Eddie Williams stopped off
for one season in his career as a major league back up first baseman and third
baseman. He had started his career in 1986 with the Indians. Over three seasons
he amassed only 105 plate appearances in 37 games with a .174 average and one
homer. All of his games were at third except 4 in the outfield. He was traded
to the White Sox and stayed there for one season before he was released. The
Padres signed him in 1990 and he bounced around from Padres to the Braves to
the Brewers and back to the Pad from 1990 thru 1995 although much of it was in
the minors. In fact he only appeared in the majors with the Padres. The Padres
released him after 1995 and the Tigers signed him as a free agent. He played
mainly DH and a handful of games at third and first for the Tiges hitting .200.
Of his 43 hits for the Tigers 6 were homers and he drove in 26 runs. At the end
of the season the Tigers released him and he went to the Dodgers and Pirates
and finished his time in the majors with the Padres in 1998. He stuck around in
the minors through 2002 and even played for the Hyundai Unicorns in 2000 of the
Korean Baseball Organization. I saw them play but I don’t recall Eddie on the
team.
Pat Mullin started his Tiger career in 1940. They won the pennant but Pat was not on the
World Series roster as he was a late season call up and only had 4 at
bats. He had a solid 1941 with the
Tigers hitting .345 in 220 at bats. Not
bad for rookie! 1942 held great promise
for Pat. But World War II came about and
Pat was off to war for four years. He
returned after the 1945 season so he missed that World Series as well. When he did return in 1946 Pat hit .246 as a
Tiger outfielder. 1947 saw Pat hit about
the same average at .256 but he was 8th
in the league in homers, 9th
in extra base hits. Pat’s fielding was
fantastic. He was the rangiest right
fielder in the league and was second in fielding percentage for right fielders,
and fifth for all outfielders. He also made
the All Star team in 1947. 1948 was a
similar season for Pat. It was another
solid year fielding, another good hitting year and another all star game. Pat continued to play the outfield for the
Tigers until 1953 but was often a substitute.
On June 26th 1949 Pat
single handedly beat the Yankees.
Against Vic Raschi and Spec Shea Pat hit three homers with five RBI’s
and scored four runs in a 12-4 Tigers win over the Yanks. At that time Pat retired after the 1953
season he was wearing number 6. He had
worn that number since 1947. He gave it
to another Tiger outfielder after that named Al Kaline. After his playing days Pat stayed in the game
as a scout and minor league manager for the Tigers, and a coach for the
Senators, Indians and Expos.
Heinie Schuble was a strong shortstop in the Tigers minor
leagues, but not so much in the majors.
He started his major league career with the Cardinals in 1927 and hit
.257 in 65 games. He was fast and scored
and inside the park home run his first year at the Polo Grounds off Hall of
Famer Burleigh Grimes. But at short he
committed 29 errors. He was down in the
minors until the Tigers purchased his contact and he was the starting shortstop
for 1929. The problem was his hitting
dropped to .233 and his errors increased to 46 errors. That was third in the league for any player
at any position. Hitting .233 with that
glove meant he was back in the minors for 1930 and 1931. He was back in 1932 and hit .271 and dropped
his errors to 19 for the season. He
never was a starter after that season.
He continued with the Tigers thru 1935 as a back up shortstop and third
baseman, but never getting much playing time.
He only appeared in 71 games from 1933 thru 1935. He played the 1936 season a back up for the
Cardinals. His major league totals were
a .251 batting average with 81 errors in 332 games.
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