by putting a towel over the fence to the bull pen for a fastball or taking it off for an off speed pitch.  Those same Braves were caught at a game in Chicago 2 years later when they put a couple of pitchers (Bob Buhl and Joey Jay) in the bleachers who were relaying the signals to the bench.  The Cubs fans caught on and chased them from the bleachers. 

This last one shows a couple of things.  1. I may have to give Cubs fans a little more credit.  2. Haddix really had his stuff that game if they knew and could not hit it.  And lastly, 3. Sometimes knowing the signs doesn’t help.  Tiger second baseman, Charlie Gerhinger, didn’t want the signs in the 1940 season.  He thought it took him off his mental edge at the plate and made him sloppy.  Also, some players just cant figure out the signs anyway.   Zeke Bonura was a big power hitter in the 1930’s and 1940’s but was not known for his intelligence.  His manager with the White Sox was Jimmie Dykes who was known exasperatedly to yell more than once to Zeke “Bunt you meathead!”

As for Martinez and Sale, V-Mart has fasced Sale 32 times at the plate.  He has a career .517 batting average and a .563 OBP to go with a .931 slugging percentage.  And now he has 1 HBP.  This is at home and on the road.  The issue is not binoculars in the stands.  The issue is Sale doesn't know what to do to get V-Mart out and is frustrated.

September 28 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Bob Dustal was a 27 year old right hander for the Tigers in 1963. He made the team in spring training after 8 years working his way up the ranks of the minors. On April 9^thin Detroit he made his debut coming in to pitch the 9^th of a game in which the Tigers and starter Jim Bunning trailed the White Sox 5-7. He got the Sox to fly out to center, left and right field and only gave up one walk. Five days later when Bunning started and the game was 3-0 in favor of the Indians Bob was again called in to pitch the 8^th. He gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and a walk. On April 19 Bob pitched 2 innings against the Red Sox and gave up 1 run in another Tiger loss.  He was called on the next day to pitch in the 15^th inning against the Sox again in Fenway Park.  The Tigers were ahead 3-1 with 2 outs and runners on first and second.  Bob gave up single and a double and earned his only decision as a Tiger, a loss.  Bob pitched the 9^th of another Tiger loss against the Angels and finally on May 2, Bob was called on to pitch the 5^th inning of a losing effort against the Senators.  He gave up four runs and did not record and out.  He never pitched again in the majors.  Bob’s final totals were an 0-1 record and a 9.00 ERA in 6 innings pitched.  Bob went on to manage in the minors in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s in the Detroit organization.

Dick Gernert was a Tiger in 1960 and 1961.  He had spent 8 years with the Red Sox as a first baseman outfielder before being traded to the Cubs after the 1959 season.  For the Sox he was a .250 hitter with some good power.  But he was never a good fielder.  In fact, he led the league in errors for first basemen in 1953 with 19.  With the Cubs he was hitting .250 when he was sold to the Tiges.  He got in only 21 games for the Tigers in 1960 and another 6 in 1961 and hit .291 before the Tigers sent him to Cincy for Jim Baumer.  Dick would be drafted by the Houston Colt 45’s, in their 1961 expansion draft but would be released by the Colts in May after only 10 games played and a .208 batting average.  Dick went on to manage in the minors but never got to manage in the majors. 

Paul Easterling played for the Tigers during two seasons over three years.  He first came to the Tigers in 1928 and hit .325 in 43 games as an outfielder.  But even after hitting .325 the Tigers sent him down for more seasoning.  He hit .304 in Beaumont in 1929 but did not get a call back.  In 1930 he hit .315 for Beaumont and was back playing in Detroit.  But in Detroit he hit only .203 in 29 games and was never brought back to Detroit.  He appeared in the majors again in 1938 when the Philadelphia Athletics bought him from Oklahoma City.  He played four games for the Athletics and was traded to the Cardinals with Gene Hasson and George Turbeville for future Athletics starter, Dick Siebert.  Paul never made it into another major league game. 

Nate Kellogg was a member of the 1885 Detroit Wolverines of the National League.  He played five games for the Wolverines as a shortstop and in 23 chances committed 5 errors.  This would have been a time when some players did not wear gloves because they didn’t want to look like a sissy.  In the five games Nate got two hits and scored four runs.  His batting average was .118 with a walk to bring his on base percentage up to .167.  Nate never played in the majors again.

September 27 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Gary Sutherland was the Tiger second baseman from 1974 into 1976.  Suddsy came to Detroit after playing 8 years in the National League with the Phils, Expos and Astros.  The Tigers got him in a deal that sent Fred Sherman and cash to the Astros for Gary, and Jim Ray.  Gary got a 20% raise when he came to Detroit upping his salary from $20,000 to $22,000.  In response, Gary hit .254, ten points higher than his career average and drove in 49 runs on a poor Tiger team.   In 1975 he did about the same hitting .258 with 39 RBI’s.  In 1976 Suddsy was hitting only .205 when he was traded to the Brewers for Pedro Garcia.  Suddsy would be released by the Brewers before the 1977 season started and Pedro would also be released by the Tigers.  Gary’s brother Darrell also played major league ball with the Mets and Indians.

Dave Wickersham pitched for the Tigers in the mid 1960’s.  He started his career with the Kansas City Athletics in 1960.  After the 1963 season he was traded to Detroit with Jerry Lumpe and Ed Rakow for Bob Anderson, Rocky Colavito and $50,000.  In 1964 Dave had his best year in the bigs going 19-12 and posting a 3.44 ERA.  He followed that with a 9-14 record and 3.78 ERA in 1965.  In 1966 he made $20,000 with the Tiges and continued his decline.  He went 8-3 with a 3.20 ERA.  In 1967 he was traded for Dennis Ribant (who threw the ball into the stands in Oakland in 1968) after he went 4-5 with a 2.74 ERA.  Dave would finish his career with the Royals in their first year in Kansas City.  The same city were his career began.

Jerry Casale finished his career as a Tiger pitcher in the early 1960’s.  He had been with the Boston Red Sox from 1958 through 1960 and was 15-17 for those three years.  He was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels as their number 5 pick of their expansion draft.  In June of 1961, after going 1-5 with a 6.54 ERA with the Angels, he was traded to the Tiges for pitcher Jim Donohue.  Jim was in 3 games for the Tigers in 1961 and was 0-0 with 5.25 ERA in 12 innings of work.  He was with the Tigers again in 1962 and was 1-2 in 18 games with a 4.66 ERA.  Jerry’s one win with the Tigers was a game where he pitched 5.1 innings of relief and beat Sam McDowell and the Indians, 8-6.

Johnny Pesky played a couple of seasons with the Tigers after making his fame with the Red Sox as their shortstop and third baseman.  He is still known today because the right field foul pole at Fenway Park is called Pesky’s pole.  The story has it that Mel Parnell won a game because Pesky hit a homer around the pole (302 feet from home plate) to win the game.  However, Pesky only hit 13 homers in his career with the Sox and only 6 were at Fenway.  Further, only 1 of those 6 was in a game that Parnell pitched.  And that game was won by the Detroit Tigers.  Johnny came to Detroit in a trade in 1952 that sent Hoot Evers, George Kell, Johnny Lipon and Dizzy Trout to the Sox for Walt Dropo, Fred Hatfield, Don Lenhardt, Bill Wight and Johnny to the Tiges.  For Detroit Johnny played second base and some short.  At the plate Johnny hit .275 and 4 homers.  This was a drop in production from his .313 average with the Sox.  In 1954 Johnny was hitting only .176 when the Tigers traded him to the Senators for Mel Hoderlein.

Whit Wyatt started his major league career as a Tiger pitcher in 1929. A little more than a month before the great stock market crash of 1929, Whit started a game against the Washington Senators in Griffith Stadium. The young 21 year old lasted four innings before being taken out for Skinny Graham. Whit had given up 8 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks in those four innings and the Tigers trailed 1-8. The Tigers managed to tie the game by the eighth so Whit was not tagged with the loss. But in the bottom of the eighth the Senators got a run off of Emil Yde to go ahead 10-9. The game was called after the eighth and Whit’s first game was over. Whit would finish the season 0-1 with a complete game loss to the Philadelphia Athletics that he lost in the 10^th inning. Over the next three and a half years Whit would post a 13-22 record for the Tiges with a 4.98 ERA. In June of 1933 he was traded to the White Sox for Vic Fraiser. Whit’s career was about the same at Chicago and later in Cleveland. It was not until Whit went to Brooklyn that things turned around for him and he became an all star. In 1940 in Brooklyn, at the age of 32, Whit had his first double digit win season. He was 15-14. The next season he led the league in wins with 22. He would win 19 in 1942 and 14 in 1943. He dropped considerably in 1944 to 2-6. Before the 1945 season, Whit was sold to the Phillies for $20,000. He pitched one season with the Phils and was 0-7. Whit did not pitch in the majors after that season.

Josh Billings played his entire career for the Tigers. He was 19 and had just finished his freshman year at Brown when joined the Reading Keystones in 1927. He was 0-0 in ten games with 9.56 ERA. He then went to the Tigers to finish the year and was 5-4 with a 4.84 ERA. He started opening day for the Tigers the next year in 1928 at the age of 20. He pitched 7 innings and gave up 4 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk. He was 5-10 for the season with a 5.12 ERA. He spent some time in 1928 in the minors but was back with the Tiges in 1929, but for only 8 games. He was 0-1 with a 5.12 ERA again and was done in the majors.

Chick Gagnon played one season a Tiger. IN 1922 at the age of 24 Chick (Harold Dennis) got in 10 games. He was mainly a pinch runner or a pinch hitter. He had 4 plate appearances and got one hit and scored two runs. He also played one game where he had one chance as a third baseman and one other game where he played short with no chances at a ball. At the end of the season he was traded to the Senators for Ray Francis. He would play 4 games for the Senators and his major league experience was over.

Frank Gibson played one season with the Tigers in 1913. He was mainly a catcher but also played a couple games in the outfield. In 23 total games he hit .140 with a double being his only hit for extra bases. He did manage to steal two bases and drive in two runs. He went down to the minors after the season and did not return until 8 years later with the Boston Braves. He played 7 seasons with the Braves hitting .281 for the Braves as mainly a back up catcher for the Braves. He was done in the majors after 1927.

Cy Ferry pitched three games for the 1904 Tigers. He came to the Tigers in a November 1903 trade with Buffalo of the Eastern League. Matty McIntyre and Cy came to the Tiges for Ernie Courtney, Rube Kisinger and Sport McAllister. His first game was a loss to the Red Sox in Boston. The Sox won 8-1. He did not get the loss. He got in two other games and posted a final record of 0-1 with a 6.23 ERA. His one loss was a complete game he pitched. But I can not tell who he lost to. In 1905 he pitched two innings of one game for the Cleveland Naps (later the Indians) and gave up three runs on three hits in a 7-5 loss to the Red Sox. He was done in the majors after that.

September 26 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Norm McRae pitched for the Tigers in 1969 and 1970.  He was a late season call up in 1969 and on September 13 he made his debut against the Washington Senators at Tiger Stadium.  The Tigers were in second place in their division.  It was the first year MLB used divisions within a league.  The Tigers were in second place in the East trailing the Baltimore Orioles.  But this was a meaningless game.  The Tigers trailed the O’s by 18.5 games with 17 games left to play.  Norm was called in to pitch the 9^th with Tigers down 6-10.  He walked Eddie Brinkman.  Got Tom Cullen to ground out, struck out Frank Howard, before Ken McMullen hit a single scoring Eddie Brinkman.  He finished the inning striking out Brent Alyea.  Norm’s next game was 12 days later but again, against the Washington Senators in the 9^th, and the Tiges trailing 7-1Norm got the call.  This time Norm got Eddie Brinkman, Zoilo Versalles and Frank Howard out 1-2-3.  The next day the Tigers were in Boston’s Fenway Park with the Sox leading 4-3 Norm got the call again in the 6^th.  Norm gave up a leadoff single to George Scott.  Then a wild pitch to Billy Conigliaro moved Scott to second.  A fly ball to right moved Scott to third and sac fly by Tom Satriano brought in Scott.  Norm got Sonny Siebert out to end the inning and also end Norm’s 1969 season.  His totals for the season were 3 games, 3 innings pitched, no decisions and an ERA of 6.00.  In 1970 He got into 19 games and posted a 2.87 ERA but still with no decisions.  At the end of the 1970 season Norm was traded in one of the all time greatest deals for the Tigers.  The Tigers sent Norm, Don Wert, Elliot Maddox and Denny McLain to the same Washington Senators Norm debuted against.   In fact Eddie Brinkman was part of the deal coming to Detroit.  Eddie came over with Joe Coleman, Jim Hannan and Aurelio Rodriguez.  Rodriguez and Brinkman would make up our left isde of the infield for the next few years while Joe Coleman would be a two time 20 game winner for us.  Denny would win only 18 games in the rest of his career while leading the league in losses in 1971 with 22.  Don Wert had only 2 hits left if his career while Elliot Maddox did have 10 more years as a .260 hitter but mainly as a back up.  Norm never played again in the majors.  He was two years in the minors before heading to Mexico as a player and later a manager.  Norm died in 2003 of cancer at the age of 55.

Walt Streuli was an 18 year old kid when he made his major league debut as a Tiger in 1954.  He came into a game against the Indians with the Tribe up 7-0 in the bottom of the 7^th.  He was a defensive replacement for Red Wilson at catcher part way through the inning.   The next inning he was up and he drew a walk against Hall of Famer Early Wynn.  He then was forced at second when Gene Bullard hit a grounder to third.  Walt caught the ninth and his season was over.  In 1955 Walt got into two games and then in 1956 he had his breakout season and doubled his games for his career by getting in three games.  For his career in the majors, Walt was in 6 games and got three singles and two doubles.  His career average was .250. 

Joe Sullivan was a young pitcher for the Tigers in 1935 when he made his major league debut.  He was brought in to pitch the 9^th of a game the Tigers were trailing 1-0 against the Tribe at Navin Field.  He replaced Eldon Auker.  Joe did not allow a run and when the Tigers tied it up in the bottom of the 9^th, Joe stayed in the game.  He stayed until the end in 14^th.  In that inning the Indians finally put together a run to win the game 2-1.  Joe had given up 1 run on 3 hits in 6 innings of work.  For that World Championship season Joe went 6-6 with a 3.51 ERA.  He came back to Detroit for 1936 and went 2-5 with a 6.78 ERA.  Joe would continue pitching until he was 39 in 1949.  He played in the majors with the Boston Bee’s and the Pittsburgh Pirates.  His career totals were 30-37 with a 4.01 ERA.

September 25 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Kyle Ryan is easy not to know as a Tiger.  He debuted as a Tiger less than a month ago.  This is to show you how up to date I try to be!  Okay, maybe I don’t succeed.  But I try!  Kyle was born in 1991.  Yep, 10 years after I graduated from high school!  He was drafted and signed by the Tigers in 2010.  He went to the Gulf Coast League and was 2-4 in rookie ball with a 4.17 ERA that year in Rookie Ball.  In 2011 the lefty pitcher was 6-10 as a starter in class A West Michigan with a 3.15 ERA.  In 2012 he was similar at 7-8 with a 3.74 ERA.  Last year he was 12-7 with a 3.17 ERA but it was back in class A Lakeland.  In 2014 he split time with Erie and Toledo before being called up by the Tiges.  He was 7-10 at Erie with his highest ERA yet at 4.55 and then  moved to Toledo and was 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA in5 starts.  Go figure.  The Tiges brain trust of Dombrowski and Ausmus called up Ryan and he made his major league debut on August 30 against the Chisox.  He was everything we want in a future lefty starter.  He pitched 6 innings and gave up 0 runs on 5 hits and 2 BB.  He got the win in that start.  He pitched an inning out of the pen against the Giants and got the win 9 days ago against the Twinkies last Monday in relief.  He pitched a scoreless inning Sunday against the Royals to bring his major league record to 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 5 games.  Folks, remember, you heard about Kyle here first.

Steve Wapnick started his time in the majors with the Tigers.  He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987 out of Cal State Fresno.  But he did not really go anywhere in their minors.  In December 1989 the Tigers picked him in the Rule 5 draft from the Jays for the 1990 season.  Steve made the Tigers roster for 1990 as the rule is the player drafted in the Rule 5 draft must stay on the drafting teams 25 man roster the entire season.  In the 7^th game of the season Steve made his major league debut coming in to face the Orioles in a game that the O’s led 5-2.  Steve gave up a single to his first batter.  He also walked a batter but K’d 3 in the inning!  He started the 8^th and gave up a lead off single again and walked a batter before getting Cal Ripken to hit into a fielder’s choice.   At that point he was pulled for Jerry Don Gleaton for a lefty vs. lefty matchup.  Five days later Steve was brought in again to face the O’s in a 4-1 game with the O’s leading in the 4^th.  This time Cal Ripken led off with a walk.  Steve gave up another walk but also recorded another K.  In the 5^th Steve got another K and gave up another walk but was pulled after recording 2 outs and replaced by Jerry Don Gleaton.  The next day Steve faced the O’s for a third time in the three games of his career.    It was the 7^th and the O’s led 5-0.  Steve pitched 2 innings giving up 1 run.  He walked 2 and K’d 1.  He ended the game so no one replaced him.  On April 24, ten days after Steve’s MLB debut, he was called in to face (no, not the O’s,) the Twins in the 4^th inning with the Twinkies up 6-2 with 2 out and the bases loaded.  Steve got Gary Gaetti to pop up to second to end the threat.  Steve pitched the 5^th and gave up 2 singles and a walk but no runs.  In the 6^th he gave up 2 runs on a lead off double, followed by another double, a single and a walk.  At that point he was pulled for Jerry Don Gleaton.  Less than a week later Steve was no longer a Tiger.  A pitcher not selected in a rule 5 draft would likely be sent down to the minors for some more seasoning or work on his control as Steve pitched 7 innings for the Tiges and K’d 6, which is good.  But walked 10, which in not good.  But as a Rule 5 draftee, the Tiges could not send him down.  Instead he was returned to the Blue Jays on May 1.  Steve never made it up to the Jays.  In September the Jays sent Steve as “the player to be named later” to finish a deal with the White Sox.  Steve pitched 6 games for the Sox in 1991 and went 0-1 with 1 K and 4 walks.  He never played in the majors again and was done in baseball after 1993.

Ed Putman

Sal Butera

Johnny Sain

Dick Harley

September 24 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Nate Cornejo

John McDonald

Dixie Walker

Tom Seats started his career in the majors as a Tiger pitcher.  Tom was born in North Carolina but appears to be a California boy through and through.  He started his pro career in D level ball in the Nebraska State League in 1934.  He was 18-8 as a lefty starter.  He then signed with Branch Rickey’s Cardinals farm system and worked there for 5 years becoming eligible for the rule 5 draft as he never made the majors.  The Tigers drafted him in October 1939 for 1940.  This is significant in getting Tom to the majors as two months later the Commissioner, Judge Landis, who hated the farm system created by Branch Rickey and employed by the Tigers, decided that about two thirds of the Tigers minor leaguers were now free agents.  This decimated the Tigers farm system and meant that that path was clear for a lot of players that would not otherwise make the majors.  Tom was one of these players and he made his major league debut on May 4 of 1940.  He came into a game that had long been out of hand between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Tiges.  The Athletics had scored 9 in the third to make the score 7-2.  By the time Tom came in in the 5th it was already 11-2 in favor of the Athletics.  Tom gave up 3 runs on 5 hits in 3.1 innings pitched.  But the damage was long done and the game ended in a 14-5 pounding.  Tom got his first win 2 day later when he came in to a game that was also out of hand to the Yanks with the score 4-1 to the Yanks in Yankee Stadium after 6 innings.  Tom blanked the Yanks for 3 innings and K’d 3 Yanks.  Meanwhile the Tiger bats started to pound the Yanks with three homers by HOF’ers Charlie Gerhinger, and Hank Greenberg and back up catcher Billy Sullivan along with 2 more doubles by Greenberg scored 5 Tiger runs in the 8th and 9th to make the final score 6-4 Tiges and give Tom his first win in only his second appearance.  His next decision was  loss to Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians.  Tom lasted only 1.2 innings and gave up 6 runs in that short period.  This would be kind of crucial as the Tigers and Indians battled through out the season for the pennant.  In September the lead changed hands 7 times between the two and culminated in the great Bob Feller battle with Floyd Giebel.  But in the end the Tigers won the pennant and Tom’s record of 2-2 helped get the Tigers there.  In April of 1941 the Tiges sold Tom to the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League.   Tom was 30 at this time but pitched the next four seasons in San Fran.  My assumption is his age kept him out of the draft for WWII.  By the end of the War a Brooklyn Dodger team that was trying to contend picked up Tom for one more go in the majors.  Tom went 10-7 as part of a hodge podge starting rotation of 6 pitchers with 15 or more starts but only 2 had more than 20 starts.  Tom had an ERA that was almost a full run higher than the other 5 starters.  At the end of the season the Dodgers were 11 games back of first and Tom was done as a major leaguer.  He would pitch through 1950 in the minors on the west coast and died out there in 1992 at the age of 81.

Joe Sargent

Herbert Jackson

September 23 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Joba Chamberlain

Jim Morrison almost ended his career as a Detroit Tiger.  He was a ten year veteran of the Phillies, White Sox and Pirates when he was traded to the Tigers in August of 1987 for Darnell Coles and Morris Madden.  He was a utility player for the Tigers although he spent half his time at third.  The other positions he played were DH, 2B, SS, RF, 1B, and LF.  He hit .205 for the Tiges in 1987 and was with the team in the playoffs.  In the playoffs he went 2 for 5 with a run scored.  He came back to the Tigers in 1988 and was hitting .216 when the Tigers released him in June.  4 days later he was picked up by the Braves and played 51 games before the season ended and the Braves let him go.

Jim Rooker started his major league career with 2 games as a pitcher in the Tigers great 1968 season.  He started his pro career as an outfielder as the Tigers signed him as a centerfielder in 1960.  He was converted to a pitcher in the Tigers farm system in 1966.  He finally got a chance pitch in the bigs in 1968 after being called up multiple times and returned to Toledo without having pitched a pitch.  He pitched finally threw 4.2 innings and gave up 2 runs on four hits and did not get a decision in 2 games as a Tiger pitcher.  But his time as a Tiger was short lived.  He was sold to the Yankees in September of 1968 as part of the transaction that brought John Wyatt to the Tigers and two weeks later was drafted by the Royals as part of the expansion draft.  He went on to play 12 years with the Royals and Pirates and posted a career 103-109 record.  Twice in his career he won 15 games.  After he his career he became a broadcaster for the Pirates. 

Lefty Stewart was a left handed pitcher for the Tigers.  He started his career in 1921 at the age of 20 with the Tigers.  He got in 5 games and pitched 9 innings giving up 12 runs on 20 hits.  He then went down to the minors and three times won 20 games at the A and AA levels before coming back to the majors in 1927.  From 1927 until 1935 he pitched for the St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators and Cleveland Indians and posted a career record of 101 and 98. 

Biff Schaller

September 22 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Danny Klassen ended his 5 year major league experience with the Tigers in 2003.  He was born in Canada and started his pro career at the age of 17.  He had spent four seasons with the Diamondbacks before coming to Detroit.   He played 22 games for the Tigers in 2003 as a utility infielder after signing as a free agent.   In his time with Detroit he hit .247 and one homer and 7 RBI’s.   He was a solid defensive third baseman and because of his defense he was often called on to play second and short.

Vince Coleman was a speedster that ended his career in Detroit in 1997.  He had bounced around his last few years his glory days with the Cardinals.  With the Cards he was rookie of the year and he led the league in steals his first six season as a big leaguer.  He was traded to the Mets and things were not the same for him.  His steals were down as was his batting average.  But his bigger issues were off the field.  He was charged in a rape complaint that never came to court.  He hurt star Dwight Gooden when he hit him in the arm swinging a golf club in the locker room and finally he tossed a firecracker into a crowd of fans injuring two year old.  He bounced to the Royals, Mariners, Reds and finally the Tigers where he had 15 plate appearances in 6 games.  He had one hit to give him one total base as a Tiger.  He was released on April 16, 15 games in the season.

Anse Moore played 51 games for the Tigers in 1946 mainly in the outfield.  He was a returning World War II vet returning to the franchise he had spent several years with in the minors before the war.  He had hit .270-.290 before the war and hopes were he would do the same for the Tiges.  But in the 148 plate appearances he got 12 walks and 28 hits for a .209 average.  After 1946 Anse was back in the minors and hit about .300 for the next seven years before he was done with pro baseball. 

Chuck Hostetler was a reserve outfielder and pinch hitter for the Tigers in 1944 and 1945.  He started in the minors back in 1928.  By the time he made it to the majors World War II was on and Chuck was a bit old for the service at 40 years old.  He was not, however, the oldest player in the league.  In fact, he was only the 8^th oldest.  As a 40 year old rookie he got in 90 games and hit .298 with a .350 on base %.  He didn’t have great range but he did have some speed as he did steal 4 bases and he was a good glove.  In 1945 he had a big drop off in playing time getting into only 42 games and his plate appearances dropped even further to only 51.  His average dropped as well to a mere .159.  He did get into the World Series in 1945 but in 3 games he was 0-3.  He was released by the Tigers before the 1946 season as the majors were getting all their players back from the war and Chuck was done a player.

Frank Walker started his major league career with the Tigers in 1917.  He played two seasons with the Tigers as a reserve outfielder.  He was 22 years old in 1917 and only got in 2 games and went 0-2.  In 1918 he came back to the Tigers and hit only .198 in 55 games.  He went out to Portland in the PCL in 1919.  1920 and 1921 found him back in the majors but in Philly with the Athletics where he hit .229.  1925 was Frank’s last season in the majors.  He played for the New York Giants and hit .222.  Frank continued to play in organized ball  in the minors and also managed in the minors until 1931.  

Ira Flagstead started his major league career at the same time and on the same team, the Tigers of 1917 as Frank Walker did.  Ira had a higher batting average and therefore longer staying power in the majors than Frank.  Ira hit .289 for the Tigers over six seasons.  He was sold to the Red Sox in 1923 and had some very good years with them.  He received MVP votes for from 1924 through 1928 with the Red Sox.  He hit .295 for the Sox over seven years.  He wound up his career with the Senators and Pirates in 1929 and 1930.  Ira died before the 1940 season started in Olympia, Washington. 

Hooks Dauss is the Tigers all time winningest pitcher for the Tigers.  He was born George August Dauss but was called “Hooks” because of his curve ball.  The Tigers purchased him from St. Paul of the American Association in August on 1912.  He went on to pitch his entire career with the Tiges from 1912 when he was 1-1, until 1926 when he was 12-6.  In between he had three seasons of over 20 wins and twice won 19 games.  He won a total of 223 games for the Tigers with a 3.30 ERA.  One record that he has for the Tigers that is likely never to be broken is his 245 complete games.  That averages out to over 16 per season  if you average it over the 15 seasons he saw playing time.  Hooks was also an excellent fielder as well.  He led the league in assists for pitchers three times and led the league in fielding percentage for pitchers in 1924 when he did not commit an error.

Below is an American Caramel card of Hooks from my collection.

September 21 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Pedro Santana had a sip of coffee with the Tigers in 2001. Pedro came to the Tigers organization in a trade with the Astros in 1996. The Tiges sent Greg Olson to the Houston for Pedro and a minor leaguer. Pedro worked his way up in the Tigers org and finally on July 16, the 24 year old Pedro came into a game in the bottom of the 8^th against the Reds with the Tigers trailing 1-9. He replaced Damion Easley at second base. The first batter, Alex Ochoa, hit a first pitch ground ball to short and was thrown out. The second batter, Kelly Stinnett hit a first pitch fly ball to center for the second out. The third batter hit a 2-1 pitch for pop fly and Pedro caught it for the out. In the top of the ninth the Tigers were up and Pedro was in the second spot in the order. The batters due up were in the 4-5-6 spots. Pedro did not get on deck. The Tigers lost the game and Pedro’s time as a major leaguer was up. He was on the field for 6 pitches and caught a pop fly.

Cecil Fielder hit 245 homeruns for the Tigers over seven years.  Cecil started his career with the Blue Jays before taking a hiatus and playing ball in Japan for the Hanshin Tigers.  He did not display the power in Toronto that he showed upon his return to the States.   In 1990 he exploded on the scene here in Detroit hitting 51 homers to become only the third batter since Roger Maris to hit 50 homers in a season.  I have always held his 1990 season as the fence between the non steroid and steroid eras.  Prior to Cecil, the over hundred year history of the major leagues, only 17 times had anyone hit 50 or more homers in a season.  It has been done now 24 times in the 21 years since Cecil in 1990.  What side of the fence Cecil was on, I don’t know.  Cecil led the league in RBI’s and homers in both 1990 and 1991 yet he did not earn an MVP award.  Those went to Rickey Henderson and Cal Ripken.  Rickey hit .325 with 28 homers and 61 RBI’s but stole 65 bases and scored 119 runs.  Cecil hit .277 with 51 homers and 132 RBI’s.  But Cecil did not steal a base and scored 104 runs.  If steals are so important than should not total bases be even more?  Rickey had 282 total bases to Cecil’s league leading 339 total bases.  In 1991 Cal hit .323 with 34 homers and 114 RBI’s.  He stole 6 bases and scored 99 runs.  Cecil hit .261 with 44 homers and 133 RBI’s.  So it wasn’t steals.  Cal, however, led the league in total bases with 368 to Cecil’s 320.  Hmmm.  I thought 1990 showed it wasn’t total bases that were important.  Cecil was traded to the Yankees in what Randy Smith called his all time greatest deal.  He got Ruben Sierra and the goal of our trade, Matt Drews.  Matt Drews you say?  Who else did we trade Cecil and Travis Fryman for?  Matt Drews!  Matt never spent a day in the majors.  When the Tigers left Matt unprotected in the Arizona Diamondbacks expansion draft, they took him.  We then promptly traded Travis to the Diamondbacks for Gabe Alvarez, Joe Randa and Matt Drews.   Randy was one smooth GM.

Frank MacCormack pitched in 9 games for the Tigers in 1976.  He was 0-5 in his 9 games with a 5.79 ERA.  He pitched 32.2 innings and allowed 35 hits and 34 walks for WHIP of 2.112.  He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the Expansion draft and with the Mariners in 1977 was in three games and pitched 7 innings.  He gave up 4 hits and 12 walks for a WHIP of 2.286.  Frank never pitched in the majors again after 1977 with the Mariners. 

Aurelio Lopez was the Tigers crack set up man in the great year of 1984.  Senor Smoke  started his career with the Royals in 1974 but was sold to the Mexico City Reds prior to the 1975 season.  He was then purchased by the Cardinals from Mexico City at the end of the 1977 season.  The Cardinals then made a deal with the Tigers at the end of the 1978 season of Aurelio and Jerry Morales for Jack Murphy (never made it to the majors) and Bob Sykes.  Sykes was done in the majors after 1981.  Aurelio was 30 when he started his first of seven seasons with the Tigers and was the set up man for Willie Hernandez.    In 1984, as long as the starter got us through 6 or 7 innings, Aurelio and Willie would do the rest.  Aurelio was released after the 1985 season and was picked up by the Astros.  He was done in the majors after 1987.  In 1990 he was elected Municipal President of his hometown in Mexico.  In 1992 at the age of 44 he was killed in car accident.  There have been three players in the majors with the name Aurelio and all three have died in car accidents,  Aurelio’s Lopez, Rodriguez and Monteagudo.

Billy Muffett coached for the Tigers from 1985 through 1994.  He had been a pitcher for the Cardinals, Giants and Red Sox from the late 1950’s into the early 1960’s.  He became a coach for the Cardinals from 1967 through 1970 and then coached with the Angels from 1974 through 1977.  He joined the Tigers in 1985 replacing Roger Craig as pitching coach as Roger went to San Francisco to become their manager.  Billy survived cancer in 1987 and continued coaching.  I know he had a falling out with Sparky Anderson but I never understood what the issue was.  Billy was done with baseball after he left the Tigers and died in 2008.

John McHale was a Tiger in the mid and late 1940’s.  He attended Detroit Catholic Central and then went to Norte Dame.  He came up to the Tiges in 1943 for 4 plate appearances in 4 games.  He did not get a hit but he did get a walk.  In 1944 his playing time was cut to one plate appearance.  He did not get on base.  1945 saw his career reach new heights when he made 16 plate appearances!  He got a walk and two hits for a .143 average.  Better than his .000 in 1943 and his .000 in 1944.  He also got in the World Series in 1945.  But he did not get a hit.  However, 1946 still saw him in the minors.  The year in the minors was just what John needed to have his breakout season of 1947.  He had 103 plate appearances and got 20 hits!  Unfortunately this was followed by his final season as a player, 1948 when he got one plate appearance and did not reach base.  John was more successful in the front office.  He was the Tigers GM in 1957 at the age of 35.  Soon he was in Milwaukee with the Braves and was part of the move to Atlanta.   In 1969 he became the Montreal Expos first GM and President.  His son John McHale Jr., was the Tigers President from 1995 through 2001 and was the man who was responsible for getting the Tigers out of Tiger Stadium.

Eldon Auker was a submarine pitcher for the Tigers from 1933 through 1938.  He was one of the keys for the 1934 and 1935 championship seasons.   In the 1934 season he went 15-7 but in the World Series he was the pitcher of game seven and unfortunately got hammered by the Cardinals.  He gave up 4 runs in 2.1 innings on six hits and one walk.  He came back in 1935 and went 18-7 and helped the Tigers to their first World Series championship.  He was traded to the Red Sox at the end of the 1938 season with Chet Morgan and Jake Wade for Pinky Higgins and Archie McKain.  But Eldon did not like pitching for player manager Joe Cronin and had the first losing season of his career going 9-10.  He had been used to Mickey Cochrane allowing his pitchers to call their own game.  But Joe kept coming in from shortstop and telling him how to pitch.  One day Eldon had had enough and said “hey Joe, why don’t I go play short and you can pitch?”  At that point Joe was not a happy guy.  Eldon was ready to call it quits for baseball rather than play another year for Joe.  But Fred Haney of the St. Louis Browns talked to him and they worked out a deal to buy Eldon from the Sox.  As the Sox knew Eldon was going to quit rather than play for them.  They happily sold him to the Browns.   Eldon pitched three more seasons with the Browns before calling it quits with baseball.  In 1999 he was at the closing of Tiger Stadium and spoke to the crowd and players representing all the Tigers from the past.  He published an interesting biography called “Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms”.

John Bogart was a right handed pitcher for the Tigers in 1920.  At 19, he was the fourth youngest player in the leagues in 1920.  In his major league debut he started and pitched 6.2 innings against the Red Sox and left the game with a 10-6 lead.  However, Mutt Wilson came in and gave up 5 runs and the lead.  But the Tiges came back and won the game in the 12 inning 14-13, but not for John.  A few days later John came in to pitch the 8^th and 9^th against the Senators.  He pitched two perfect innings and got the win as the Tigers scored 4 in the bottom of the ninth to win 12-11.   John got his second start against the Browns and pitched 7 innings giving up only 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks.  But he took that loss as the Tigers failed to score any runs.  John came in to face the Indians a few days later behind 1-0 in the second and proceeded to pitch 8 innings of relief!    He gave up 4 runs on 6 hits and got the win.  John would go on to pitch until he was 28 years old but never pitched in the majors again. 

Frank McManus played three seasons in the majors and had only one plate appearance for the Tigers.  He started his major league experience in 1899 when he was a catcher with the Washington Senators of the National League.  He played in 7 games for them and got 8 hits.After a couple of seasons with the White Sox and Kansas City Blues of the minor league American League, he showed up with the Brooklyn Superbas of the National League.  He went to the plate 7 times and did not get a hit.  The next year he was in Detroit after we purchased him from Brooklyn.  He got in one game for the Tigers in 1904 and did not make a plate appearance.   His record appears to show that he was a pinch runner who did not advance.  He ended up with the Montreal Royals before being purchased by the New York Highlanders to finish out the 1904 season and went 0 for 7 with the Highlanders.  It is believed he was murdered in 1923 at the age of 47 in Syracuse, New York. 

September 20 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jordan Tata made his major league debut as a Tiger in 2006.  He came into a game against the Rangers with the Tigers up 8-3.  He was spelling Nate Robertson.  Jordan made it a close game giving up three runs on two hits and two walks before Fernando Rodney relieved him in the 9^th.  Jordan would get in 8 games that year and not record a decision.  He posted a 6.14 ERA.  Jordan would spend most of that season in Toledo as a starter.  There he looked good going 10-6 with a 3.84 ERA.  2007 found him splitting time between Toledo and Detroit again.  In Toledo he was 4-5 with a 3.05 ERA.  In Detroit he started three games and went 1-1 with a 7.71 ERA.  His win came against the Oakland A’s on July 30.  He pitched 7 innings and gave up only 2 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.  On August 5^th he faced the White Sox and lost giving up 3 runs in 5 innings on 5 hits and 4 walks.  Five days later he faced the Oakland A’s again and got shelled.  He lasted 2 innings giving up 7 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks.  Luckily the Tigers beat up on the A’s pitching as well so Jordan did not get the loss.  However, the Tiers did not get het win either.  They lost the game 16-10.  That would be Jordan’s last appearance in a major league game.

Dennis Ribant was a pitcher on the 1968 Tigers.  He came to the Tigers in a trade with the Pirates that sent Dave Wickersham to Pitt for Deny at the end of the 1967 season.  He was believed to be involved in an ugly incident in Oakland that year.  The Tigers and A’s did not like each other and had a major brawl in 1967.  In 1968 the first time they Tiges made the trip Oakland, Al Kaline was hurt on an inside pitch that fractured his finger.  The next day the A’s Pitcher Jack Aker nailed Jim Northrup in the back of the head.  When Northrup came to he charged Aker and the brawl began.  Eddie Matthews took out Aker with three hits to the head.  Willie Horton had been in the clubhouse whirlpool with an injury came running out on the field half dressed to join the melee.  After 15 minutes, the Tigers and A’s were heading back to their benches when some of the A’s faithful expressed their displeasure with the Tigers.  No one ever admitted who, but a Tiger picked up a ball and fired it into the crowd.  However, instead of hitting those with the mouths, a middle aged lady was struck above the eye and broke open a cut on her head.  She sued the Tigers for $200,000 and the Tigers settled out of court.  Dennis Ribant was quietly traded to the White Sox for Don McMahon.  Some of the Tigers claimed that was the hardest pitch Deny threw all year.  Deny was 2-2 for the Tigers in 1968 with a 2.22 ERA.  For his career Deny was 24-29 with a 3.87 ERA and had 56 saves over six years with the Mets, Pirated, Tigers, White Sox, Cardinals and Reds.

Tom Tresh finished his career as a Tiger in 1969.  He was the son of former White Sox catcher Mike Tresh.  He came out of Allen Park, MI and attended Central Michigan.  He was rookie of the year in 1962while with the Yankees.  He stayed with the Yanks from his first 9 games in 1961 into 1969 when he was traded to the Tigers for Ron Woods.   The Stones  were looking for someone to replace the Mick?  Mick Taylor?  Er, maybe the Yankees wanted to replace the Mick who retired?  Anyway, Tom hit .286 his rookie year and never hit that high again.  He was a career .245 hitter but with a good glove.  He won a Gold Glove in 1965.  He was an all star but was hitting only .182 for the Yankees in 1969 when they traded him.  This after his worst three years in row in 66, 67, and 68, with each year progressively worse.  With the Tigers in 1969 he hit .224 in 94 games and hit 13 homers with 37 RBI’s. 

Chuck Dressen was the manager of the Tigers for four seasons in the 1960’s.  He had been a third baseman for the Reds and Giants in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  He was the manager for the Reds in the mid 1930’s and was made famous as the manager for the Brooklyn Dodgers in Roger Kahn’s book “The Boys of Summer”.  He managed the Senators and Milwaukee Braves before taking over the Tiger reins in 1963, replacing Bob Scheffing.  He managed through 1964.  In 1965 he had a heart attack at spring training but came back to take over the Tiges to end the season.  He started the 1966 season as the manager again but had a second heart attack that would take his life.   He was replaced by Bob Swift who was diagnosed with lung cancer and died that year also.  Frank Skaff would take over and take the team through the end of the season.  Chuck Dressen’s career record with the Tigers was a 211 wins to 189 losses.

September 19 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Andrew Good was a Tiger pitcher in 2005.  He went to Rochester High School before he started his professional baseball experience.   He was a starter his minor league career and in 2003 the Arizona Diamondbacks brought him up as a mid season call up.  He started 10 of the 16 games he appeared in that year with the D-Backs and was 4-2 that year.   But his ERA was a bit high at 5.29.  In 2004 He was no longer a starter for Arizona but was used more as a middle reliever.  He was 1-2 in 2004 with a 5.31 ERA.  At the end of the season the D-Back let him go.  The Tigers then signed him as a free agent in before the 2005 season.   The Tigers brought him up in the beginning of the season and on April 18, two years to the day of his major league debut, he made his debut in a Tiger uniform against the Orioles.  With the Tigers up 13-3 Andrew came in and put the Orioles down 1-2-3 and K’s two of the three.  Two days later on April 20, Andrew came in to take over for Wil Ledezma in the sixth of a 6-1 White Sox lead.  Andrew finished the game but gave up a three run homer and also had to pitch out of a jam he got himself in when he put two men on before getting the nest three out.  That was enough for the Tigers and he was sent down to Toledo.  Andrew would not pitch in the majors again.  He was released by the Tigers at the end of the 2005 season after going 9-5 with a 3.68 ERA.

Russ Nagelson ended his major league experience as a Tiger in 1970.  He had been with the Indians since 1968 as a pinch hitter/ outfielder getting very limited time at the plate.  He only made 52 plate appearances  for the Indians from his debut in 1968 until he was traded with Billy Rohr for Fred Lasher in May of 1970.  For Detroit, Russ did not get much of a change.  He was again mainly a pinch hitter and an outfielder.   He had 38 plate appearances in 28 games.  His biggest problem was that as a pinch hitter he needed a higher batting average.  He hit .188 as a Tiger which was not far off of his career .211 average.  He did have good speed stealing 20 bases without ever getting caught.  But if you can not get on base you will not last long in the majors.  After the 1970 season Russ was done in the major leagues.  He would play one more year in the minors before his pro baseball career was over.   

Ron Shoop made his major league debut as a Tiger in August of 1959.  He came in to catch in the top of the ninth in a game the Tigers were behind 1-7 to the Red Sox.  He did not make an error nor did he make a put out other than a K to finish the inning.  Several weeks later he started a game against the White sox as the catcher for Jim Proctor.  He did not make an error and no one stole a base on him.  But he also did not get a hit.  He did drive in a run to make the score Pale Hose 5, Tigers 3.  However, the score did not end any better.  In fact the final score was 10-5 Sox.  The next day Ron started the game again as the catcher for Bob Bruce.  This time Louis Aparicio stole two times on Ron.  Ron did get his first major league hit in the third inning.  He scored on Harvey Kuenn’s single to give the Tiges their second run to put them only down 2-5.  In the ninth the Tigers were down 4-6.  Frank Bolling got on by an error and Ron was the tying run coming to the plate.  Unfortunately Ron grounded into a 6-4-3 double play and the game was over.  Ron never made another appearance in a major league game.  His final stats over the three games of his career were 1 hit in 7 plate appearances with 1 RBI and 1 run scored. 

Frank Reiber was a catcher for the Tigers in the mid 1930’s.  He went to Detroit Central High School and made his way up the minor league ladder before joining the Tigers in 1933 as a back up catcher.  He was fourth on the depth charts getting into only 13 games for the Tiges that season.  He got five hits and one homer in 1933.  In 1934 he made three plate appearences and never got behind the plate that season.  The three plate appearences resulted in 2 walks.  In 1935 Frank got in 8 games and hit .273.  Finally in 1936 Frank again hit .273 but in 20 games.  After the 1936 season, Frank’s major league time was over.  In total he got into 44 games, hit .271 with two homers and 9 RBI’s. 

Here is the Willard Chocolate card of Ralph Young from my collection.

Ralph Young was the Tigers starting second baseman for 7 years.   He first made the majors with the Yankees in 1913 and played 7 games with only one hit.  He spent 1914 playing for the Sacramento Wolves of the Pacific Coast League hitting .275 in 199 games.  No, that is not a typo.  The Pacific Coast league used to play over 200 games in a season.   In 1915 Ralph came to Detroit and became the starting second baseman.  A position he would hold through 1921.  During that period Ralph hit .251 but walked 437 times and drove in 219 runs while scoring 146 runs.  At the end of the 1921 season the Tigers picked up George Cutshaw from the Pirates off of waivers.  George became the starting second baseman and prior to the 1922 season Ralph was waived.   The Philadelphia Athletics signed him and Ralph played one more season in the majors in Philly. 

Yank Robinson started his major league career in 1882 with the Detroit Wolverines of the National League.  He played shortstop, outfield and even pitched.  Unlike the Pacific Coast League of Ralph Young’s time, the National League of Yank’s time played 84 games.  Ralph got into 11 of them.  He pitched in one throwing 2 scoreless innings and only giving up one base runner on a walk.  He played 10 games at short and fielded at an .800 fielding percentage compared to the team average of .857.  He also had his one game in the outfield where he fielded flawlessly.  At the plate Yank hit .179 compared to the team average of .230.  Yank played the 1883 season with the East Saginaw Grays.   Yank played with the St. Louis Browns against the Detroit Wolverines in the 1887 World Series hitting .326 in a losing effort as the Wolverines won it 10 games to 5.  Yank stayed in St. Louis until 1890 when he jumped to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the ill fated Players League.  1891 found him back in the American Association but this time with the Cincinnati Kelly’s Killers.  It was there that he set a dubious record of committing seven errors in seven chances at second base.   His last year in baseball was 1892 when he played for the Washington Senators of the National League.  Two years later William H. “Yank” Robinson died of tuberculosis in St. Louis at the age of 34.

September 18 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Mitch Meluskey

Chris Holt

Scott Earl

Roger Mason

Mark DeJohn

George Uhle

September 17 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Casey Crosby has struggled with arm problems his whole short career as a Tiger.  He was signed out of high school 2007 at the age of 18.  He did not pitch for the Tigers for any minor league team but rather underwent elbow reconstruction surgery under Dr. James Andrews at the University of Alabama.   In 2008 he was in the Tigers Rookie league club in Lakeland and the lefty started 3 games before his season was shut down so the 19 year old could recover some more from his surgery.  In 2009 he came back and was 10-4 with a 2.41 ERA at West Michigan (A) and was named the Tigers 4^th top prospect.  But in 2010 he was back on the DL due to “elbow inflammation”.  He made three rehab starts back in rookie ball Lakeland and was 0-1 with a 8.76 ERA.  In 2011 he was 9-7 with a 4.10 ERA as a starter at Erie (AA) and was on the Eastern League All Stars.  He started the 2012 season in Toledo (AAA) and was called up for a June 1 start to make his major league debut.  He was in Detroit so he took the mound before almost 42,000 fans at Comerica Park.  It was Yankees vs Tigers and Casey made his major league debut facing Derek Jeter.   He took Jeter to a full count but then gave up a single for his first batter faced.  He redeemed himself with a K on the second batter, former Tiger Curtis Granderson and he ended the inning with a K against Alex Rodriguez.  He did not allow a run that first inning.  But in the second he faced Jeter again.  He walked Jeter with the bases loaded.  This was followed by Curtis Granderson getting his revenge for the K in the first by hitting a grand slam homer.  He K’d “A’Knob” again in the third.  But in the 4^th he gave up another run to make the score 6-3.  He was pulled from his major league debut and would get tagged with the loss.  About a week later he was the starter against Indians and lasted 5.1 innings.  He allowed only 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks while K’ing 2 and would get his first major league win.   About another week later he got another start in Detroit.  He faced the Colorado Rockies and lasted only 3.2 innings.  But while he gave up 4 runs, he did not get the loss and he K’d 4.  That would be the last time Casey has played in the majors.  He has been in Toledo (AAA) since then.  In the three years he has played as a starter in Toledo he has put up a 9-14 record with a 4.40 ERA.  For 2014 he as posted a 0-0 record and a 5.71 ERA.  I do not see that Casey is likely to make the majors again.

Wayne Krenchicki was basically a “rent-a”-Tiger.  He was a utility infielder for the Baltimore Orioles for three years starting in 1979.  He was a .198 hitter for the O’s while showing a good glove.  He was sent to the Cincinnati Reds for 1982 season.  He hit .283 for the Reds as a backup third baseman for 1982.  In 1983 he was with Cincy while the Tiges tried to set up for a championship.  They were struggling at third so the traded lefty starter Pat Underwood for Wayne who was hitting .273.  The Tigers had been using Tom Brookens at third for most of 1983.  They also had Marty Castillo and Howard Johnson.  Brookens hit .214.  Castillo hit .193 and HoJo hit .212.  Wayne hit .278.  Despite this difference in batting the Tigers decided to sell Wayne back to the Reds and plan 1984 with a third baseman of one of others that had already shown themselves to be less than Wayne.  Wayne went back to the Reds for 1984 and hit .293.  The Tigers would win the World Series in 1984 but would struggle all year at third.  HoJo would be the starter for most of the season but hit only .248.  Tom Brookens was the utility infielder and hit .246.  Marty Castillo hit .234 as a backup.  Wayne lasted 2 more seasons in the majors and then went in to managing in the minors.  In 2010 he was managing in the Frontier League, an independent minor league. 

Chuck Daniel spent his entire, albeit brief, major league career as a Tiger.  He was 19 when he made his professional debut in the Tigers farm system in 1953.  He was 13-8 as a right handed starter in class D ball at Wausau, WI.  He spent the next two seasons in the military before returning to the Tigers farm in 1956 with class B Durham.  He was 4-4 and moved up to class A Augusta where he was 11-8.  In 1957 he was 9-12 with a 3.40 ERA in AAA Charleston and was possibly their best pitching prospect.  He was called up as a late season call up.  On September 21 Jim Bunning started a game in Kansas City against the Athletics.  Bunning gave up 4 runs on 5 hits and walk and was pulled in the third.  Chuck relieved Bunning with a runner on third and 2 outs with the score 4-0 KC.  He got Hector Lopez to ground out to end the inning.  He gave up a lead off hit in the 4^th but after the runner was picked off Chuck got a K and ground out to end the inning.  In the 5^th Chuck gave up a double and then a homer to future Tiger Gus Zernial to make the score 6-0 KC.  Chuck ended the inning with a K.  That was also the end of his major league career.  He had pitched 2.1 innings and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits with 2 K’s and did not record a decision.  He would pitch in the minors for the Tiges through 1960.  He was in the minors with the Orioles in 1961 when his professional career ended.   

Bob Uhl played a very brief time with the Tiges.  The lefty pitcher had brifly been with the Chicago White Sox in 1938.  He was a 24 year old pitcher and relieved a game against the Yankees and pitched 2 innings against the World Series champs and only gave up 1 hit.  Bob then went back to the minors for the White Sox until June of 1940 when the Tigers, rebuilding their minor leagues after Judge Landis had released most of them to free agency, bought Bob from the Sox farm team.  Bob was called up in the midst of the 1940 pennant race.  The Tiges were leading the league and playing the third place Yankees who were only 2 games back.  The Yanks were leading 11-5 when Bob was called in with one out in the 7^th.  He faced 6 batters giving up 5 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks without recording an out.  He was pulled by skipper Del Baker for Dizzy Trout.  He never pitched again in the majors.  He drops from the baseball rosters starting in 1942 and does not return until 1946.  Yet he is not listed among those who served in WW II.  In 1946 he returns in the Tigers farm system.  I have a couple of searches out for him.  But no results at this time.

Earl Webb

September 16 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Mark Parent made a career as a back up catcher with a stop in Detroit.  Mark was a good fielding catcher but was somewhat slow afoot.  In fact he was one of the slower catchers I have ever seen.  I believe his .214 career batting average was more due to his lack of ability to get down to first in time before the next inning than an inability to make contact with the ball.  He spent time with the Padres, Rangers, Orioles, Cubs and Pirates before the Tigers signed him as a free agent for the 1996 season.  Mark had one of his better years at the plate with the Tiges.  He hit .240 with 7 homers and 17 RBI’s in 38 games.  But he did not last the season with the Tigers.  Randy Smith felt he had his catcher of the future with Brad Ausmus whom he had just acquired in June from the Padres in the deal that sent catcher John Flaherty to the Padres.  They had a back up Raul Casanova so Mark was released by the Tigers in August.  Less than a week later the Orioles signed him again as a back up.  Mark finished his 13 season career as a back up with the Phillies in 1998.  Today he is managing the AA Reading Phillies.  This is his fifth year as a minor league manager.  He has a career managing record of 386-281.

Chris Pittaro was the second coming of Mickey Mantle for the Tigers in 1985.  At the age of 23 in 1985 Sparky told the baseball world that Chris was going to be the greatest ball player the Tiges had ever seen.  He was the starting third baseman for opening day despite only one year at the AA level under his belt where he hit .284.  But up he came and with a lot of eyes on him.   Chris started out hot.  After five game he was hitting .353.  But after ten games he was down to .282.  Chris’s average continued to drop and after 28 games and a .242 average he was sent done to Nashville, Detroit’s AAA team at the time.  At the end of the season he was traded to the Twins and in 25 games with the Twins over two seasons he hit .182 and was done in the majors.  Today he is Billy Beane’s right hand man in Oakland as the Director of Scouting for the Athletics. 

Mickey Tettleton was a power hitting catcher for the Tigers in the early 1990’s.  He had the most distinctive batting stance I may have ever seen.  He stood at the plate flat footed with the bat laying straight back and his back hand not grabbing the bat but flat open.  He looked almost bored at the plate.  Yet he managed to hit 112 home runs for the Tigers over four years.  He won two silver slugger awards and was an all star with the Tigers as well.  Originally with the Oakland A’s, the Tigers  acquired him from the Orioles, where he won a Silver Slugger and was an all star as well,  in a trade for pitcher Jeff Robinson.   The Tigers granted him free agency after the 1994 season and he signed with the Rangers and played his last three major league season with the Rangers

Vito Valentinetti pitched for the Tigers in 1958.  He had bounced around from the White Sox to the Cubs to the Indians before landing in Detroit in a trade that also brought Milt Bolling to the Tigers for Pete Wojey and $20,000.  Vito pitched In 15 games for the Tigers.  ON April 21 of that year he came in from the bull pen in the ninth inning of a tie game against the White Sox and got them out 1-2-3.  In the bottom half of the inning, Mickey McDermott hit a homer to give Vito his only win as a Tiger pitcher.   About two months later Vito was traded to the Senators for Al Cicotte.  Vito finished his career with a 13-14 record over 5 seasons with 5 teams.

September 15 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Javier Cardona first appeared in a major league uniform for the Tigers in 2000.  He was a 24 year old catcher from Porto Rico who had spent six years working his way up through the Tigers farm system.  He was successful in AA Jacksonville in 1998 hitting .309 but struggled a bit in AAA Toledo that same season hitting only .191.   He spent all of 1999 in Jacksonville.  But in 2000 he found his way to Toledo and hit .275.  He debuted on the last day of May and came in to a game in the top of the 8^th as a defensive replacement for Brad Ausmus in a game against the Rangers.   In his first at bat he hit a fly ball to right as the first out of the 9^th in the Tigers 13-5 loss.  He got in 26 games that year for the Tigers and hit .175.  2001 found him again splitting time between Toledo and Detroit.  At Toledo he hit .235 but in Detroit he hit .260 in 46 games with 102 plate appearances.   Before the 2002 season started Randy Smith traded the young catcher to the San Diego Padres with Rich Gomez for Damian Jackson and catcher Matt Walbeck.  After all, for Randy Smith, a trade just wasn’t a trade if it wasn’t between the Padres or Astros and involved a catcher.  For the Padres he hit .103 in 15 games and was done in the majors. 

John Pacella ended his major league experience as Tiger pitcher in 1986.  He had made his major league debut in 1977 with the Mets.  He was up and down with the Mets until 1980 when he was sent to the Padres in a deal that took Randy Jones to the Mets.  For the Mets John posted a 3-6 record in 39 games over 3 seasons.   The Padres never played him and sent him instead to the Yankees.  He was 0-1 with the Yankees who then sent him to the Twins in a trade that took Butch Wynegar to the Yankees.  He was 1-2 with the Twins before being sent off again.  This time he found his way to Baltimore by way of Texas.   He was 0-1 with the Orioles before he was released in 1984.  The Tigers signed him as a free agent and John pitched 11 innings over 5 games and recorded 1 save in 1986.  He was sold part way through the 1987 season to the Yokohama Bay Stars of Japan’s Central League.  He managed a couple seasons in the Frontier League in 1995 and 1997 with the Newark Bison and the Kalamazoo Kodiak’s to end his pro baseball career.

Jean Dubuc was one of the Tigers pitching mainstays from 1912 through 1916.  He started his major league career in 1908 with the Cincinnati Reds in 1908 going 5-6.  He continued there in 1909 and posted a 2-5 record.  He dropped won to the minors in 1910 and 1911.  But 1912 found him in Detroit where he was the number 2 starter going 17-10 for the Tiges.  1913 found him to be the Ace of the Tiger staff going 15-14 with a 2.89 ERA.  For the 1914 season Jean was the third man in a three man rotation of Harry Coveleski, Detroit’s all time winningest pitcher Hooks Dauss and Jean.  Jean was 12-14 and his ERA rose to 3.46.  Jean was again the third man in the same three man rotation in 1915 but improved to 17-12 with a 3.21 ERA.  However, 1916 found Jean coming in from the pen more than staring games.  He was 10-10 with a 2.96 ERA.  Before the 1917 season he was sold to the Chattanooga Lookouts but did not play there.  Rather he went to the Salt Lake Bees of the Pacific Coast League.  He found his way to the Red Sox and New York Giants before his major league career ended in 1919.  He tried his hand managing in the minors in the 1920’s as a player manager for the Ottawa-Hull Senators, Manchester Blue Sox and as just a manager in the 1930’s for the New Bedford Whalers. 

Below is a 1916 M-101-4 of Dubuc from my collection.

September 14 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Delmon Young became a Tiger on August 15 of this year. He has hit four homers already and is batting .324 as a left fielder. He started his major league career with Tampa Bay. After having some issues in the minors he ended up second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2007. His brother is Dmitri Young who played for the Tigers from 2002 through 2006. Delmon’s contract is up at the end of this season. He is making $5.38M this year and will likely command that much plus next year.

George Lombard came to the Tigers in June of 2002 after a trade by the Braves fro Kris Keller.  In his three years with Atlanta he hit .157 in 39 games as a reserve outfielder.  For Detroit in 2002 he was the main center fielder for the second half of the season.  It was a rough season for the Tigers.  George hit .241 that season with 5 homers in 270 plate appearances.  He was waved before the 2003 season started and was signed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  His final season in the majors was 2006 when he played 20 games for the Washington Nationals.  His final season if pro ball was 2009 when he was in the Indians minor league system.

Jerry Don Gleaton pitched two years for the Tigers.  The lefty was a reliever in 1990 and 1991 for Detroit after 9 seasons spanning 11 years in the majors for the Rangers, Mariners, White Sox and Royals before joining Detroit.  He had his best year in Detroit and maybe in his career in 1990 when he was 1-3 but with a 2.94 ERA and with 13 saves.  The following year he went 3-2 but his ERA jumped up to 4.06 and he only made 2 saves.  At the end of the season he was granted free agency and signed by the Royals but was released after opening day and before he got in a game.  He then signed with the Pirates where he made his last major league appearance.   

Icehouse Wilson made his major league debut as a Tiger in the great Tiger year of 1934.  His real name was George Peacock Wilson.  He came to Detroit by way of the Sioux City Cowboys where he had made his profession debut.  In 42 games he hit .197.  For some reason the Tigers brought him to Detroit and he made his major league debut as a pinch hitter for pitcher Luke Hamlin in the 9^th inning of an 11-3 game against the St. Louis Browns and their pitcher Ivy Andrews.  I would like to report that Icehouse hit a 8 run walk off homer to win the game.  But I can’t.  He made the first out of the inning and the Tigers did not score.  Icehouse was done in baseball after that one at bat.

Henry Luff was member of the 1882 Detroit Wolverines.  He was born before the Civil War in 1852 in Philadelphia.  He had played one season prior in the majors for the 1875 New Haven Elm Cities of the National Association.  He hit .271 that season, his highest of his career.  He played in the minors for Rochester, the Pittsburgh Allegheny, Philadelphia Athletics and the Brooklyn Atlantics before making it up to the National League with the Wolverines in 1882.  He only made it into 3 games for the Wolverines going 3 for 11 and scoring a run.  He left the Wolverines and went to Cincinnati to finish the season with the Red Stockings and played first base for them.  He went on to play for the Brooklyn Greys in the minors and the Louisville Eclipse, Philadelphia Keystones and Kansas City Cowboys in the majors before finally ending up with the Augusta Browns of the Southern Association in 1885.  He died back in Philly in prior to the US involvement in World War I in 1916 at the age of 64.

September 13 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Luke French played part of the 2009 season with the Tigers.  He worked his way up through the Tigers farm system starting in 2004.  He made Toledo in 2009 and was 4-4 with a 2.98 ERA.  He was brought up to the big club in May and got in seven games for the Tiges, five were starts.  He posted a 1-2 record with his lone Tiger win being a 3-1 win over the Royals and Zack Greinke in his best year.   In July Luke was traded with Mauricio Robles to Seattle for Jarrod Washburn.  This season Luke is 9-9 with a 6.27 ERA in Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League.

Nelson Cruz pitched two seasons with the Tigers in 1999 and 2000.  He was signed as a free agent by Tigers after being granted free agency by the White Sox after the 1998 season.  He got in 29 games and started six of those in 1999 posting a 2-5 record and a 5.67 ERA.  His two wins were against the Pirates and the Royals.  In 2000 he was with Detroit again and reversed his record and went 5-2 with a 3.07 ERA.  But then Randy Smith traded him to A.) Astros or B.) Padres  C.) Any other major league team?  You would be correct if you guessed the A.) Astros and you get extra credit if you said a catcher was involved.  Nelson was traded with Doug Brocail and catcher Brad Ausmus for Roger Cedeno, Chris Holt and Mitch Meluskey.  Nelson was done in the majors after 2003.  He had posted a 15-23 record with a 5.04 ERA.

George Susce pitched for the Tigers in 1958 and 1959.  He is the son of George Susce who pitched for the Tigers in 1932. George was not a junior.  He was named George Daniel Susce as opposed to his dad who was George Cyril Mehodius Susce.  Son was pitcher while Dad was a catcher.  Father and son were both born in Pittsburgh.  Father George died in 1986 at the age of 78.  Son George died in 2010 at the age of 78.  Dad’s nickname was “Good Kid”.  George son did not have a nickname of “Good Dad”.

September 12 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Masao Kida started his MLB career as a Tiger in 1999.  He actually played major league ball in the Japanese leagues before being signed as a 30 year old Tiger pitcher.  He was mainly a late inning reliever in non save situations.  He appeared in 49 games that year closing 21 but only earning one save.  He posted a 6.26 ERA that year.  In 2000 he appeared in only two games for the Tigers and his ERA was at a 10.13.  He was demoted but jumped back to Japan.  After being cut in Japan he came back to the US and played bits with the Dodgers and Mariners until he was done in the US as well in 2005.

ScottI Madison appeared in 8 games with the Tigers in 1985 and 1986 as a utility player.  He never got a hit for the Tigers in those two years.  I know ScottI best because I wrote to him years ago asking for his autograph on a 3x5 card.  I explained that I was big Tiger fan and was collecting autographs of all Tigers.  The problem was I used a list that had his named spelled ScottY with a “Y”.  ScottI did not sign my card but rather sent a note saying I must not be that big of Tiger fan as I did not know his name was spelled with an “I” not a “Y”.  I sent an apology and also showed him where I found his name had been misspelled AND showed him a copy of the letter I sent to the owner of the list correcting the spelling.  I then asked ScottI for an autograph.  Apparently that was not enough for ScottI and I still do not have a ScottI Madison autograph.  By the way, spell check keeps telling me I have his name misspelled.  Hmmmm.

Mark Thurmond played parts of two years with the Tigers in 1986 and 1987.  He came to Detroit in a trade with the Padres where we sent Dave LaPoint in July of 1986 to San Diego.  He had faced the Tigers in the 1984 World Series.  Mark went 4-1 with the Tigers and posted a 1.92 ERA in 1986.  There was talk he might be in the rotation in 1987 but that did not pan out.  He was in the bull pen instead and made five saves with a 4.23 ERA.  Before the 1988 season we traded Mark to Baltimore for Ray Knight.   Mark pitched two years with the Orioles and one with the Giants before ending his career in 1990 with a 40-46 record with 21 saves and a 3.69 ERA. 

Mickey Lolich was the hero of the 1968 World Series for the Tigers.  He was always second fiddle to Denny McLain.  In 1968 Mickey had a good year going 17-9.  But Denny went 31-6.  However, in the World Series Denny lost the first game to Cardinal Ace Bob Gibson going only five innings.  In game two Mickey went the distance and won 8-1.  Denny lost game four to Bob Gibson again.  Now the Tiges were down 3 games to 1.  Mickey came back and won game five again as a complete game.  McLain finally won a game in game six when he got 13 runs in support.  Mickey pitched game seven on three days rest and beat Bob Gibson in a third complete game victory 4-1.  Mickey was named World Series MVP.  Mickey pitched 13 years for the Tigers and posted a 207-175 record as a Tiger. 

George Freese got his major league start as a Tiger in 1953.  In April of that year he came in as a pinch hitter for pitcher Paul Foytack.  He faced Mel Parnell and hit a grounder to Red Sox second baseman Billy Goodman.  He was sold to the Cubs about two weeks later never having appeared in another game for the Tigers.  He played the 1955 with the Pirates and finally got back to play for Cubs in 1961 after having been traded several times since his purchase from the Tigers. 

Charlie “King Kong” Keller was known as one of the uglier men in baseball when he was with the Tigers in 1950 and 1951.  He got his nickname for both his powerful homers and his appearance.  He had been a  Yankee outfielder for years losing one season to the war.  He was in the outfield of Joe Diamggio, Tommy Henrich and Keller.  He was a good hitter and an average fielder.  Johnny LIndell replaced him as a starter in1947.  The Yanks released him after the 1949 season and the Tigers signed him as a free agent.  He was a back up outfielder for the Tiges hitting .283 with 5 homers and 37 RBI’s.  The Tigers released him after the 1951 season and the Yankees resigned him as a free agent. 

Ole Olsen was a pitcher for the Tigers in 1922 and 1923.  He was 27 years old when he made his major league debut against the Indians.  He pitched two innings and did not get a decision.  He pitched in 37 games that season and did get seven wins after that no decision.  He also posted six loses.  His ERA was a 4.23.  In 1923 he came back to the Tigers and was only in 17 games.  He posted a 1-1 record for that year with a 6.31 ERA.  He never pitched in the majors again after 1923.

Pepper Peploski made his major league debut as Tiger on June 24, 1913.  He played third base for part of a double header against Cleveland Indians.  He got in his next game against the St. Louis Browns two days later.  Between those two games he made four plate appearances and got two hits and scored a run.  He never made another major league appearance. 

Boss Schmidt was the catcher for the Tigers during their pennant winning seasons of 1907, 1908 and 1909.  He made his start with the Tigers in 1906.  His play in the three Tiger World Series losses was a .159 average with 5 RBI’s in 14 games.  He played for the Tigers through 1911 and posted a career .243 average with three homers and 124 RBIS’s.  He was done in the majors after Detroit.  He went on to play in the minors through 1924 and managed until 1927 with such teams as Mobile Sea Gulls, Kalamazoo Celery Pickers, and Springfield Midgets. 

Below is a 1907 Dietsche postcard of Schmidt from my collection.