December 1 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Dan Schatzeder

Jim Ray

George Lerchen I was saddened to see that George Lerchen died on March 26, 2014.  George signed an 8x10 for me through the mail in October of 2013.  I am saddened because I did not do my homework before sending out the request.  George was what Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation”.  And he was the epitome of it.  He was born in Detroit in 1922 and signed by the great Tigers scout Wish Egan.  He started his pro career in 1942 at the age of 19.  He was in class D with Jamestown and hit .312.  But he following year and the next three he served in the Navy during WWII.  He came back and went back to his dream of being a major league ball player.  He played in the minors.  The Tiger organization bounced George around from D to AAA to A to AAA before givng him a chance in the majors in 1952 at the age of 29.  He made four appearances as a pinch hitter before finally getting a start on May 6.  He made it count.  He got his first major league hit, a homer, and went 1 for 3 with a walk.  The next day he went 2 for 4 with a triple.  But in a month and a half he was 5 for 32 for a .156 average.  But that was a time when OBP was not considered as highly as it is today for he also had 7 walks for a .308 OBP.  However, the Tigers sent him back to the minors never to return to Tiger Stadium as a player.  Somehow, in an unknown transaction George was sent to the Reds for 1953.  He did even better in Cincy hitting .294 with a .455 OBP.  But he was only given 3 starts.  That was the end of the road for George as a major leaguer.  He bounced around in the minors until calling it quits in 1956.  His first hit was the only homer of his career.  I did not ask him about it.  I should have.  What George did 99% of American youth dream about doing.  I missed it.  His wife responded with a nice note saying the George was having trouble writing but he was happy that he could manage his signature.  She stated that this was too bad because he always had beautiful penmanship.  He was 91. I hope I have nice penmanship at 91. 

Pete Wojey

Ernie Alten

Willie Mitchell