November 5 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Johnny Damon played one season as a Tiger. He started his career in Kansas City in 1995 and played six seasons with the Royals and was a .292 hitter for them but was never an all-star for KC. In 2001 he was part of a three team trade between KC, Oakland and Tampa Bay then landed Johnny in Oakland . He had made $4M his last season in KC and was up to $7.1M his first year in Oakland . With Oakland you would have thought his stock dropped as he went from a .327 hitter his last season at KC to a .256 hitter in Oakland . His stolen bases also dropped from a league leading 46 to 27 and his power dropped from 16 homers to 9. At the end of the season he became a free agent and signed with the Boston Red Sox. But it was for a raise to $7.25M. He played 4 seasons in Boston and was there when they brought the first title to Boston since Babe Ruth. He even had a role in the Jimmy Fallon/Drew Barrymore movie “Fever Pitch” that was set with the Red Sox championship drive as a back drop. With Boston he showed he was what he was in KC and was again a .295 hitter with speed and some power as an outfielder. He was also a fan favorite with his long hair and beard and moustache earning him the nickname “Caveman”. But the Boston faithful were disappointed when he signed with the Yankees as a free agent. Of course, the Yanks paid him $13M a year for four years. While his average dropped from a .295 hitter to .285 hitter for the Yanks his power jumped up. He was hitting 5 more homers per year in New York . But after 2009 the Yanks decided not to resign him and the Tigers did sign him for $8M for a single season contract. He was considered a leader in the clubhouse in Detroit according to the press, but hit .271 with his lowest homerun total, 8, since hit third year in KC. And his RBI total was only 51 which was his lowest since Oakland . He was always a decent centerfielder most of his career but in Detroit he was mainly used as a DH and in left field. At 37 years old the Tiges did not resign him as a free agent at the end of the season but rather let him sign with Tampa Bay for 2011. His power was back up in Tampa but his average continued to drop to .261. 2012 he was signed to his last one year deal with Cleveland and hit his career low .222 average and only 4 homers.

Glenn Dishman ended his pitching career as a lefty for the Tigers. Glenn was brought into the majors by the San Diego Padres in 1995 and was 4-8 with a 5.01 ERA as a 24 year old starter. He started 1996 with the Padres but only got into 3 games with Padres as a reliever and spent most of the season in the minors where he was 6-8 with a 5.57 ERA with the Padres AAA team in Las Vegas . In September he was waived and the Philadelphia Phillies claimed him. He ended the season with the Phils and was 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA. The Phils waived Glenn and the Tigers claimed him after the season. He was 1-2 with the Tiges with a 5.28 ERA. He started four games with the Tiges and also came in from the pen on another 3. His one win was a game in which he started against the Kansas City Royals and went 7 innings giving up only 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 8. A young Johnny Damon did not get a hit off of Glenn. That was the end of his major league career. In 1998 he was not on a major league roster as he was injured. He spent four more years in the low minors until 2002. At that point he started coaching and has been coaching in the minors ever since. From 2010 through 2013 he was with the Albuquerque Isotopes as their pitching coach.

Lloyd Moseby was a power hitting outfielder who ended his playing career with the Tigers.  He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1978 out of high school.  He spent only two years in the minors before making it as a starter in the outfield for Toronto.  He was in right field for the Jays for only two years before his speed moved him over to center.  He was in the Jays outfield for ten years averaging .333 with an average 15 homers and 25 stolen bases to go with 65 average RBI’s per year.  But he never showed Detroit any problems.  His lowest batting average against any team was a .208 average against the Tiges and his lowest homer total was also against the Tiges with only 5 where as every other team gave up double digits to him in homers.  At the end of the 1989 season Lloyd became a free agent and signed with the Tigers in a case of “if you cant beat them, join them”.  He was the Tiges starting center fielder in 1990 hitting .248 with 14 homers and 17 RBI’s.  He was brought back in 1991 but shared time in left with the committee of Pete Incaviglia, Tony Phillips and John Shelby.  Lloyd hit .262 with only 6 homers, 35 RBI’s and only 8 stolen bases.  He was granted free agency at the end of the season but went over to Japan rather than stay in MLB.  He returned to the Jays as a coach in the late 1990’s.

Carl Fischer was a member of the great 1934-35 Tiger teams.  Unfortunately he was traded before the Tiges won the World Series in 1935.   Carl was originally a Washington Senator.  He was 9-11 for the Newark Bears in 1930 when the Senators called him up.   He made his debut for manager Walter Johnson, as a 24 year old rookie in July of 1930 facing the Cleveland Indians.  He did not pitch bad, going 6 innings while giving up 4 runs.  But Wes Ferrell was on the mound for the tribe and Wes gave up only 2 runs in a complete game victory.  Carl got his first win as a big leaguer on the second to last day of the season.  He got the start and pitched a 8-3 complete game victory over the Boston Red Sox.  Carl stayed with the Senators until June of 1932 when he was traded to the St. Louis Browns for Dick Coffman.  Carl was 3-7 for the Browns with a 5.57 ERA while Dick was 1-6 with a 4.83 ERA.  About 6 months later the two teams traded back and Coffman went back to St. Louis while Carl came back to Washington.  But it was short lived.  The next day the Senators traded Carl to the Tigers for the 1933 season.  Carl would miss out on the Senators winning the American League pennant in 1933.  Carl had arguably his best season in the majors in 1933 when he went 11-15 with his lowest season ERA of 3.55 as the number 4 man in the rotation.  Carl slipped in the rotation in 1934 into the number 6 spot and the lefty did not make it into a World Series game for the Tigers.  In 1935 Carl was 0-1 when in May he was sold to the Chicago White Sox.  Carl would miss out on the Tigers winning the World Series.  Carl went 5-5 for the Sox in 1935 and that would be his best year of his remaining time in the majors.  He would get one more season in the majors in 1937 when he started with the Cleveland Indians and was waived.  The team that picked him up was his first team, the Washington Senators.  Carl would stay in pro ball, but in the minors, through 1947 when he finally ended his baseball career as a player manager for the Pensacola Fliers at the age of 41.