Cody Ross
Victor Martinez has been great when healthy as a Tiger. The Venezuelan native was 17 when he signed
with the Cleveland Indians in 1996. He
played ball for two more years in Venezuela before going to the Indians minors
in 1999. He did not show the power that
he has today in his early years in the minors.
In his first two years in the minors, 111 games, he hit only 6 homers
and K’d 42 times. In 2001 he was MVP of
the Carolina League and hit .329 with 10 homers and 57 RBI’s but K’d 60
times. In 2002 the Tribe gave him a
“look see” as a late season call up. He
went 1-4 in his debut and drove in two runs.
In 12 games he hit .281 with a homer and 5 RBI’s. He became the Indians starting catcher in
2004 and the switch hitter became a force to be reckoned with by opposing pitchers. He hit .283 with 108 RBI’s, 23 homers and was
named an All-Star and Silver Slugger winner.
In five and a half seasons as the Cleveland backstop Victor hit 20
homers three times. He also hit .297
during his time with Tribe and was a three time All-Star. In 2009 he was surprisingly traded by the
Indians to the Red Sox. He was saddened
to leave Cleveland but continued to perform and was again an All-Star and hit
20 homers in 2009 combining his time in Cleveland and Boston and hit 20 again
for Boston in 2010. At the end of 2010
the Red Sox let Victor become a free agent and he signed with the Tigers. 2011 would be the last year Victor was used
at all regularly as a catcher. He caught
26 games for the Tiges while performing more as a DH. He showed that he knew what he was doing at
the plate. He hit behind Miguel Cabrera
and helped boost Miguel’s numbers His
job was to protect Miguel in the lineup and drive in the runs Miguel left on
base more than hit homers. And that is
what he did. He hit for a solid .330 and
drove in 103 runs while his homers dropped to 12. In 2012 he underwent surgery for a torn
ACL. Then it was found that he also had
micro fractures in his legs. He missed
the entire season. In 2013 he came back
and did well hitting .301 with 83 RBI’s.
But that was nothing compared to his 2014 season. He hit .335 which was second in the
league. Add to that his league leading
28 intentional walks and his total 70 walks and he had a league leading .409
OBP. Add hit 32 homers and he had a
league leading OPS of .974. He was again
an All-Star and Silver Slugger winner and was second in MVP voting. He has resigned for the Tigers for 2015 with
a four year deal for $68M for the now 36 year Victor.
Jerry Manuel started his major league career as a
Tiger. He was a first round draft pick
in the 1972 draft and signed with the Tiges.
By the end of 1973 he was up in AAA with Toledo and hitting .278 while
being known for a hot glove in the infield.
He was a late season call up in 1975 and made his major league debut as
the starting second baseman in a game against the Cleveland Indians in
Detroit. He went 0-3 with 2 K’s as the
Tiges lost 2-1 despite a Dave Lemanczyk complete game. Jerry got 4 more starts and was 0-12 with no
BB’s and 4 K’s when he finally got his first hit. It was a third inning lead off bunt single
off of Jerry Augustine of the Brewers in Milwaukee. It was the only time he reached base that season
in 18 at bats. He started 1976 in AAA
Evansville but was called up in mid April.
He got in 54 games for the Tiges but most were as a late inning
defensive replacement at second or short.
He had 43 at bats in 54 games and got
total of 6 hits for a .140 average.
He was sent back down to the minors and was there for the next three
years. The Tiges had a young second
baseman named Lou Whitaker and Jerry would not get another chance for the Tiges
at second as he was hitting .260 at AAA while Lou was hitting .280 and winning
Rookie of the Year honors. By spring of
1980 Lou was not going anywhere and Jerry was expendable. He was traded in spring training of 1980 to
the Montreal Expos for back up catcher Duffy Dyer. Jerry spent two years in Montreal as a
defensive replacement before ending his major eague career in 1982 with two
games with the San Diego Padres. After
his playing days Jerry went in to coaching and managing. He was the Chicago White Sox manager for six
seasons winning Manager of the Year in 2000.
He was a big league manager last in 2010 for the New York Mets.
Al Cicotte
Doc Gessler
Frank Owen
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