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.
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