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.