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