Sunday, September 7, 2014

September 6 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jack Phillips finished a 9 season career with the Tigers in 1957.  He started his career in 1947 with the Yankees.  Starting in August, he got in 16 games that season mainly as a first baseman hitting .278.  Those 16 games were enough that he was picked for the World Series squad and he appeared in two games that series.  He faced Joe Hatten in game three as pinch hitter and flew out to left.   He started game six at first and in the bottom of the second in he grounded to first. Then in the bottom of the third he was taken out for a pinch hitter, Bobby Brown.  But he was able to say he won a World Series.   In 1948 Jack got in one game for Yankees.  In 1949 he got in 45 games for the Yankees before he was sold to Pittsburgh.   He was a Pirate until 1952 when again he got in one game for the season.  Then he did not appear in the majors for another three until 1955 when he came to the Tigers from the White Sox.  He had his best season in 1955 getting into 55 games and hitting a career high of .316 hitting a homer and driving in 20 runs.  In 1956 he again hit a homer for the Tiges and drove in 20 runs but his average dropped to .295.  In 1957 he did it again, getting into only one game that season.  He came in as pinch hitter and got on base by a fielder choice.  He did come around to score the final run in a 4-7 loss to the White Sox.  Jack never got to the majors again.  His final stats were a .283 average with 9 homers and 101 RBI’s.  He did continue in the minors playing until 1959 and managing until 1964.  Later he was the coach for the Clarkston University team which was also where he played from 1940 through 1943.    

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