Dontrelle
Willis was a Tiger with great expectations. He started his career in the majors
with a bang going 14-6 and winning Rookie of the Year honors in 2003 at the age
of 21 with the Florida Marlins helping them win the World Series against the
Yankees. He holds his glove by his head and with his high leg kick he hides the
ball from the batters. He stayed in Florida for four more years winning 10
games or more every year including 2005 when he won a league leading 22 games
with 7 complete games and 5 shutouts. After the 2007 season the Tigers made a
steal of a trade. The Tiges sent minor leaguer Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop,
Eulogio De La Cruz, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller and Mike Rabelo to the
Marlins for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle. Miguel is a batting champion and
Dontrelle, well, did not quite live up to expectations. I took my daughter to
his debut as a Tiger in 2008. On a bright Saturday afternoon we watched as
Dontrelle went five innings and only allow one hit. However, he walked 7 and
allowed 3 earned runs. He even faced the first three batters in the sixth
giving up two walks and a double. This typified Dontrelle's time with the
Tigers. In three seasons plagued with injuries Dontrelle was 2-8 with a 6.86
ERA. Half way through the 2010 season he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks
with cash for Billy Buckner. The Diamondbacks released him about a month later
and he signed with the Giants but never played. At the end of the 2010 season
the Giants released him and he signed with the Reds for 2011. He was 1-6 with
the Reds in 2011 splitting time between the Reds and AAA Louisville. He has bounced around since then signing with
the Phillies, Orioles, Cubs, Angles and Giants never to make back to the majors
after 2011. 2014 may have been the last time
Dontrelle played pro ball as he ended his season with the Bridgeport Bluefish
of the independent Atlantic League in July at the age of 32.
Mike
Trujillo pitched for the Tigers for two seasons. His rookie year was 1985 with
the Red Sox. He did little of everything. He got in 27 games with 7 starts. One
was a complete game victor against Frank Viola and the Twins. He gave up only 3
runs on 9 hits over the 9 innings. A couple weeks later Mike was called on and
got his first save as a major leaguer against the Brewers in Milwaukee. He
finished the season at 4-4 with a save and a 4.82 ERA. In 1986 he only got in
three games with the Sox before he was sent to the Mariners with Mike Brown,
Rey Quinones and cash for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen. Mike was with the
Mariners for through the 1987 season when they released him after posting a
record of 7-6 with a 4.71 ERA. This included a complete game one hit shutout
against Bret Saberhagen and the Royals. Mike also got two saves with the
Mariners. The Tigers signed him a as free agent. Mike stayed in Detroit two
seasons and won one game as Tiger. It was another complete game victory over
Greg Swindell and the Cleveland Indians. He took a no hitter into the 6th when
Mark Salas led off with a double. Mike allowed only 2 runs on 6 hits and won
teh game 7-2. Mike pitched in the majors for only about two more weeks and
never got another win. His final line with the Tigers was 1-2 with a 5.68 ERA
and no saves.
Bob
Reed played two seasons at the University of Michigan before signing with the
Tigers. He started in the Tigers farm system in 1966. He worked his was up the
Tigers chain until 1969 when he was a late season call up. In his major league
debut he faced Mike Cuellar and the Orioles. The first batter Bob faced was
Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson. Brooks flew out to center. Bob pitched three
innings and did not give up a run while he allowed only one hit and got Brooks
out a second time as well. In 8 games Bob was 0-0 with a 1.84 ERA. Bob was back
in the minors for most of the 1970 season where he was 9-9 with a 2.84 ERA for
Toledo. He did make it back to the Tigers and was 2.4 with a 4.86 ERA for the
Tiges. The two wins were against the Royals and on the second to last game of
the season he went 8.2 innings against the Indians. He allowed only 2 runs on
10 hits. The two runs were back to back to Vada Pinson and Duke Sims in the top
of the ninth. Bob was pulled for Tom Timmermann after the Duke homer but got
the win. It was the last time Bob pitched in the majors. Bob pitched two more
seasons with Toledo before his baseball career was over. I am sure Brooks
Robinson was happy the day Bob was done in baseball.
Lefty
Lorenzen surprisingly, was a left handed pitcher for the Tigers. His real name
was Adolph Andreas Lorenzen. He pitched for Radar O’Riley’s home town team the
Ottumwa Packers in 1913 in his first year as a professional. He was 17-11 with
the class D team before making his major league debut with the Tiges as the end
of the1913 season. On September 12 he was called in the game in the bottom of
the seventh to pitch to the Red Sox with the Tigers trailing 14 to maybe 3.
Lefty pitched the final two innings and gave up 4 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks and a
wild pitch. At the plate he did manage to try to help his cause going 1 for 2
with an RBI and a run scored. The final score was Red Sox 18, Tigers 5. This
gave him an ERA of 18.00. About a week later Lefty was sold to the Chattanooga
Lookouts and never played again in the majors. He played two more years in the
minors and compiled a 39-28 record.
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