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.