December 22 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Andy Allanson was a back up catcher as a Tiger.  He had played four seasons as the Indians starting back stop from 1986 thru 1989 with a reputation of a great defensive catcher and a .246 hitter.  But he was released by the Indians in spring of 1990 as the Tribe was ready to give up and coming catcher Sandy Alomar a try.  Andy signed with the Rangers but was in their farm system.  The Rangers never used him and he moved to the Royals who used him as trade bait to the Tigers.  The Tiges picked up Andy in a trade for minor leaguer Jim Baxter in spring of 1991.  Andy hit .232 as the back up to Mickey Tettleton.  Andy threw out more runners than Mickey but his fielding was below that of Mickey.  So at the end of the season the Tiges let Andy go and went looking for another back up catcher.  Andy would bounce around with Milwaukee, Sand Fran and California before his career ended in 1995. 

Glenn Wilson played a key role for the 1984 Tigers.  He was born and raised in Texas and attended San Houston State University before being drafted by the Tigers in the first round of the 1980 draft.  He signed and was sent to AA Montgomery.  He was their starting third baseman.  While he had a solid bat hitting .264 he showed he had less than a solid glove committing twice the number of errors as his back up.  In 1981 Montgomery moved to Birmingham and Glenn moved to the outfield.  He was their best starting fielder defensively but they had a very poor defensive outfield.  At the plate Glenn was again solid hitting .306 and had good power hitting 18 homers with speed.  He made the Tiger roster coming out of spring training in 1982 and was playing center field for the first month hitting .342.  But the Tigers had a lot of money invested in slightly older Kirk Gibson and as Kirk came around in May Glenn was sent back down to AAA Evansville.  Glenn hit .279 in Evansville for 42 games.  In July Gibby went down with an intestinal parasite and Glenn was brought back up to finish the season.  Glenn did not disappoint and ended the season hitting .292.  In 1983 Glenn was again a starting outfielder for the Tiges as Gibby was moved to DH and Glenn took right with Larry Herndon taking left and Chet Lemon taking center.  Glenn hit .268 but did not show the power or speed of Gibby.  In spring training of 1984 the Tigers made the trade that solidified their team for 1984.  The Tigers received Willie Hernandez and Dave Bergman from the Phillies in exchange for Johnny B. Wockenfuss and Glenn.   Glenn went into the Phillies outfield and was a .265 hitter and an all star.  After four years he would bounce around with the Pirates, Mariners and Astros until his career ended in 1993.  He was managing in the minors as late as 2006. 

Sheldon Burnside signed as an amateur free agent for the Tigers.  It was in 1974 when he was 19.  He was born in South Bend IN and was a US citizen but went to high school in Toronto, ON.  He was assigned to Rookie ball in Bristol for 1975 where the lefty pitcher was 4-6 with a 3.81 ERA.  He started 1976 in A ball at Lakeland and was doing well with a 6-3 record and a 2.61 ERA in 10 starts.  This got him promoted to AA Montgomery where he promptly threw a 7 inning no hitter.  He ended his 1976 Montgomery campaign with a 6-5 record and a 2.73 ERA.  In 1977 he was one of the top pitchers for Montgomery again.  He was second in starts with 26 and completed a league leading 16 of those games for a 10-12 record and a 3.32 ERA.  In 1978 he was moved up to AAA Evansville and was the ace fo the staff with a 14-5 record and a 3.52 ERA.  The Tigers brought him up in September and had a rough outing in his debut.  It was against the mighty Yankees at Yankee Stadium.  Milt Wilcox had run out of luck for the day and Bucky Dent had just hit a single to score Lou Piniella to make the score 3-1 Yanks in the 7^th with 1 out.  Sheldon faced Mickey Rivers and got him to hit a foul fly to third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez.  Sheldon then gave up a walk, single, walk, triple and single before being yanked from the mound for Dave Tobik.  9 days later he had to face those same Yankees again in Tiger Stadium in his next appearance.  He did much better this time.  He replaced Jack Morris who had pitched in relief with the score 7-2 in favor of those damned Yankees.  With runners on first and second and only one out he K’d Reggie Jackson looking.  In fact he K’d Reggie twice that game and pitched 3.2 innings of 1 hit ball.  That was the end of his season for 1978.  In 1979 he started the season in the Tiger bull pen.  On April 15 he was called in to relieve Kip Young in the 5^th against the Texas Rangers in Tiger Stadium.  He finished the game without allowing a run on 5 hits in 5 innings and K’ing 3.  Because Young did not last 5 innings Sheldon became the pitcher of record and earned his first and only win as a Tiger.  He appears to have been injured in May as he never pitched for the Tiges or in the minors and was traded to the Reds in October to complete the deal that was done May 25 of Champ Summers for a player to be named later.  Sheldon was the player named.  He pitched for Cincy in 1980 and was 1-0 in relief with a 1.93ERA.  That would be his last year in baseball.  He was a career 2-1 during three major league seasons and done in baseball at the age of 25.

Tom Makowski spent his entire cup of coffee with the Tigers.  He was undrafted out of college in Buffalo, NY, and signed as a free agent with the Tigers in 1972.  The lefty fast ball pitcher was assigned to A level Lakeland and was 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA.  The Tiger brass moved him up to AAA Toledo but he only got in 3 games with the Mud Hens.  He moved up to AA Montgomery for 1973 and in 10 starts was 8-1 with a 3.04 ERA.  He was again moved up to Toledo and made more appearances in relief than starts but was still 6-6 with a 4.02 ERA.  In 1974 he spent the full season in AAA Evansville.  He split time between starting a relieving.  He was 4-4 with a 4.04 ERA.  In 1975 he got his chance.  He was brought up early in the season and on May 1, made his major league debut.  The Tigers were trailing the Brewers 8-3 in Milwaukee.  There were two outs and a runner on third.  Tom walked the first batter he faced was Bob Coluccio whom he walked before getting Don Money to fly out to right field to end the inning.  Tom got Robin Yount, Sixto Lezcano and George Scott out 1-2-3 in the 6^th.   In the 7^th he gave up a lead off single to Hank Aaron and things went down hill from there.  The inning was capped off by a Robin Yount grand slam.  The Brewers led 13-3.  The final score was 17-3 with Tom pitching the balance of the game.  In 3.1 innings he had given up 9 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks while K’ing no one.  Less than 2 weeks later he got the call again with the Tiges down 6-1 to the Royals  in the 4^th with 2 outs and runners on first and second.  He faced Tony Solaita who hit a single to drive in George Brett making it 7-1.  But Tom calmed down and allowed only 1 run in 3 innings pitched and K’d 3 including George Brett.  10 days later he came in to face Bob Coluccio again.  However, Bob had been traded to the White Sox since Tom faced him last and the Sox were leading the Tigers 5-1 in the 6^th with 2 outs and runners on first and second.  This time Tom got Coluccio to flyout to center to end the inning.  Tom pitched 2.1 innings and allowed only 1 run on 1 hit and 2 walks while not getting a K.  He never got in another major league game.  He ended the season in AAA Evansville and played two more seasons in the minors at AAA level before his career was over in 1977.  His final MLB record was a 0-0 record and a 4.82 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched with 3 K’s.  

Johnny Bero made his major league debut as a Tiger.  He was signed out of Western Michigan College of Education, (Western Michigan University today.) in the war year of 1943.  He finished 1943 with Buffalo of the International League.  There the lefty hitting infielder hit .241.  He was out of baseball in 1944 and 1945 due to the war.  He returned in 1946 to try and fight for a third base spot with Buffalo.  He made it and hit .278 as a 23 year old returning from the war.   He was back in 1947 but not doing as well hitting only .226 but this can be accounted for by the fact that he moved over to play second base.  He continued as the Bisons second baseman and seemed to be getting the hang of it in 1948 as his fielding was decent and he hit .238.   He was a late season call up in 1948 and made his debut in a game against Cleveland’s Bob Feller.  Thankfully for Johnny he was a pinch runner for pitcher Fred Hutchinson in the bottom of the 8^th and did not have to face Feller at the plate.   Two days later he got a start at second base in a game in St. Louis against the Browns.  He went 0-4 but got a walk in the third and scored the tying run in the third.  Unfortunately the Tiges lost the game 5-3 in spite of Johnny’s run.   The next day Johnny go the start again and again went 0-4 but this time without a walk.  Two days later he faced Bob Lemon of the Indians as a pinch hitter in the 9^th.  He K’d.  That was the extent of Johnny’s time as a Tiger.     In 1949 the Tigers moved their AAA team to Toledo and Johnny moved to short.  He would stay in the minors for the Tigers until he was drafted by the St. Louis Browns in the rule 5 draft in November of 1950.  He was one of three players at short for the Browns that season and got his first major league hit against the Indians future Hall of Famer Early Wynn.  After July of 1951 Johnny was done in the majors and after a couple years in the Pacific Coast League was done in baseball having never got a hit as a Tiger. 

Tex Erwin started his major league experience with the Tigers.  Not surprisingly Ross Emil Erwin was born and raised in Texas in 1885.  He was a lefty batting righty throwing catcher and first joined the professional baseball ranks in 1905 at the age of 19 with the Texas League Fort Worth, Panthers.  He hit .293 that first year and was back with Fort Worth in 1906 before moving up to St. Paul to end the season.  The Tigers selected him from Forth Worth in the Rule 5 draft of 1906 and in 1907 he started the season with Topeka where he hit .261.  On August 26, he got his chance and made his major league debut in a game between the Senators and Tigers in Detroit.  The Tigers won 7-4 and moved to within a half game of first.  I can not tell how he did that game.  But he got in 3 more games for the Tiges that season and got 1 hit in 5 at bats and a BB.  The hit or the walk also gave him an RBI.  But as a back stop his play was a little rough.  He had 1 error, 2 passed balls but did manage to throw out 2 of the 4 would be base stealers.  The Tigers went on to win the AL flag that season but Tex was not there in the World Series.  He went back to the minors for a couple years before returning to the majors as the back up to Bill Bergen for Brooklyn.  Bill Bergen is considered by many to be the worst all time starting catcher with a career batting average of .170 over 11 years and almost 1,000 games.  As bad as Bill was, Tex was his back up.  Tex continued to play for Brooklyn through most of 1914 when he was sold to Cincinnati in July where he ended his major league career in 1914 as a .236 hitter with a below average arm and below average glove.   He stuck around the minors for a few more years catching and even umpiring before calling it quits in 1921.  He then moved to Rochester, NY and sold insurance and worked for the City Council.  He died in 1953. 

December 21 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Andy Van Slyke was a coach as a Tiger.  He had had a outstanding major league player career mainly in Pittsburgh in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  He also played for the Cardinals for four seasons at the beginning of his career.  He ended up his career with a season in Baltimore and a season in Philadelphia finally in 1995.  He was .247 hitter with a .349 OBP.   Add to that the fact that he was Gold Glove in center field showing off a great arm and was a Silver Slugger winner and a three time all-star and you understand the type of player he was.  He also was known for a good quote for the writers.  I have a couple of favorites.  He was tried at third but it didn’t work out.  He stated "I played third base like Brooks - Mel Brooks."  Another was about his rise to a major leaguer.  He said "The biggest adjustment from the minors was learning to spend $45 in meal money."   He also said in the press that he felt Barry Bonds was doing steroids.  The Pirates spent money on keeping Andy and let Bonds go.  Van Slyke faded and ended his career at a typical age 34 and Bonds kept going thanks to the help of Balco.  Andy became a Tiger coach in 2006 under his former skipper Jim Leyland.  He was the Tiger first base coach for 4 years before he was replaced in 2010 by Tom Brookens.  In 2014 former Tiger hitting coach Lloyd McClendon was named skipper for the Seattle Mariners.  He brought Andy back to the bigs as the Mariners first base coach.

Elliot Maddox started his major league career as a Tiger.  He was originally drafted by the Houston Astros out of high school in 1966.  But he did not sign and instead went to the University of Michigan.  He was an outfielder in high school in New Jersey but U of M converted him to a third baseman.  He won the 1968 Big 10 batting title hitting .467 and was drafted by the Tigers in the June supplementary draft and signed.  He hit .306 between two Tiger A level clubs for the rest of 1968.  In 1969 he was again in A ball and hit .293 learning how to play third better.  In 1970 the 22 year old made the majors out of spring training.  He made his debut in the third game of the season against the Washington Senators as a pinch hitter.  It was the 6^th inning of a game the Senators were leading 10-4.  Elliot faced former Tiger pitcher Joe Grezenda as a pinch hitter for pitcher Jerry Robertson.  Elliot grounded out to shortstop Eddie Brinkman.  He was then replaced by Daryl Patterson who took over pitching duties and Elliot was out of the game.  Five days later Elliot got his first start in the majors.  He was starting third baseman against the Orioles and went 0 for 3 but reached base twice on a HBP and BB.  He also scored a run.  In the 5^th the young Elliot saw Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson come to the plate.  Elliot recorded his first error but was flawless the rest of the game.  He had a couple of games as a pinch runner and a replacement for Don Wert before making his next start on April 21.  He faced future Tiger Dean Chance and in his first plate appearance recorded a walk.  In the 4^th he faced Chance again with 2 outs and Jim Northrup on third.  Elliot got his first major league hit driving in Northrup and tying the game at 3.    In the 9^th Elliot led of with a single with the game still deadlocked.  Cesar Gutierrez hit a double and Elliot scored the game winning run.  Elliot finished the season hitting .248 for the Tiges but with his walks and HBP brought his OBP to .332.  He was clearly the replacement for 31 year old third baseman Don Wert who hit only .218.  Or was he?  At the end of the season the Tigers made possibly their all time greatest trade.  The Tiges sent Don Wert, Denny McLain, Norm McRae and Elliot to the Senators for their future left side of the infield, shortstop Eddie Brinkman and third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez AND back up catcher Jim Hannan and future 20 game winner Joe Coleman.  Denny went 10-22 for the Senators.  Don got exactly 2 hits and Norm never got out of the minors for the Senators.  Elliot was the lone talent the Tigers gave up in the deal.  Elliot did not show it at Washington, soon to be the Texas Rangers, hitting only .236.  He did show it at New York where he went after Texas.  He .299 for the Yanks over three years, tow where he was their starting center fielder.   But when the Yanks started winning their World Series in 1976 Elliot was on the bench soon to be traded.  Elliot went from the Yankees to the Orioles to the Mets before his MLB career was over in 1980.  He was a career .261 hitter with a good glove.  

December 20 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Aubrey Huff played 40 games for the Tigers in 2009.  He started his career in 2000 with Tampa Bay as a third baseman and was there through most of 2006 but had been converted to outfield/first baseman.  At that time he was traded to the Astros in the Ben Zobrist deal.  At the end of the season he became a free agent and signed with the Orioles.  The Orioles traded him to the Tigers in August of 2009 for minor leaguer Brett Jacobson.   He was strictly a pinch hitter and DH for the Tigers and hit .189 with 2 homers and 13 RBI’s.  At the end of the season he was granted free agency and signed with the Giants. He finished 7^th in MVP voting after leaving Detroit by hitting .290 with 26 homers and 86 RBI’s for the World Champion Giants in 2010 and then won a second World Series ring in 2012 when the Giants beat his old team, the Tigers.  He was released at the end of the 2012 season and was not picked up by any other team for 2013.

Snooks Dowd started his major league career as a Tiger in 1919.  He came into a game in Detroit against the White Sox as a pinch runner for catcher Oscar Stanage.  He did not steal a base nor score and did not come back to play the field or bat again.  The attendance for the game was 24.  They were the only fans to see Snooks take the field as Tiger as he never played again for the Tigers.  The Tigers sold him to the Philadelphia Athletics where he played 13 games and got 3 hits.  This was the majority of his career in terms of games and the only hits of his career. He ended up in Brooklyn in 1926 for 2 more games without a hit and was done in the majors after that. 

Deacon Jones pitched for the Tigers over three seasons from 1916 into 1918.  He was 0-0 in his first season with a 2.57 ERA in one game against the Washington Senators in Detroit as a late season call up.   He was back in Detroit in 1917 and was 4-4 in 24 games with a 2.92 ERA being used mainly in relief.  In 1918 he was back for his last year with the Tigers and was 3-2 with a 3.09 ERA.  He spent 1920 in the Pacific Coast League before he was done with baseball.

Paddy Baumann started his major league career as a Tiger in 1911 as a second baseman.  He was not born in Ireland but rather Indianapolis and was named Charles John Bauman, not Patrick.  He hit .255 in 26 games and drove in 11 runs.  He had his best season as a Tiger in 1913 when hit .298 in 50 games with 22 RBI’s.   He went to the Yankees in 1915 and was there through 1917 as a backup utility player.  For the Tigers he was a .272 hitter with 40 RBI’s and 1 homer.  For his career he was a .274 hitter with 101 RBI’s and 4 homers.   He managed in the minors in 1924 for the Galveston Sand Crabs. 

Below is a 1914 Blanket of Baumann from my collection.

December 19 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Marv Woodyard

Clay Parker

Tony Taylor was known as Tony the Tiger.  He is only a year younger than Al Kaline. 

Al Kaline has his birthday right after Ty Cobb.  Hmmmm.  That could be important.  Al had three days that he considered his greatest in baseball.  The first was the day he walked out on the field as a major leaguer.  He was an 18 year old kid right out of high school.  Al was what they called a “Bonus Baby”.  That meant he signed for a large bonus.  $25,000 to be exact, in 1953. That meant that he was not allowed to play in the minors but rather had to stay on the major league roster.  But walking out on the field wearing a major league baseball uniform was one of his greatest moments.  The second was in 1955 when he hit three homers in one game.  Two were in the same inning.  That was another great moment for him.  That season was also the season that Al won his lone batting title.  In doing so he became the youngest batting champ in baseball history.  He beat the previous record holder by one day.  That previous record holder was Ty Cobb.  So the birthdays do matter!  Al’s last great moment was in 1968 when the Tiges won the AL flag he earned a chance to play in the World Series.  It would be his only World Series appearance.  The Tigers won that classic in 7 games after falling behind 3 games to 1.  Kaline later recorded 3000 hits and was elected to the Hall of fame on his first ballot.  

December 18 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Joe Randa

Willie Blair

Les Burke

Sam Barnes

Ty Cobb is probably the most written about Tiger.  There is not a whole lot I can tell you about him in a paragraph that you have not already heard.  However, my own thought is the truth about Cobb is somewhere below all the nastiness we have heard about him.  The biggest anti Cobb feelings have come from Al Stump who wrote the book “My Life in Baseball” about Ty.  When Ty died Stump then wrote “Cobb: A Biography” which sold really well due to some of the inside scoops he had from writing his earlier bio.  Stump was then selling off all kinds of Cobb’s diaries and so on that he had used as “research”.  The problem is that most of what Stump sold were actually forgeries created by Stump.  Other writers have since built on the stories from Stump and even renowned biographer Charles Alexander was found to have fabricated some of the Cobb stories he had.  Since then many have come out to refute claims by both of these writers.  For instance, one famous tale from Stump is that the only player to attend Cobb’s funeral was Mickey Cochrane because Cobb helped Mickey when he was down and out.  The problem is that Mickey’s daughter has shown pictures of the Cochrane house complete with library from Grosse Pointe that she grew up in at the same time, according to Stump, that Mickey was down and out.  So anything attributed to Stump should be highly suspect at the least if not thrown out entirely.  Stump made up artifacts of Cobb’s and sold anything he could to make money off of Cobb.   So I have no doubt he was willing to make up stories about Cobb to sell a book.  Another great myth about Cobb was that he hated Babe Ruth and never got along with him.  Yet another well documented book by Tom Stanton show that while there was a time in their careers they clearly did not get along, by the end the two were very good friends.  My thought is Cobb was a product of his times.  He was probably very racist by our times.  However, so were my grandparents.  If you are not aware, I am married to a Korean woman.   I purposely did not ever tell my Grandmother about my wife whom I was dating at the time as I was afraid of how she would react knowing that she was a racist.  This does not really matter except to make that point that while we may be products of our family trees, this does not mean we have to share their beliefs.  My other grandparents would have had no problem with my wife what so ever.  Cobb was of the era before my Grandparents.  This was shortly after the Civil War.  Needless to say, there was a bit of racism going around the US at that time and certainly in the south.  How can we expect Cobb not to have been influenced by those times?  Was Cobb difficult to get along with?  Sure.  I also think most people who are so type “A” that they have to win at everything at all cost are difficult to get along with.  So my thought of Cobb is that he was a difficult, demanding, know it all, “my way or the highway”, type “A” personality who was brought up in another era when racism was certainly tolerated if not accepted by most of the US.  Would I want him babysitting my kids?  Not a chance in hell.  Was he much different than the rest of the players of his time?  Yes, he was one of the best ball players on the field and smart and that certainly must have pissed off a few of his competitors. 

Below is a 1907 Dietsche postcard of Cobb from my collection.

Clay Perry

December 17 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Eric Eckenstahler spent his entire major league career as a Tiger.  The lefty relief pitcher came out of Illinois State University, which also produced HOF’er Clark Griffith, and Eric signed with the Tigers in 2000.  He went to the Tiger minors and spent 2000 moving from A- Oneonta to A West Michigan.  He had an 0-2 record and a 4.25 ERA.  In 2001 he went from A+ Lakeland to AA Erie.  He was 5-2 with a 3.69 ERA.  Finally in 2002 things happened for Eric.  He had been in AAA Toledo where he would finish the season at 2-4 with a 4.43 ERA.  Now his stats take a strange turn here.  His stats show 4 shut outs but no games started.  Hmmm.  I will have to look into how that happens.  Regardless, the Tigers made Eric a late season call up.  On September 9, he made his major league debut.   He replaced Mike Maroth in a game the Tigers trailed the Twins 4-2 in the 7^th.  Mike had just given up 2 doubles and had no outs.  Eric got AJ Pierzinski to ground out as his first batter faced and then K’d Luis Rivera.  He gave up a single to future Tiger Jacque Jones before ending the inning with a K.  In the 8^th he got the side out 1-2-3 including 2 K’s.  Not a bad debut with 2 innings pitched and 4 K’s and only 1 hit.  The next game Eric faced the KC Royals.   He started the 10^th inning of a 2-2 tie and while he gave up 2 hits he also K’d 2 and did not give up a run.  The Tiges scored a run on Bobby Higginson’s homer and Eric got his first major league win.  Eric got in 5 more games that season and ended up with a 1-0 record and a 5.63 with all his games in relief.  IN 2003 he was 3-6 at Toledo with a 3.16 ERA all in relief.  The Tigers called him up in July.  With the Tigers at 28-75 on July 27, Eric got in his first Tiger game of the season.  He did not get an opportunity to get a save and would not record a decision or a save in the 20 games he appeared.  The Tigers would finish an abysmal 43-119.  Eric had the lowest ERA on the team at 2.87 but only pitched 15.2 innings.  His ERA was better than that of other lefties Wil Ledezma 5.79, Jamie Walker 3.32 and Steve Avery, 5.63.  But Eric never pitched again in the majors.  Walker and Ledezma were back in 2004 but as the Tigers cleaned house after 2003, they cleaned out Eric.  In 2004 Eric was traded to the Cubs.  He ended his pro career in 2005 at the age of 28.

Brandon Villafuerte

Rudy Pemberton started his major league career as a Tiger.  He was signed out of high school in the Dominican Republic in 1988.  He kept getting better as he moved up the farm chain until he finally made AAA Toledo in 1994.  He hit .303 that season which was best on the team for starters.  That was the best season he had had to date.  He also had 12 homers and 58 RBI’s which was tied for third on the team.  His weakness was that he tended to K more than take a BB.  In 1994 he had 62 K’s to only 18 BB’s.  But that was enough to take him to spring training in 1995 where he made the Tiger roster.  He was the starting left fielder for opening day and batted third.  In his first at bat in the first inning he got a line drive single off of Chuck Finley of the Angels.  In the 4^th inning he got a lead off double and scored the Tigers first run of the game.  He would eventually be replaced for pinch runner Milt Cuyler in the 8^th having gone 3 for 4 with the run scored.  Not a bad debut!  But Rudy would not have another multi hit game as a Tiger.  He would get in a total of 12 games in the first month of the season and hit .300.  But the Tigers saw something in a young Bobby Higginson and started playing him in left for 1995.  By mid May Bobby was hitting only .200 but the Tiges sent Rudy back to Toledo for the rest of the season where he hit .344 while Bobby hit .224 for the Tigers.  At the end of the season the Tigers kept Bobby and let Rudy go as a free agent.  Rudy was picked up by the Rangers and then traded to the Red Sox for 1996.  He would get in 13 games for the Sox and go 21 for 41 as late season call up.  No, that is not a typo.  He would make the opening day roster for the Sox in 1997 but had a terrible start.  He was hitting only .238 by early June and sent back to the minors never to return.  Rudy would stick around baseball for another 10 years playing in Korea, Japan, Mexico and the US.  He was a career .296 hitter with 16 seasons in the minors and those 12 games as a Tiger.

Curtis Pride was a very interesting Tiger.  He was born deaf which 100 years ago would have given him the moniker of “Dummy”.  Historically it seems every player who was deaf was called Dummy such as Dummy Hoy, Dummy Taylor and even as late as the 1940’s Dummy Lynch.  Dummy Taylor was probably the most famous deaf player as he is the one that got the umpires calling balls and strikes with hand signals.  But Curtis was no dummy.  Curtis went to the College of William and Mary It is often considered on par with the Ivy League schools.  He was born deaf and after a few years in school with special auditory needs he was put in the mainstream in 7^th grade.  While at William and Mary he played college basketball while playing minor league baseball and was a member of the US Junior National Soccer Team.  After coming out of college he continued to work in the minors for years before making his major league debut with the Expos in 1993.  He got into a pennant race that September and while he only had 9 at bats he got a pinch hit double against the rival Phillies and received a 5 minute standing ovation.  He obviously could not hear it but said he could feel Olympic Stadium vibrating and shaking.  He was a non roster invitee to Tigers Spring Training in 1996 and made the squad coming up north and the Tigers used him in 95 games that year.  He was mainly a left fielder and hit .300 while driving in 31 runs with 10 homers.  He was one of only two Tigers to hit .300 that season.   He was a speedster and had 11 steals that season which was third best on the team.  But he did have a penchant for striking out K’ing 63 times in 301 plate appearances.    The next season he struggled and his average dropped to .210 in 79 games.  In August the Tigers released him and he signed with the Red Sox and went 1 for 2.  He would go on to play with the Atlanta Braves, went back to Boston and Montreal before ending his major league career with the Yankees and finally the Angels in 2006 at the age of 37.  He was a career .250 hitter.  He never played even 100 games with any team other than the Tigers and other than going 1-2 the one year for the Sox never hit .300 except for the Tigers.  Today he is the coach for the Gallaudet University baseball team which is the only deaf liberal arts college in the US.  He also runs a foundation out of his home to help hearing impaired children and was named to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition in 2010. 

December 16 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jason Wood had a career that spanned ten years but was less than a seasons worth of games and only a few were with the Tigers. He started his career in the majors in 1998 with Oakland . He did not get much of a look see as he played only three games with only one plate appearance for the A’s before they sent him to Detroit for Bip Roberts. With Detroit Jason got in 10 games as a first baseman, shortstop and DH with 26 plate appearances. He got 8 hits and 3 walks for a .423 on base percentage. He returned to the Tiges in 1999 and got in 27 games. This time he played first, second, third, short and DH. While he gained more positions he had fewer hits with more at bats. His batting average dropped to .159 with a .196 on base percentage. At the end of the season he became a free agent. He resurfaced in the majors in 2006 with the Marlins. He stayed there through 2008. While with the Marlins he played the outfield and pitched as well. He played in 5 seasons over 10 years and only appeared in 153 games.

Billy Ripken was known for being Cal ’s brother long before he became a Tiger. He had played 7 years with the Orioles as a starting second baseman and had some good seasons. In 1990 he led the O’s with a .290 average. In 1993 he signed with the Rangers as a free agent. He stayed there fo two years before joining the Indians for a season. Then he went back to Baltimore . Once more he went to the Rangers in 1997 and finally in 1998 he signed with the Tigers. He was mainly a shortstop for the Tigers in 1998 but also played a couple games at first, second and third. He hit .270 with the Tigers in 27 games and was released in July. He was done as a major leaguer after that.

Neil Chrisley spent most of his career as a Tiger. He started his career the Senators in 1957 and 1958 as a back up outfielder. He hit .204 for the Senators with five homers and 29 RBI’s in 131 games. He was traded to Detroit after the 1958 season with Rocky Bridges and Eddie Yost for Reno Bertoia, Jim Delsing and Ron Samford. In 1959 and 1960 Neil hit .215 for the Tiges as a back up outfielder. At the end of the season he was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the expansion draft and ignominiously returned to the Tigers that very same day. He was then sent to the Milwaukee Braves to finish an earlier trade of Dick Brown, Chuck Cottier and Terry Fox for Frank Bolling and a player to be named in Neil. He was purchased by the Mets in October of 1961 but again, before the season started, the expansion Mets returned Neil to the Braves. For his career Neil was a .210 hitter over five seasons.

December 15 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Ray Herbert graduated from Detroit Catholic Central and then signed with the Tigers. He debuted in the minors at AAA Toledo and was 6-17 his first year with a 5.80 ERA. His next year in 1950he was 11-12 with a 3.69 ERA when he was called up to the Tiges. He made his major league debut against the Athletics in Philadelphia. He went the distance and gave up 4 runs on 6 hits but still took the loss as the Tigers only scored 3 runs. Three days later he came into a game at Washington with the Senators ahead 8-7. He pitched the last 2.2 innings and gave up no runs on three singles. But the Tigers came back and scored three runs in the 9th to give Ray his first major league victory. Ray stayed with the Tigers through 1954 with one year off for military service in 1952 during the Korean War. He was used mainly in relief for the Tigers and posted a career record of 12-14 with a 5.09 ERA for the Tigers. The Tigers sold him to the Kansas City Athletics in 1955. Ray went on to the White Sox in 1961 and had his best season in the majors in Chicago when in 1962 he won 20 games and was selected to the All Star team. He was done pitching in 1966 after he was pitching for the Phillies.

Eddie Robinson joined the Tigers in his last year in the majors. He had played since 1942 with the Indians, Senators, White Sox, Philadelphia Athletics, Yankees and Kansas City Athletics before finally joining the Tigers in 1957. Along the way to Detroit Eddie was an All Star four times and was a good first baseman. He average a .268 batting average and with about 20 homers a year over a 162 game average. He was a good fielding first baseman as well. The Tigers picked him up after the 1956 season in a trade with the Kansas City Athletics. The Tigers picked up Jack Crimian, Jim Finigan. Bill Finigan and Eddie for Wayne Belardi, Ned Garver, Gene Host, Virgil Trucks and $20,000 cash. For Detroit Eddie went hitless in 13 plate appearances in 13 games. Only one game did Eddie get in the field for the Tigers as a first baseman. He was released in May by the Tigers and picked up by the Indians, who released him about a month later only to be picked up for the last month of the season by the Orioles. Eddie went on to be GM for the Braves from 1972 through 1975 and the Rangers GM from 1977 through 1982.

Nig Clarke made his major league debut in 1905 with the Indians and also spent a bit of time with the Tigers that year. Three years before he set a professional baseball record of going 8 for 8 with each hit being a home run. He got his nickname due to his dark complexion. Obviously this was before Jackie Robinson. His real name was Jay Justin. He was with Cleveland when they "loaned" him to the Tigers on August 1. He got in 3 games as a Tiger and went 3 for 7 and scored 1 run. He was returned to Cleveland after 10 days and played six years for Cleveland. While at Cleveland he caught Addie Joss's perfect game. He is credited with inventing the catchers shin guards. He died in 1949 in River Rouge, MI, two years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and there were no longer any players with the moniker "Nig".

December 14 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jeff Robinson started his career amid expectations that he would be the Tigers number three or maybe number two starter. He was a rookie in 1987 with the Tigers and was the number four starter and started 21 games. The same number as Dan Petry. Jeff was 9-6 with 2 complete games, a 5.37 ERA and a K/BB ratio of 1.81. He followed that up with a 1988 season of 13-6 and a 2.98 ERA. But then his ERA started to climb. He dropped to the number four starter his last season in Detroit, 1990 and before the 1991 season he was traded to the Orioles for Mickey Tettelton. He won four games for the O's and split time with the Rangers and Pirates in 1992 winning 7 games between them. Jeff's major league career was over after that without him ever becoming the number two starter.

Marcus Jensen was a career backup catcher that included a stint with the Tigers.  Marcus is a Bay area native having been born in Oakland, CA.  He was drafted by the nearby San Francisco Giants and debuted with them in 1996 when he got into 9 games.  He was with the Giants again in 1997 and in the two years with the Giants was a .161 hitter with 1 homer and 7 RBI’s.  The Tigers traded Brian Johnson to the Giants for Marcus in July of 1997.  He was assigned to Toledo where he hit .175 in 24 games.  He was finally brought to Detroit and made his debut as a Tiger on September 3 as the starting catcher against the Atlanta Braves. He went 2 for 5 including his first hit as a Tiger off of former Tiger John Smoltz.  Marcus started three games as a Tiger that fall and they won all three.  He was in a total of 8 games and hit .182 with 2 hits and 1 RBI.  During the off season the Tigers picked up catchers Paul Bako and Joe Oliver while trading away Matt Walbeck to the Padres so Marcus was expendable.  In spring of 1998 the Tigers released Marcus.  He went on to play with the Brewers, Cardinals, Twins, Red Sox, Rangers and Brewers again over the next five seasons.  In his 7 years in the majors he got in 145 games and hit .184 with 6 homers and 29 RBI’s.  He was managing in the minors for his home town Oakland Athletics farm team in 2011.

Carl Linhart pinch hit for Newhouser.  Faced Early Wynn in his last at bat.

Sam Jones

Jim Walkup was the born James Elton Walkup before he was Tiger.  He was cousin of James Huey Walkup who was also a Tiger.

Rudy Kallio

Henry Gruber Wolverine

December 13 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Bubba Morton started his career as a Tiger outfielder in 1961. He was 29 when he broke in after spending 6 years in the Tigers minor league system. He was the first black player signed by the Tigers in 1955 although he was not the first black to play with the Tigers in Detroit. He was used mainly as a pinch hitter and back up outfielder to Al Kaline. He had a decent glove but was not fast. He stayed with Detroit until part way into the 1963 season he was sold to the Milwaukee Braves where he roomed with Hank Aaron. He hit .264 in 173 games for the Tigers and 6 homers. After Milwaukee he was sold to the Indians but never played for them. He was then traded to the Angels for Phil Roof. He died in 2006 and being a veteran of the Coast Gaurd, he was buried at sea.

Lary Doby almost finished his Hall of Fame career as a Tiger in 1959. He was the second black player to play in the majors, after Jackie Robinson. He was signed by Bill Veeck to play for the Indians in 1947. He was the Indians starting center fielder for the great Indian teams from 1948 through 1955. And was selected to the All Star team seven years in a row. He had a great glove and won two thirds of the 1954 triple crown leading the league in homers and RBI's while finishing second in MVP voting to Yogi Berra. In 1956 the Indians sent him to Chicago for Jim Busby and Chico Carresquel. He bounced around a bit before he found himself with Cleveland again in 1958. Before the 1959 season started the Tribe sent Lary to Detroit for Tito Francona (Terry's dad). He got in 18 games for hte Tigers but only hit .218. In May, the Tiges sold Lary to the White Sox for $30,000. At the end of the season, Lary was done playing in the majors. He would again follow a Robinson and become the second black to manage in the majors after Frank Robinson first did it in 1975.   In 1998 Lary was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.  He died in 2003 at the age of 79.

Scat Metha was purchased by the Tigers from the White Sox at the beginning of the 1940 season for $7,500. At the beginning of the 1940 season the Tigers had questions if Charlie Gerhinger was going to be around long at second base. So they purchased Scat as a backup second baseman to Charlie Gerhinger and Dutch Meyer. Too bad they did not buy him new nickname. But Gerhinger hit .313 in 1940 and stayed on the job. Dutch hit .259 and Scat hit .243. Scat was done in the majors after 1940 and was done with baseball after 1942.

Rube Kisinger started his career with the Toledo Swamp Angels in 1901 before becoming a Tiger. Born in Adrian Michigan, he made his major league debut as a Tiger in 1902. He pitched in 5 games. All were complete games. He was 2-3 with a 3.12 ERA. He was back with Detroit in 1903 and was 7-9 in 16 games with 13 complete games. He had a 2.96 ERA. After 1903 Rube never played in the majors again. He continued to play pro ball until 1916 in the minors and won 205 games in the minors. He was 39 when he retired. He died at in a train accident while working as an engineer at the age of 64 in the summer of 1941, a couple of months before Pearl Harbor was attacked.

December 12 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Flea Clifton was a member of the first Tiger World Series Champs of 1935.  He was born Herman Earl Clifton in 1908 in Cincinnati OH.  He was 4 seasons in the minors as a .300 hitting shortstop and second baseman.  In 1934 he made the Tigers as a back up infielder.  He got into 16 games mainly as a pinch runner and had 16 at bats that season and got one hit and one RBI.  He was not in the World Series that year but did spend the entire season with the Tiges.  In 1935 he was again on the Tiges and had his best season.  He got into 43 games including 19 full games at third backing up Marv Owen.  The Tigers infield of 1934 and 1935 is considered by many to be the greatest infield of all time.  It consisted of first baseman Hank Greenberg, second baseman Charley Gehringer, shortstop Billy Rogell and third baseman Marv Owen.  In 1934, when Flea was first one of the back ups they all drove in 100 RBI or more except for Marv at third who drove in 96.  He said later had he known that he was that close to hitting 100 RBI’s he would have played more of the 16 at bats Flea played for him.  In the 1935 World Series Hank Greenberg broke his wrist and was out before the end of the second game.  The Tigers moved Marv Owen over to first and put Flea in at third.  Marv went 1 for 20 in the series.  But Flea had even a harder time going 0 for 16.  Flea played 2 more seasons as a back up for the Tiges but got into only 13 and 15 more games.  He was done in the majors after 1937.  He was a career .200 hitter for the Tiges with 13 RBI’s and 5 stolen bases.  He was one of the last 5 surviving members of the 1935 team when he died in 1997, 10 days after he turned 89.  He does have a couple of baseball cards.  One is a 1935 Detroit Free Press card and the second is a 1934 Goudey Wide Pen. 

Les Hennessy spent what must have been a glorious month and a half as a Tiger.  He had been at Lafayette College in 1913 at the age of 19 when the Tigers signed him.  The Tigers were a week into a month long road trip.  They were in Philadelphia when Les made his first appearance in professional baseball.  Lafayette College is about 60 miles outside of Philly.  The normal second baseman, Ossie Vitt, later of “Crybaby Indians” fame and Floyd Giebel, was reported to have come down with a case of the grippe in July (also known as influenza).  However, the Tiges brought in Les on June 4 and had been in Chicago on June 1.  So I am confused on Ossie’s illness.  It appears to be off by about a month.  However, if the Tigers were on a month long road trip it might not have been reported until they came home to Detroit on July 9.  Anyway, Les was signed and played in 10 games at second in that time period and was a pinch runner or pinch hitter in another 4 games.  He went 3 for 22 and committed 3 errors in 14 attempts at second.  That put him as the worst fielding second baseman for the Tiger in 1913.  On July 20 he played his last game in pro ball.  The Tigers had been home for about 10 days and I assume Ossie was now back and so Les was done in pro ball.  He would never play in the majors or minors again. 

Phenomenal Smith wasn’t really as a Detroit Wolverine.  He was born in 1864 as John Francis Gammon and then changed his name to John Francis Smith and went by Phenomenal Smith.  He started in the majors with the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association in 1884.  As a lefty pitcher he 0-1 and then moved to Pittsburgh and went 0-1 there as well.  In 1885 he was with the Brooklyn Grays and back in his home town Philly and was again 0-2 for the season.  In 1886 he joined the Detroit Wolverines in the National League.  The Wolverines finished second in the league and Smith was used the least of any of the pitchers on the Wolverines.  He was in 3 games as a starter and recorded the first victory of his career in the majors as he went 1-1 in his three starts.  At the plate he was 1 for 9.  The next year at the age of 22 he joined the Baltimore Orioles and had possible his best year in the majors while earning $2,800.  He was one of two major pitchers for the team that went 77 and 58.  The number one pitcher was Matt Kilroy who was 46 and 19.  Phenomenal was the number two pitcher and was 25-30.  The following year, 1888, he split time between Baltimore and his home town Athletics and combined for a 16 and 20 record.  He would never win 10 games in a season again.  He would pitch into 1891 in the majors and for his career was a 54 and 77 with a 3.89 ERA.  He would continue to pitch or play the outfield in the minors and manage up to 1904.  He was done playing in 1904 and continued to manage until 1909.  

December 11 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Mike Hennaman

Bob Sykes

Slick Coffman spent most of his time in the majors as a Tiger reliever.  He followed his older brother Dick, to the majors.  Dick never played for the Tigers but was a journeyman pitcher who played 15 seasons in the majors and won 75 games over his career mainly with the St. Louis Browns.  Slick, who was born George David Coffman, was signed by the Tigers and earned $1,800 his first season in 1937 at the age of 26.  He made his debut in May of 1937 and faced HOF’er Lefty Grove and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.  He pitched a complete game and spread out 8 hits over 11 innings to get a 4-2 win in his debut.   At the plate he went 1-4 off of Lefty who also threw a complete game in 11 innings.  The righty was one of the top relievers for the Tigers that season getting in 28 games and finishing 15 with only 5 starts and posting a 4.37 ERA.  That was not a bad ERA considering the team ERA was 4.87.  He would never have as good of a season again.  He won 4 games the next season, 1938, and did save 2 games.  But the save was not really a stat at that time.  His ERA climbed up to 6.02 on a team that had a combined ERA of 4.79.  He continued to drop in 1939 and posted a 6.38 ERA without a save and pitched in his fewest games and innings in his career.  The Tigers had lost confidence in him.  At the end of the 1939 season the Tigers were decimated in the minors by Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis and had to make some deals to compete in 1940.  So they traded Slick to his older brothers sold team, the St. Louis Browns for back up catcher, Billy Sullivan.  Slick would go 2-2 in what would be his last season in the majors and posted a 6.27 ERA.  For his career he would be 15-12 with a 5.60 ERA in 4 seasons.  Three of those four were with the Tigers.

Erwin Renfer

December 10 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Pat Ahearne

Mel Rojas

Luis Polonia

Dalton Jones

Jack Feller

Leo Cristante

Floyd Giebell had a career record of 3-1 in the majors which was the only team he played for in the majors.  Now you might ask “Floyd who?” and no one would blame you.  Floyd was 30 years old in 1940.  He started his professional career in 1938 with Evansville.  As a 27 year old rookie, he went 18-6 for Evansville, with a 1.98 ERA.  In 1939 he played in Toledo where he was 1-10 (Yes, that is not a typo.  He was 1-10.) with a 3.58 ERA, and at Beaumont he was 6-6 with a 2.37 ERA.  He had two big league wins under his belt.  In 1939 he came into a game in relief and beat the St. Louis Browns 9-5 before a huge Browns crowd of 729.   His second win was his only major league appearance in 1940 prior to “The Game.”  He pitched a 13-2 complete game victory against the A’s in Detroit in front of a crowd of 10,493.  So apart from the 729 fans in St. Louis, and the 10,493 in Detroit, no one has seen Floyd win a major league game.  Below is a synopsis of “the game” Floyd pitched at the end of 1940.  In the game, Giebell  will give up six hits and walk two.  He will also strike out six  and hold the Indians scoreless for a complete game victory.  The jubilant Tigers carried Giebel off the field and promptly voted him a share of their upcoming World Series money.  Floyd was not eligible for the World Series.   Floyd would spend three seasons in the navy and never win another game in the major leagues, although he would continue to play in the minors until 1948 mainly in AA.  Here is “the game”.

Friday September 27, 1940.  A Day Watching The Indians.

For Cleveland and Detroit, the whole 1940 season boils down to this series.  These two teams have battled all season.  They have changed the lead six times in the last month alone!  There is no greater drama in baseball.  The American League pennant comes down to the wire in Cleveland.  The standings after the games of September 26 are as follows:

GB

Detroit -

Cleveland            2

New York            2.5

Detroit is in Cleveland for The final three games of the season.  Cleveland can win the pennant for the first time in 20 years if they win all three games against Detroit.  New York can win the pennant if they win all four games AND Cleveland wins two out of three games with Detroit.  Detroit can win the flag with no help by getting two wins.   They can also win the flag today if they win and the Yankees loose.

Cleveland manager Ossie Vitt, will pitch Bob Feller for this all important game.  The Cleveland faithful want to see Feller in a match up with Schoolboy Rowe or maybe Bobo Newsome.  They want to have a pitchers duel and see that their Feller is the best gun in the majors.  However, Detroit manager Del Baker, has surprised them.  Baker is playing to win two out of three games and win the flag without help.  Bobo just won the two games against the White Sox in Wednesday’s double header in Chicago.  So Baker will hold him back for Saturday or Sundays game.   Baker thinks that Feller may be unstoppable since he has won four games this month including last Sundays game against the Tigers.  So Baker has decided to pitch Floyd Giebel against Feller. 

Now you might ask Floyd who and no one would blame you.  Floyd is 30 years old.  He started his professional career in 1938 with Evansville.  As a 27 year old rookie, he went 18-6 for Evansville, with a 1.98 ERA.  Last year he played in Toledo where he was 1-10 (Yes, that is not a typo.  He was 1-10.) with a 3.58 ERA, and at Beaumont he was 6-6 with a 2.37 ERA.  He has two big league wins under his belt.  Last year he came into a game in relief and beat the Browns 9-5 before a huge Browns crowd of 729.   His second win was his only major league appearance this year before today, when he pitched a 13-2 complete game victory against the A’s in Detroit.  So apart from the 729 fans in St. Louis, no one outside of Detroit has seen Floyd win a major league game. 

It is a Ladies Day crowd of 45,553 (32,553 paid and 13,000 additional “ladies”) who have come to see this contest.  However, the genteel crowd is not so genteel.  They remember the abuse the Tigers fans gave their Indians in Detroit with all the “crybaby” antics.  They have taken a different approach then the Tiger fans.  The 13,000 women have been good naturedly throwing “vintage vegetables” at the Tigers since before the start of the game from the left field stands.  The Tigers are egging them on, in an effort to deplete their ammunition.  Earl Averill and Hank Greenberg have been throwing some of it back into the stands.   This demonstration of produce is the cause for the start of the game to be delayed.

In the Indians warm ups, rookie pitcher Millard Howell runs into a wall and is knocked unconscious.  He is taken to the clubhouse and revived.  Thankfully he has no lasting injuries other than his pride.

In the bottom of the first it is determined that the Tigers efforts to deplete the crowd of their load of produce have failed.  Stormy Weatherly hits a fly ball to Greenberg in left field.  As the ball comes down to Greenberg, so does a barrage of garbage.  Some of those at the game are amazed that Greenberg actually catches the ball and not an orange!  Weatherly is out. The game has to be stopped for ten minutes to clean up the field.  But the Ladies Day crowd continues with its assault.  Greenberg can’t take the field.  The umpire Bill Summers finally addresses the crowd over the PA system and announces that if the crowd doesn’t settle down that every ball hit to the outfield by Cleveland will be declared an out.  The fans settle down and Giebell retires the Indians in the first with the score 0-0. 

In the second inning, Ray Mack gets a lead off single.  He moves to third on Rollie Hemsley’s single.  But there he stays.  Feller strikes out.  Chapman strikes out. And Weatherly flies out to Soupy Campbell. 

In the fourth inning Charley Gerhinger gets a walk.  Hank Greenberg strikes out.  But Then Rudy York hits a long fly ball to Chapman.  Chapman backs up to the wall and makes a leap.   But the ball slips off his glove for a two run home run.  In the Indians half of the fourth, they get two runners on base again.  But it is with two outs and the Indians can’t bring them in.  On the scoreboard the score is put up that shows Philly ending the Yankees shot at a fifth straight pennant by beating them 6-2. 

Somewhere in this mess of a game is a tribe fan in the upper deck with a basket of empty bottles and veggies.  He gets to the front row of the upper deck above the Tigers bull pen and takes aim at Schoolboy Rowe.  The fan drops the basket from 60 above the pen and misses his target of Schoolboy.  However, he does hit catcher Birdie Tebbetts square on the head.  Birdie is knocked out cold.  The police swarmed around the Tigers to protect them and help direct the chase for the bomber in the upper deck. 

The bomber is finally caught and taken into custody.  The police happen to take him into the Tiger locker room and along the way, protect the fan by preventing Tiger pitcher Fred Hutchinson from taking a poke at him.  However, that is where the fans luck runs out.  For in the locker room is a now conscious Birdie Tebbetts.  Birdie lands a right to the jaw that sends the fan back.  Then Birdie lands a flurry of punches on the fan and drives him to the ground.  At this point the police finally decide to take the fan to the nearest clinic before taking him to the booking! 

In the fifth and seventh innings the Indians get the first two batters on base.  Both times Ben Chapman strikes out and the Indians fail to bring in a single runner.  On Chapman’s last at bat Giebell shakes off catcher Billy Sullivan and gets Chapman on his best pitch, a curve right over the plate.  As Chapman walks back to the dugout a fan, who still has some ammo left, tosses an egg at Chapman.  It, like the Indians pennant hopes, is dashed on the ground.  Jeff Heath comes in, in the bottom of the ninth with two out, to pinch hit for Feller.  He fouls off five pitches before he hits a grounder to Rudy York at first.  The tribe becomes the first team to lose the pennant after leading on September 1. The Tigers have won the pennant for the first time since 1935.  The jubilant Tigers carry the rookie pitcher Floyd Giebel off the field and promptly vote him a share of their upcoming World Series money.  Only two Indians made the walk over to congratulate the Tigers, Ossie Vitt and former Tiger Harry Eisenstat. 

Earl Cook

Bots Nekola

Art Griggs

December 9 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Adam Wilk pitched in five games for the Tigers in 2011. He replaced Max Scherzer in a May game in Detroit when Max got shelled and gave up 7 runs in the first two innings. The lefty Adam came in and pitched the next 3.2 innings and only gave up 1 run on 2 hits and struck out four. For the five games with Detroit he was 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA. He spent the rest of the year in Toledo and was 8-6 with a 3.24 ERA as a left handed starter.  In 2012 Adam started the season up with the Tigers.  He started three games in April.  He lasted 5, 4 and 2 innings and lost each game giving up 2, 3, and 6 runs in each game.  It was not a good progression.  He went down to Toledo and did well with 2.77 ERA but only posted a 7-11 record.  In 2013 Adam went to Korea and pitched in the KBO for the NC Dinos.  He was 4-8.  In 2014 he came back to the states and was with the Pirates AAA club in Indianapolis and was 7-14 with a 4.72 ERA.  The Pirates granted him free agency in November and last Friday Adam signed with the Angels.  We will see if Adam makes an appearance at Comerica this summer.  Based on his trend I would not expect it.

Chris Truby was the starting third baseman for the Tigers in 2002. This was when the Tigers were terrible. Brandon Inge was the catcher at that time. We picked up Chris from the Expos in a straight trade for Jose Macias who we were using at third in 2001. Before Jose we had Dean Palmer. Chris was not that effective. He hit .199 and only got 5 walks compared to 71 K’s. He also only had 2 homers in 277 at bats. At the end of the 2002 season we released Chris and brought on Eric Munson as our third baseman for 2003. For Chris’s career he was in 263 games with the Astros, Expos, Tiges and Devil Rays and hit .231 with 23 homers and 107 RBI’s.

Todd Van Poppel was the future Nolan Ryan and Walter Johnson long before he was a Tiger. Todd came out of high school and was all the rage in 1990 when he signed with the Oakland A’s. He was rushed to the majors and in 1991 was in one game and in 4.2 innings gave up five runs. He was up in the majors for good in 1993 and was a starter for the A’s. He did lead the league in walks in 1994. In August of 1996 the A’s waived Todd and the Tigers picked him up. He was 2-4 with the Tigers and posted an 11.39 ERA. He was released by the Tigers bounced around with the Rangers, Pirates, Cubs, Rangers again, and finally the Reds. His career totals came a bit short of Walter Johnson. He was 40-52 with a career 5.58 ERA.

Juan Samuel was a National Leaguer most of his career before coming to Detroit. He was with the Phillies for years in the 1980’s and was known for his speed but also struck out a lot. He led the league in K’s from 1984 through 1987 and second in 1988. As a third baseman he also led the league in errors several years.

Ed Romero

Bob Hazle

Chuck Kress

Steve Larkin 

December 8 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Robbie Wienhardt was a career Tiger.  He was actually in the Alaska Baseball League before enrolling at Oklahoma State University.  The Alaska Baseball League is a summer collegiate baseball league.  He did well enough at Oklahoma State to be drafted by the Tigers in 2008.  He had a great initial year in pro ball going 3-1 with a 1.76 ERA with games in Rookie Ball and in A+ level at Lakeland.  He moved up to A+ and AA in 2009 and dropped his ERA to 1.57.  He moved up to AAA and was solid in Toledo in 2010 with a 1.57 ERA again.  This earned him his first call up to the majors in July 2010.  In his debut he relieved Max Scherzer in the 8^th with the Tigers ahead 4-1 against the Orioles.  He hit Migel Tejada as his first batter but then got Nick Markakis to hit into a double play and got Ty Wigginton to end the inning with a ground out.  He then gave up a leadoff triple in the 9^th and was pulled for Phil Coke.  Phil allowed the runner on third to score so Robbie had a 9.00 ERA in his debut.  Don’t feel bad for Robbie.  Less than a month later he was called in to relieve in game that Armando Gallarago lasted only 4 and 2/3 of an inning.  Enrique Gonzalez came in as relief but only finished the inning and no further with the Tigers ahead 4-1.  Robbie came in and pitched the next two innings and did not allow a run.  This was enough to make him the pitcher of record and thus he got the win over John Lester and the Red Sox.  That was his first win of his career.  In September he got another win while also getting a blown save.  This gave him his second and last win as a major leaguer.  He finished 2010 with a 2-2 record and a 6.14 ERA.  He was back in Detroit at the beginning of 2011 and in 2 games against KC he was 0-0 with a 10.80 ERA.  The Tiges sent him back to the minors from which he never returned.  He gave up the game in 2013 always a member of the Tigers.

Ed Brinkman was the Tigers shortstop on the 1972 team. After 11 seasons with the Washington Senators he was traded to the Tigers as part of the Denny McLain deal. He was an outstanding defensive shortstop. In 1972 he was Tiger of the year and had a .990 fielding percentage. The league average was .967. He was an All Star and won a Gold Glove that season. He was a bit less than an All Star at the plate. He was a career .224 hitter with 60 career homers in 15 seasons.

Razor Ledbetter pitched the 9^th inning for the Tigers on an April 16^th game against the Indians in 1915. He pitched one inning and game up one hit. But the runner was taken off the base paths and he faced the minimum of three batters in that one inning. He never pitched in the majors again.

Jack Rowe was the Wolverines starting shortstop playing with the Deacon White on the same Wolverines of 1886, 1887 and 1888. Jack was a seven year veteran from the Buffalo Bisons when he joined the Wolverines. He hit .301 in his three seasons with the Wolverines. He followed Deacon White to Pittsburgh in 1889 and finished his career as did Deacon with the Buffalo Bisons of the Players League in 1890. His brother Dave Rowe also was a major leaguer from 1877 to 1888.

December 7 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Kevin Hooper

Brian Schmack

Alex Johnson

Dick Donovan

Tony Piet ended his career as a Tiger. 

Deacon White was a innovator of the game and the most recent Hall of Famer from Detroit.  His nickname of “Deacon” came about because he carried a bible with him and was thought to represent what a Deacon should be. He had started playing pro baseball in 1868, three years after the Civil War, and 1871 he joined the National Association when it debuted as the first professional league.  He was catcher for the Cleveland Forest City’s and the Boston Red Stockings.  Again, this was before the NL started so there was not really a race for the batting title but Deacon won it anyway in 1875 when he hit .367.  He had won the RBI title in 1873.  When the NL started in 1876 he was the catcher for the Chicago White Stockings and he again won the RBI title.  In 1877 he came close to winning the triple crown when he led the league in RBI’s with 49, average with a .387 mark and was third in homers with 2.  (The league leader hit 4 that season.)  But he did lead the league in triples with 11.  He was also He was an innovator in that he was the first catcher to move up underneath the batter.  It was the custom in the early days of baseball to stand 10 to 20 feet behind the batter and catcher the ball on the bounce.  He also created the first chest protector.  After his time in Chicago he moved on to Boston, Cincinnati and Buffalo in the National League before landing in Detroit with the Wolverines in 1886.  He joined Detroit in what was considered a huge deal at the time when he and Jack Rowe, Hardy Richardson and Sam Thompson were sold to Detroit for the sum of $7,000.  He had moved to third base by now and was the Wolverines starting third sacker for the next three years including the 1887season when the Wolverines won the NL flag and went on to beat the St. Louis Browns of the American Association.  The Wolverines won 10 games to 5.  Deacon was on the team with three other future Hall of Famers (all posthumously and all left handed) in Dan Brouthers at first and Sam Thompson and Ned Hanlon in the outfield.  Deacon hit .303 at the age of 39 that season as the oldest player in the majors.  He would continue to be the oldest player in the majors until his playing days ended three years later at the age of 42.  He also almost made a great contribution to baseball when he threatened to sue baseball in regards to the reserve clause after leaving the Wolverines in 1889.  He was under contract with the Pittsburgh Allegheny’s when he and teammate Jack Rowe bought the Buffalo team of the International League and were not allowed to play for their own team.  The reserve clause had them locked into only playing with the Pittsburgh club.  The two threatened o sue to break the reserve clause but did not and eventually played for Pittsburgh.  The following season Deacon jumped from the NL and bought a share of the Players League team in Buffalo.  The Players League was a league brought about by the players in an attempt to break the owners of their control of the players through the reserve clause and low pay and ability to sell the players contracts as had been done in 1886.  Unfortunately, the league collapsed after one season because the owners of the NL and American Association paid the stars huge salaries to keep them in their league.  With fans wanting to see the stars the league collapsed.  That would be Deacon’s last season as a professional ball player at the age of 42.  In his career Deacon played 8 seasons as a starting catcher and 9 years as a starting third baseman.  He also had a couple seasons in the outfield and at first as a starter.  He also recorded games at every position when he played second, short and pitched.  His brother Wil also played with him and with Detroit.  The year he died was 1939.  This was the year of the first Hall of Fame class.   He was disappointed when the first class was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and he was not among them, nor was he invited to the Baseball Centennial that was that year as well.  (He was 91, only 9 years younger than the anniversary they were celebrating.)  He was playing shortly after the Civil War and died two years before his birthday, December 7, would be recognized as the start of the US entry into World War II with the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

By the way, if you are wondering, only one major leaguer was born that fateful December 7 of 1941, but not in the US.  Rupe Toppin was born December 7, 1941 in Panama.  He played for the Kansas City Athletics in 1962.  His link to the Tigers is that of the two games he played his second and last was against the Tigers.  He came into the game in the 4th in relief and walked 2 the first inning he pitched against the Tigers.   In the next inning he loaded the bases with 3 straight walks to start the inning.  He was pulled just before Rocky Colavito hit a single to clear the bases and end his major league career.  

December 6 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Larry Sheets was a reluctant Tiger.  He was actually a reluctant ball player.  He was a left handed power hitter who signed with the Baltimore Orioles out of high school in nearby Staunton, Virginia in 1978.   He played for a couple years in the minors before deciding to sit out the 1981 season.  He came back to the Orioles farm system in 1982 and hit .296 in class A Hagerstown ad hit 18 homers.  He continued to move up and was a late season addition in 1984 where he got a hit in his first major league at bat.  In 8 games that fall he was 7 for 16 for a .438 average and with a double and homer he had a .688 slugging.  In 1985 he was with the O’s for real and was a starting outfielder, a position he would hold for the next 5 years.  He continued to improve at the plate until he had his best year in 1987 when he hit.316 with 31 homers and 94 RBI’s.  This was followed by his worst year where he hit only .230 with 10 homers and 47 RBI’s.  In 1989 the O’s gave up on Larry who was hitting only .243 with only 7 homers and traded him after the season to the Tigers for Mike Brumley.  Larry got into 131 games for the Tiges and was the top utility player playing 47 games in left, 19 in right and 38 as DH.  But he only hit .261 with 10 homers and was granted free agency at the end of the season.  He signed with the California Angels as a free agent on October 14 1991 and about two weeks later the Angels released him with Larry ever playing a game for them!  Larry went over to Japan and played there before returning to the US and playing one more year in the majors in 1993.  He got in 11 games and was 2 for 17.  Today Larry owns and runs a sports complex in Maryland which you can find on line at www.larrysheetsplayers.com.

Gary Ward ended his career as a Tiger.  He was somewhat atypical as a power hitter in that he did have a low average but was able to steal a base when needed.  He started in the majors with the Minnesota Twins in 1979 but was not a starter until 1982.  He hit .289 that season while hitting 28 homers, 91 RBI’s and stealing 13 bases.  After that he hit .278 and the Twins traded him to the Rangers.  He played with the Rangers for 3 years hitting .293 and hitting 41 homers while stealing 45 bases.  All the time Gary was slightly above average as an outfielder.  After 1986 he signed as free agent with the Yankees but in 1988 he was a part timer and early in 1989 he was released by the Yankees.  The Tigers signed him and he was a back up in 1989 playing 35 games at left, 14 in right, 26 at first and 25 at DH.  In 1990 he was the Tigers starting left fielder where he hit .256 with 9 homers and 2 stolen bases.  After 1990 he was released by the Tigers and was done as a pro player.  As late as 2010 Gary was coaching in the minors.  His son Daryle Ward played in the majors from 1998 to 2008 with various teams in the NL.

December 5 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Gene Harris was a Tiger for part of one year.  He started his major league career in 1989 with the Expos and pitched in 11 games before being traded to the Mariners as part of the Randy Johnson trade where Randy went to the Mariners with Gene and Brian Holman for Mark Langston and Mike Campbell.  The Mariners kept Gene into 1992 when he was sent to the Padres.  He was 3-7 combined in his time with the Ex pos and Mariners with two saves as a reliever and spot starter.  For the Padres he was 7-9 when in foreshadowing the future, Randy Smith, then the Padres GM, traded him to the Tigers for Scott Livingstone and Jorge Velandia in 1994.  While with Detroit Gene was 0-0 in 11 games with a 7.15 ERA and one save when he came in to pitch the 9^th in a game against the A’s that David Wells started but Storm Davis would eventually get the win.  The Tigers released Gene at the end of the 1994 season and he signed with the Phillies for 1995 but finished the season with the Orioles.  For his career Gene was 12-18 with a 4.71 ERA and 26 saves over seven seasons in the majors.

Ed Summers played his whole time in the majors with the Tigers.  Ed played ball at Wabash College and in the minors at the same time before joining the Tigers in 1908.  In his first year he was the ace of the staff of himself, George Mullin, Bill Donavan, Ed Willett and Ed Killian.  Summers went 24-12 with a 1.64 ERA in 40 games with 23 complete games.  On September 25^th he pitched and won both complete games of a double header against the Philadelphia Athletics by scores of 7-2 and 1-0.  Unfortunately in the World Series against the Cubs he did not do as well.  He was 0-2 with a 4.30 ERA in two games and the Tigers dropped the series to the Cubs in the last series the Cubs ever won, 4 games to 1.  In 1909 Ed was again on the same strong staff but had dropped to the third man in the rotation.  He was 19-9 with a 2.24 ERA but again had a rough World Series this time against Honus Wagner and the Pirates.  Ed went 0-2 again with a 8.59 ERA.  Ed was 13-12 in 1910 and hit two homers in one game becoming the first pitcher ever to do so when he did it against the Athletics.  Ed was 11-11 in 1911 and was only 1-1 in 1912 when he was done playing baseball in June of 1912. 

Billy Shindle started his major league career as a Detroit Wolverine in 1886.  He got in 7 games and went 7 for 26 as a back up shortstop.  He returned to the Wolverines in 1887 but was moved over to third as a back up to Deacon White.  He was 24 for 84 with 12 RBI’s and scored 17 runs for the Wolverines who won the National League title and the World Series against the St. Louis Browns 10 games to 5.  Unfortunately for Billy, Deacon White played all 15 games so Billy did not get into the series.  Billy left Detroit in 1888 and became a starting third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association and later joined the Philadelphia Quakers of the Player League, Philadelphia Athletics of the National League, Baltimore Orioles now of the National League and finally the Brooklyn Bridegrooms of the National league before ending his career in 1898.  He was a career .269 hitter with 759 RBI’s and 993 runs scored.  

December 4 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Pat Sheridan played most of his games in the majors with the Tigers.  He was born in Ann Arbor and went to Wayne High School before going to college at Eastern Michigan University.  He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals and debuted with the Royals in 1981 as a late season call up.  He got in three games that season and then spent 1982 in the minors before three seasons as a Royals outfielder.  He was a .251 hitter for the Royals as an above average fielder.  Before the 1986 season the Royals brought up Mike Kingery, a speedy minor leaguer who would make Pat unneeded by the Royals and the lefty hitting Sheridan was released.  The Tigers signed Pat as a free agent for $150,000 for the 1986 season.  Pat was the number 2 right fielder behind Kirk Gibson and the number 2 center fielder behind Chet Lemon and hit only .237.  But in 1987 the Tigers were back on top of the AL East and Pat was the starting right fielder.  He hit .259 and got some big hits for the Tiges including a 7^th inning homer against the Red Sox in Fenway to win the game for the Tiges and hitting a homer off of Bret Saberhagen to beat the Royals at Tiger Stadium.  Pat also hit an 8^th inning two run shot off of Jeff Reardon to give the Tigers their lone win in the ALCS against the damned Minnesota Twinkies.  (It’s been 25 years, I’m almost over it.) Pat was back with the Tigers in 1988 but was in left field.  Kirk Gibson was gone and Gary Pettis took over center moving Chet Lemon to right.  Pat had a similar year hitting .254 with 11 homers.  But 1989 saw a changing of the Tigers and a whole new crop of outfielders came to town in Fred Lynn and Ken Williams as well as others.  Pat became expendable as was traded to the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Tracy Jones in June.  After finishing the season at San Fran Pat would get one more crack at the majors with the New York Yankees in 1991.  Pat ended his 9 year career as a .252 hitter but was in the playoffs four times and in the World Series twice winning once with the Royals in 1985 and losing the series with the San Francisco Giants in 1989.

Barbaro Garbey picked the perfect season to be a rookie for the Tigers.  Barbaro was born and raised in Cuba and played on the Cuban Olympic team in 1976 that won the gold medal.  He was banned from playing in Cuba for gambling and left Cuba as part of the 1980 Cuban flotilla that brought 125,000 people from Cuba to the US.  The Tigers signed him and he quickly moved up the Tigers farm system hitting .321 in AAA Evansville by 1983.  In 1984 he made the Tigers squad and was one of the Tigers utility players playing every position except short, catcher and pitcher in 110 games for the World Champs.  He hit .287 but only had 5 homers.  In the playoffs he was DH and went 3 for 9.  In the World Series he struggled going 0 for 12 as a DH.  He returned to the Tiges in 1985 but his hitting dropped to .257 in 86 games.  At the end of the season he was traded to the Oakland Athletics for Dave Collins.  Before spring training was over in 1986 the Athletics released Barbaro.  He went to play in Mexico but came back to the US and the majors in 1988 with the Texas Rangers.  He hit only .194 and wound up his career back in Mexico in 1994.  After his playing days Barbaro has spent his time coaching in the minors with the Tigers and Cubs organizations. 

Harvey Kuenn spent most of his time in the majors as a Tiger.  Kuenn (Pronounced Keen.) began his major league career in 1952 with the Tigers when at the age of 21 he played 19 games as a Tiger shortstop hitting .325 as a late season call up.  He picked up where he left off in 1953 when he hit .308 as the Tigers starting shortstop and leading the league in hits with 209 while on his way to winning Rookie of the Year honors.  That was also the first year of 8 years in a row that Harvey was an all star.  Harvey stayed at short until 1957 when he moved to the outfield for the Tiges.  In 1959 Harvey won the batting title hitting .353 for the Tiges.  He was rewarded with a trade for Rocky Colavito from Cleveland who had just won the home run title for Cleveland.  It was considered a huge block buster trade with the exchange of the league batting champ for the home run champ.  But Harvey’s skills started to diminish.  He hit .308 for the Indians before they traded him to the Giants for the 1961 season.  He would hit .300 only one more time in 1962 and would done playing after 1966.  But Harvey was not finished with baseball.  He became a manager for the Milwaukee Brewers who were known as “Harvey’s Wallbangers” due to their home run hitting and led them to their first World Series in 1982 when they lost in 7 games to the St. Louis Cardinals.  But Harvey was not doing well with his health.  As a player he was known to always have a cheek full of tobacco.  In 1980, before he took over the Brewers as skipper, he had his right leg amputated.  In 1988 Harvey died at the age of 57.

Allen Conkwright played one season in the majors as a right handed pitcher for the Tigers.  He came out of Utah State University and played a couple of non descript seasons in the minors before going 24-7 with the Bloomington Bloomers of the Three I League in 1920.  The Tigers signed him and he debuted as a reliever as a late season call up.  He came in to face the Red Sox at Detroit’s Navin Field in the 5^th inning of a game the tigers were trailing 5 to 3.  He pitched the next six innings and gave up 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks.  The Tigers came back and scored 3 in the 8^th and 1 more in the 10^th to win the game and give Allen his first career victory.  Allen got in 4 more games for the Tigers and went 2-1 for the season with a 6.98 ERA.  He went back to the minors and never returned to the majors and was done in baseball after 1924 at the age of 27.

December 3 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Andrew Oliver was still with the Tigers as late as 2012.  He came out of Oklahoma State University after a stellar high school career in Vermillion, OH.  He was signed by the Tigers and began his career in the Tigers farm system in 2010 with Erie as a left handed starter.  He was supposed to be in the 2010 All Star Futures Game but was brought up to the Tigers before the game took place so was no longer qualified.  In his debut with the Tiges he started against the Atlanta Braves on June 25 and took the loss going 6 innings and only allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 1 walk while K’ing 4.  He made 4 more starts for the Tiges in 2010 and finished his time in the majors less than a month later when he was assigned to Toledo for the remainder of the season.  His final record for the Tiges was 0-4 with a 7.36 ERA.  But he was still considered the Tiges number three prospect.  In 2011 he got 2 starts for the Tigers.  The first was May 29 against the Red Sox at Comerica Park.  He went 6 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and a walk with 3 K’s but did not get a decision.  He also gave up two homers to Dustin Pedroia and Mike Cameron.  His second game was June 3, when he took the loss against the White Sox in Chicago.  He went 3.2 innings and game up 4 runs on 6 hits and 5 walks.  He did not pitch in Detroit after that.  in 2012 he spent the year in Toledo going 5-9 with a 4.88 ERA.  After the season he was traded to the Pirates for minor league catching prospect Ramon Cabrera.

Chad Durbin spent two seasons with the Tigers.  The right hander began his career in 1999 with the Kansas City Royals and he pitched for them through 2002.  He was a combined 11-22 with a 6.01 ERA for KC before going to Cleveland as a free agent.  In Cleveland he was 7-9 with a 6.10 ERA.  In 2004 he was waived by Cleveland and picked up by the Arizona Diamondbacks.  He was 1-1 with an 8.68 ERA.  At the end of the 2005 season the Tigers picked him up as a free agent.  He got to the Tiges for 3 games for the Tiges coming out of the bull pen and pitched 6 innings.  But he looked good with a 1.50 ERA.  In Toledo that year he was 11-8 with a 3.11 ERA and was looking very strong as a future Tiger prospect.  In 2007 he was with the Tigers for the entire season.  He was 8-7 with a save splitting time as a starter, making 19 starts and 17 appearances from the bull pen.  He had a decent ERA at 4.87 but at the end of the season he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and was used as a reliever only.  He was 5-4 but had a very nice 2.87 ERA.  He spent two more years as a reliever and in three years was 11-7 with 3 saves and a 3.62 ERA.  After spending 2011 in Cleveland he spent 2012 with Atlanta where he was 4-1 with a 3.10 ERA coming out of the pen.   In 2013 he was in Philly and was 1-0 with no saves and a 9.00 ERA in only 16 games.  The Phillies released him on May 31 of the 2013 season and no one picked him up.  He retired from baseball the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in 2013 at the age of 35.

Gary Glover spent his last time in the majors with the Tigers.  He began his time in pro ball with the Toronto Blue Jays Rookie club at the age of 17 in 1994.  He worked his way up the Jays farm system until he made his major league debut in 1999.  He pitched one inning of one game for the Jays and after giving a lead off walk got the next batter ona pop fly before getting the last batter to hit into a double play.  He did not play in the majors again until 2001 this time with the Chicago White Sox where he has pitched the most innings and also was used as a starter as well as a reliever.  He was 13-13 in Chicago with a 5.02 ERA while spending about half his time as a starter and half coming out of the bull pen.  He then made stops in Anaheim, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay before signing with the Tigers as a free agent in August 2008.  For Detroit he got in 18 games as reliever and was 1-1 with a 4.43 ERA.  He was granted free agency at the end of the season by the Tiges.  Since then he has spent his entire time in the minors with the Nationals and Marlin’s franchises.  He was granted free agency a month ago by the Marlins and is in search of a team at this time.

Delos Drake spent his time in the majors with St .Louis and the Tigers.  He started pro ball in 1906 at the age of 19 and worked his way up to the Detroit in 1911 when he played the entire season with the Tigers as a back up outfielder to Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford and Davy Jones.  In 95 games he actually out hit Davy Jones .279 to 273.  In fact he was only in 3 less games than Jones for the season as the two split time in left field.  Jones had a slight edge in fielding .950 to .942.  Delos showed good speed hitting 9 triples and a homer and also stealing 20 bases.  But in Delos was back in the minors in 1912 and 1913 before he got one more shot at the majors in St. Louis.  It was not with the Cardinals, nor the Browns.  It was with the new Federal League St. Louis Terriers.  The Federal League was a new upstart major league that put fear in the American and National League owners.  They put teams in cities that would rival major league teams as well as in new cities.  One of the most famous remnants of the Federal League is in Chicago where the Chicago Whales owner Charlie Weeghman built Weeghman Park for his team.  Delos Drake played in the outfield for the St. Louis team and would have played at Weegham Park.  He In his two years with the Terriers Delos played the outfield for the Terriers and hit .257 over two years.  His second year the Terriers won the League title.  But that would be the last Federal League pennant.  At the end of his first year the Federal League brought an antitrust law suit against the National League.  The judge, one Kennesaw Mountain Landis, did not rule and let he suit languish until finally in 1922 the US Supreme Court ruled baseball was not a business but a form of entertainment and not interstate commerce and therefore not subject to antitrust laws.  By the time the ruling came the Federal League had collapsed.  Delos was out of baseball and the Chicago Cubs were playing in Weeghman Park which was later called Wrigley Field.