Jack Whillock spent his entire cup of coffee with the
Tigers. He was signed out of the
University of Arkansas by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964. He was in their farm system for four years getting
as high as AA when he was released in 1968.
The Tigers signed him for 1969 and in 1971 he had a break out year. At Montgomery he 5-2 in relief with a 1.19
ERA in 37 games. He was brought up in
August of 1971 and Billy Martin gave a call for him to make his major league debut on August 29. It was the top of the 6th at Tiger
Stadium and the White Sox behind Wilbur Wood were beating the Tigers and Mickey
Lolich 6-2. Jack came in to start the 6th
and put the Sox down 1-2-3. The next
inning he gave up a leadoff single but the threat was erased when the runner
was out trying to steal second. He gave
up a walk that inning as well but there was no real threat. Wilbur Wood led off the next inning with a
single but died on first as Jack put the side down 1-2-3 after that including 2
K’s. Jack was due to bat in the next inning but was
pulled for a pinch runner. Jack lost
two games that season. Both were games
he came in from the pen against the Red Sox.
Both times he got the loss and the winner was Jim Lonborg who pitched
complete games to beat the Tiges those games.
Jack also recorded a save when he faced the last 4 batters in a 5-3 game
against the Washington Senators. Jack
put all four of the Senators down in order including Frank Howard with a K
looking. Jack was invited to spring
training in 1972 but did not make the team.
In fact, Jack never played in the majors again. He was traded before the 1973 season but was
out of baseball after 1974. His final
career was 11 seasons in mainly in the minors but 7 games in the majors with
the Tigers posting a 0-2 record with 1 save and a 5.63 ERA.
Tito Francona has a very interesting story. He has a chapter in the book “This Side of
Cooperstown”. He started with the St.
Louis Browns in 1952 in their farm system.
He was moving up but was in the military in 1954 and 1955. He returned to the Baltimore Orioles in 1956
and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting as a right fielder. He was there for 1957 as well before he was
traded to the Chicago White Sox for the 1958 season. But he was not healthy and he knew it. The Sox figured out something was wrong and
sent him to a doctor. The first doc said
he had hepatitis. The Sox then gave him
a complete physical. He called and asked
what was wrong. They told him they did
not see any hepatitis but found a liver infection and something seemed to be
wrong with his heart. He asked what he
should do and they told him to go to spring training. If he fell over dead they would know it was a
heart attack. Soon the season started
and soon the Sox traded Tito to the Tigers with Bill Fischer for Ray Boone and
Bob Shaw. But the Sox did not tell
anyone about their concerns of his health.
They just wanted to get rid of what they felt was “damaged goods”. The
day he got traded to the Tigers the manager, Jack Tighe, was fired. So Tito went to see the new manager, Bill
Norman to introduce himself. Norman
asked what position he played because he had no idea who he was and had not
made the trade. Tito got in only 45
games as a Tiger and only started 13.
Not a great deal of time for a former runner up to Rookie of the
Year. He hit .246 in that time and
played mainly in the outfield when he did play.
In spring of 1959 he was one of about 9 left fielders trying for a
spot. His wife was home pregnant with
Terry Francona (yes, the future Tiger coach and MLB manager.) and was not
getting any playing time. Bill Norman
told him he would get some time in the next game and took all the scrubs about
200 miles to a spring training game but he still did not get any playing
time. He was livid and went to his room
to pack and quit baseball. But a writer
asked what was going on. Tito told him
the fiasco and the writer told him to give him a day. The writer wrote a story knowing the
Cleveland GM always read his stories. He
did and shortly after the Tigers traded Tito for Larry Doby. Tito went on to hit .363 that season and
would have won the batting title but was 45 at bats short of qualifying. He was fifth in AL MVP voting for the Indians
that season as well. Larry Doby played
only 18 games as a Tiger and hit .218 before he was traded and ended his career
21 games later with the Chicago White Sox.
Tito went on to play until 1970 with the Cardinals, Phillies, Braves,
Athletics and Brewers and was a career .272 hitter and was an All-Star as well
for the Indians.
Skeeter Webb was a starter for the 1945 World Champion
Tigers. He played college ball at Ole’
Miss with the likes of Hub Walker, Charlie Moss, Doc Marshall and Orlin Collier
who all played in the majors.
Bill Leinhauser played his entire time in pro ball with
Tigers without spending a day in the minors.
Bill was a young welterweight boxer in 1912. Also in 1912 a Detroit Tiger by the name of Ty
Cobb went into the stands and beat up a fan who had been heckling him in New
York when the Tigers were playing the Highlanders (Soon to be Yankees.). The fan called Ty the “N” word which did not
sit well with Ty who was from post Civil War Georgia. Ty was incensed and felt justified by going
into the stands to beat the fan. Ty’s
teammates followed him into the stands for two reasons, one, to protect their
team mate from the rest of the crowd and two, to try to break it up. But it would take several policemen to pull
Ty off the fan. Afterwards, Ty was
suspended by American League President Ban Johnson. The next day the Tigers moved on to
Philadelphia to play the Athletics. When
the players found that Ty was indefinitely suspended they were supportive of their
teammate and sent word to Ban Johnson that “If players cannot have protection,
we must protect ourselves.” With that
they refused to play on the day of May 18, 1912. Ban Johnson told the Tiger organization that
they would be fined $5,000 (A hefty fine in those days.) if they forfeited the
game. So Hughie Jennings, the Tiges manager
ran around Philly with a Philly newspaper man to put together a team to take
the field. He got several players from
the local St. Joseph’s College team as well as others who were hanging out at a
local gym like boxer Bill. Each was paid
$25 except the pitcher, Allan Traverse who got $50 because he was the true
sacrificial lamb. 48 year old Deacon
McGuire would catch the game as he was a Tiger coach. These “Philadelphia” Tigers lost 24-2. Bill Leinhauser took Ty Cobb’s spot in
center. He went 0-4 with 3 K’s. But he did not make an error in the field and
had an assist on the lone fly ball to center.
That was quite an achievement for the day as the Tigers had 9 errors for
the day. After the game Ty told his
teammates to get back to the playing as the league was talking serious fines
and suspensions if they did not return to the field. In the end each Tiger was fined $100. Ty Cobb’s fine was $50 for beating the fan
and a 10 game suspension. Bill
Leinhauser never played professional ball before or after that game. He went back to boxing and then served in
France during World War I. After his
boxing days Bill became a Philadelphia policeman and retired in 1959.
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