Randy Bockus ended his time in the majors on the mound with the
Tigers. Randy played outfield for Kent
State University and was drafted after college the San Francisco Giants in
1982. He became a pitcher with the
Giants farm system and worked his way up having his best season in 1985 when he
went 14-11 with a 2.73 ERA with the AA Shreveport Captains of the Texas
League. He followed that with a 11-6
record in AAA Phoenix in 1986 and that earned him an invite to the big leagues
as late season call up. He got in 5
games that September with a 2.57 ERA coming out of the bullpen. But he did not record a decision. Interestingly he did get back into the
outfield in one game when he pinch hit in the 14th inning and stayed
in the game for an inning. But then he
was pulled from the game for a pinch hitter who was, ironically, Mike Krukow, a
pitcher pinch hit for him. To add
further insult to injury, another pitcher, Jeff Robinson (Not the former
Tiger.) took over for him in the outfield.
He was back in the minors in 1987 but again got a call up at the end of
the season. This time he got his first
win. It took extra innings, but in the
last inning of the last game he was called in from the pen. He pitched the 10th inning and did
not walk anyone nor allow a hit against the Atlanta Braves. In the bottom of the tenth leadoff batter Bob
Brenly hit a home run and Randy got his first major league win. Randy got his second major league win the
following year again against the Braves.
This time he pitched the 6th and 7th innings and
Kevin Mitchell hits the homer to win it with Brett Butler driving in an
additional run. At the end of the
season, despite these 2 wins in 2 years, the Giants released Randy. About a month and a half later, the Tigers
signed him as a free agent. On May 22,
1989, Randy made his Tiger debut coming to relieve Jack Morris in the third
inning of a game against the Cleveland Indians in Detroit with the Tiges
trailing 6-0 and runner on second. Randy
gave up a quick triple to end the line on Jack Morris with 7 earned runs in 2.2
innings. But Randy stayed in the game
and only gaveup two more hits in a total of 4.2 innings pitched and did not
allow a run. Five days later, on May 27,
Randy came into a game against the Royals in KC with the Tiges down 2-1 in the
5th. With runners on first and second
Randy got Danny Tartabull to ground out and end the inning. He came back to start the 6th. He gave up two lead off singles to put
runners on first and second. He then got
a fly ball out before Jim Eisenreich hit a double to drive in a run and put
runners on first and third. After an
intentional walk he gave up line drive single to Kevin Seitzer before he was
pulled. Randy never played another game
in the majors.
Rod Allen spent most of his time in the majors with the Detroit
Tigers. He was originally drafted and
signed by the Chicago White Sox in 1977.
After a few years in the minors the Sox traded him to the Seattle
Mariners in 1983 with Todd Cruz and Jim Essian for Tom Paciorek. That would prove good for Rod as it allowed
him to make his major league debut for the Mariners in April 1983. Rod got in 11 games with the Mariners and
started 2 of them. He got a total of 12
at bats and got 2 hits for a .167 average.
He also scored a run. At the end
of the season rod became a free agent and signed with the Tigers. Rod had his break out year in 1984. He got into 15 games with 31 plate
appearances. He walked 2 times, was hit
by a pitch and hit a sacrifice. This
dropped his at bats to 27 in which he got 8 hits including a double, and drove
in 3 runs. He was perfect in his
fielding, never committing an error in 7 chances for his entire career. Rod returned to the Tigers for spring
training in 1985 but was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in April for Luis
Rosada. Rod never did get up to the
majors with Baltimore but did get back to the majors with the Cleveland Indians
in 1988. There he got in 5 more games
and collected 1 more hit for his career.
His total stats for his career were 11 hits, 2 doubles, 3 RBI’s and a
.220 batting average. After his playing
days Rod became a broadcaster and covers the Tigers today.
Frank Doljack
Davey Crockett
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