November 22 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Dick Bartell was the Tiger shortstop for the 1940 pennant winning team.  He started his career in the majors in 1927 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He played in one game for them as a shortstop.  Needless to say, he did not make the World Series roster for the Pirates that year as they lost to the great Yankee team of 1927.  However, he stuck with the Pirates through 1930.  At that time he was sent to the lowly Phils. He was the Phils shortstop through 1934.  Then he was off to the Giants.  Every stop Dick, or “Rowdy Richard” was .280 to .300 hitter and a good fielder.  He was the starting shortstop for the National League in the first All Star game in 1933 for the Phils.  He returned to the game in 1937 with the Giants.  The Giants send Dick to the Cubs after the 1938 season.  The Cubs kept Dick one year before they traded the 32 year old Bartell to the Tigers for 35 year old shortstop Billy Rogell.   Not a great trade for the Cubs.  Rogell played 33 games and hit .136 for the Cubs before his career was over.  Dick hit .233 with 76 walks for a .335 on base percentage and hit 7 homers with 53 RBI’s and went to the World Series with the Tiges where he hit .269 with 3 walks for a .345 OBP and drove in 3 runs.  He started the 1941 season with the Tigers.  But the Tigers were using 26 year old Frank Croucher at short.   So Dick was expendable and was cut after five games into the season.  He signed with the Giants and stayed there for the rest of his career as a player/coach with a few years off due to military service during the war.  He came back after the war and played briefly in 1946 with the Giants before his playing days were over.  Dick did manage in the minors for a few years in the late 1940 and the 1950’s. 

Harry Rice played as a Tiger outfielder in the late 1920’s and 1930..  He started with the St. Louis Browns in 1923 and stayed there until he was traded to the Tiges with Elam Van Gilder and later Chick Galloway for Lu Blue and Heinie Manush.  For Detroit he was the starting centerfielder with Fats Fothergill and Harry Heilmann.  Harry stayed with Detroit into the 1930 season when he was traded to the Yanks with Ownie Carroll and Yats Wuestling for Waite Hoyt and Mark Koenig.  In his three years with Detroit Harry hit .303 with 14 homers and 174 RBI’s.  After his playing days, Harry managed in the minors into the 1940’s.