Billy McMillon in the dark days was a Tiger. Billy played ball in college at Clemson
before signing with the Marlins in their inaugural season of 1993. He almost made the majors in 1995. That was the year of the lockout/strike. Billy crossed the line and was willing to
play. But an agreement was reached and
he did not make the majors. Instead he
went to the minors and the Portland Seadogs where he hit .313 with 14 homers and
93 RBI’s. This was rough on the minor
league players willing to cross the line like Billy. When he finally made it to the majors in
1996 for the Marlins as a back up outfielder he faced a hostile locker room. He was there for a year and a half before
going to the Phillies to end 1997. He
was in the Phillies farm system before they granted him free agency in
1999. The Tigers signed him and he
played DH and outfield in 2000 for the Tiges.
He hit .301 and probably had the game of his career in New York against
the Yankees that season. He got the
start as DH against Roger Clemons and with the Tigers trailing 5-3 in the 5th
he hit a grand slam to give the Tigers the lead. The lefty was back with the Tiges in 2001 but
was hitting .088 in 20 games. He was
waived and the Oakland Athletics claimed him.
He ended his major league career in 2004 with Oakland having never been
a starter. However, the MLB Players
Association did allow him to join the union.
After his major league days he went into coaching. He became a minor league manager in 2010 and
in 2014 he was named manager of the year of the Eastern League for the same
Portland Seadogs that he played for in 1995.
Brad Havens
Orlando Pena
Dick Weik
Davey Claire should not be confused with his brother Danny
who was never a Tiger. Both were born in
Ludington. Davey was older having been
born in 1895 while Danny was born in 1897.
Danny was an umpire in the minors.
He died in a fire in 1929 in Battle Creek. Davey for years had his stats attributed to
Danny. Davey started playing for
Ludington of the Central League in 1920.
He hit .284 and that was enough to catch the eye of the Tigers who
called him to Detroit in September. In
his debut Davey was called in to replace Donnie Bush at shortstop. He got a single in his one plate appearance
but was still pulled later in the game after making an error. The next day he got the start at short and
went 1 for 4 with a HBP. The third day
he got one more start and was 0-2 with 2 errors. Hughie Jennings pulled him from the game and
Davey never got in another major league game.
Davey went on to play for a few more seasons with Ionia, Grand Rapids
and Toledo before his career was over in 1923.
Willie Jensen
George Stallings was the manager when the American League began
and we had the Detroit Tigers. He had a
brief career as a player in the majors in the 1890’s. It consisted of 7 games, 4 games in 1890 with
the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, 2 games in 1897 with the Philadelphia Phillies and 1
more game in 1898 with the Phillies. However,
his real talent was as a manager. He
started his managing before his playing days were even barely started. He was a player manager in 1893 in the
minors. He first came to Detroit in 1896
when the Tiges were part of the Western League which was a minor league. He was called to manage the Phillies of the
National League in 1897 and 1898 where he had his last few games as a
player. But he was back in Detroit
before the end of the 1898 season. George
was known as a fastidious dresser and managed in a suit. He was a bit of a nervous type always sliding
up and down the bench so much that he would wear out his pants. He was still the skipper when the Western
League renamed itself the American League and a major league in 1900. He took them to 4th place with a
71-67-1 record. He improved the Tiges to
3rd and 74-62 in 1901 when everyone
else considered the American League a major league. According to the baseball Pythagorean theory
they should have won only 72 games. But
George got into a battle with the American League President, Ban Johnson. Ban claimed that George was trying to
sabotage the league by selling the Tigers to NL parties. This was when the American and National
Leagues were fierce, cut throat, rivals.
However, George pointed out that Ban owned 51% of the Tigers so it was
not likely to happen. But Ban won the
argument and George left the league and Detroit and went to manage in the
minors for a few years before returning to the league eight years later taking
over the helm of the New York Highlanders, soon to be the Yankees. He managed there for the 1909 season and most
of 1910 when Ban Johnson finally convinced the Highlanders owner to fire George
and install Hal Chase as the New York player manager. George had the Highlanders in second place at
78-59 in 1910. Hal finished the season
at 10-4 in the last 14 games of 1910. But
the following season the Highlanders dropped to 6th place under
Chase. Chase would be found to be one
the most notorious baseball players ever to play the game and is a character by
himself. He was adept at throwing games
to win bets. His biography is called
“Hal Chase, the Black Prince of Baseball”.
But George had moved on and eventually became the manager of the Boston
Braves of the National League. He took
the Braves to the World Series in 1914 where they swept the heavily favored American
League’s Philadelphia Athletics. They are
now forever known as “the Miracle Braves” as they came from last place on July
15 to win it all. George was done
managing in the majors after 1920. He
would continue to manage in the minors and was hired to manage the Montreal
Royals in 1928. But it was when he lay dying that he may have made his most lasting moment in baseball. In 1929 he was struggling with heart problems that would take his life. While struggling to cling to life his doctor asked him if he knew what was troubling him. George knew exactly what had always caused him the most pain. It was the same thing the troubles all managers. He replied “Bases on balls, you son of a bitch! Bases on Balls!” And then he died.
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