Chance Ruffin
Mike Rivera
Casey Wise is the son
of my one of my all time favorite Tigers, Hugh Wise. Hugh had a very brief career as a back up
catcher. He caught two games and went
2-6 against only Hall of Fame pitchers.
He caught a Hall of Fame pitcher and Mark Koenig who is the person
responsible for Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot”.
He could have signed Willie Mays to play with the Boston Braves. This would have put Mays and Hank Aaron in
the same outfield. But Hugh missed out
thinking there was not much to Mays. Casey
is the second half of the Wise family to play for the Tigers. Casey started his major league career in 1957
with the Chicago Cubs as a back up middle infielder. He was the traditional weak hitting middle
infielder hitting .179 in 43 games. But
to add to it, his fielding was below the league average. He was traded to the Milwaukee Braves, as a
back up middle infielder. He played with
Hank Aaron but not with Willie Mays in his two years in Milwaukee. He got into the 1958 series where the Braves
lost to the Yankees. Maybe if his Dad
had signed Willie he might have a ring.
But Casey and the Braves lost to the Yankees in seven games. Casey was 0-1 in 2 games in the World
Series. He was about as anemic with the
Braves as he was with the Cubs. In two
seasons he hit .184. The Tigers traded
for Casey and Mike Roarke and Don Kaiser for Charlie Lau and Don Lee after the
1959 season. Casey was in 30 games as a
Tiger. Defensively he played 17 at
second, 10 at short and 1 at third.
Offensively he had his worst year in the majors hitting .147. But he did hit 2 of his 3 career major
league homers as a Tiger. So for the
record, the three could have hit more homers than any other three player combo
in history. If not for Casey’s Dad it
could have been Hank Aaron 755 career homers, Willie Mays 660 career homers,
Casey Wise 3 career homers. Grand total
for all three “Braves” would have been 1,418 homers for the Braves. Heck, the Braves would still be in
Milwaukee! As I have said before,
history can be a bitch to some people.
Lou Sleater
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