Sunday, October 26, 2014

October 25 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Wilkin Ramirez got his start in the majors as a Tiger in 2009.  He had spent six years in the minors before getting a call in May of 2009.  He was DH.  In his first at bat he struck out against Matt Harrison of the Rangers.  He came up again in the third and struck out again.  He came up in the 6th and poked a shot into deep center for his fir major league hit, RBI and home run.   He was sent back down to Toledo and hit .258 with 33 steals before getting brought up again in August.   He stayed around for the rest of the season. He started two more games with the Tigers and went 0 for 3 against the Orioles and 2 for 3 against the Royals with two runs, a RBI and a triple.   The rest of the games he was used as a pinch runner mainly and an occasional pinch hit.  He was back in AA Erie and back up to AAA Toledo in 2010 before he was traded to the Braves for a player to be named later or cash.  In 2011 he was up with the Braves in May, June and July and hit .231 with 0 steals and 2 RBI’s.    He was granted free agency and in signed with the Minnesota Twins.  In 2013 he was up with the Twins for 35 games as an outfielder and hit .272 with 6 RBI’s.  His problem that seems to have really shown up in 2013 is a ratio of 3 walks to 23 K’s.

Joe Siddall was a back up catcher for the Tigers in 1998.  He had spent parts of three seasons in the majors prior to coming to Detroit.  He spent 1993 and 1995 with Montreal and had five hits in 30 at bats.  He became a free agent and signed with the Marlins in 1995.  For the Marlins he was got 7 hits in 47 at bats.  He was again a free agent and bounced around before getting back into the majors after signing with the Tigers as a free agent for the 1998 season.  He did not do too much different in 1998 hitting 12 hits for the Tiges in 65 at bats.  His career average was .169 and his average as a Tiger was .185. 

Al Cowens played one and half seasons with the Tigers in the early 1980’s.  He had spent six years with the Royals and was a good defensive outfielder and hit .270 with some speed on the bases as well.  He was traded to the Angels for the 1980 season but only lasted a couple months before the Tigers traded fan favorite and power hitting Jason Thompson for Al.  Al finished the 1980 season as the top fielding right fielder in the league and hit .280.  He had a feud with former Tiger pitcher Ed Farmer that came to a head in 1980.  Farmer had hit Cowens with a pitch the year before playing with the Royals and fractured Al’s jaw.  Al was out for 21 games.  Farmer had also hid Frank White and put him out for 33 games.   At a game in Chicago Al hit a grounder off of Farmer and while Farmer watched the ball get tossed to first for the out, Al charged the mound and Farmer.  Al was suspended seven games and Farmer filed a complaint and an arrest warrant was issued for Al.  The charges were later dropped after Al agreed to shake hands with Farmer.  In 1981 he was the Tiges starting center fielder but hit .261 with only 3 steals.   Before the 1982 season started he was sold to the Mariners.  He played five seasons with the Mariners hitting .255 before his major league career was over.   He died in 2002 at the age of 50 of a heart attack.


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