Duane Below is one of the more recent Tigers. He was born and raised in Britton, MI. He goes to college at Lake Michigan Community
College in the off season. He was
drafted by the Tigers in 2006 and in 2007 was the Tigers Minor League Pitcher
of the Year. He has continued to move up
in the Tigers farm system and in 2011 was 9-4 with a 3.13 ERA for the Toledo
Mud Hens when he was called up to replace Adam Wilk. Duane made his major league debut as a
starter against the Oakland Athletics.
He perfect in the first two innings but then got in trouble in the
third. David DeJesus reached on an error
by Carlos Guillen. Then Landon Powell
hit single and Eric Sogard followed with a ground out that scored DeJesus. Duane gave up another unearned run to get out
of the inning with no earned runs but three hits. Duane gave up only one more hit in the next
two innings but was pulled in the 6th when he gave up Hideki
Matsui’s 500th career home run (Remember, Matsui played 10 years in
Japan before coming to the US.) The
tiers would get the los that day but Duane would get a no decision in his major
league debut. Duane got in 13 more games
for the Tiges in 2011 with one more start and posted an 0-2 record with a 4.34
ERA. He was back with the Tiges this
past season and at one point led the league in wins. He won the Tigers second and third games of
the season. He came into the second game
of the season wen Doug Fister was pulled in the 4th inning and Duane
came in and became the pitcher of record as the Tiges pounded the Red Sox
10-0. The next day Duane came in to end
the top of the 11 inning. The Red Sox
had just scored 2 runs to take a 12-10 lead in the 11th. Things looked bad for the Tiges and Duane was
broght in to relive Joaquin Benoit.
Duane faced one batter, Adrian Gonzalez, and got him to K. But the Tiges came back and scored three runs
and won the game 13-12 on a walk off homer by Alex Avilla and Duane had his
second win in two days and in only the third game of the season. He finished the season 2-1 in 27 games with one start and an ERA of 3.88.
Ryan Jackson
Todd Steverson
Bob Farley
Babe Ellison
Hap Ward played in the Ty
Cobb strike game of 1912 when he was 24. In 1912 Ty Cobb was suspended for
going into the stands and beating up a fan. He was suspended by the league. But
his teammates felt he was justified and so on May 18, the rest of the Tigers
refused to take the field in a game in Philadelphia against the Athletics. The
Tigers hastily put a squad together of amateurs and sand lotters. Hap was one
of those players and joined the Tigers at the age of 26. Hap had two plate appearances in that game
and K’d both times. However, he did reach on a dropped third strike. But he was erased from the base paths when he
was caught stealing. He played the
outfield as a replacement and made two put outs. The team lost the contest 24-2. After the game the regular Tigers reported
back as Ty had asked them to. All of
the players from the 24-2 game disappeared from professional baseball when the
regulars returned.
Will Foley was briefly a Detroit Wolverine. He started playing
professional ball at the age of 19 with the Chicago White Stockings of the
National Association in 1875. The National Association was the first
professional league in 1871. So this was just the fifth year of a professional
league in baseball history. Will was from Chicago so it only made sense that he
join his home team and make some money. He played in 3 games as a third
baseman. He went 3 for 12 and hit a double and drove in a run. In the field he
made three errors in three games. Before you think badly of his fielding
remember this was a time of no gloves. His fielding percentage was .813
compared to the league average of .764. Not bad for a rookie! At the end of the
season the National Association collapsed as several teams jumped to form the
National League in 1876. Will left Chicago and joined the Cincinnati Reds. He
was the Reds starting third baseman for the next two seasons on teams that were
not very good. The Reds were 9-56 that first season for 8th place in
an 8 team league. In 1877 they moved up to 6th place in the league.
But that was because the New York Mutuals and the Philadelphia Athletics
dropped from the league. Will was a .209 hitter for Cincy. But the league
average was about .265. In 1878 Will went to the Milwaukee Grays where he was
their starting third baseman hitting .271 for the Grays before heading back to
Cincy in 1879. Will was moved to the outfield in 1879 as the starting third
sacker for Cincy was now Hall of Famer King Kelly. Will hit .211 for 1879 and
then disappeared for the 1880 season. He was back in the majors in 1881 with
the Detroit Wolverines but only briefly. He got in 5 games for the Wolverines
and went 2 for 15 as a third baseman. Will dissapeared again from pro ball
until 1884 when he was playing with the St. Paul Apostles of the Northwestern
League and then joined the Chicago team in the Union Association. The Chicago
team moved to Pittsburgh during the season before collapsing with the league following
shortly thereafter. That would be the last Will played in the majors. In 1886
Will was playing pro ball still with the Lincoln Tree Planters of the Western
League and then the Minneapolis Millers of the Northwestern League to end his
pro career. Will died three days short of his 61st birthday in 1916
in Chicago.
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