Andy Tomberlin ended his career as a Detroit Tiger. He was drafted out of high school by the Atlanta Braves as a pitcher. But he was soon splitting time between the mound and the outfield. He should good power and was able to hit for average in the minors while still posting a winning record on the mound and showing a good ERA and decent control. However, after seven years in the minors the Braves granted him free agency and he signed with the Pirates. He made his debut in the majors with the Pirates at the age of 26 ironically as the pinch hitter for the Pirates starting pitcher, the role that Andy had been drafted for out of high school. He hit a foul pop up to short right field for an out. At the end of the season Andy was a .286 hitter with a homer, a triple and 5 RBI’s in 42 at bats. However, in 27 games only 7 were as a position player in the outfield. The rest were as a pinch hitter. He became a free agent at the end of the season and signed with the Boston Red Sox. He was only a .194 hitter for the Sox but he did pitch in one game for two innings and only allowed one hit in the two innings pitched. He was again a free agent at the end of the season and signed with the Oakland Athletics for 1995 and then spent two more years with the New York Mets in 1996 and 1997. Finally, after the 1997 season he was signed by the Tigers as a free agent. For the Tiges he got into 32 games and had 75 plate appearances as a 31 year old pinch hitter and outfielder. He hit only .217 but did hit 2 homers and drove in 12 runs while scoring 8 himself. But he never did pitch for the Tigers. Unfortunately in June the Tigers released Andy. While he would never play in the majors again, Andy has continued to make his living in baseball as a minor league coach. In 2014 he was coaching with the Charlotte Knights who are the AAA team for the White Sox.
Orlando Mercado spent a very short time of his career as a Tiger. He started his pro career at 16 in 1978 with the Seattle organization. He was a good defensive catcher who would learn how to hit pro pitching. He worked his way up to a .280 hitter in 1982 with AAA Salt Lake City and was a late season call up for Seattle. He got in 9 games that first season and hit .118. He would be a back up catcher for the next two seasons and hit a high of .218 with Seattle in 1984. The Mariners sent him to Texas where he hit .235 as a back up catcher. In spring training of 1987 the Tiges were unsure of what they had at the catcher position. Lance Parrish was gone to the Angles. 1986 backup catcher Mike Heath was still in Detroit but was he a starter? Matt Nokes had hit .285 in AAA in 1986 but no one knew if he would pan out in the majors. So the Tiges traded minor leaguer Dario Guzman for Orlando at the end of March, 1987. Orlando was the starting catcher on opening day hitting 9th. Mike Heath was in right field hitting 8th. Orlando went 1-3 that first game as a Tiger catcher. He got a single in the 8th and was pulled for pinch runner Pat Sheridan. Young Matt Nokes was brought in as the defensive replacement. Mike Heath had gone 0-2 but had drawn 2 walks. Orlando was the starter for 7 games that month of April and his .333 average on opening day was his peak. He dropped down to .158 by the end of the month and his fielding was only average. In the mean time, Matt Nokes was hitting .310 and Mike Heath was hitting .350. The trial was complete. Nokes and Heath would be the catchers for 1987. Orlando got one more game as Tiger on May 2. He went 0-3 and his average dropped to .136. Three days later he was traded to the Dodgers for Balvino Galvez. Orlando stuck around in the majors for three more seasons with the Dodgers, Athletics, Twins, Mets and Expos. He was a career .199 hitter with an above average glove and an average arm. He was done as a player in the minors four years later. He then went in to coaching. He was a coach in the Angels organization until 2013. In 2014 he joined the Yankees organization and was a coach in their minors. His son, Orlando Jr. played in the minors for 10 years ending in 2012.
Tom Walker spent one season as a Tiger. I always will remember Tom as he sent me a response to my request to former players for stories about Mark Fidrych. Tom sent a note back about how he and Mark were both pitchers in spring training in 1975 with Fidrych and Fidrych tried taking the mound with a chaw in his mouth. He took a line shot and swallowed the chaw and was sick as a dog. But he never did chew after that! Tom also sent me a photo of himself as a Montreal Expo which was really cool for me as I am an Expos fan as well. He was an Expo for three years from 1972 through 1974. He was mainly a reliever for the Expos with a decent ERA of 3.57. He was brought to the Tigers with Terry Humphrey for Woodie Fryman. For the 1975 season in Detroit Tom split time as a starter and reliever. He was 3-8 with a 4.45 ERA. O fhis three wins as a Tiger, one was in relief against the Orioles, one was as a starter against the Athletics and one was a complete game gem where he out dueled Jim Kaat of the White Sox and allowed only 1 run. At the end of the season Tom was sold to the St. Louis Cardinals. He would play one more year in the majors, 1977, when he split time between his first team, the Expos, and the California Angels. For his career Tom was 18-23 with a 3.87 ERA and 11 saves. He still has an influence in baseball today as his son Neil Walker plays with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a good fielding second baseman with career .280 average and 38 homers in the last three seasons. Tom included a photo of his son in his response as the proud father of a major leaguer.
Joe Niekro, before he developed his knuckle ball like his brother, was a Tiger. Joe started his major league career in 1967 with the Chicago Cubs and had a pretty good rookie season going 10-7. He followed that up with a starting role on opening day of 1968 for the Cubs and went 14-10 for the season before being traded to the new expansion team, the San Diego Padres early in 1969. After the 1969 season the Pads traded Joe to the Tigers for Pat Dobson and Dave Campbell. In 1970 Joe stepped into the Tiger starting rotation under manager Mayo Smith and at the number 2 spot was the first Tiger hurler of the season to win 10 games when he posted a 12-13 record with a 4.06 ERA. He had a no-hitter going into the 9
th against the Yankees in July and with one out gave up his only hit to Horace Clark. 1971 found a new skipper for the Tigers in Billy Martin and Joe did not quite fit into Billy’s starting rotation as Billy kept changing the rotation. Only three pitchers under Billy actually were used as starters in over half their appearances. The rest, like Joe, kept having their roles change from starter to reliever. Joe pitched in 31 games and 15 were as a starter. He was 6-7 and his ERA climbed a bit to 4.49. In 1972 Joe’s role as Tiger continued to diminish. He was only in 18 games and only 7 starts. In between he was sent down to Toledo. He was not happy with the demotion and in his first start in Toledo he pitched a perfect shortened 7 inning game. He was called back up and spent about a month on the DL. At the end of the season the Tigers won the AL East title and headed into the playoffs against the Oakland A’s. Joe did not make an appearance. 1973 found Joe in the minors for the whole season while under contract for the Tigers. The Tiges then waived him and in August the Atlanta Braves claimed him. He joined his brother, Phil, in Atlanta and there he learned the knuckle ball that his Dad had taught him and his brother had perfected. Joe would pitch for another 15 years in the majors making his big as a knuckle baller in Houston in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s winning 20 games twice with Astros. It was also there that he showed his brilliance in the post season. In the 1980 NLCS between Houston and Philadelphia he pitched 10 innings of shut out ball before finally being pulled in the 11
th. At that time the Astros decided to score a run to give the win not to Joe but to his replacement on the mound, Dave Smith. The following season in the NLDS against the Dodgers Joe pitched 8 innings of shut out ball to be replaced in the 9
th. Again, the Astros scored after Joe was pulled so Joe did not get the win. Joe ended his career in Minnesota as a Twins starter where he had his moment that anyone who saw it remembers. He was caught defacing a ball. This youtube clip will show you all you need to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXLmh1dG5fY
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