Joel
Zumaya
Beiker Graterol spent an afternoon as
s Tiger. Beiker was born and raised in
Venezuela. He was a right handed starter
in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system starting in 1992 and looked very good in
the minors. In 1998 he was tied with
teammate Roy Halladay in wins for his minor league team. After the season the Tigers traded Eric
Ludwick for him. On opening day at
Yankee Stadium in 1999 Beiker got the start for the Tigers against David
Cone. Beiker got through the first
inning with only a walk to Paul O’Neil.
In the second things did not go as well.
He gave up a lead off homer to Tino Martinez and then put Chad Curtis on
before giving up another homer to Scott Brosius. He got out of the inning with the Yanks up
3-0. In the third gave up a lead off
walk to Derek Jeter. Then he walked Paul
O’Neil and after a ground out by Bernie Williams advanced Jeter and O’Neil to
second and third he intentionally walked Tino “Homerun” Martinez. Chile Davis came up and drove a 2-1 pitch out
to the stands for a grand slam. The
score was now 7-0 in favor of the Yanks.
Beiker would get out of the inning without any more damage. And he returned in the 4th and
sent the Yankees down 1-2-3. But the
damage was done and Beiker got the loss.
He would never pitch in the majors again. His career totals were 4 innings pitched, 7
runs on 4 hits and 4 walks while striking out 2. His career ERA was 15.75. After going 3-9 in Toledo in 1999 he was
released by the Tigers. He played south
of the border with the Mexico City Tigers in 2000 where he was 5-3 with a 7.13
ERA. He was out of baseball after that.
Al Greene
Whitey
Herzog, yes he was a Tiger.
Bill
Bruton
Jerry
Priddy
Benny McCoy was part of a great
exodus from the Tigers. Benny was signed
by the Tigers out of high school in the Grand Rapids area in 1934. He toiled in the minors as a second baseman
and outfielder. By 1938 and 1939 he was
hitting over .300 in Toledo and was also getting some time with the
Tigers. In 1938 he got in 7 games with
the Tiges and another 55 in 1939. He hit
.302 with the Tiges in 1939 and was a very hot prospect. In the winter meetings of December 1939 Benny
was traded with Slick Coffman to Connie Mack’s Athletics for Wally Moses a
speedy right fielder. The Tiger outfield
needed some work if the Tiges were to compete for the 1940 pennant. However, the Commissioner of Baseball was one
Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis. The
Judge did not like the farm system. He
believed that the farm system keeps major league talent in the minor
leagues. Since one team may have 2 or 3
top notch second baseman, like the Tigers with Charley Gerhinger and Benny
McCoy, that the best 16 second basemen were not always the 16 second baseman
playing in the majors for the 16 major league teams. In 1938 the Judge had granted 100 minor
leaguers free agency from the Cardinals organization and forbid the Cards from
resigning any of them. He also granted
free agency to individuals like Tommy Henrich from the Indians in 1937at which
time he promptly signed with the Yankees and became a all star and future Hall
of Famer. In January of 1940 it was the
Tigers turn. The Judge voided the trade
of McCoy and Coffman for Moses and granted McCoy free agency. Not only that, but Landis ruled that five “major leaguers” from the
Tigers and 88 minor leaguers in the Tigers organization were free agents. McCoy, Roy Cullenbine, Paul “Dizzy” Trout,
Lloyd “Dutch” Dietz and Steve Rachunok were all given free agency. Dietz and Rachunok had not played in the
majors but were expected to. For the
Tigers, this was a major blow. Trout won
9 games for the Tigers and was the number four starter in 1939. McCoy was being looked at as the possible
successor to Charlie Gerhinger.
Cullenbine played 75 games for Tigers.
Not only did the Tigers not get Wally Moses, but their bench got a bit
shorter. As for the minor league talent,
estimates were that it was worth more than $500,000. Several teams had already been talking to
McCoy before he was granted free agency as they smelled what Landis was going
to do. But Connie Mack made the deal
that Benny could not refuse. He gave him
$100,000 to Benny for him to sign a contract with the Athletics for $10,000. Later, Landis would send Trout back to the
Tigers. But this was a gutting of the
Tigers farm system. This was over half
the minor leaguers being granted free agency.
Benny hit .257 for the Athletics in 1940 and then improved to .271 with
a .384 OBP when you add his 95 walks. He
showed good speed with 7 triples and also hit 8 homers. But that would be the end of his career. At the end of 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor. Benny enlisted in the Navy and
was gone for the duration. When he returned
from the war he did not return to baseball.
Last year Benny died on his birthday (See Bucky Harris from yesterday)
at the age of 96. As for the results of
the loss of the Tigers minor leagues, as the war was on all the teams lost many
of their minor leaguers and most of their major leaguers to the service. So there was no long term impact on the
Tigers. In fact, the Tigers made a
famous internal move of putting Hank Greenberg in the Tiger outfield and moved
back up catcher Rudy York to first. Hank
would win the MVP and the Tigers would win the pennant in 1940.
Jim
McGarr played in the Ty Cobb strike game of 1912 when he was 24. In 1912 Ty
Cobb was suspended for going into the stands and beating up a fan. He was
suspended by the league. But his teammates felt he was justified and so on May
18, the rest of the Tigers refused to take the field in a game in Philadelphia
against the Athletics. The Tigers hastily put a squad together of amateurs. The
team lost the contest 24-2. Jim had four plate appearances in that game and K’d
all four times. He played second base and made one put out and three assists
but also committed and error. After the game the regular Tigers reported
back as Ty had asked them to. All of the players from the 24-2 game disappeared
from professional baseball when the regulars returned.
Tom
Kearns was a Detroit Wolverine.
George
Wood was a Detroit Wolverine.
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