Saturday, December 13, 2014

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 

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