October 11 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jeff Larish spent most of his time as a major leaguer in a Tigers uniform. He was with the Tigers starting in his major league debut at the end of May 2008. He had worked his way up the Tigers minor league system to AAA Toledo in 2008. He was called up and made his debut as a DH against the Mariners in Safeco Field. He scored a run when he reached on fielder’s choice in the first and drove in a run on the same play. He got his first hit with a single in the 5^th to move Miguel Cabrera to second. He would go on to hit .260 for the Tigers with 16 RBIs and 2 homers in 104v at bats while playing third, first and DH. He returned to the Tigers in 2009 but had only 90 at bats and his average dropped to .216. He was back only briefly for the Tigers in 2010 and in three games got two hits in 10 at bats. he was waived and picked up by the A's in August. He played 24 games for the A's and was granted free agency at the end of the season. he was picked up by the Phils and spent the 2011 season with the Phils AAA team at Lehigh.

Dmitri Young was a Tiger for five seasons. He was mainly a DH but also played some outfield and first. He hit .279 for the Tigers with 82 homers and 267 RBI's and was an All Star for Tigers in 2003. In 2006 he admitted he was dealing with alcoholism and after only appearing in 48 games he was released by the Tigers in September. He was diagnosed with diabetes after Thanksgiving in 2006. He was signed by the Washington Nationals and hit .310 in two seasons with 17 homers and 84 RBI's. He was an All Star for them as well but was still released after struggling in the minors in 2009. He was a coach for a day for the Oakland County Cruisers in 2010. The day he was hired he also announced his retirement. His younger brother is Delmon Young who is on the Tigers today.

Gregg Olson was a Tiger for part of a season in 1996.  He started his career as a hot rookie closer for the Orioles in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.  He tore a ligament in his elbow in 1993 and the Orioles let him go.  He bounced around with the Braves, Indians and Royals before signing with the Tigers.  With Detroit he was 3-0 with a 5.02 ERA before Randy Smith traded him to (I’ll give you two guesses) the Astros for two minor leaguers who, oddly enough, neither played catcher.  Gregg continued to pitch with the Twins, Royals, D-Backs a Dodgers before retiring after 2001.  Today he is a scout for the Padres.

Bill Roman attended Cooley High School in Detroit and the University of Michigan before he became a Tiger.  He worked his way up the Tigers farm system hitting a career .290 in the minors before making his debut against the Yankees as a late September call up.  He came in to pinch hit for Fred Gladding in a 4-9 game against the Yankees and Jim Bouton and hit a home run.  Unfortunately those would be his only home run and RBI of his career.  He made a total of 35 at bats between 1964 and 1965 and only had four more singles for his career. 

Bill Fischer bounced around between four teams for his career including the Tigers.  He started with the White Sox in 1956 and was 9-11 over parts of three seasons before being traded to the Tiges in 1958 with Tito Francona (Terry’s Dad) for Ray Boone (Bob’s Dad and Aaron and Bret’s Grandfather) and Bob Shaw.  Bill was 2-4 with Detroit before being picked up by the Washington Senators off of waivers towards the end of the season.  The Tigers then traded for him about two years later for Tom Morgan.  About a year later we traded him to the Kansas City Athletics with Ozzie Virgil for Reno Bertoia and Gerry Staley.  Bill finished his career with a 45-58 major league record and a 10-9 record for Detroit with a 4.96 ERA.

Joe Ginsberg attended Cooley High School (like Bill Roman) in Detroit before he started his major league career as a catcher for the Tigers in 1948.  He was back up until 1951 when he became the starter replacing Aaron Robinson.  In five seasons with the Tigers he hit .249 which was not far off from his career .241 average.  He was traded to the Indians half way through the 1953 season and bounced around with the Kansas City Athletics, Orioles, White Sox, Red Sox and Mets until he was done in the majors in 1962.  He was never the starting catcher again after Detroit.  He was very gracious signing his autograph through the mail and sent me a post card of himself as well.

Will White was with the Detroit Wolverines for one season in 1881.  He pitched two complete games and lost them both to post an 0-2 record with a 5.00 ERA.  But he made a name for himself outside of Detroit.  Will was with Cincinnati for most of his career.  In 1878 he started a completed 52 games posting a record of 30-21 with a 1.79 ERA.  He followed up that with a record setting season in 1879 when he pitched 75 complete games (no typo) with 680 innings pitched winning 43 games and losing 31.  He also won 40 games again with Cincy in 1882 and 43 again in 1883.  Will recorded a total of 394 complete games in his career.  He was brother of Deacon White and the two formed a battery for a few games in Cincy.  Will also is known for being the first player to wear glasses during a game and I have not been able to confirm it but appears to be the one who started awarding first base to a batter he hit.  “Whoop-La” was his nickname and I have not been able to find out where that comes from.  But I like it.