Sunday, November 30, 2014

November 27 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jason Beverlin spent a good portion of his cup of coffee with the Tigers.  He went to high school at Dondero High School in Royal Oak, MI.  He started his career with the West Michigan White Caps in 1994, the teams first year of existence.  It was a Oakland Athletics class A club at the time.  He bounced around the minors and around various major league farm systems until 2002 when he made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians at a 28 year old rookie.  He was brought in to a game in the third inning as a reliever for Jaret Wright who was getting bombed by Jason’s original franchise, the Oakland Athletics.  Jason pitched 2.1 innings and gave up 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks while K’ing 3.  Jason would get in 3 more games for the Indians and pitched 5 more innings but did not record a decision and posted a 7.36 ERA.  The Tiges picked up Jason who was waived by the Indians about two weeks after his debut.  Jason got in three games for the Tiges as a starter in all three.  He faced the Kansas City Royals in his first game and pitched 2.2 innings before getting pulled.  He had given up 6 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks and picked up the loss.  In his second game he faced the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium and went 4.2 innings giving up only 3 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks and picked up the loss.  His last game was the second to last game of the bad 2002 season and he faced the Toronto Blue Jays at Skydome.  He lasted 5 innings and gave up 6 runs on 8 hits but no walks.  He was tagged with the loss for this game as well.  The 2002 Tigers were 55-106 with a 4.92 ERA.  Jason was 0-3 with a 9.49 ERA as a Tiger.  At the end of the season he was released and picked up by the Indians again but would never pitch in the majors again.  He retired from baseball and the Indians in 2007 at the age of 33 having pitched 19.2 innings in 7 major league games.  As a fan who sponsors his web page on Baseball-Reference puts it, “at least he got a cup of coffee, I never got out of Little League.”   Jason has gone into coaching at the college level and today is the head coach for the Bethune-Cookman University team. 

Ivan Rodriguez


Bob Schultz ended his career in the majors as a Detroit Tiger.  He was in the Marines during World War II and upon getting out of the service in 1946 he started his career in pro ball as a lefty pitcher.  He started in the majors in 1951 as a 27 year old rookie.  He was with the Cubs for parts of three seasons and was 9-13 when he was traded for Ralph Kiner, Joe Garagiola, Howie Pollet and George Metkovich.  Ok, he was traded with Gene Hermanski, Toby Atwell, Preston Ward, Gene Freese, Tocy Atwell and $150,000.  But he can still say he was traded for Ralph Kiner.  He was 0-2 with the Pirates and back in their farm system when the Tigers purchased him in the winter of 1954.  He was with the Tiges in April in 1954 when he got he call form the bull pen for his debut as a Tiger.  The game was 4-2 in favor of the Cleveland Indians in the 7th inning.  Bob started the inning and gave up a lead walk to Bobby Avila.  He then got Lary Doby to hit into a fielder choice.  Then a double to Al Rosen brought in Doby.  Ralph Kiner, now playing for the Indians, hit a fly ball to short for the second out and Vic Wertz ended the inning with a fly ball to second.  In the eighth Bob gave up a single to George Strickland and then moved him to second on a wild pitch.  He then gave up a walk to Hank Foiles before getting Herb Score to line out to first.  Bob was then pulled for Bud Black.  Stickland and Foiles would score on a triple giving Bob a final line score of 1.1 innings pitched with 3 earned runs on 2 hits and 2 walks for no decision and a 20.25 ERA.  That would be his final total as a Tiger as well.  He went to Buffalo for the rest of the season and never made it back to the majors.  He was done in pro ball in 1956.  He was in Nashville and worked as a house painter in 1979 when he was shot and killed in a bar argument at a VFW hall bar at the age of 55.  

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