Doyle Alexander helped win the AL East for the Tigers. Doyle is often looked at as a poor trade. My
thought has always been that he was the right trade for the occasion. He had been in the majors for 16 seasons in
1987. He was with various teams starting
in 1971 and the Dodgers, Orioles, Yankees, Rangers, Braves, Giants, Yankees
again, Blue Jays and Braves again. In
wins and losses he was 165 and 145 at that time as both a reliever and a
starter. In August of 1987 the Tigers
found themselves in the midst of a pennant race with the Toronto Blue
Jays. The Tigers wanted something to
push them over the top. They found it in
Doyle. The Tigers worked a deal with the
lowly Atlanta Braves. The Braves
finished 5th in the west at 69-92.
Doyle was one or their best pitchers.
The Braves wanted Steve Searcy for Doyle but would settle for John
Smoltz. There was a debate in the
Tigers front office between Jim Campbell, who felt Searcy was closer to being
MLB ready and Bill LaJoie who felt Smoltz had greater value. In the end the Tigers sent them John Smoltz
for Doyle. Doyle was just what the
Tigers needed in 1987. He went 9-0 with
a 1.83 ERA and the Tigers won the AL East by 2 games. In 1988 Doyle was the number 2 starter behind
Jack Morris and was 14-11 with a 4.32 ERA and was an All-Star. But in 1989 things were not as rosy. Doyle was 6-18 and led the league in homers
allowed with 28. But Doyle had given up 30 homers in 1988 and was an All-Star! Heck, in 1986 50 homers allowed was the
tops. So 28 while a lot, was clearly no
50. His 4.44 ERA was not too much higher than what it had been in
1988. But the 1989 Tigers were a dismal
59-103 and needed to be retooled. Doyle
was released. At 38 no one wanted to
pick up Doyle and he never pitched in the majors again. As for John Smoltz versus Steve Searcy, John
finished at 213-155 with 154 career saves over 21 years. Steve was 6-13 with no saves and never
recorded a save.
Paul Jata
Red Corriden
John Terry is a “lost to time” Tiger. However, not quite as bad as Harry Decker
from yesterday who disappeared entirely.
John has no known minor league career on baseballreference.com. In 1969
the first “Baseball Encyclopedia” was issued.
(Not to be confused with the “Official Encyclopedia of Baseball” issued
in 1951.) In the 1969 Baseball
Encyclopedia John’s statistics were credited to a John Burchard Terry. Our John Terry was a John Baxter Terry. It was not until 2010 the SABR uncovered the
fact that our John Terry was indeed John Baxter Terry. What we know about our John Baxter Terry is
that he was born in Iowa in 1887. In
1902 he was a late season call up for the Detroit Tigers. On September 17 he got the start for the
Tigers in a game in St. Louis against the Browns. The Tigers were long out of the race in 7th
place, 27.5 games out of first. The
Browns were in the thick of it in 2nd place, 4 games back. As you would expect in this sort of miss
match, the Browns won 3-1. John had
given up all 3 runs while only 2 were earned, on 8 hits and a walk. This was in 5 innings. It was considered a complete game. I can not tell if it was rained out or called
on darkness. Those five innings are the
extent of his career as a Tiger. John
never pitched for the Tigers again. The
following year he pitched 3 games for those same Browns who beat him when he
was a Tiger. For the Browns he was
1-1. Unfortunately for John, the tables
were flipped in 1903 and the Browns would finish behind the Tigers. John kept coming out on the losing end. I do not know who John beat in 1903 or who
beat him. But I do know John’s last game
was a 10-3 affair where the Tigers beat the Browns. John would die where he was born, in Iowa, in
1958. History can be a bitch to some
people.
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