September 1 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Dave Rucker started his major league career with the Tigers in 1981.  The lefty came in to pitch the 8^th an d 9^th innings of a game the Blue Jays were winning 6-0.  He gave up one hit in that game.  A week later he faced the Blue Jays again in the 7^th and 8^th with the Tiges behind 5-1.  He gave up four runs on 2 hits and was sent to Evansville for the rest of the season, the Tigers AAA team at the time.  1982 found him in the Tigers line up again.  He went 5-6 with a 3.38 ERA.  1983 was another season for Dave up with the Tigers.  He was 1-2 with a 17.00 ERA when he was sent to the Cardinals as the player to be named later for Doug Bair.  Dave played the rest of his career in the NL with the Cards, Phils and Pirates.  His career stats were 16 wins to 20 losses with a 3.94 ERA.

Gary Ignasiak was a September call up from AA Montgomery in 1973 for the Tigers.  He made his debut against the Orioles pitching the 9^th inning of a game the Tigers were down 8-0.  He gave up only one hit to Bobby Grich and he struck out Paul Blair.  A couple days later he faced the Red Sox and pitched the 8^th and 9^th of a game the Tiges were down 12-0.  He gave up two runs.  He pitched in the second to last game of the season against the the Yanks in a game the Tiges were down 3-0.  He did not give up a run.  He finished the season 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA.  1974 found him back in Montgomery.  He never did get back to the majors.

Paul Campbell was purchased by the Tigers at the end of the 1947 season.  He had spent three seasons with the Sox in 1941, 42 and 46.  He was in the military in 43, 44 and 45.  He had hit .098 for the Sox as a back up outfielder and first baseman.  For Detroit he played only first.  He also hit better in Detroit hitting .274 from 1948 thru his one lone game in 1950.  He was back in the minors in 1951 and became a player manager in 1952 in the Tigers minor league system. 

Fred Nicholson made his major league debut as a Tiger in 1917.  He was an outfielder for three games and a pinch hitter in 10 others.  He got four hits in 14 at bats.  He also got an RBI and scored four runs himself.  That was the extent of his career with the Tigers.  He was picked off of waivers by the Pirates in 1919.  He played two years for the Pirates before being sent to the Boston Braves with Walter Barbare, Billy Southworth and $15,000 for Rabbit Maranville.   For his career Fred hit .311 as an outfielder. 

Jimmy Wiggs finished his major league experience with the Tigers in 1905 and 1906.  He had pitched for the Cincinnati Reds in 1903 and went 0-1.  For Detroit he won three game in 1905 along with losing three.  His ERA was a respectable 3.27.  In 1906 he was 0-0 in four games for the Tigers when he was sold to the Toledo Mud Hens.  He was done with the majors but he continued in the minors through 1911 playing with the Altoona Mountaineers, Oakland Oaks, Montreal Royals, and Seattle Giants.