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 4th 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 4th 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 4th but after the runner was picked off Chuck got a K
and ground out to end the inning. In the
5th 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 7th. 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
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