Mark Lewis had a difficult task as a Tiger. It is ironic that his birthday is the day
after Steve Rodriguez, who was the Tigers top second baseman prospect. Mark had started his career in the majors as
a Cleveland Indian and then a Cincinnati Red.
He played second base, shortstop and third base. He was a .255 hitter for the Tribe without a
lot of power and a below average glove.
In July of 1995 the Tigers made a trade with the Reds and sent David Wells
to Cincy for CJ Nitkowski, Dave Tuttle and a player to be named later. In November, the Tigers later named Mark
Lewis. Mark had the task of replacing
the recently retired Lou Whitaker. Lou
had hit .293 with 14 homers his last season and drove in 33 runs in 249 at bats. In his first year with the Tigers Mark hit .270 and had career highs of 11 homers and drove
in 55 runs in 545 at bats. In the off
season Mark was traded to the Giants for Jesus Ibarra who never made it to the
majors while Mark went on to play part of five more years in the majors. His career stats are a .263 average with 48
homers and 306 RBI’s.
Dave Engle was a Tiger utility player. He started his career as a Minnesota Twins
outfielder in 1981. He was moved to
catcher in 1983 and was a back for them until he was traded to Detroit for
Sparky’s great Chris Pittaro and Alejandro Sanchez. With Detroit in 1986 Dave was a back up first
baseman mainly but also spent time at DH, in the outfield and behind the
plate. He hit .256 with no homers and
only 4 RBI’s in 86 at bats. In August
the Tigers released Dave. He went on to
play two years with the Expos and then one more year with the Brewers until his
time in the majors was up in 1989. Dave
went on to manage in the minors and was managing as late as 2000 in the Mets
organization.
Juan Berenguer was a starting pitcher for the Tigers in the
early 1980’s. He started his career with
the Mets in 1978 appearing sparingly until he was sent to the Royals. The Tigers picked him up a free agent in 1982
and he was the number 4 starter on the 1984 team going 11-10 with a 3.48
ERA. Juan was the starter against the
Blue Jays in 1984 facing the Blue Jays ace Dave Steib when Dave Bergman had his
“at bat”. He did not get the win but
left that game after 7 with the game tied 3-3.
He did not get into the post season for the Tigers that year. In 1985 he dropped to 5-6 with a 5.59 ERA and
was dealt to the Giants in the trade that sent Juan, Bob Melvin and Scott
Medvin to San Fran for Matt Nokes, Eric King and Dave LaPoint. 1987 found Juan in the post season but facing
the Tigers as a Minnesota Twin and coming out of the bullpen. He pitched six innings and struck out six
against the Tigers giving up only one hit, a homer to Chet Lemon in game
5. Juan finished his career as a Brave
and a Royal in 1992.
Fred “Firpo” Marberry was with the Washington Senators for
10 years before coming to the Tigers with Carl Fischer for Earl Whitehill. He had been a great closer before there was
such a thing. For five out of those ten
seasons with the Senators he led the league is saves. He was 117-69 with 96 saves when he joined
the Tigers. Detroit did not use him as a
reliever as much but rather made him a starter.
In 1933, his first year in Detroit, he was 16-11 with only 2 saves and a
3.29 ERA. In 1934 he saw his last
effective season. He was 15-5 with a
4.57 ERA and had only 3 saves. He got
into the World Series that year but was not effective going only 1.2 innings and
giving up four runs on five hits and a walk.
In 1935 Fred was released by the Tigers half way thru the season. He immediately started umpiring in the AL and
spent the remainder of the season behind the catcher. At the end of the season he quit umping and
signed with the Giants. While he pitched
for two more seasons, he did not win nor save another game in his career in the
majors. He held the career saves total
for 20 years from his playing days in 1926 until 1945 and the single season record
from 1924 with 15 thru 1948 with his own improved record of 22 which he set in
1926. However, the save was not an
official stat until the 1960’s. All
Fred’s records were determined years after he had retired and the records had long
been broken.
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