Matt
Roney pitched for the Tigers in 2003. He was a first round draft pick by the
Colorado Rockies in 1998 and was in their minors through 2002 reaching AA
Carolina Mudcats in 2002 where he was 3-6 with a 6.11 ERA. The Pirates nabbed
him in the rule 5 draft and then turned around and sold him to the Tigers. The
Tigers were starved for talent in 2003 so Matt made the jump from AA to the
show. (The Tigers final record for the season was 43-119.) Matt was used as a
sixth starter and a reliever. He went 1-9 with a 5.45 ERA. His ERA was better
than four of the other five starters. His one victory was a seven inning gem
against the Blue Jays when he struck out 4 and only gave up 1 hit and 2 walks.
In 2004 the Tigers added Jason Johnson and Nate Robertson to the rotation and
Ugeth Urbina to the bull pen so Matt was sent to the minors. In July 2005 the
Tiges released Matt after he was 0-1 with a 1.25 ERA in Erie and an even more
impressive 1-1 with a 0.95 ERA in Toledo. The Texas Rangers picked him up but
did not bring him up to the majors. They released him and he was picked up by
the Athletics. He was 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA at Oakland in 3 games in 2006. Matt
was granted free agency by the Athletics at the end of the season and spent
2007 in the Blue Jays farm. He was out of baseball at the end of the season
after posting a 4-3 record with a 4.73 ERA for the year between AA and AAA.
Jason Jimenez ended his major league experience as a Tiger. He started his pro ball career after playing
at San Jose State for one year. The
Tampa Bay Devil Rays drafted him in 1997 and he played in their farm system
until 2002. He was used mainly as a
reliever in his minor league career with a decent ERA of 3.33 for his entire
career in the minors. In June of 2002
he made his major league debut and got in 6 games for the Devil Rays and
pitched 6.2 innings. He gave up 4 runs
on 9 hits including 2 homers. On
September 24 he was waived by Tampa Bay and the Tigers picked him up. Four days later the Tigers put Jason in the
second to last game of the Season against the Blue Jays. He came in in the seventh and behind 6-2. He gave up a single, a walk, a fly to right,
a run scoring single, and ground out, a run scoring single and finally a run
scoring on an error. He was removed
with his line score reading .2 innings, 4 runs on 3 hits, and a walk on 22
pitches. He never pitched in the majors
again.
John Lindeman played 12 games for the Tigers in 1990. He was originally a first round draft pick of
the Cardinals in1983 and played for them from 1986 through 1989 hitting .203 as
a back up outfielder first baseman. At
the end of the 1989 season the Cards sent John to the Tigers with Matt Kinzer
for three minor leaguers. John played
most of 1990 in Toledo as a first baseman and outfielder. He was a free swinger and got 85 hits for a
.227 average with 83 K’s but hit 12 homers and 17 doubles and 2 triples for a
.666 slugging percentage. In the 12
games he got in as a Tiger he got 7 hits.
2 were homers and one was a double.
His average was .219. At the end
of the season he was granted free agency and went on to play four more seasons
with the Phillies, Astros and Mets.
Today John coaches high school baseball in Illinois.
George Korince played all his major league games as a Tiger
in the mid 1960’s. He was born in
Canada. He started his pro career in the
Tiges farm system in 1965. In 1966 he
was a late season call up and made his major league debut against the Athletics
of Kansas City and put the side down without a hit in his one inning of
work. About two week later he was
brought into face the Twins in the seventh with the Twins leading 12-1. George walked three but only gave up one hit
in the two innings he pitched and he struck out Zoilo Versalles the year after
his MVP. He was back with the Tigers in
early 1967 and this time got in 9 games.
He recorded his first major league win against the Red Sox when he came
in to pitch the bottom of the 8th with the Tigers trailing 5-4. George got out Rico Petrocelli, Mike Andrews
and John Wyatt in his one inning of work.
The Tiges scored six runs in the top of the ninth on homers by Bill
Freehan and Earl Wilson, who pinch hit for George. George may not have gotten to the plate but
he did get the win. It would prove to be
his only major league win. George would
finish his pro career in his home country as a member of the Montreal Expos
farm system. His last games were with
Montreal’s AAA farm team, the Winnipeg Whip’s in 1970. George is maybe best known today for his two
cards in the 1967 Topps baseball card set.
In the first card, George shares the spotlight with John Matchick. And the picture of George shows a black
skinned Tiger baseball player. In the
second card George is pictured with Pat Dobson and George is a white skinned
baseball player. The second card was
correct and Topps actually put the statement on the back that they goofed on
the first card.
Jack Dittmer ended his career as a Tiger in 1957. He graduated from the University of Iowa
where he earned 9 letters in baseball, basketball and football. He started his pro career in the Boston
Braves farm system in 1950 and quickly moved his way up to the majors in 1952
with the Braves replacing Roy Hartsfield as the Braves starting second
baseman. He hit only .193 but was back
as the starting second baseman in 1953.
He improved to hit .266 but in 1954 the Braves went with Danny O’Connell
at second and Jack was a back up. He
continued as a Braves back up until he was traded to the Tigers before the 1957
season for Chick King and some cash.
Jack got in 16 games as a Tiger mainly as a pinch hitter or a pinch
runner. He did get 5 hits as a Tiger and
hit .227 in 22 at bats. At the end of
the season he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Wayne
Terwilliger. Jack never got back to the
majors and ended his career in the Pacific Coast League in 1959.
Del Pratt was a starting second baseman his whole career
including two years with the Tigers. He
started with the St. Louis Browns in 1912 after playing at Georgia Tech and
University of Alabama. In his first year
he finished 13th in MVP voting after hitting .302 for the
Browns. He would be the Browns starting
second baseman for five more years and led the league in RBI’s in 1916 before
heading to the Yankees for the 1918 season with Eddie Plank for five Yankees
including Urban Shocker and $15,000. He
was the Yankees starting second baseman for three years before heading to the
Red Sox in a multi player deal that sent Waite Hoyt and Wally Schang to the
Yanks. He was again the starter at
Boston for two years before heading to Detroit in another multi player deal
with Rip Collins for Howard Ehmke, Babe Herman, two other players and
$25,000. He split time with Fred Haney
as the Tigers starting second baseman in 1923 and hit .310. In 1924 took over the role full time from
Fred Haney and hit .303. It was his last
season in the majors. He went down to
play seven more seasons in the Texas League as a player manager.
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