October 21 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Casey Fien pitched for the Tigers in two different stints although at first glance it looks like only one.  Casey was drafted out of college by the Tigers in 2006.  He worked his way up to a major league debut in 2009.  The rightie came in to relieve Zach Minor who had relieved Rick Porcello in a game against the White Sox.  The Tigers trailed 5-1.  Casey came in and pitched the last 2.1 innings and gave up only one walk while striking out 2.  He really showed great control as only two batters got more than 1 ball into the count.  But not all Casey’s games were that good.  He came in to pitch the bottom of the 13 of a game against the Indians.  He gave up a double to Jhonny Peralta and then a single to Jamey Carroll that scored Peralta and earned his only decision as a Tiger.  Casey pitched a total of 9 games and 11.1 innings for the Tigers with a 7.94 ERA.  The following March 1, the Red Sox picked up Casey off of the waiver wire from the Tigers.  Three days later the Blue Jays picked him off of the waiver wire from the Sox.  2 weeks later the Blue Jays released him and the Tigers then signed him as a free agent.  He played in two games for the Tiges in 2010 and in 2.2 innings gave up 3 runs on 4 hits.  The Tigers granted him free agency after the season and he was signed by the Astros who released him with a 2-2 record in AAA at Oklahoma City.  The Twinkies then picked him up for 2012 where he was 2-1 with a 2.06 ERA as a reliever.  In 2013 and 2014 Casey was still with the Twinkies and appeared in 181 games and is more effective against righties.  He was also 12-9 with a 3.54 ERA.  He would have been a welcome addition to our bullpen in 2013 and 2014.

John Flaherty came to Detroit in a swap of catchers.  The Tiges sent Rich Rowland to Boston for John in 1994.  He was the Tigers starting catcher in 1995 and 1996 until he was traded in one of the earliest trades Randy Smith made with the Padres.  Randy traded John with Chris Gomez to the Pads for catcher Brad Ausmus and Andujar Cedeno.  John hit .238 for the Tiges compared to his career average of .252.  He was not huge power hitter but he could hit a home run or two with 15 to his credit as a Tiger over the 193 games he played with the Tiges.  John went on to play for the Devil Rays, and Yankees and got in the post season with the Padres once and the Yankees twice.  He did not get on base in the post season.  His last year was 2005.

Franklin Stubbs ended his career a Tiger.  He had played 9 seasons in the majors with the Dodgers mainly but also spent some time with the Astros and Brewers from 1984 thru 1992.  He was a starting first baseman and outfielder who was a .230 hitter with some power but an awful lot of K’s to his credit.  He had a K to BB ratio of almost 3 to 1.  He was thought to be done in the majors in 1992 after playing with the Brewers.  He played 1993 in the minors for the Red Sox and then went to Mexico to play there for 1994.  The Tigers signed him for the 1995 season as a free agent.  For Detroit he hit .250 with 2 homers and 19 RBI’s.  He only got 116 at bats and the Tigers released him after the season.  He is a coach for the Chattanooga Lookouts today.

Mark Christman started his career as a Tiger third baseman and shortstop in 1938.  He was a .270 hitter in the Tiger minors for four years before he got his call to the big club.  For Detroit in 1938 he hit .248 with 1 homer and 44 RBI’s.  He was splitting duty with Don Ross at third.  Don hit .260 and also had 1 homer but was a poorer fielder.  Mark started the 1939 season with the Tigers again but only got in six games before being traded to the Browns in a blockbuster deal at the time with George Gill, Bob Harris, Vern Kennedy, Chet Laabs and Roxie Lawson for Beau Bell, Red Kress, Jim Walkup and Bobo Newsom.  Mark went on to be the starting third baseman on the St. Louis Browns only pennant winning team, the 1944 Browns.  He was the number two player for RBI’s on the team with 83 and hit .271 while finishing 11^th in MVP balloting.  He was sold to the Senators before the 1947 season started and his major league career was over after the 1949 season.  He went on to manage in the minors in the 1950’s. 

Bill Lelivelt pitched for the Tigers for two years over a hundred years ago.  He started with the Tigers in 1909 and appeared in 4 games and pitched one complete game for a loss.  His record in 1909 was 0-1 and he had an ERA of 4.50.  He did record a save in 1909 as well.  In 1910 he returned to the Tiges and started a game against the White Sox in Detroit.  He pitched the complete game but lost 4-0.  Only one of the runs was earned and he only gave up 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out two.  But the Tiges did not keep him and he was traded in July to Mobile with $2,800 for Frank Allen and George Suggs.  Bill never did make back to the majors but is brother, Jack, who also started his major league career in 1909 would play on in the majors thru 1914 with the Senators, Highlanders (Soon to be Yankees) and Naps (soon to be Indians).  Jack also would play in the minors as late as 1931 and he managed in the minors for 14 seasons, the last was 1940.  He died before the 1941 season started at the age of 55 in Seattle where he was managing.