June 30 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Davy Jones

Below is a Colgan's Chips of Davy from my collection.

June 29 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Eddie Miller

Bruce Kimm

Below is a photo I sent out to Bruce Kimm as an 8x10 that he signed for me.

Bob Shaw

Bill Connelly

Dizzy Trout

Bobby Veach

Below is a 1923 photo of Veach with a new fangled movie camera.  

June 28 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Chris Spurling

Greg Keagle

Tom Fletcher

Orlando McFarlane

Fred Gladding

Frank Scheibeck

Mox McQuery

June 27 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Oscar Salazar

The above is a signed faux 1984 card of Nelson Simmons from my collection.  Nelson was not in the 1984 set.  But faux 1984 cards are popular among collectors in Detroit.

Nelson Simmons

Dick Marlowe

Gus Zernial

Lou Kretlow

Charlie Wheatley spent his entire time in the majors as a Tiger.  He started pro ball in 1910 with the Abilene Reds of the Central Kansas League at the age of 17.  It is not known what position he played.  He moved to Auburn of the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas League in 1911 where he started pitching and went 6-2.  In 1912 he jumped up to class A St. Joseph of the Western League.  It was too far of a jump as he went 0-2 and soon moved back down to class B ball at Springfield (IL) of the Central League.  He was 14-8 and moved up to the majors in Detroit as a late season call up.  He made his debut on September 6 of 1912 at the age of 19 in a losing effort.  The Tigers lost the game to the St. Louis Browns 4-2.  Charlie got the loss.   Charlie got into a total of 5 games with the Tiges and went 1-4 with a 6.17 ERA.  The team ERA was 3.77.  Charlie started every game he played.  One month after his debut Charlie took another loss at the hands of the Chicago White Sox.  The final score was 4-9.  The Tigers finished in 6^th with a 69-84 record and Charlie finished his major league career at 1-4.  He went back to the minors for the next six seasons before his pro career ended in 1918 at the age of 25 with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association.  His final known minor league record was 45-48 with a .209 batting average.  Charlie lived to almost 90 years old, dying in 1982 at 89.  

June 26 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Chris Shelton will always be remembered for a great start of a great 2006 season for the Tigers.  Chris had been signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2001 but taken by the Tigers in the December 2003 Rule 5 draft.  He was with the team in April of 2004 and got his first major league hit off of the Twins Carlos Silva for a double in the Metrodome.   He made it into 16 games before getting injured.  He played 11 more games later in the season for .196 average (9 hits in 46 at bats) and had one homer and 3 RBI’s.  He came back stronger in 2005 when he hit .299 as the Tigers starting first baseman.   But he showed he had a penchant for K’ing.  He K’d 87 times with only 34 walks in 388 at bats.  In 2006 Chris set the stage for the Tigers season.  He had two homers on opening day and took off from there.  He had three hits in each of his first three games and three days after opening day he hit two homers again off of the Texas Rangers giving him 5 homers in the first 4 games.  He set an American League record of 7 homers in his team’s first 9 games of the season and 8 in the first 12 games.  He tied the club record set by Cecil Fielder of 10 homers in the month of April and was Tiger player of the month with a .326 average, 6 doubles, 2 triples, the 10 homers and 20 RBI’s in 25 games.  This gave him the nicknames of “Big Red” and “Orange Crush” due to his bright red hair.  In May his power dropped off to a more realistic 4 doubles and 1 homers and his average was .286 for the month of May.  But in June it fell apart for Chris.  He hit 4 homers but his average plummeted to .205.  The Tiges were in a surprising pennant race in 2006 and wasted no time in shoring up first base and on July 31 they traded for first baseman Sean Casey and optioned Chris to Toledo.  Chris would continue to produce in Toledo and hit .266 but it was not the same Chris of April.  He got another call up in September when the roster expanded but was left off the post season roster as Sean Casey filled the bill and led the team in the Tiges first World Series appearance since 1984 with a .529 World Series batting average and 5 RBI’s and 2 homers.  Chris would never play in a Tiger uniform again.  He spent 2007 in Toledo where he hit .269 and 14 homers.   Chris was traded after the 2007 season to the Texas Rangers.   He got in 41 games for the Rangers in 2008 and then played 9 more games for the Seattle Mariners in 2009.  He was last in pro ball in Houston Astros farm system in 2010.   

Mike Myers I thought was sold short and used as a LOOGY for most of his time as a Tiger.  No, that does not have anything to do with throwing spit ball.  A LOOGY is a modern term in this time of specialization to describe a “Left-handed One Out Guy” type of pitcher.  Mike came to the Tigers in his first big league season in August the Tiges made a deal with the Florida Marlins of Buddy Groom for Mike Myers.  He was down in Toledo briefly before getting the call up to Detroit.  He got his first major league win as a Tiger when on Sept ember 19, he was brought in in the fifth inning to relieve Sean Bergman who was getting hit a around a bit.  Sean had given up 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks and was facing 3 straight lefties and a switch hitter on the Orioles top of the line up of Curtis Goodwin, Brady Anderson, Rafael Palmeiro and Bobby Bonilla.  Mike came in and got the side out allowing only one hit to Palmeiro.  The Tiges were already ahead and as it was the fifth that Mike pitched, he got credit for the win.  Mike would only get one more win as a Tiger in 1996.  That was the year he led the majors in games for a pitcher with 83, but only pitched 64.2 innings.    In 1997 he led the league in appearances with 88 games but pitched even fewer innings at 53.2.  His strike out to walk ratio was better vs lefties at 4.00 to 1.21 for righties and his batting average against was better at .233 for lefties vs. .305 for righties in 1996.  But in 1997 he evened out a bit more at 2.69 K/BB vs lefties against 1.25 vs righties and the batting average against was less than a .050 difference.  Mike did not have a stellar ERA for the Tiges with a 5.56 ERA during his stint.  But the biggest thing I recall was that the Tigers of the mid-late 1990’s stunk.  I don’t think they could have done much worse leaving Mike in a bit longer.  All the Tigers gave up about a run more than they should have at that time as the Tigers could not play defense behind the pitchers.  After the 1997 season the Tigers traded Mike away with Rick Greene and Santiago Perez for Bryce Florie.   Mike would pitch for another 10 years and his career ERA dropped to 4.29 upon leaving the Tigers.   But Mike’s role in baseball never changed.  For his career he pitched in a whopping 883 games but only pitched 541.2 innings and had a record of 25-24.

Babe Herman could have benefited greatly had the DH been around when he was a Tiger.  As an 18 year old kid in the minors he hit .330 for the class B Edmonton Eskimos in 1921.  He followed that up with a .402 season in A and AA ball in 1922.  He continued to show he was no fluke as a hitter and finally made the majors in 1926 for the Brooklyn Robins (This is the same franchise we know as the Dodgers.  However, from 1914 through 1931 they were called the Robins for their manager Wil Robinson.  No, he was not in any “danger” but Babe was.)  Babe hit .319 and fell one hit shy of the National League record with 9 consecutive hits that season.  He also led the Robins in hits, doubles, triples, homers and RBI’s.  He stole 8 bases when his team leader stole only 12.  He was a one man wrecking crew at the plate.  His danger was that he could not field.  He led the league from 1927 thru 1929 in errors.  It has widely been rumored that he was once hit on the head while circling under a fly ball.  (No newspaper game record has been found to substantiate this claim.)  Babe was consistently a below average fielder for his whole career regardless if he played outfield or first base.  Babe’s 162 game averages are 10 stolen bases, 11 triples, 19 homers and 104 RBI’s with a career batting average of .324 and a career slugging of .532.  But his career fielding of .961 in the outfield does not campare well to a league AVERAGE of .973 while he played.  Clearly he was anchoring the curve!   He also started a long running gag for Brooklyn baseball fans.  It was John Lardner (Son of Ring Lardner) who wrote “Babe Herman did not triple into a triple play, but he did double into a double play, which is the next best thing.”   With runners on first and second Babe hit a double, but as he rounded second he kept on going.  The runner from second, Dazzy Vance, had not scored yet and the runner from first was still rounding third so the coach yelled at Babe to go back.  Dazzy Vance heard the yelling and thought it was for him so he retreated to third.  Babe did not hear the yelling and continued on to third and the runner from first was caught in the middle.  The result was three runners on third and the ball thrown to the third baseman who tagged all three as he was not sure who owned the base.  Babe and the sandwiched runner from first were out as the lead runner is entitled to the base.  This led to the running gag in Brooklyn that when told during the course of the Brooklyn team had three runners on base they would demand to know which base.  Twice he stopped running the bases to watch home run and was passed on the base paths forcing the homer to be called a single.  Because of his fielding or lack thereof and his base running exploits Babe was traded from Brooklyn after 6 years, to Cincy where he lasted one season before heading to the Cubs for two years on to Pittsburgh and back to Cincy all by the end of the 1936 season.   In April 1937 the Tigers had sold aging outfielder Al Simmons to the Washington Senators and thus had room on the roster for another outfielder.  They purchased Babe from the Reds.    But Babe was short-lived as a Tiger.  The Tigers starting three in the outfield of Jo-Jo White, Gee Walker and Pete Fox played most games.   Gee missed only 3 games and Pete missed only 6.  And the Tiges still had Goose Goslin and young Chet Laabs to be the fourth and fifth outfielders in needed to back up Jo-Jo.  Babe got into only 17 games as a Tiger with 15 as a pinch hitter or pinch runner and got only 6 hits for a .300 average with no homers or triples and only 3 RBI’s.    In the two games he played the field he had three chances and made all three put outs.  On June 15^th, 11 days before his 34^th birthday, the Tigers released Babe.  He went back the minors played there for years and in 1945, the last year of World War II he was brought back to the majors with Brooklyn for 37 games at the age of 42.  Ironic as it may sound, Babe went in to coaching baseball after his playing days and also skippered in the minors and was a scout for 22 years.   

June 25 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Don Demeter was mainly a centerfielder as a Tiger.  He made his debut in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956.  He had only 3 plate appearances.  In his first appearance he was a pinch hitter and struck out without ever taking a swing.  The next night he was again a pinch hitter and on the first swing he took he hit a home run.  The next time Don was in the majors the Dodgers where in Los Angeles.  He was a back up outfielder who hit .189.  But his next season he became the starting center fielder for the Dodgers as they won the World Series over the Chicago White Sox.  He fractured his wrist in July of 1960 and that ended his season.  In 1961 he was only with the Dodgers for a short time.   Several teams were interested in him such as the Tigers and Phillies but the Phillies got him in a trade.  He was on the Phils and played all three outfield positions as well as some firs base his first year.  His second year he became the starting third baseman and had his best season ever.   He hit career highs of .307 with 29 homers and 107 RBI’s.  But in 1963 he was back to his average of .258 with 22 homers.  He was again part are trade rumors in again with Detroit.  This time it came through.  He came to Detroit with Jack Hamilton for Gus Triandos and Jim Bunning.  Charlie Dressen, theTigers manger wanted a top outfielder and the only two they considered were Felipe Alou and Don.  But Don never quite caught on.  He was a utility player in 1964 hitting .256 but with a strong 80 RBI’s.  Don always said he did not care or pay attention to his batting average.  All he cared about was driving in runs.  80 was tied for second on the 64 Tiges.  In 1965 his playing time was dropping to 122 games.  He hit .278 and drove in 58 runs.  The big news in 1965 was the end of his consecutive games without an error in the outfield.  It happened in Kansas City where Charlie Finley owned the Athletics.  Always one for gimmicks he used dogs to run out and carry the bases to the grounds crew to change the bases.  As Don said “"I have a line drive hit to me and I scooped it up and I guess the ground crew thought it was the last out and sent the dog on the field. I scooped the ball up and threw it to Dick McAuliffe at shortstop. The dog just shot out there and the ball went through his legs at the same time the dog went through there." The runner advanced a base, and the scorer couldn't charge the dog with the error so it was assigned to Demeter.  He started 1966 with the Tigers as the 4^th outfielder and after 32 games where he was hitting .212 he was sent to the Red Sox with Julio Navarro for Earl Wilson and Joe Christopher.  Don would be traded one more time the following season, 1967, to the Cleveland Indians where he ended the season and his career in the majors.

Alex Garbowski had not even a cup of coffee with the Tigers.  He had 6 years in the minors mainly as a shortstop starting right after the war in 1946 at the age of 24.  His first few years held lots of promise.  He hit .390 his first year in class D and then .396 in Class C.  In 1948 he his .301 in class A ball and never hit .300 again.  In 1952 the Tigers picked him up in the rule 5 draft and he made his major league debut in a game in Detroit where the Tigers trailed the St. Louis Browns 5-3 in the 9^th.  With two out Matt Batts hit a fielder choice and was safe at first.  Alex came in as a pinch runner.  The nest batter was Jerry Priddy who hit a fly left and the game ended without Alex moving off first.  Less than month later the White Sox were in Detroit in a tie game that was 4-4 in the 13^th.  Johnny Groth hit a single to start of the 13^th.  Matt Batts then hit bunt and reached first on an error.  Alex came in again to replace Matt.  Jerry Priddy then grounded out and moved Johnny to third and Alex to second.  Joe Ginsberg came up and hit a fly ball to right and Johnny and Alex did not advance.   Johnny Lipon then came up and hit a foul ball that first baseman Eddie Robinson caught to end the inning and Alex’s time in the majors.  He did not get an at bat.  He pinch ran twice and only made one extra base.  The Tigers would lose the second game just like they lost the first game he appeared in.  Alex would go back to the minors and would be done in baseball after 1954.

Johnny Pasek was a bumped from the squad by a manager for the Tigers.  He started his time in pro ball in 1927 as a catcher for the Pensacola Pilots.  He hit .277 that year which was not far formhis career average in the minors of .278.  He bounced around the minors until 1932 when he was picked up by the Tigers and assigned to Beaumont.  He hit .260 for the Explorers in 1932 and was hitting .292 in 1933 when he was called up to the Tiges.  He would get in 28 games that year for the Tigers and hit .246 with 4 RBI’s.  He was great defensively gunning done over half of the attempted base stealers.  But at the end of the season the Tigers were looking for a new manager.  They wanted Babe Ruth but the Babe went on vacation thinking the Tiges would wait for him.  But they did not.  While the Babe was in Hawaii, Connie Mack, owner of the Philadelphia Athletics, had one of his fire sales.  He made Mickey Cochrane available and the Tigers jumped at it.  The Tigers sent Johnny to the Athletics and $100,000 for Mickey to become their starting catcher and manager.  Johnny never made it to Philly.  He was traded that very day to the Chicago White Sox with George Earnshaw for Charlie Berry and $20,000.  Johnny got in only 4 games for the Sox going 3 for 9 with a walk and in May was done in the majors.  Johnny would go on to play in the minors though 1942 when at the age of 37 his career as a ball player was over.

John Deering pitched almost exactly half his time in the majors with the Tigers.  He started his time in pro ball in 1899 with the Schenectady Electricians of the New York State League.  He was 1-12.  He moved on and in 1900 was 4-13 with 2 teams.  He did not show a record in baseball again until he appeared for the Tigers in 1903.  He was appeared in 10 games for the Tiges and started 8 of them and pitched 5 of them as complete games.  He was 3-4 with a 3.86 ERA.  In July the Tigers traded him to the New York Highlanders (Eventually they would become the Yankees.) for Paddy Greene.  Paddy was a 28 year old third baseman who would get in one game for the Tigers and go 0 for 3.  John would pitch in 9 games for the Highlanders and have his only winning season in pro ball.  He was 4-3 with the highlanders and a 3.75 ERA.  After the 1903 season John was done in the majors.  He played in Toledo with the Mud Hens in 1904 and went 5-20.  He was done in baseball after the 1906 season.

June 24 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

George Harper started his major league career with the Tigers.  He started his professional baseball career in 1913 with the Paris Boosters of the Texas Oklahoma League.  It was class D and in 125 games he hit .309 as an outfielder.  His play so impressive that he moved up to the Kansas City Blues of the American Association which was class AA.  He continued to hit with a .297 average.  But in 1914 he again started the season in Paris and again hit well at an almost identical .308 average.  Before moving up to class B Fort Worth for 1915 where he hit .299.  The Tigers figured he was the real deal and brought him up to the Tigers for 1916.  He made his debut against the White Sox and Eddie Cicotte in Chicago as a pinch hitter.  He recorded and out as the Tigers lost 9-4.  The lefty hitting back up outfielder hit only .161 in 44 games as a back up outfielder.  In fact he appeared in 44 games that first year and only had 56 at bats as he only started 9 games.  It was a tough outfield to crack as a rookie as the Tigers had Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, and Sam Crawford plus standout Bobby Veach.  On the bench they also had up and coming Hall of Famer Harry Heilmann.  In 1917 he got in more games as Crawford retired and Heilmann went into service for World War I.  George picked up his average to .205 and in 1918 he furthered it to .242.  1919 found him out of baseball.  He went to manage the saw mill that he owned.  But it was not a good year for him as his five year old daughter died and his new born daughter also died.  So for 1920 he hired someone to run his sawmill and returned to baseball with the Oklahoma City Indians in the Western League.  He did manage to get back to the majors in 1922 with the Reds and stayed up in the majors thru 1929.  He would finish in the top 10 in OBP 3 times, homers 4 times, while still possessing good speed and a solid glove, even leading the league in fielding percentage.  After that he dropped to the PCL and eventually down to C ball where he finished his playing career in 1936.  A 20 year professional baseball career with three years as a Tiger. His major league batting average was .303 while his batting average as a Tiger was only .220. 

June 23 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Tom Haller finished his major league career as a back up catcher on the 1972 Tigers who won the AL East.  He previously played for the unlikely pair of teams, the Giants and the Dodgers.  He was starting catcher for the Giants from 1962 until 1967 or close to it.  One year he only started 79 of the games.  He was traded to Dodgers to take over for Johnny Roseboro who had been traded to the Twins.  When Jim Price retired after the 1971 season, we picked him up from the Dodgers for cash and a minor leaguer after the Dodgers realized they had another catcher in Duke Sims.  For Detroit in 1972 Tom hit .267 with 35 RBI’s and 5 homers.  Like any good catcher Tom did not steal a base for the Tigers in 1972.  In the 72 playoffs he had one at bat and grounded out to first unassisted.  His major league career was over.

Bubba Floyd is the stereotypical World War II baseball player as a Tiger.  He was born Leslie Roe Floyd in Dallas TX.  He started his pro career in 1936 as a 19 year old shortstop with Kilgore of the East Texas League.  He played there and was going to Southern Methodist University.  The Kilgore Braves (Not the Trout’s.) played close to Bubba’s home town of Dallas.  He hit .274 for class C Kilgore in 137 games.  He was up at Oklahoma City of the Texas League before the end of the season.  This was a big jump going from C ball to A1 ball.  The next year, 1937, Bubba was again at Oklahoma City and hit only .127 in 24 games before he went to the Davenport Blue Sox of the Western League where he hit .242.  He would bounce around between levels in the minors and do very well in class C but as he moved up his average always dropped.  Finally in 1944 he was playing for the Tigers AA ball club, the Buffalo Bisons.  In Detroit the Tigers had Joe Hoover playing short.  Joe was never vying for a batting title but in May of 1944 he went on a slide for the last of May where he got 6 hits in 57 at bats.  The Tigers needed to find a shortstop if they were going to complete for the pennant.  So Joe was out as shortstop and the Tiges tried others at the spot.  One of the others the Tiges intended to try was Bubba who was called up from Buffalo.  In a game at Briggs Stadium, ten days after the Normandy landings, the third place Tiges faced the first place Browns.  Hoover started the game at short but was 0-2 with a K.  So Tiger skipper Steve O’Neil pulled Hoover for Bubba.   Bubba went 2-2.  The next day Hoover led off the game with an out.  He was pulled again and Bubba went 2-3.  The next day Bubba started the game at short and batting leadoff.  He went 0-4 but scored a run on a walk.  The next day O’Neil used Joe Orengo at short.    Bubba’s major league career was over.  For his career he went 4-9 with a walk.  That is a career on base percentage of .500.  Bubba also has the distinction of being the first player in the majors called “Bubba”.

Aaron Robinson was the starting catcher for the Tigers in 1949 and 1950.  He also played part of the 1951 season with the Tigers before being traded to the Red Sox.  Aaron had been the starting catcher for the Yankees until they started using Gus Niarhos and Yogi Berra.  Aaron spent some time with the White Sox, which is where we picked him up for Billy Pierce and cash.  Aaron hit .244 for Detroit with 102 RBI’s and  22 homers.   Aaron Robinson is still known today because his autograph is a tough one.  He died young at the age of 50 in 1966.

Al Clauss  pitched five games for the Tigers in 1913.  He started one game and came in from the pen the other four.  He pitched a total of 13.1 innings and gave up an ERA of 4.73.  With his 11 hits and 12 walks his WHIP was 1.725.  A tad high.  The Tigers had picked him up from the Jackson Saginaw team of the Southern Michigan League.  After his time in Detroit he went out to Lincoln of the Western League.  After 1914, Al was done with pro ball.

June 22 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Esteban Yan pitched for one season for the Tigers.  He started his major league career in 1996 as a reliever in 1996.  He only appeared in 4 games that first season and did not record a decision.  His second year of 1997 was similar except he made 2 starts in 3 appearances and recorded his first decision, a loss to the Kansas City Royals where he gave up 8 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks in 4.1 innings.  At the end of the season he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the expansion draft.  He was with the Devil Rays for 5 seasons as a reliever except for 2000 when he started the season in the starting rotation.  He tied a major league record that year when in his first major league at bat he hit a home run.  But in July he was back in the bull pen.  In his 5 seasons he was 26-30 with 42 saves and a 5.01 ERA with his last two years serving as the Devil Rays closer.  At the end of 2002 the Devil Rays gave Esteban his free agency.  He was the last of the original Devil Rays to play for the team.   He signed with the Texas Rangers.  He lasted until May when the Ranger traded him to the Cardinals for a minor leaguer.  He made it to August when the Cardinals released him.  The Tigers signed him in January of 2004 for $650,000.  But he was cut before the start of the season on March 31.  However, less than 2 weeks later the Tigers re-signed him and he was in the Tigers bull pen.  He appeared in 69 games for the Tigers and was 3-6 with a 3.83 ERA.  He also had 7 saves.  At the end of the season the Tiges gave Esteban his free agency again and he signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  He was traded in May of 2006 to the Cincinnati Reds who released him in July.  He continued to bounce around with various other teams minor league teams but never got back to the majors.  He ended his career in 2012 after pitching with  Saltillo of the Mexican League where he was 7-5 with a 4.64 ERA and the Venezuelan Winter League as a 37 year old starter.

Jake Wood has had his number retired from the Tigers.  He started his career as a rookie second baseman for the 1961 Tigers.  He was in 162 games as a rookie and hit .258.  His speed helped him lead the league in triples his rookie year with 14 and put him third in the league with stolen bases at 30.  His eye helped him set a major league record in strike outs with 141.  But his walks still brought up his OBP to .320.  All together he was a standout rookie and finished 6^th in Rookie of the Year voting.  He was back as the starting second baseman in 1962 but his average dropped to .226.  His triples dropped to 5 and his stolen bases dropped also to 24.  However, his games also dropped to 111.  He did control his K’s and dropped them to 59.  In 1963 he was the main second baseman but only got in half the games.  The Tiges were trying out other second basemen like George Smith, Don Wert and Dick McAuliffe.  Dick was also the starting shortstop and hit only 9 points below Jake while doubling his RBI output.  In 1964 Jake was no longer the starting second baseman.  The Tigers had picked up Jerry Lumpe and Jerry hit .252 as compared to Jake’s .232.  Jake was used a utility infielder and only got in 65 games.  His playing time continued to dwindle in 1965 but he saw a boost in 1966 but still was only in 98 games as a back up second basemen to Dick McAuliffe.  He lasted only 14 games for the Tiges in 1967 when in June he was sold to the Cincinnati Reds.  He played 16 games with the Reds before his career was over as a major leaguer.  He totals were 35 homers, 26 triples, 79 stolen bases and a .250 batting average.  He continued to play in the minors and played with Gene Lamont and Jim Leyland in Montgomery.  His brother also played in the NFL as a linebacker with the Jets and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1975 through 1984.  And Jake’s number which was retired by the Tiges, well, he wore 2 as did Charlie Gerhinger who was also second baseman for the Tiges.  The number 2 was retired in 1983.

Walt Masterson ended his major league career with the Tigers.  He had started his career in 1939 as a fast ball pitcher with the Washington Senators as a reliever.  He moved into the starting rotation in 1940 and remained a starter with Washington into 1949.  He did take time off in World War II to serve in the Navy but returned and would end up starting the 1948 All Star game.  He went 3 innings and gave up 2 runs on 1 hit, a homer by Stan Musial.  Tiger Hoot Evers had also hit a homer off of Ralph Branca and another run in the 3^rd had created a tie through 3 so Walt did not get a decision in the game.  In June of 1949 Walt was traded to the Boston Red Sox for Mickey Harris and Sam Mele.  He stayed in Boston until 1952 when he was traded back to the Senators for Sid Hudson.  He pitched through 1953 with the Senators and at that time had a career record of 77-99 with 20 saves.  He was out of baseball for two years before the Tiges signed him as a 36 year old free agent for 1956.  He appeared in 35 games for the Tiges coming out of the bull pen.  He did get a win for the Tigers in September when he came in to pitch the 8^th and 9^th against the Red Sox of a game the Tiges trailed 4-2.  The Tiges rallied for 3 runs with the final run coming off of a Harvey Kuenn single to score Frank Bolling.  That would be Walt’s last decision.  He made his last appearance about a week later.  His final record with the Tigers was 1-1 with a 4.17 ERA.    

June 21 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jeff Baker spent most of August 2012 as a Tiger.  He was born in Germany in 1981, right after I graduated high school, and he was on the 1999 World Junior Championship team in 1999 and outperformed Joe Mauer.  He was drafted by the Colorado Rockies and made it to the majors in 2005.  He has been a pinch hitter, second baseman and outfielder for most of his career and never has been a starter.  After 5 years as a back up in Colorado he was sent to the Cubs in 2009 in a deal for future Tiger teammate Al Albuquerque.  In 2012 he was brought to Detroit from the Cubs for minor leaguer Marcelo Carreno and cash on August 5.  He got in 15 games as a Tiger and hit .200 as a back up right fielder and third baseman.  He got 7 hits as a Tiger in 35 at bats.   On August 31 of the 2012 he was sent to Atlanta for minor leaguer Greg Ross.  This year he is with the Texas Rangers who signed him as free agent and he is having his best year yet at the age of 32 where in 37 games he is hitting .317 with 9 homers and 16 RBI’s mainly as a left fielder but also with some games at third, first, DH, and even a game at second.

Sean Runyan played his entire career with the Tigers.  He was originally with the Houston Astros farm system but was traded to the Padres before the 1997 minor league season.  The Tigers then drafted him in the Rule 5 draft of 1997.  The rule 5 draft is held in the winter meetings in December.  If a team does not have a full 40 man roster they can draft other teams players that are not on their 40 man roster.  This prevents teams from stockpiling players in the minors who could be playing in the majors on other teams.  One of the rules is that the player can not be designated for assignment to the minors the following season.  So this meant that Sean would spend the entire season on the Tigers roster for 1998.  He did and led the league in games as a pitcher.  The lefty appeared in 88 games for the Tiges and was 1-4 with a 3.58 ERA and 1 save.  Those 88 games accounted for only 50.1 innings pitched.  His win came against the Minnesota Twins when he game into the game in the 7^th with the Tiges down 9-7.  He sent the Twinkies down 1-2-3 with 2 K’s.  Then in the 8^th the Tiges scored 4 runs and took the lead and gave Sean his first major league win.  It would also be his only major league win.  Sean was the Tiges in 1999 and 2000 but only in 12 and then 3 games.  His final record in the majors and as a Tiger was 1-5 with 1 save in 103 games and 64 innings pitched for a 3.66 ERA.  He was done in baseball in 2002 playing his last season in the Orioles farm system.

Gene Pentz started his major league experience as a Tiger.  The rightie pitcher was signed out of high school in Pennsylvania in 1971.  He started in Bristol in 1971 at 18 which was rookie ball.  He then went to A level Lakeland for two seasons in 1972 and 73.  Each year he dropped his ERA from 5.96 to 3.86 to 2.66.  He missed 1974 but I can not find out why.  I have looked in all my media guides, farm directories and all the web sights I can think of but can find nothing.  One website, cardboardgods.net, has an entry for Gene.  The entry also says they have no idea why he did not play in 1974.  However, in 1975 Gene played and played well.  He had been a starter prior to 1975.  But in 1975 he was used entirely out of the bull pen.  He started the season in AA Montgomery and was 4-2 with a 1.64 ERA and 7 saves.  He was moved up to AA Evansville and was 2-3 with a 3.00 ERA and 4 saves.  In July he was up with the Tigers as they made a trip east to play the Yankees at Shea Stadium (Yankee Stadium was being renovated for the 1974 and 1975 seasons to the Yanks played home games at Shea.)  and with the score 4-2 in favor of the Yanks Ralph Houk made the call to the pen for Gene.  Gene face Fred Stanley and K’d him.  Then he got Sandy Alomar out on a grounder to second.  He then ended the inning with another K of Bobby Bonds.  He went on to pitch 3 innings of hitless ball with only 2 walks while striking out two more batters including Thurman Munson.  Gene went on to pitch in 12 more games and while his record was 0-4 his ERA was a decent 3.20.  But at the end of the season Gene was traded with Terry Humphrey, Mark Lemongello, and Leon Roberts to the Houston Astros for Jim Crawford, Milt May and Dave Roberts.   He played the next three seasons with the Astros and every year his ERA went up.  From 2.97 to 3.83 to 6.00.  In September of 1978 he was released by the Astros and signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates but never got back to the majors.  He was one with baseball after 1981.

Tom Jones

June 20 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Bobby Seay may have ended his career as a Tiger.  Bobby was drafted by the Chicago White Sox but was released at the age of 19 in 1996.  He then signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and worked his way up the Devil Rays farm system until in 2001when he debuted with the Devil Rays.  It was in Yankee Stadium and he gave up a single to Tino Martinez who then was erased by a Jorge Posada double play ball.  He then got David Justice to fly out before he was done.  Bobby was 1-1 that season but bounced back and forth between eh majors and minors for the Devil Rays until 2005 when they traded him to the Colorado Rockies.   After the 2005 season the Rockies granted Bobby free agency and he signed with the Tigers.  In 2006 Bobby got into 14 games for the Tiges and did not record a decision.  His ERA was 6.46 but in 2007 things looked good for Bobby.  The lefty came out of the bull pen 58 times and posted a 2.33 ERA and won 3 games.  He followed that with a 1-2 record and a 4.47 ERA in 2008.  In 2009 Bobby was looking stronger with a 6-3 record and a 4.25 ERA but he tore his rotator cuff and ended the season on the DL.  He sat out 2010 hoping it would heal without surgery.  But at the end 2010 he finally got the surgery but was also granted free agency by the Tiges and did not sign with any team. 

Paul Bako started his career as a back up catcher with the Tigers.  He was in the Cincinnati Reds fram system when he was traded to the Tiges at the end of 1997 with Donne Wall for Melvin Nieves.  He was the starter for the Tiges in 1998 as a 26 year old rookie.  He was a decent fielding catcher but only average for throwing out runners.  He hit .272 for the Tiges with a .319 OBP.  I don’t ever recall being amazed by how slow somebody could be until I saw Paul run to first base.  I swear I could have beat him down to first as a fan!  Somehow he did manage to steal a base for the Tigers.  I suspect a fellow catcher was caught off guard or was laughing too hard to make the play.  Before the 1999 season, Paul was traded by Randy Smith to…..wait for it……the Astros.  The deal also involved another catcher.  Paul and sent to Houston with Dean Crow, Brian Powell and two minor leaguers for catcher Brad Ausmus and CJ Nitkowski.  Paul went on to make a 12 year career as a back up catcher.  He played with the Florida Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds and finally the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009.  He was a career .230 hitter.  My guess is he could have hit 20 points higher if he could have run a bit faster. 

Charlie “Bugs” Grover spent his entire time in the majors with the Tigers. He was first in professional baseball in 1911 with the Maysville Rivermen of Maysville, KY in the Bluegrass League. He was 1-2 as a right-handed pitcher. He was there again in 1912 but no records of his pitching stats exist. It is also not known where he was to start the 1913 season. But it is known that on September 9, 1913 he made his major league debut as a Tiger pitcher. The Tigers were in sixth place and facing the Boston Red Sox in Boston who were in fourth place. It is not clear if Charlie got he start or not. But he did not figure in the decision which was a 3-2 Red Sox victory. Three days later Charlie was in the game again facing the same Red Sox still in Boston. Again, Charlie did not figure in the decision but this time the Sox won 18-5. What is known is that Charlie pitched 10.2 innings and started one of the two games and that he only gave up 4 of the 21 Red Sox runs on 9 hits and 7 walks. He also K’d 2. At the plate Charlie made 5 plate appearances and went 0-3 with a walk and a sac hit. It is also known that Charlie never played in the majors again.   Providence bought him about a week after his last game against the Red Sox.  He returned to the minors and bounced around winning 20 games twice in his career, once with Topeka and the other with Sioux City of the Western League. He was done in baseball after 1924.

 

Jim Delahanty was the only Delehanty brother who played for the Tigers.  There were 5 Delahanty in the majors in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  There was Jim, Frank, Joe, and Hall of Famer Ed who was the oldest brother.  Ed died in a rather mysteries way when he supposedly fell of a train while passing over the Niagara River.   Jim, the fourth brother, started his major league career in 1901 with the Chicago Cubs but did not fare well.  He only was in 17 games and hit just .190.  The next year he was given another shot at the majors with the New York Giants.  But after hitting only .231 in 7 games and breaking a knee cap and catching malaria he was let go.  In 1904 he finally stuck with the Boston Beanaters (later to become the Boston Braves) of the National League.  He led the Boston team with a .285 average while playing third.  He stayed in Boston 2 seasons before heading to Cincinnati in 1906 in a trade for Al Bridwell.  At the end of the season the Reds sold him to the St. Louis Browns who kept him only in to June 1907 before selling him to the Washington Senators for $2,000.  He stayed in Washington until the Tigers traded Germany Schaefer and Red Killefer for Jim in August of 1909.  Jim became the starting second baseman and hit .253 for the Tiges.  The Tiges won the AL flag that year, their third in a row, and faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.  Jim led the Tigers with a .346 average and a .538 slugging percentage.  Only Tommy Leach of the Pirates hit for a higher average and Jim led both teams with 5 doubles.  But despite Jim’s play, the Tigers lost in 7 games.  Jim stuck around into the 1912 before being released by the Tigers.   The rumor was that the Tigers front office was not happy with Jim being one of the leaders of the players strike when Ty Cobb was suspended for going into the stands after the fan in New York.  In the 4 years he was in Detroit he hit .306 with 200 RBI’s.  He later played in the Federal League with the Brooklyn Tip-Tops in 1914 and 1915.  

Below is a Mecca Triple Folder of Delhanty from my collection.  He is the portrait on the left as well as the batter in the middle photo.  The catcher is Ira Thomas of the Philadelphia Athletics.

Win Mercer pitched his last season with the Tigers.  He had started his time in the majors with the Washington Senators of the National League where at the age of 20 he was the youngest pitcher and the ace of the staff going 17-23 for a team that won only 45 games in the season finished 11^th in the 12 team National League.   He stayed with Washington through 1899 when Washington finished 11^th again.  It would be Washington’s last year in the National League.  In 1900 they would leave the league for the American Association.  His best year had been 1896 when he won 25 games for the Senators who only won 58 all year.  Win had always been a fan favorite of the ladies and was often started on Tuesday’s and Fridays which were known as “Ladies Days”.  On one Ladies Day game he was ejected which started a riot.  The “ladies” charged the field and attacked the umpire.  In 1900 he was purchased by the New York Giants and went 13-17.  But at the end of the season he jumped and resigned with the Washington Senators who stayed in the American Association when they became the American League.  1901 would be his last season in Washington.  Since 1897 Win was also used as a utility infielder and outfielder when he wasn’t pitching and hit a career .285.  After the 1901 season the Senators sold Win to Detroit.  Win was 15-18 as a pitcher and at the end of the 1902 season Win was named the Tigers player manager for 1903.  But while out in San Francisco barnstorming in January, he committed suicide by gas in a hotel room.  The reason was never clear.  There were two versions, one was it was a woman who refused him that drove him to it, another was that he had gambled away money meant for the other players and had no way to pay it back.  Neither story has every been corroborated.  

June 19 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Willis Roberts started his major league career as a Tiger.  He signed with Tigers out of high school in the Dominican Republic in 1992.  He slowly worked his way up through the Tiger farm system until 1999 when he was called up to the Tiges.  On July 2, the two worst teams in the American League Central squared off in Minnesota when the twinkies who were 21 games back played the Tiges who were 19 games back of the first place Cleveland Indians.  The twinkies scored 5 runs in the second off of Tiger starter Jeff Weaver.   By the 6^th it was 7-4 twinkies when Willis got the call from the bull pen with two outs and a runner on first.  Willis faced pinch hitter Chad Allen.  He threw a ball and then picked off the runner on first to end the inning.  In the 7^th Allen was back to start the at bat again.  He ripped the first pitch from Willis for a single up the middle.  Willis hit Marty Cordova with his next pitch.  He then gave up a line drive single to Corey Koskie to score Allen on his next pitch.  Brent Gates came up and Willis got a strike on him before Brent hit a ball to the first base side of the mound.  Willis fielded it and then threw wild for an error and loaded the bases.  So far in the inning he had thrown 5 pitches and allowed one run and loaded the bases.  He worked Doug Mientkiewicz to a 2-2 count before Doug hit a line drive to center to score another run and keep the bases loaded.  Javier Valentin then hit into a fielders choice for the first out of the inning on his first pitch to score another run and put runners at the corners.  Christian Guzman then hit a sac fly to center to score another run before Jacque Jones finally ended the inning grounding out to second to end the inning.  Willis did not return to the mound in the 8^th or even ever again as Tiger.  His final line was giving up 4 runs on 3 hits, 1 hit batter, 1 error in 1.1 innings pitched for a 13.50 ERA.  All this in 25 pitches.  Willis was released before the next season.  He did make it back to the majors for 3 seasons with the Orioles and his final season with the Pirates in 2004.  He was 17-15 overall in his major league career with a 4.64 ERA mainly as a reliever. 

The above is a signed Burger King card of Jim Slaton from my collection.  Slaton was with the Brewers in the Topps 1978 set.  But when Topps made the Burger King set they made a new card for Slaton as a Tiger.

Jim Slaton taught everyone what to look for in the era of free agency when he was a Tiger.  He got his start in the majors in Milwaukee with the Brewers in 1971 as a right handed starting pitcher.  He was 10-8 his first season and went on to be the Brewers ace of the staff.  He won 72 games from 1971 through 1977 when at the end of the season the Tigers traded Ben Oglive to the Brewers for Jim Slaton and Rich Folkers as a throw in.  Ben had hit 21 homers and hit .262 his last season in Detroit and only got better in Milwaukee where he hit .277 over the next 9 seasons as the Brewers starting left fielder.  Jim came to Detroit and was successful winning a career high 17 games with a 4.12 ERA.  Free agency started after the 1976 season.  So it was new to baseball management when the trade was made.  What the Jim Slaton deal taught everyone was that you need to look at how many years remain on the contract of a player you are trading for.  The issue was that Jim only had one year left of his contract.  At the end of the season 1978 season Jim was free agent and re-signed with his original team, the Brewers.  So Detroit gave up an all star outfielder so they could “rent” Jim for a year.  The following year Jim won 15 games for the Brewers.  He stayed in Milwaukee through 1983.  After that he pitched a couple years for the California Angels and was 151-158 when at the end of June 1986 he was released by the Angels and signed with the Tigers two weeks later.  He did not start a game for the Tigers the second time around but he did get in 22 games as a reliever.  He was 0-0 with 2 saves and a 4.05 ERA on his second hitch with the Tigers.  At the end of the season he was released.  Today he is the Dodgers interim bull pen coach.

Eddie Cicotte is possibly the most infamous pitcher in baseball history and he started out as a Tiger.  He was born in Springwells, MI and started his career in pro ball with the Augusta Tourists of the South Atlantic League.  He was 15-9 with the Tourists and this caught the attention of the Tigers.  They brought Eddie to Detroit in September and he got into 3 games.  He relieved in 2 games and also started 1 game where he went the distance.  He posted a 1-1 record with a 3.50 ERA.  But the Tigers did not retain him and in 1906 he was back in the minors where he would stay for another year before coming back to the majors with the Boston Red Sox.  He immediately started paying off winning 11 games in 1908.  He was the ace of the staff by 1910 when he was 15-11.  In the Red Sox championship of 1912 Eddie was 1-3 in July so the Sox sold them to the other Sox in Chicago.  There Eddie would gain his greatest notoriety.  He was the White Sox ace in 1917 when they won the World Series over the New York Giants in 6 games.  Eddie was the league leader in wins at 28-12 that season with a league leading 1.53 ERA and 1-1 in the World Series.  He won game 1 by a score of 2-1 and lost game 3 when he only allowed 2 runs but his fellow Sox did not score at all.  Both games Eddie pitched complete games.  In 1919 Eddie won 29 games for the Sox and was the starting pitcher for game 1 of the series against the Cincinnati Reds.  It was there that Eddie took $10,000, more than his annual salary from Charles Comiskey, to throw the World Series.  Eddie was 1-2 in the series and the White Sox became known as the Black Sox.  Eddie played in 1920 with the Sox but that would be his last in the majors.  The scandal broke and he was out of baseball in 1921.  All this is portrayed in the Elliot Asinoff book and movie “Eight Men Out”.   While Comiskey was cheap it should be noted that the story that Eddie was benched the last couple of weeks of the season so as to be prevented from earning a bonus for winning 30 games in not true.  Eddie continued his starts right up to the last day of the season when he started against the Tigers and got a no decision in a Tigers 10-9 win. 

June 18 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Charlie Ganzel was on the 1887 Champion Detroit team.  He was born in Wisconsin during the Civil War and started in pro ball in 1884 with the St. Paul Apostles in the Northwestern League.  He stayed with the team when they left the collapsing Northwestern League and joined Union Association and changed their name to the White Caps for the rest of the 1884 season.  He left the turmoil that was the Union Association and joined the Philadelphia Quakers of the National League in 1885.  He was a catcher by trade but also played a little outfield.  He was not very successful in Philly hitting only .164 and partway through the 1886 season he left Philly for National League Detroit Wolverines.   The 1886 Wolverines finished second in the league led by a great catcher, Charlie Bennett.  If you recall the names of Tiger Stadium you may recall that going backwards it was called Tiger Stadium, Briggs Stadium for owner Walter Briggs, Navin Field for owner Frank Navin and Bennett Park for fan favorite Charlie Bennett.  Today there are no parks in the majors named for a fan favorite player.  While Charlie Bennett was a much better defensive catcher than Charlie Ganzel, Ganzel outhit Bennett .272 to .243.  But Ganzel had a penchant for K’s in his early career and could not walk to save his life.  He had a typical 7 walks to 22 K’s in 1886 to raise his OBP from the .272 batting average to only .295 OBP.  On the other hand Bennett was patient at the plate and walked 48 times to 29 K’s for a .371 OBP.  But something happened to Ganzel in 1887.  He hit .260 but his K’s dropped significantly to 2!  He only walked 8 times but his drop in K’s allowed him to be the Wolverines main catcher for the 1887 season.  Ganzel caught 51 games to Bennett’s 45.  Bennett was still the much better defensive catcher and matched or beat Ganzel in every other major hitting stat.  The same pattern applied to the World Series where the Wolverines beat the St. Louis Browns 10 games to 5.  That would be the only time the Wolverines won the World Series and the only time that Ganzel was the starter ahead of Bennett.  Bennett was again firmly in place behind the plate in 1888 and Ganzel started trying other positions and actually played more games at second than catching and also played a bit of third and short.  The 1888 Wolverines dropped to 5^th in the National League and at the end of the season the Wolverines sold their best players, Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers, Hardy Richardson, Deacon White and catchers Bennett and Ganzel to the Boston Beaneaters for the outrageous sum of $30,000.  In 1889 Bennett was the Beaneaters catcher and Ganzel was the number one utility player for the Beaneaters.  It largely stayed this way (with a brief exception when King Kelly took the starting duties briefly in 1892.) until in 1894 Bennett lost his legs in a train accident.  At that time Ganzell took over until the last two years of his career in 1896 and 1897.  He was done after 1897 and the following year his brother John started his time in the majors.  Charlie’s final stats were a .259 batting average as a career and a nearly identical .258 average during his three years in Detroit.  Charlie Ganzel had two sons that played in the minors and a third son, Foster Pirie “Babe” Ganzel, played in the majors in 1927 and 1928.  But Charlie never saw that as he had died 13 years earlier.  The 43 year gap between the two starting dates between father and son is still the largest gap for any father and son combo in the majors.

June 17 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

David Pauley was a tale of two pitchers in his single season as a Tiger.  He had been an arm that had been used by a few clubs.  He first was drafted by the Padres and moved to the Red Sox where he made his major league debut in 2006 as a starter.  He was with them again in 2008 but as both a starter and a reliever.  In his two seasons with the Sox he was 0-3 with a 9.53 ERA.   The Sox sent him to the Orioles in 2009 but he never made the big club before he was granted free agency and signed by the Seattle Mariners for the 2010 season.  His performance certainly improved in 2010 when he was 4-9 and posted a 4.07 ERA as a starter.  He was 5-4 in 2011 with the Mariners and reduced his ERA to 2.15 and the Tigers eyed him and made a trade of minor leaguers Francisco Martinez (who is back with the Tigers in Lakeland this year) ,  Charlie Furbush and Casper Wells for David and Pauley and Doug Fister.  Doug jumped into the Tigers starting rotation.  David played in 14 games for the Tiges out of the bullpen and his 2.15 ERA with Seattle jumped to 5.95 for the Tiges and he had two decisions both for losses.   His WHIP climbed from .994 to 1.627.  The signs were there for the Tigers that David was not in their future and before the 2012 season started the Tigers released him.  He was signed by the Angels for 2012 but was waived in June.  The Toronto Blue Jays signed him but granted free agency less than a month later.  The Mariners, his fourth team of the season signed him in July and released him in November.   He remained unsigned until last Monday when he was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks.   He has played in two games since last Monday and is 0-1 with a 10.12 ERA in 2.2 innings pitched in the D-Backs AAA team in Reno.   It appears that the deal will be Doug Fister for some minor leaguers and David Pauley who didn’t quite make it in the majors.

Matt Kinzer had a very brief career as a Tiger.  He was originally a St. Louis Cardinal in 1989 where he was 0-2 as mainly a reliever in 8 games for the Cards with a 12.83 ERA.  He was obtained by the Tigers after the 1989 season in a less than block buster deal of minor leaguers Bill Henderson, Marcos Betances and Pat Austin for Jim Lindeman and Matt.  He made his debut as a Tiger on May 26, 1990, when he was called in to relieve in the 8^th inning in a game with the White Sox leading the Tigers 6-4 in Tiger Stadium.   Matt walked the first batter he faced as a Tiger.  He got a line out before a run scoring double, another walk and two more run scoring singles.  He got the last out with the Sox now leading 10-4.  He pitched the ninth and did much better only giving up a lead off walk before getting the next batters out 1-2-3.  But the Tiges has seen enough and Matt was sent to Toledo for the rest of his season.  He was 0-3 with the Mud Hens with a 2.50 ERA.  But the Tiges released him in July and while he signed with the Orioles they released him 11 days later without him ever throwing a pitch even in the minors.  He never pitched again in pro ball.  He has stayed in baseball and was a scout for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and was an assistant coach for the Taylor University team that had his son on the squad.  His son played in the minors from 2009 through 2011.  Matt holds a unique place in Detroit sports lore as he also played for the Lions as a punter in the 1987 players strike. 

Claude Rossman was the Tigers starting first baseman for the 1907, 1908 and 1909 AL Champion Tigers.  Those were his only years as a Tiger and in the three seasons he hit .280 with 2 homers and 179 RBI’s.  He K’s at a rate of almost 2 to 1 vs walk which drove his OBP to .318.  He did better in the post season where he was a .342 hitter.  In fact in 1907 he led the Tigers position players with a .474 average and a ,476 OBP and .579 slugging.  He moved on to his best major league performance in 1908 with a .294 average where the first baseman was an excellent bunter.  Something you will not here of today’s first basemen.  He would often bunt Ty Cobb from first to third.  He was not nearly as productive in the 1908 World Series where he hit only .210.  He was hitting .261 in 1909 for the Tigers when he was sent to the St. Louis Browns for Tom Jones in August.  He got in only 2 games for the Browns and recorded only one hit.  Claude dropped to the minors in 1910 and stayed there through 1914.  He was done in baseball after that and he disappears from most of societies records after that until he appears as a clerk for a shipping company briefly in 1918 until his death in an insane asylum ten years later at the age of 46.  He had been in the asylum for at least three years prior to his death.  To this day no one knows where he is buried including his family.    While we remember him today as a Tiger pennant winner no one else seemed to remember much about Claude, including his family.

The below is a 1907 Dietsche postcard of Rossman from my collection.

June 16 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Chris Gomez

Fernando Hernandez

Ron LeFlore was most famous for being in prison before becoming a Tiger.  When he was 21 he and a couple of his buddies had been snorting heroin on Detroit’s east side.  His buddies were out of money and they all wanted to get some more heroin.  So Ron suggested they commit a robbery.   They robbed a bar across the street from Chrysler’s Mack Avenue stamping plant.  They were caught and Ron was sentenced to 5-15 years for armed robbery.   He played baseball in Jackson and started sending letters to the Tigers asking for a tryout.  They refused.  In March, 1973, Ron went before the parole board.  He would end up getting paroled later that year.  Billy Martin and the Tigers were making a visit to Jackson in May of 1973.  He was talking to Ron when several prisoners circled them and suggested that Billy give Ron a tryout.  Billy figured he was out numbered and told Ron to come out to Tiger Stadium and he could workout with the Tigers.  In June, after his parole, Ron called Billy at Tiger Stadium.  Billy had to cover the phone and ask “whose Ron LeFlore?”  He was reminded of his trip Jackson and asked him when he would be at Tiger Stadium.  LeFlore answered “tomorrow”.    Willie Horton and Al Kaline gave him some bats to take batting practice.  He missed the very first pitch but connected on the rest.  He was hitting shots into the upper deck.  Frank Howard, and the rest of the Tigers were impressed.  Kaline even said he felt Ron was better than anyone the Tiges had at Toledo.  So the Tigers signed him.  About a year later he was called up to Detroit and made his debut in the major leagues, less than a year and half before he had been in Jackson.   He led off playing center field and went 0-4 with 3 K’s.  It would be a problem Ron would have at the plate his entire career.  Ron would become an all-star with the Tigers.  He was known for his speed and stealing bases, leading the league twice and averaging 67 bases per 162 game season.   He had a .297 batting average for the Tigers over six years and was a fan favorite.  In 1978 he had his story published in the book “Breakout; From Prison to the Big Leagues”.  This was made into a tv movie “One in a Million” with LeVar Burton playing Ron.  Ron was eventually traded to the Montreal Expos after the 1979 season for Dan Schatzeder.  He was arrested for possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) while with the Expos and was also found carrying a hand gun.  He ended his playing career with the Chicago White Sox.  He was never known as a good fielder and in Chicago he had a ball hit him on the head and turned it into a four base error as the batter scored on the miscue.  After his retirement from baseball he admitted that he was actually four years older than he had been telling everyone.  He was twice arrested for failure to pay child support.  One of those arrests was notably before the curtain call at the final game at Tiger Stadium.  In 2011 he lost a leg to vascular disease caused by smoking cigarettes his whole life. 

Jay Kirke

Kid Speer

Jack Rowan

Wish Egan

Marr Phillips played part of one season as a Detroit Wolverine.   He had played in the minors with several teams over several years starting in 1877 with Erie and leading to Fort Wayne and the Northwestern League in 1883.  He was sold for $500 to Indianapolis and started his major league career in 1884 with the Hoosiers of the National League.  He was the oldest regular of the Hoosier line up and was their starting shortstop.  He was the second best hitter on the squad hitting .269.  But the Hoosiers were a very bad team ending up 12^th out of 13 teams in the league with a 29-78 record and 46 games out of first.  In 1885 he moved his skills to Detroit and played shortstop with the Wolverines at the beginning of the season.  He had been chastised in the press for his drinking as he left Indy.  He only played 33 games out of the teams 108 games but it was more than any other player at short.  The Wolverines used 9 players at short and had a better fielding percentage than any of the others except Charlie Morton who played only 4 games as he was their player manager preferring to play as a back up third baseman.  But Marr did not end the season with the Wolverines due to his low batting average.  He was hitting below .200 for most of his time in Detroit and was only at .209 when he was released in July of 1885.  Again, drinking was said to be part of his problem.   He jumped to the Pittsburgh Alleghenies to end the season and hit .267 in only 4 games.  He went back to the minors for a few years with such teams as the Augusta Browns, Charleston Seagulls, Hamilton Hams, Rochester Jingoes, Troy Trojans and Troy Washerwomen, Oil City Oilers, and Hamilton Blackbirds until returning to the majors and the Rochester Broncos in 1890 of the American Association.  He was 33 years old at the time and became one of the reasons for the infield fly rule of today.  In a game against Brooklyn he let a pop fly drop with the bases loaded.  The runners were unsure whether to stay or run and instead were all removed on a triple play.  He was done in pro ball after 1890 after only 3 years in the majors and a career batting average of .239.

Lon Knight was a member of the first major league team in Detroit.  He was born Alonzo P. Letti in 1853 in Philadelphia, PA.  When he was 9 he was sent to Girard College, a school for father less boys after his father died of typhoid fever.  He changed his name to Lon Knight most likely to avoid discrimination for being a foreigner (Italian).  He learned to play baseball there before graduating and becoming an apprentice accountant.  He continued to play and was hired by the Philadelphia Athletics of the National Association in 1875 to pitch.  In his debut on September 4, he won the game 6-3 against the Boston Red Stockings but went 0-4 at the plate.  He stayed with the team for the remainder of the season and started 13 games in the time remaining with a 6-5 record with 12 of the 13 games being complete games.  The following year the National Association died and the National League began.  Lon was again a pitcher for Philadelphia but in the new NL.  In fact, Lon threw the first pitch in NL history in a game against the same Red Stockings he had faced in his debut.  However, this time the Boston nine won.  It would be the first of many loses for Lon who went 10-22 for a Philadelphia team that was 14-45 for the season and finish 7^th out of 8 teams.  Lon disappeared from the majors for a few years playing in Massachusetts for Lowell before making it back to Worcester in the NL in 1880.  He was no longer pitching but was playing the outfield.  He played on year with Worcester before joining the inaugural Detroit Wolverines for the 1881 NL season.  He was the starting right fielder hitting .271 and playing next to Hall of Fame center fielder Ned Hanlon, while Charlie Bennett (of Bennet Park fame) played catcher.  That first season the Wolverines finished 4^th in the league at 41-43.  He was 6^th in the league in runs scored and 7^th in RBI’s and led the league in double plays as an outfielder with 6.  Just before the end of the season in Chicago a record was set when the Chicago Cubs beat the Troy Trojans before a record crowd of 12.  During the season the President of the United States, James Garfield, was assassinated and Chester Arthur succeeded him, Sitting Bull surrendered to Federal troops and Billy the Kid was killed.  At the end of the season came the gunfight at the OK corral.   Lon returned to the Wolverines for 1882 and again played right field next to Ned Hanlon and Charlie Bennett still caught.  But Lon only hit .207.  He went back to Philadelphia and in 1883 and was player manager leading the Athletics to the NL title.  He played 3 years for the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association before ending his major league career with the Providence Grays in 1885 and his pro career in the minors in with a season with Rochester Maroons and finally the Binghamton Crickets in 1887.  He also umpired a few seasons in the NL, AA and the Players League.  After baseball he became a drummer.  He died in 1932 when line to the gas heater in his house broke.         

June 15 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Chris Wakeland

Tony Clark for personal reasons is one of my favorite Tigers.  Tony is a California boy and went to college at San Diego State and the University of Arizona where he was a basketball and baseball standout.  He was the Tigers number 1 draft pick, number 2 overall in 1990.  He worked his way up the Tigers farm system and made his MLB debut in 1995 as a late season call up.  He was the starting first baseman against the Indians at Tiger Stadium batting fifth behind Travis Fryman and Cecil Fielder.  He faced Indians pitcher Albie Lopez in the second inning and struck out swinging on three pitches.  In the fourth he struck out swinging again but at least he took it to a full count!  In the 7^th he grounded out.  In the 9^th with the Tiges down 8-4 he led off with a single.  He scored on a Ron Tingley grand slam that tied the game.  In the 10^th the Tiges were again trailing but by a run.   Tony again got a lead off single.  But the Tigers could not bring him home.  The lesson I get from this is Tony was what you wanted when the chips were down.  A stat I like is dividing the times a player grounds into a double play by the number of RBI’s he gets.  This is something I use to rank clutch hitting.  Tony has a .161 ratio which is better than such greats as Al Kaline, Kirby Puckett and even Dwight Evans.  Tony became the Tiges starting first baseman in 1996.  He was soon driving in 100 RBI’s and made the all star squad in 2001 when he was the Tigers lone representative.  Tony’s weakness was a penchant for striking out.  5 times he K’d over 100 times in a season.  That being said, he still had an OBP that was almost 80 points higher than his batting average.  But after the 2001 season the Red Sox picked up Tony off of waivers.   Ahhh, another great move by former GM Randy Smith.  Tony went on to play another 8 years before retiring in 2009.  For his Career Tony was a .262 hitter with a 162 game average of 26 homers and 86 RBI’s.  But the reason I like Tony is because of a running conversation I had with him.  In 1997 Tony was on the radio giving an interview about what Jackie Robinson meant to him on the 50^th Anniversary of Jackie’s breaking the color barrier.  Tony gave a very good interview.  He gave very considered opinions and talked about how he did some reading about black baseball.   I loved it.  A smart guy reading and talking a PLAYING baseball!  I happened to see him in the clubhouse a few months later and asked him about the interview.  I asked him what books he read.  He gave me a couple titles.  I then asked him if he had ever read Sol White.  Sol was a black ball player and author who wrote one of the all time great baseball histories called “History of Colored Base Ball” which was published in 1907.  Tony said he had never read about him and took down his name.  About a year later, I met up with him again at a Tiger signing.  I asked him if he had read Sol White yet.  He said no, he had not.  I happened to have a copy with me so I gave it to him.  Again, a year later, I saw him but was with a buddy of mine.  I asked him if he had read Sol White yet.   He looked up at me and said “was that you?  Yeah, I read it.  It was great”.  We talked briefly and then I moved on out of line.  My buddy who was with me just stared at me and me and said “all these people are oogling Tony Clark and clamoring to get his autograph and you come here and talk literature with him?  Really?”  Ok, maybe I am a bit of an odd baseball fan.

Lance Parrish

Champ Summers

Ben Flowers

Lou North

Heinie Beckendorf

June 14 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Michael Hollimon

Mike Laga was a power hitting first baseman for the 1984 Tigers.  He was drafted by the Tiges in 1980 and led the Lakeland Tigers in triples, homers, RBI’s and game winning RBI’s.  He followed that up with a Southern League all-star selection in 1981 and led all Tiger minor leaguers in extra base hits.  In 1982 he set the record for Evansville (AAA) for homers in a season with 34.  The Tigers called him up as a late season call up.  He got in 27 games and had 23 hits.  12 of the hits were for extra bases.  He even hit a bomb off of Jim Palmer off the facing of the third deck at Tiger Stadium.  He only got in 12 games for the 1983 Tigers and hit .190 so was sent back down to Evansville.  In 1984 he led the entire Tiger team with a .545 batting average.  He had gone 6 for 11 in 9 games.  The 11 at bats were the fewest of any batter for the 1984 Tigers.  Mike got in 9 games again in 1985 and 15 games in 1986 before he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals with Ken Hill for Mike Heath.  In the five years as a Tiger Mike got in 72 games and hit .239 with 8 homers and 28 RBI’s.  Mike was on three pennant winners in his career.  The 1984 Tigers, 1987 Cardinals, and the 1989 San Francisco Giants. Yet he never got in the post season.   

Bill Fahey

Hal Manders

June 13 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Drew Smyly

Bob Strampe was a member of the 1972 AL East Champion Detroit Tigers.   He had been signed by the Tigers as a high school graduate in 1969.  But he had attended Arizona State University.  His dad had also played ball in the Cleveland Indians farm system.  In 1969 he was a New York-Penn League All-Star and led that minor league in K’s and tied for wins.  He worked his way up the Tiger farm system having a successful 1970 season in AA Montgomery as a starter at AA Montgomery going only 9-12 in 25 starts but with a 3.27 ERA.  In 1971 he was hindered most of the season with a sore arm and got in only 2 games at Montgomery going 1-1 before his season was over.  He was still a spring training invitee and performed well enough in 1972 that he got a call up in May and on May 10 he was called in to make his major league debut in a game the Tiges trailed 3-0 to the Chicago White Sox in Chicago.  He started the 7^th and did not have a great debut.  He gave up a leadoff single, the runner then stole second.  He gave up another single followed by a ground out and a walk before giving up 2 more singles before he was pulled.  He had faced 6 batters and had given up 4 runs on 4 hits and a walk and allowed a stolen base in 1/3 of an inning pitched.  He was back down in Toledo for most of the rest of the season going 5-11 most of the rest of the season as a starter with a 3.42 ERA.  He was called back up at the end of the season and got in 6 more games as a reliever and pitched a total of 4.2 innings for the season.  His last game was against the Cleveland Indians.  He pitched the last 1.2 innings and gave up only 1 hit and 1 walk.  He did not record a decision and posted an 11.57 ERA.  He would never pitch in the majors again.  The last batter he faced in that Cleveland game he K’d.  It was Mike Kilkenny who had been a Tiger at the beginning of the season and ended the season as a San Diego Padre.  Bob was traded to the San Diego Padres with Ed Brinkman and Dick Sharon for Nate Colbert in 1974.   He was done with professional baseball after 1976 at the age of 26.

Gene Desuatels

Marty Kavanagh

June 12 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Avisail Garcia has been made out to be a big impact as a Tiger.   Avisail is from Venezuela.  He made his major league debut as a late season call up in 2012 in a game against the White Sox.  He was a defensive replacement for Brennan Boesch in top of the 8^th in right field.  He did not get an at bat nor did he make a play in the field.  However, he did get in 22 more games for the Tigers and hit .319.  He was thought of as a mini Miggy.  He made the Post Season roster and did not have a good ALDS against Oakland going 1 for 7 with an RBI.  But in the ALCS he showed promise going 5 for 11 with 3 RBI’s and a stolen base.  He then dropped off in the 2012 World Series as did the rest of the Tigers going 0 for 5 as the Tiges were swept by the Giants.  In 2013 Avisail was injured early and did not get into his first game until May 14.  He then got in a total of 30 games for the Tiges and hit .241 with 2 homers and 10 RBI’s.  This is also when it is rumored he made his greatest impact as a Tiger.  Some have rumored he was sleeping with Prince Fielder’s wife.  Thus on July 30, 2013 he was part of a three way trade.  He was sent to the the team he made his MLB debut against, the Chicago White Sox, and Brayan Villareal was sent to the Boston Red Sox.  In return the Tiges got current shortstop Jose Iglesias.  Now, the second rumor I have heard is that the person sleeping with Prince’s wife was Brayan.  I don’t know.  I was not there.  I might as well have been a thousand miles away.  All I know is Jose is hitting .329 at a critical position and is a joy to watch at short.  Avisail is hitting .297 and is the White Sox starting right fielder and Brayan has not played in the majors since 2013.  As for Prince, after a dismal 2014 he is hitting a league leading .349 with the Texas Rangers in 2015. 

Scott Aldred pitched twice for the Tigers.  Scott was born in Flint and went to high school in Montrose before signing with the Tigers and working his way up the farm system.  He started his career as a Tiger lefty starting pitcher as a late season call up in 1990 when he faced the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee’s County Stadium.  He pitched 5 innings and gave up only 4 hits and 0 runs.  In the second inning he got his first career strike out when he Robin Yount swinging on 4 pitches.  His second strike out was Gary Sheffield swinging.  He was pulled for Ed Nunez who also did not allow a run and Scott got his first win in his major league debut.  Scott got in 3 more games for the Tiges and finished the season 1-2 with a 3.77 ERA.  The next two years he was again in the Tigers farm system for much of the year but was up enough to be considered a lefty starter in the rotation after Frank Tanana.  But his win totals only went from 1 to 2 to 3 each year while his ERA climbed from the initial 3.77 to 5.18 and 6.78.  At the end of the 1992 season the Colorado Rockies drafted Scott to go along with their later Tiger draft pick of Kevin Ritz.   But Scott did not have the same success as Kevin and was waived in April and claimed by the Montreal Expos.  He was released by the Expos in September after going 1-0.  He had a sore arm that year and it turned out he needed Tommy John surgery.  Because of that he was out of baseball entirely in 1994.  In the spring of 1995 he was signed as a free agent by the Tiges for his second stint.  He spent 1995 in the minors and was 5-2 but spent all of 1996 in the majors.  He played 11 games as a Tiger starter and was 0-4 with a 9.35 ERA.  The Tigers waived him in May and he was picked up by the Minnesota Twins.  The Twins kept him for two years as a starter and where he was 8-15 with a 6.10 ERA.  At the end of 1997 he was granted free agency and signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  He was moved to the bullpen and set a major league record with the Devil Rays when he appeared in 48 games without a decision, meaning no wins, losses or saves.  Scott spent part of 1999 with Tampa before heading to the Phillies where he ended his career in 2000 at the age of 32. 

Matty McIntyre was the left fielder in the hey days when Cobb and Crawford played for the Tigers.  He started his career in the majors in 1901 with the fledgling American League in Philadelphia with Connie Mack’s Athletics.  He hit .276 but Mack felt he was not fast enough for the majors and sent him to the minors.  He was traded from Newark where Mack had sent him to Buffalo and was hitting over .400 in mid season of 1903 and the Tigers picked him up in September for the 1904 season.  In his first year in Detroit he hit second in the line up and he and his fellow outfielders of Sam Crawford and Jimmy Barrett led the team in hitting with Matty hitting .253 to Sam’s .254 and Jimmy’s .268.  In 1905 Matty worked hard and became a solid lefty hitting, lefty throwing, left fielder.  Also later in August a new rookie joined the Tigers and quickly was at odds with Matty.  In one game Ty roamed into Matty’s territory in the outfield and caused Matty to drop the ball.  Soon after Matty was hazing the rookie and the two would never get along.   In 1906 Matty fell out of favor with his manager, Bill Armour and after a  dispute Matty refused to go back into the outfield which led to him being suspended by the Tigers.  Matty threatened  to jump to an outlaw league but did not carry out the plan.  Instead he practiced every day with the team.  But he Tigers would not play him until he formally “reported” and asked to play.  He hit .260 and stole 29 bases that season, 6 more than Ty stole.  In 1907 several teams wanted Matty but the Tigers kept him.  However, he lasted only 20 games when he broke his ankle sliding into first base.  He was back in the Tigers starting line up as the left fielder with Hall of Famers Sam Crawford in center and Ty Cobb in right.  The three led the team in average with Matty third with a .295 average but with his 83 walks had a team leading .392 OBP as the Tiges leadoff hitter and led the league in runs with 105.  He missed much of 1909 with appendicitis and managed to hit only .244.  In 1910 he lost more playing time to the point that Davy Jones took over Matty’s role as left fielder.  At the end of the season the Tigers sold Matty to the Chicago White Sox for between $2,000 and $3,000.  He was reborn in Chicago and hit career highs of .323 batting and a .397 OBP.  He also scored 102 runs.  But his rebirth lasted only the one season.  In 1912 he was hitting only .167 and was sold to the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League.  Matty played and managed in the minors through 1917 after which he returned to Detroit.  In 1920 he died of Bright’s disease at the age of 39. 

Here is a Matty McIntyre Colgan's Chips card from my collection.

June 11 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Adam Pettyjohn was a lefty who started his major league career as a Tiger.  He was in the Tigers farm system starting in 1998 and worked his way up to AAA Toledo in 2000.  He was 0-4 with the Mud Hens with a 6.69 ERA as a starter.  He started the 2001 season in Toledo and was 5-8 in 17 starts with a 3.44 ERA.  This improvement was enough for the Tigers to call him up in 2001.  The Tigers in 2001 were a struggling team.  They finished 4-5 to end the season and avoided a 100 loss season.  Adam made his debut as the starter against the Cincinnati Reds on July 16 in Cincy.  He lasted 5.1 innings and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits, 3 for homers.  He also K’d 3.  His first K was Ken Griffey Jr in the first inning.  Adam had to also bat as the game was in Cincy and at the plate Adam K’s twice.  The Tiges lost and Adam took the loss.  Adam lost 5 more starts before he faced the Red Sox in Boston.  In Boston he was no longer a starter and was brought into the game in the 6^th inning with the score tied 2-2.  Adam got the Sox out 1-2-3 in the 6^th.  In the Tigers 7^th Shane Halter hit a homer over the monster to give the Tiges a 3-2 lead.  Adam came back in the 7^th and got 2 out before walking the next 2 batters.  He was then pulled for Luis Pineda who walked Manny Rameriz.  Luis was pulled for Matt Miller who got Calvin Pickering to K.  The Tiges scored one more run and held on to win 4-3 to give Adam his first win as a Tiger.  After a couple more games from the pen Adam was given one more start against the Minnesota Twins in Detroit.  He went 7 innings and only allowed 3 runs on 6 hits with 2 BB and 5 K’s.  The Tiges scored 4 in their half of the 7^th thanks to a 3 run shot by Shane Halter (again) and Adam was pulled while he was the pitcher of record.  But in the 9^th Matt Anderson gave up 2 runs and the game to the Twins by a final score of 5-4.  Adam never played again for the Tigers.  He could not play in 2002 with a colonectomy.  After a 1-4 season in AA Erie in 2003 Adam was released by the Tigers.  He dropped all the way down to Independent ball in the Golden Baseball League with the Long Beach Armada before working his way back to the majors in 2008 with the Cincinnati Reds, the team he debuted against.  He only got in 3 games for the Reds and was 0-1 with a 20.25 ERA.  Adam played 2 more years in the minors before his baseball career was over after 2010.

John Doherty got all his major league wins as a Tiger.  He started in the Tigers farm system in 1989 after finishing up at Concordia College in Bronxville, NY.  He worked his way up the Tiges chain until in 1992 he made the Tigers squad coming out of spring training.  He debuted in the third game of the season coming out of the pen in the 5^th inning of a game the Tigers were already down 6-1 at Tiger Stadium.  The Jays had runners on first and third when he came in with 2 outs.  He gave up a double to Devon White which scored the runner on third before getting Robby Alomar out on a drive to left to end the inning.  John got Joe Carter, Dave Winfield and Kelly Gruber out 1-2-3 in the next inning before giving up a run in the following inning off a Pat Borders homer.  The Tiges lost 10-9 but John was a major leaguer.  About a month later John came in a game against the Angels in Detroit with the game 1-1 in the 8^th.  He pitched perfect ball for two innings.  In the Tigers 9^th Mickey Tettleton led off with homer to left to win the game and give John his first career win.  John eventually go into the starting rotation by the end of the year and was 7-4 with a 3.88 ERA.  He was back in 1993 and was the number 2 starter behind Mike Moore and ahead of David Wells and Bill Gullickson.  He was 14-11 with a 4.44 ERA.  He had a complete game gem against the Texas Rangers where he gave up only 3 hits and no walks while notching 4 K’s.  He pitched another gem against the Mariners in Detroit about a month later.  Again, he only gave up 3 hits with another 4 K’s.  But this time he walked 4 to allow 1 run in 4-1 complete game victory.  In 1994 John was again in the starting rotation but went on the DL in July and finished the season there.  He was 6-7 with a 6.48 ERA with 2 more complete game victories.  John was control pitcher and in 1994 he had only 26 walks in 101.1 innings pitched.  This was on par with his 1993 season when he had 48 walks in 184.2 innings.  In 1995 he had 2 losses in his only two starts and then was moved to the bullpen.  He was 5-7 coming out of the pen in 46 games with 6 saves.  He came into a game against the Red Sox in Fenway on September 25, 1995, with the Tiges up 7-2.  John pitched the last 3 innings and gave up only 1 run on 2 hits.  He earned the save and never played in a Tiger uniform again.  The Tigers waived him in spring of 1996 and the same Red Sox who he last faced picked him up.  He only got in 3 games for the Sox in early April and did not record a decision.  He finished the season in AAA Pawtucket and was done in baseball after that.  His final record as a Tiger was 32-31 with a 4.86 ERA and 9 saves.

Archie Yelle spent his entire time in the majors with the Tigers.  He was born in Saginaw Michigan and made his professional debut with the Boyne City Boosters in 1911 as a catcher and finished the season with his home town Saginaw Krazy Cats.  He continued to bounce around the Midwest and Canada in the minors through 1916.  Then in 1917 he made the majors with the Tigers as a back up catcher.  He was the third catcher behind Oscar Stanage and Tubby Spencer.  He got in 25 games and hit .137.  He came back in 1918 and was equally shared the catching duties with Tubby and Oscar as there was not a clear starter for the team.  He was the worst of the 3 fielding but had the best caught stealing percentage of the 3.  He nailed 49% of the potential base stealers which was head and shoulders above Tubby and Oscar.  While Archie improved his hitting in 1918 he still only hit .174 while Oscar hit .253 and Tubby hit .219.  The Tiges finished 55-71 and in 1919 brought in Eddie Ainsmith to be the starting catcher.  Eddie took over the role shard by the three the year before and the Tiges need for a back up was limited.  Oscar was the main back up but only got in 36 games and Archie was the only other catcher and got in only 6 games.  He did not get a hit.  He was done in the majors and was out in the Pacific Coast League in 1920 and shared catching duties with former major leaguer Sam Agnew for the next 7 seasons.  Sam and Archie would become good friends and when Sam died in 1951 Archie was a pall bearer.