Shane Halter was the Tigers great utility man for many years. Shane had come up with the Kansas City Royals
in 1997 and was a utility infielder and shortstop for two years in KC. The Royals sent him on to the New York Mets
for 1999. He got in only 7 games for the
Mets and spent most of the season in Norfolk, their AAA team. There he played one game at catcher, plus
spent a lot of time at in right, center and left field as well as second, short
and third. It was a sign of things to
come. In March of 2000 the Tigers picked
up Shane off of waivers from the Mets and with the Tigers in 2000 Shane played
in more games than he had at any other time in the majors. Dean Palmer was the starting third sacker but
Shane was the normal fill in for the aging Palmer at 55 games. Shane was also used elsewhere. In fact his utility was so vast that on
October first Shane played all 9 positions as a Tiger. It was the last game of the season and made
for a very messy scorecard. Shane played
first, third, right, center, left, short, catcher, pitcher and finally
second. He did not commit an error but
Dean Palmer committed 2. He went 4 for 5
at the plate while scoring 2 runs and driving in 3. He walked the only batter he faced as a
pitcher. But the batter was taken off
the base paths in a double play. He was
a one man wrecking crew as the Tigers beat the Twins 12-11 in 9 innings. This was only the fourth time in MLB history
that a player played every position in a game including pitched. In 2001 Shane was again with the Tiges and
hit .284 as he split duty at third with Jose Macias who was the new third
baseman and he played 62 games at short.
In 2002 he was the official starting shortstop with 81 games but also
played 30 games at short and a few in the outfield, second, first etc. Same thing in 2003. While for most of his time as Tiger he did
not have a position to call his own Shane was always there. He was a .251 hitter with a .309 OBP as a
Tiger. Regardless of his utility, at the
end of the season the Tigers granted him free agency and he ended his career
with one last hurrah in the majors with the California Angels in 2004.
Mike Roarke was a back up catcher for the Tigers. He was born in Rhode Island and went to
college at Boston College with former Boston Red Sox manager Joe Morgan (Not of
the Big Red Machine.). Mike was signed
by the Boston Braves in 1952 as a 21 year old.
However, he did not play a full season as he was off to the Korean War
for much of 1952 and all of 1953. Upon
returning from service in 1954 he was now with the Milwaukee Braves
organization. He was in their farm
system for the next couple of years until being traded to the Tiges with Don
Kaiser and Casey Wise for Charlie Lau and Don Lee. But he still was in the minors until 1961
when he finally broke in to the majors as a 30 year old rookie. In his debut he came in to catch as Tiger
starting catcher Dick Brown had been taken out for a pinch runner in the top of
7th in a game against the Cleveland Indians in which the Tiges
trailed 2-1. Mike singled in the top of
the 8th as the Tigers rallied to score 4 runs and eventually win the
game 5-2. Mike would have his busiest
season in 1961 getting into 86 games as the Tiger back up and hitting .223 with
2 homers and 22 RBI’s. He was still Dick
Brown’s back up in 1962 but was in only 56 games while hitting .213. However he doubled his power numbers with 4
homers. In 1963 Dick Brown was gone
having been traded in the off season for Whitey Herzog and new catcher Gus
Triandos. Mike backed up Gus and hit a
career high .318 but was only in 23 games.
In 1964 Mike played his last year in the majors behind new Tiger catcher
Bill Freehan. Again he was a back up
and again his average was in the low .200’s at .232. He was only in 29 games and at the end of the
season the Tiges released him. Mike
continued a life in baseball as a bull
pen coach for the Tigers and Angels and returned to the Tiges in 1970 as the
pitching coach replacing Johnny Sain. He
went on to coach in the majors and minors and manage in the minors. He even coached under Whitey Herzog, whom he
had been traded for, and under his old college team mate Joe Morgan.
Tony Cuccinello was a coach for the 1968 Tigers.
Bucky Harris ended his playing career as a Tiger. He dropped out of school at the age of 13 to
start working in a coal mine and play baseball in his spare time. At age 19 he was playing in the minors and he
started his major league career as a second baseman for the 1919 Washington
Senators at the age of 22. He played
there for 5 seasons as a good second baseman hitting just under .300. He was soon regarded as the Senators Boy
Wonder as he took over the reins as manager in 1924 as well as playing second
at the age of only 27. He led the
Senators to their one and only World Series title that season as they beat the
New York Giants in 7 games. He took the
Senators back to the World Series the following year but they would lose to the
Pittsburgh Pirates in 7 games. Bucky
continued as player manager through 1928.
The following year the Tigers traded Jack Warner for Bucky and Bucky
became the Tiges player manager in 1929.
But Bucky was not the starting second baseman for the Tiges as they had
Hall of Famer Charlie Gerhinger playing second.
So Bucky only got into 7 games for the Tiges in 1929 as a player and got
exactly 1 hit in 11 at bats. Bucky
continued as the Tiges manager and played 4 more games in 1931 when he got his
second hit as a Tiger in 8 at bats.
Bucky did not fair much better as skipper. He managed the Tiges for 5 seasons, always
finishing in the second division and only in 1932 did he have a winning record
when he was 76-75. In 1934 the Tigers
signed a new manager by the name of Mickey Cochrane. Mickey would take the Tigers to the World
Series in 1934 and win it all in 1935.
Bucky was off to the Boston Red Sox who finished 76=76 under Bucky. Bucky was back in Washington in 1935 and
skippered there through 1942 while only once did he have a winning season. Finally in 1947 Bucky got a prime job as the
New York Yankees manager. He took them
to the World Series where they won against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He managed the Yanks in 1948 before getting
fired for not being serious enough for Yankee management. He was back skippering the Senators from 1950
through 1954 after which he rejoined the Tigers. He managed the Tigers for two years to end
his managerial career in 1955 and 1956 and had a winning record both seasons
going 79-75 and 82-72. His totals as a
skipper were 4,410 games managed. He had
2,158 wins and 2,219 losses with 2 World Series titles. He continued in baseball as a GM and scout
and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.
Two years later, on his birthday, Bucky died of Parkinson’s
disease. He was 81.
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