Evan Reed
Brian Moehler spent half his career as a righty starter for
the Tigers. He was drafted by the Tigers
in 1993 out of college from North Carolina Greensboro. H e quickly worked his way up the Tiger farm
chain until 1996 when he was 15-6 in AA Jacksonville as a starter. This earned him a late season call up to the
Tiges. In his debut he started against
the Milwaukee Brewers at County Stadium and lasted 5.1 innings against Ben
McDonald. He gave up 5 runs on 6 hits
and 5 walks. The Tiges came back but
Brian was no longer the pitcher of record.
6 days later he got another start against the Brewers but the results
were worse when he took the loss when he again lasted 5 innings and gave up 5
runs. But the following year he came
into his own. He was the number 2
starter for the Tiges and was 11-12 with a 4.67 ERA. He followed this with possible his best
season in 1998 when he was 14-13 with a 3.90 ERA. It was a career high in wins and highest ERA
as a regular starter. In 1999 he started
more games than any other pitcher for the Tigers. He was 10-16 with a 5.04 ERA. He started the last game at Tiger
Stadium. He had actually spent the night
in the stadium with fellow pitchers Todd Jones and Doug Brocail. He went 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs to
get his 10th win of the season and the final win at Tiger
Stadium. He also works as the opposing book
end at Comerica Park. He got the first
start and the first win at the new Stadium for the Tigers. He gave up only one earned run on two runs in
6 innings pitched. He had the most wins
that first season in Comerica with 12.
But by mid 2002 he was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds in a deal that the
Tigers received no major leaguers. He
bounced around from the Reds to the Astros to the Marlins and back to the
Astros before his career was over in 2010.
His final record was 84-107 with a 4.81 ERA. His final Tiger record of 48-52 with a 4.44
ERA.
Ted Gray spent most of his pitching career as a Tiger. The lefty was signed as an amateur free agent
in 1942 out of Highland Park High School.
He was likely high school teammates for one year with future Tiger Billy
Pierce who was three years younger than Ted.
Ted went to Winston-Salem for the Tigers at Class B ball. He was 13-14 with a 2.07 ERA at the age of 17
that year. The following three years he
was off to the war. When he returned he
was up at Buffalo with was class AAA. He
did not have a successful season that year going 7-11 with a 6.22 ERA. But early in the season he did get a call up and
made his major league debut. He started
a game against the Washington Senators in Briggs Stadium and got hammered
lasting only 1.2 innings and allowing 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk. He also got a late season call up and got a
save against the Indians. Today this
would not be considered a save as the score was 14-1 when he came in to pitch
in the 8th and 9th.
The final score was 15-1. But the
rule for a save at the time was as long as you completed a winning game and did
not get the win, you got a save. The
rule was not changed until 1960 when the lead had to be 3 runs or less. Ted spent all of 1947 in class AAA ball at
Buffalo. That was his last year in the
minors. Starting in 1948 Ted was in the
majors to stay. In 1949 he was the 4th
starter and finished 10-10. He was 10-3
by the all star break in 1950 and was named to the all star squad. He pitched the 13th inning tied 3-3
and got out Ralph Kiner and Stan Musial after allowing a lead off single and
the game went to the 14th still tied. IN the 14th he gave up a lead of
homer to Red Schoendienst. He got Roy
Campanella out before being taken out of the game and was credited with the loss. He had rough luck the next couple of years as
he was the Ace of the staff but the team was pretty bad. By 1952 he was 12-17 but the Tigers were
50-104. In 1953 Ted was 10-15 but the
Tiges were still an abysmal 60-94. It
was this year that he started rooming with the new Tiger pitcher Ralph Branca
of Bobby Thomson’s famous called shot fame.
Ted was the one who told Ralph that the Giants were stealing his
signs. In 1954 Ted lost it. He dropped to 3-5 in only 10 starts and was
traded to the White Sox at the end of the season. He was then released 4 times in 1955. First by the White Sox, then the Indians,
Yankees and Orioles before his career was officially over in September of
1955. His final record was 58-74 of some
very bad Tiger teams over 9 seasons in the majors.
Al Lakeman
Syl Johnson
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