Mike Chris had a stand out MLB debut for the Tigers on the
mound. He was drafted by the Oakland
Athletics in 1975 at the age of 17 but did not sign. In 1976 he was drafted by the California
Angels at the age of 18 but did not sign.
Finally, after he was done with high school, the Tigers drafted him in
1977 and he signed on. In 1977 he
pitched for Lakeland at the age of 19 and was 18-5 with a 2.01 ERA. He moved up to AA Montgomery in 1978 and was
9-6 with a2.91 ERA when he moved up to the Tigers AAA team, the Evansville
Triplets. He finished the year at
Evansville and was 3-3 and 3.07. Mike
was not at the Tigers spring training in 1979 and started the season at
Evansville. He had always been a starter
and continued to start going 7-8 with a 5.57 ERA when he was called up to
Detroit in late July. He made his debut
on July 31 with a relief appearance against the Rangers. Dan Petry had started and just given up a
double to score two more runs and make the score 4-0, Rangers, in the bottom of
the fourth with 1 out. Mike came in and
the next two batters to ground out and end the inning. Mike started the 5th but did not
have the same results. He gave up a lead
off single to Buddy Bell, followed by a single to Al Oliver and a run scoring
double to Richie Zisk before recording his first out, a sac fly to score one
more run and signal the end of Mike’s debut as a major leaguer. Mike’s next appearance was 4 days later when
he got the start against the Kansas City Royals. He went through the first six innings without
giving up a hit and only walking two while striking out 4. In the seventh he started the inning giving
up a walk, a double and a single before he was taken out of the game with the
Tigers up 3-2. John Hiller finished
the game and Mike got his first win in the majors. Mike would go on to a start 7 more games and
put up a 3-3 record for the Tiges with a 6.92 ERA. He was back in the minors for 1980 and 1981
before the Tigers traded Mike with Dan Schatzeder for Larry Herndon. Mike pitched in 16 games over the next two
years for the Giants but was 0-2 with a 5.95 ERA. After 1983, Mike never pitched in the majors
again.
Enos Cabell was almost the first baseman for the 1984
Tigers. He started his career in the
majors in 1972 with the Baltimore Orioles in 1972. He moved to the Houston Astros in 1975 where
he became a utility player. In 1976 he
became the Astros starting third baseman.
He was with the Astros as their starting third baseman through
1980. He was a .281 hitter for the
Stros. He spent 1981 with the San
Francisco Giants after being trade by Houston.
Before the 1982 season started Enos was traded to the Tigers with cash
for Champ Summers. In 1982 he split time
for the Tiges between first and third.
He hit the first two homers of the Tigers season in 1982 and had a great
April hitting .369 with a 13 game hitting streak and followed that up with a 10
game hitting streak in May. He may have
had his best game in August when he went 4 for 5 hitting second in the order as
the Tigers beat the Royals, 7-1. He
finished the season at .261 with 2 homers and 37 RBI’s. He came back and had a better 1983 for the
Tigers when he hit .311 with 5 homers and 46 RBI’s. But after the season the Tigers granted Enso
free agency and he signed with the Astros.
The Tigers did not actually get
their replacement for Enos at first until March of 1984 when they traded Glenn
Wilson and John Wockenfuss to the Phillies for Willie Hernandez and first
baseman, Dave Bergman. Enos went back to
Houston for another year and a half before going to the Dodgers in 1985. He was suspended for the entire 1986 season
after admitting to cocaine abuse in the Pittsburgh Pirates drug trials. He was able to play in 1986 after he made
large donations to antidrug services and doing community service. 1986 would be his last in the majors. After his career Enos became a broadcaster
for the Astros and later worked in the front office for Houston.
Don Pepper led of the 1968 Sports Illustrated spring
training coverage on the cover of the magazine as the future first baseman for
the 1968 Tigers. Oops. He signed with the Tigers in 1962 and worked
his way up the minors to AA in 1966 when he got a late season call up. He made his debut against the Kansas City
Athletics in KC with the Athletics up 5-0 in the 9th. He was brought in as a pinch hitter for the
Tigers pitcher and grounded out to third.
About 2 weeks later Don came in as a pinch hitter against the Twins in
Minnesota. He struck out looking. The next day he came in as a defensive
replacement for Norm Cash at first in the 9th with the Tigers up
8-1. After a fly to shortstop he made
the last two outs of the game 4-3 and 5-3.
In the last game of the season Don came in as a pinch hitter in the
third with the Tiges down 7-1 to the Kansas City Athletics in Detroit. He flew out to left. It was the end of the 1966 season. Don was 0-3 at the plate and only played one
inning in the field and he never played in the majors again. He did not replace Norm Cash at first in
1968. In spring training of 1969 he was
sold to the Montreal Expos but never played in pro ball again.
Bob Gillespie needed to pitch 2 innings for the Tigers. He was signed by the Tigers in 1940 when the
Tigers were rebuilding their farm system after Judge Landis had released most
of their farm hands as free agents. He
was in the minors for most of the war except for 1943. I am not sure what his status was that
year. In 1944 he started out at Buffalo
before getting called up to Detroit. On
May 11, he made his major league debut as Tiger. He was called in to relive Stubby Overmire
who was down 5-1 to the Yankees in the 6th in Yankee Stadium. He gave up only 1 hit and 1 walk with no runs
in those two innings and received a no decision. 3 days later he was brought in again and
pitched 2/3’s of an inning. This time he
gave up 3 runs on a hit and 2 walks. His
ERA climbed to 10.12. About a week later
he was brought in again and faced two batters.
He walked them both. The problem
was the bases were loaded. Plus his
runners scored. His ERA climbed to
16.88. His next appearance was against
Washington. He lasted 2 innings and he
did not give up a hit or a run. He got
in three more games and was sent back to Buffalo in June. Bob never appeared again in a Tiger uniform. His final stats for the Tiges were a 0-1
record in 7 games with a 6.55 ERA. He
was taken by the White Sox in the rule V draft after the 1946 season. He pitched two seasons with the Pale Hose
before ending his major league career in 1950 with the Red Sox. His final MLB record was 5-13 with a 5.07
ERA.
Donie Bush was
the starting shortstop for the 1909 American League Champions Tigers. He holds the record by participating in nine
career triple plays as a shortstop. He
also has the record for most put outs in a season by a shortstop with 425. He was named “King of Baseball” at the 1963
Winter Meetings. He was “Mr. Baseball”
in his home State of Indiana. He died
eating a hot dog while working as a scout in Florida at age 84.
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