Armando Galarraga will always be remembered for one game as
a Tiger. He was born and raised in
Venezuela. He went to a baseball school,
the type that many Venezuelan kids go to, where you and your family pay very
little if anything unless you are signed to a contract or make the majors. Then you owe a percentage of your earnings
that first year or signing bonus. He did
sign with the Montreal Expos but after several years in the minors he was
traded to the Texas Rangers with a couple other players for Alfonso
Soriano. He was a member of the Rangers
organization for 2 years. The first he
was in the minors. The second year he was a late season call up. He got in 3 games and did not record a decision
while posting a 6.23 ERA. The Rangers
were not impressed and traded him for minor leaguer Mike Hernandez to the
Tigers. In his first year Armando looked
solid. He won more games than any other
Tiger pitcher including Justin Verlander and Kenny Rogers when he was 13-7 with
ERA of 3.73 that led all Tiger starters. He led the team in WHIP, K’s/BB ratio and may
have led in K’s but pitched 23 innings less than Justin Verlander. But the following year, 2009, Armando
struggled. He dropped to the number 4
spot in the rotation and was only 6-10 and his ERA jumped to 5.64, highest
among Tiger starters. He then followed
that up with a recovery year in 2010 where he pitched the game of his
life. In his fourth start of the year on
June 2, he faced the Cleveland Indians at Comerica Park. He was cruising. In fact, he was perfect. As most of you know, he retired the first 26
batters faced in order. Then shortstop
Jason Donald came to the plate. Donald
hit a weak dribble to Miguel Cabrera who tossed to Armando covering the first
base bag for the out. Except first base
umpire Jim Joyce called Donald safe.
The radio announcers were upset.
Jim Leyland was upset. The Tiger
players were upset. The entire stadium
was upset. With the lone exception of
Armando. He smiled. He then retired the next batter to end the
game. Armando showed such grace and
class that the whole baseball world turned to look at what had happened and the
whole baseball world will always remember Armando. There were two other perfect games pitched
in less than a month prior to Armando’s gem.
But no one remembers their pitchers.
But like Harvey Haddix of a generation before, Armando’s imperfection is
recalled more than the perfect games of Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay. (Haddix was a pitcher for the Pirates and is forever
known as “Poor Harvey” for a game where he pitched 12 innings of perfect ball against
the Milwaukee Braves only to lose the perfect game and the game itself when a
throwing error by a teammate allowed a base runner. A sac bunt moved the runner to second to
Harvey was directed to give an intentional walk. This was followed by a homer, the first hit
of the game, by Joe Adcock. In his
excitement Joe passed the runner in front of him and the score ended up 1-0. By the way, to make Harvey’s pitching feat
even more impressive, the Braves were stealing his signs.) But Armando never did catch on again. He won only 2 more games for the Tigers the
rest of the season and the rest of his Tiger career. At the end of the season he was 4-9 and the
Tiges traded him to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Armando won three games in Arizona and then bounced around before being
released by the Texas Ranges in spring of 2014.
George
Cappuzzello was a lefty pitcher who got all his major league wins as a
Tiger. He was drafted by
the Tigers in 1972 and worked his way up the Tiger farm system ladder as a
starter and usually putting up good ERA’s and consistently putting up more K’s
than BB’s. However, in
March of 1978 he was traded with fellow minor league prospect, John Valle, to
the Cincinnati Reds for Jack Billingham. He lasted about two years in the Reds
farm system until they released him and the Tigers resigned him. During that time, Jack Billingham went
25-15 for the Tigers and John Valle forever remained a minor league
prospect. After Jack was
traded by the Tigers George took over Jack’s jersey number 41 and made his
major league debut in Baltimore as the starter. He struck out Ron Roenicke to start
the inning and then got the next batter as well. But then he gave up a single to Ken
Singleton and then a homer to Eddie Murray before getting the final out of the
inning. He came back in the
second and promptly walked the bases loaded at which time Sparky Anderson took
George out of the game and put in Aurelio Lopez who came in and won the game in
relief after pitching 7.1 innings. George
did redeem himself in September. In
a similar game in Baltimore Jerry Udjur started and gave up three runs and was
pulled in the second. George
came in pitched 7.1 innings of shutout ball to get the win. It would be his only win of his Tiger
career. At spring training
the following season George was released by the Tigers. He had been an effective reliever as
he posted a 0.98 ERA in 14 appearances. But
he also had three starts and that drove his ERA up to a 3.48. His final win totals as a Tiger were 1
win, 1 loss and 1 save. After
his release by the Tigers he was picked up by the Houston Astros. And went 0-1 in 17 games all in
relief. He never played
again in the majors after 1982.
Luis Alvarado briefly was Tiger. Luis was mainly an average middle
infielder. The Puerto Rican born righty
hitting Luis was signed by the Red Sox in 1967 at the age of 18 and made his
debut at the age of 19. He was really a
shortstop and was your stereotypical good glove poor hitting infielder. He was behind All-Star shortstop Rico
Petrocelli at short for the Sox so he was basically not going anywhere. After three years as a back up he was dealt
to the White Sox with Mike Andrews for Louis Aparicio. Luis became the starter for the Pale Hose at
short after they had traded their previous shortstop Aparicio. He was the starter for two seasons and then
was back to a back up role. Then he
started to bonce around. He spent 1974
with the White Sox, Cardinals and Indians.
In 1975 he was back with the Cardinals in their farm system before
making the bigs again in 1976 as a late season call up for the Cards. At the end of 1976 he was purchased by the
Tiges but sold off before the 1977 season started to the Mets. He was returned to the Tigers after less than
a month into the 1977 season. He made
his Tiger debut on April 29, 1977. In
the 8th inning of 5-5 game with the Twins in Detroit Luis replaced
Mickey Stanley at third. He did not make
a play in the field but flew out to short to end the ninth inning at the
plate. The following day against the Twins he
replaced John Wockenfuss in the bottom of the 8th again playing
third. He did not make a play in the
field and did not come to the plate in the 9th. He never made it into another major league
game after those 2 games with the Tigers.
The Tigers waited until June to release Luis but he never made it to the
majors again. He bounced around the
minors and then into the Mexican League until 1981 when his career was finally
over.
Mike Marshall started his career in pro ball as shortstop
but started his major league career as a pitcher for the Tigers. He came out of Adrian Michigan but was signed
by the Philadelphia Phillies out of high school as a shortstop. He was working his way up the Phillies farm
system when he was injured and converted to a pitcher in 1965. He was purchased by his home state Tiges in
April of 1966. He had a solid 1966
season in Montgomery (AA) going 11-7 with a 2.33 ERA as a reliever. This was followed with a 1967 season at
Toledo where he was only 2-0 but with a 0.60 ERA after 10 games and brought up
to the Tigers. He continued to impress
by going 1-3 with a 1.98 ERA for the Tiges in 1967. His lone win was a bit ugly. He replaced Joe Sparma who was beating the
Boston Red Sox in Tiger Stadium in July by a score of 4-2 in the 9th. Joe was one out away from the win but had
just given up a homer and two singles when Mike came in. Mike proceeded to give up a single to Reggie
Smith and a double to Jerry Adair to make the score 4-4 and take the win away
from Sparma. But Mike stayed in the game
and did not allow another run. In the 11th
Jim Northrup got a one out single which was followed by a Bill Freehan double
to bring home Northrup and give Mike his first major league victory. Mike spent 1968 not with the Tigers as they
won the World Series but in Toledo. He
was 15-9 with a 2.94 ERA. At the end of
the season he was left available in the expansion draft and was selected by the
Seattle Pilots who converted him to a starter.
He was 3-10 with a 5.13 ERA with the Pilots. In 1970 the Pilots moved to Milwaukee and
became the Brewers. But Mike did not
make the move. Instead he was sold to
the Houston Astros who kept him for just half a season before trading him to
the Montreal Expos. In 1971 the Expos
moved Mike back to bull pen as a closer.
It was the beginning of his career,
he would lead the league in games finished the nest four years. In the midst of the four years he was traded
to the LA Dodgers for aging star Willie Davis.
In his first year as a Dodger Mike pitched in a record 106 games,
finishing 83 and leading the league in saves with 21on his way to winning the
Cy Young award. His ERA started to climb
and in 1976 he was traded to the Braves.
He would bounce around to the Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and lastly
the New York Mets in 1981 before his major league career ended. While he did have a successful time in
Minnesota going 21-30 with 54 saves and a 2.99 ERA and pitched in 162 games the
rest of his career was plagued with injuries.
While pitching Mike was also attending Michigan State University and
earned his PhD in kinesiology. Today he
has his own pitching school where he teaches a pitching method that he says
will eliminate injuries and the need for Tommy John surgery and is known as one
of the tougher signatures in sports collecting.
He will sign your card for a mere $175 and he signs Dr. Mike
Marshall. Hmmmm, I wonder……this was
written my Master Chuck Ailsworth. Nope,
not really the same.
Steve Gromek ended his career as a Tiger. He started his career with the Cleveland
Indians in 1941 after they signed him out of high school in Hamtramck. He was 4F during the war so he stayed in
Clevelena and in 1945 was the Indians ace going 19-9 with a 2.55 ERA. When the stars came back in 1946 after the
war Steve dropped to 5-15 with a 4.33 ERA.
He stayed with the Indians as a starter and reliever for 13 years and
was 78-67 with 16 saves and a 3.22 ERA. The
Indians were an annual contender in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. They would go the World Series in 1948 when
they beat the Boston Braves in six games.
Steve won game 4 when he beat future Tiger pitching coach Johnny Sain by
throwing a complete game and allowing only one run. In mid 1953 Steve was traded with Ray Boone,
Al Aver, and Dick Weik to the Tiges for Owen Friend, Joe Ginsberg, Art
Houtteman and Bill Wight. The Tigers
were not the Indians and Steve’s ERA jumped from 3.27 in the first half of the
season to a 4.51 the second half with Detroit.
In 1954, his first full year with the Tiges he was the ace going 18-16
with a 2.74 ERA. The fact that he was at
home with his family worked to his benefit.
He had a bowling alley that he
ran in the off season as well to keep his family fed as he was making $18,000
at the time. On the mound Steve worked
very fast due not a great variety of pitches.
He mainly threw a fast ball and had a change as well. But he always struggled with his curve. Did not walk a lot. In fact, in 1954 he pitched 7 games where he
did not walk a batter. In 1955 he had a decent
season as a starter on a team that did not have a true ace. Billy Hoeft was 16-7, Frank Lary was 14-15,
and Steve was 13-10 with a 3.98 ERA. The
team itself was 79-75 and finished fifth.
That would be Steve’s last season as a starter. In 1956, at the age of 36 he was in the bull
pen and was 8-6 as the number five starter and but came out in relief 27
times. 1957 was Steve’s last year in the
majors. He was 0-1 with the Tiges and
his 6.08 ERA was not enough to keep him on the roster. In August he was released and his career as a
pitcher ended. For the Tigers his line
total was 45-41 with 7 saves and a 3.77 ERA.
He went on to manage the Tigers A farm team for a year but then retired
from baseball altogether. He died in
2002 and is buried in Clinton Township, Michigan.
Grover Lowdermilk played with a lot of the stars of his era
including those on the Tigers. He was born Grover
Cleveland Lowdermilk and had the nickname “Slim”. This was due to him being 6’4” and
only 190 pounds. In his
first known year in pro ball, 1909 with the Mattoon Giants, he went 33-10 with
a 0.93 ERA. Not bad for a
22 year old even if it was Class D ball. He jumped up to Class B Decatur before
the season ended and was there when in 1909 he made his major league debut with
the St. Louis Cardinals. There
the rightie went 0-2 with a 6.21 Era in 12 games. There he would probably have been
pitching to Hall of Fame catcher and player manager, Roger Bresnahan. Grover was back in the minors for 1910
in Springfield, IL and was 25-9 in Class B ball and got the call again to the
Cardinals in 1911. This
time he added Hall of Famer Miller Huggins to his list of those he played
with. Grover went 0-1 for
the season but his younger brother, Lou, who was also on the team, went 3-4 as
a lefty. He then went to
the Chicago Cubs for 1912 and played with Tinkers, Evers and Chance as well as
Mordecai “three Finger” Brown, all Hall of Famers. He was 0-1 with the Cubs and was back
in the minors for 1913 and 1914. But
in 1915 he was the St. Louis Browns and had the most wins of his career when he
went 9-17 for the Browns as their number 2 starter. There he played under Hall of Fame
manager Branch Rickey and with Hall of Fame first baseman, George Sisler. George actually pitched that year as
well and was 4-4 with a ERA lower than Grover’s at 2.83. Grover lost three games to the Tigers
but he must have impressed the Tigers enough because they purchased him from
the Browns in September. With
Detroit he added three more Hall of Famers to his list when he played for Hall
of Fame manager Hughie Jennings and with HOF outfielders Ty Cobb and Sam
Crawford. In 1916 he was
again with the Tigers for the start of the season but in the third game of the
season he pitched in a game that the Tigers lost the Chicago White Sox. Grover came in from the bull pen and
faced 4 batters. He walked
3 and got one out. He would
never pitch again for the Tigers. He
was sent to Portland in the Pacific Coast League and eventually sold to the
Cleveland Indians later in the season. In
Cleveland he played with Hall of Famers Tris Speaker and Harry Coveleski as
well as Ray Chapman, the man who would be the only major leaguer to die from a
pitched ball. Grover went
back to the St. Louis Browns after Cleveland and eventually to the Chicago
White Sox and was there when in 1919 they threw the World Series and became
known as the Black Sox. Grover
got in one game in the series and pitched the last inning of game 1. This was the game the Eddie Cicotte
threw. Grover did not pitch
well giving up a lead off single followed by a bunt sacrifice, a triple to
score the runner, a ground out for the second out, a hit batsman, a walk to
load the bases and finally a ground out. Grover was done in the majors in 1920
and done in baseball after 1922. His
final record was 22-39 in the majors while going 181-121 in the minors. He was 4-1 with the
Tigers.
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