Dusty Ryan was a back up catcher for the Tigers in 2008 and
2009. He was progressing very well in
the Tigers minors in 2008 moving up to Toledo and hitting .315 with a .548
slugging %. He got the call up in
September and 2 days after his 24th birthday he made his major
league debut. He was called in to
relieve Brandon Inge at catcher in the 9th inning of a game the
Tiges trailed the Angels 7-1. He caught
the top of the 9th with no issue. In the bottom half of the inning
he came up with 2 outs and runners on second and third. Dusty K’d looking on 4 pitches. He got in 15 games that season and hit .318
with a .500 slugging. His weakness was
the same one that many power hitters have, a large number of K’s. He had a significant drop in production in
2009 hitting only .257. He was called up
again by the Tiges but he only hit .154 this time in 12 games. The Tiges sold him at the end of the season
to the Padres. He was then granted free
agency by the Padres after 2010 and he signed with the Mets organization. He was released at the end of 2011 and his
baseball career ended at the age of 27.
Johnny Paredes was a second baseman for the Tigers at the
end of his major league career in 1990 and 1991. He was the number three man in the depth
charts for the Expos in 1988 at second.
The Expos were not using him so the Tigers picked him up in the rule 5
draft. The Tigers used him in six games
and he hit .125 and committed 1 error in 12 chances. The Tigers then returned him to the
Expos. At the end of the season the
Expos released him and the Tigers signed him as a free agent. He got into 16 games, mainly as a pinch
runner and hit .333. He stole one base
and was caught once as well. At the end
of the season he was released by the Tigers.
Nate Snell ended his major league career as a Tiger on the
1987 AL East champions. He had spent the
previous three years as a late inning reliever for the Orioles. He had gone 6-4 over those three years with a
3.14 ERA. The Orioles released him after
the 1986 season and the Tigers signed him as a free agent. He went 1-2 for the Tigers as a late inning
reliever in non save situations. He did
manage to get one win when he came in to pitch the 8th and 9th
in a game the Tigers were down 6-5 to the Oakland Athletics. Nate kept the A’s off the board and the
Tigers came back and got two runs off of Steve Ontiveros when Darrell Evans hit
a homer with Matt Nokes on base. At the
end of the season the Tigers released Nate and his major league career was
over.
Luke Walker finished his major league career with the Tigers
in 1974. He had pitched for the Pirates
for since the mid 1960’s. In eight years
the leftie was 40-42 with the Pirates and posted a 3.47 ERA. The Tigers purchased him before the 1974
season from the Pirates. He went 5-5 for
the Tigers in 28 games. 9 were starts
and 9 were finishes in non save situations.
His ERA was up from his past seasons at 4.99. In April, just before the Tigers came north,
Luke Walker was released and his major league career was over.
Fred Payne started his time in the majors with the Tigers in
1906 as one of the main back up players.
He split his time between
catching and the outfield. He hit .270
that season which was actually better than the starting catcher Boss Schmidt. It was also better than the rest of the
infield and one of the starting outfielders!
Only Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford hit better than Fred. In 1907 he was back as the back up catcher
but his hitting dropped over 100 points to .166. Fred got into the World Series that year and
started game 2. He got a single and
drove in the Tigers only run of the game.
It would be one of three runs for the Tigers in the entire series. In 1908 Fred was again a back up catcher but
his time was down to third in the depth charts and his hitting dropped another 99
points to .067. In September, before the
Tigers went back to eh World Series, Fred was sold to the White Sox. Fred played three more years for the White
Sox and hit .221 for the three years before his major league career ended. Fred went on to the play five more years in
the majors and even was a player manager for a few years before hanging up his
spikes in 1917.
Below is a 1907 Dietsche postcard of Payne from my collection.
Below is a 1907 Dietsche postcard of Payne from my collection.
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