January 16 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Marty Castillo was a Tiger hero of 1984.  He followed his brother Art Castillo into professional baseball.  However, Art never made it out of the minors.  Marty made it to the majors in 1981 with the Tigers.  In the first inning of the first game he played in with the Twins lead off batter on first the second batter hit a line drive that Marty caught and kept his wits to throw the runner on first out before he could get back. He made two other assists in the field that game.  However, he went 0-4 in his debut at the plate.  Two days later he was starting at third again.  He started another double play, a put out and 3 more assists in the field.  Unfortunately he also made his first error as major leaguer.  At the plate Marty went 1-3.  His first major league hit with a single in the 5^th.  Rick Honeycutt then proceeded to catch him leading off first.  But Honeycutt’s throw was off the mark and went past first baseman Pat Putnam and Marty moved to third.  Two batters later Al Cowens singled and Marty scored.   Marty did not start another game that season but ended up the season with only one more plate appearance without getting on base.  In 1982 he got into one game with out making a plate appearance.  1983 was Marty’s break out year.  He got into 67 games and hit .193 with 2 homers and 10 RBI’s while playing mainly third.  Marty followed that up with his 1984 season where “he” led the Tigers to the World Series Championship with a .234 average and 4 homers.  His split his time behind the plate as a catcher and playing third.  But it truly was in the World Series that Marty excelled.  He went 3 for 9 and scored twice.  The big hit and run being his second inning homer in game three to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead that they would never give up.  In game 5, Marty led off the 8^th with a walk.  He was on third when Goose Gossage mistakenly challenged Kirk Gibson at the plate.  Gibson’s homer scored Marty and sealed the game and series for the Tigers.  Marty was back with the Tigers in 1985 but was at his least effective at the plate that he had ever been in his career.  He hit .119 and was released after the season. 

Johnny Watson was a Tiger shortstop in 1930.  He spent four years at Marshall University and upon graduating joined the Hartford Senators of the Eastern League.  He hit .278 for the Senators and was given a call by the Tiges.  In his debut he was the starting shortstop against the White Sox at Navin Field.  While perfect in the field, he was 0-2 at the plate and was taken out.  The next day he got the start at short again and this time he stayed in the whole game and got his first hit as a major leaguer, a double off of starter Tommy Thomas.  He drove in a run as well which proved to be the difference of the 6-5 Tigers win over the White Sox.  Johnny started the next game for his third start in a row.  He went 2-4 with another double and drove in his second run.  But this time the Tiges lost to the White Sox, 10-5.  The Tigers had one more game for the season and Johnny did not get into it.  The season ended and so did Johnny’s major league career. 

Brad Kocher made his major league debut as a Tiger in 1912.  He had spent three years in the minors as a catcher with the Bridgeport Orators and the Toronto Maple Leafs hitting about .245 before the Tigers brought him to the show.  He started the season as a back up to starting catcher Oscar Stanage.  Oscar caught the majority of the games and Jack Onslow was the second string catcher while Brad was number three.  Brad out hit Jack by about 50 points, .206 to .159.  But Jack had a higher fielding percentage by about the same 50 points, .948 to .904 and Oscar out hit (.261) and out fielded (.950) both of them.  In 1913 Oscar was again the starting catcher and the Tigers went with a couple of new back ups in Red McKee and Frank Gibson.  Brad was back in the minors.  He stayed there for the next two almost three years before getting a call back to the majors with the New York Giants.  He was a late call up in 1915 and was back with the Giants in 1916.  In 33 games as a catcher for the Giants Brad hit .158.  He was done in the majors after 1916 and returned to the minors where he played with the Louisville Colonels and the Toledo Mud Hens to end his professional career.

Art Whitney played for the Detroit Wolverines for two and a half seasons.  He started his professional career by moving up the road from his home in Brockton, MA to Lowell, MA at the age of 19 in 1877, just 12 years after the Civil War ended.  He was a week hitting third baseman but could field well.  He moved further down the road to Worcester in 1879 to play with the Worcester Grays.  His batting average was .222 which was not terrible considering the league average was .245.  He stayed with the city when the Grays of the National Association collapsed and the Worcester Ruby Legs of the National League formed in 1880 to start Art on his major league career.  He then moved west with Ruby Legs catcher Charlie Bennett, center fielder Lon Knight and left fielder George Wood to Detroit to join the newly formed Wolverines of 1881.  Art was the starting third baseman for the Wolverines but was the weakest hitter on the starting 9 hitting only .182 compared to a league average of .260.  The 1883 Wolverines picked up Joe Farrell who would take over at third and hit .247 and Art went off to Providence for a while but did return to back up Joe at third and play bit of short and even pitch in three games.  He was 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA in three games on the mound.  But his bat was still an anemic .183.  So he was off to the East Saginaw Grays of the Northwestern League for the next couple of seasons before joining the Pittsburgh Alleghenys of the American Association for the four seasons through 1887.  In 1888 he apparently had been negotiating with the Alleghenys and the Wolverines but ended up not signing with either team.  This caused him to sue the Wolverines for breach of contract for getting him to break off negotiations with the Wolverines.  He ended up signing with the New York Giants which proved fortunate as they won the World Series that year and the next with Art at third.  While at New York in 1889 Art took to wearing a glove while playing third.  In 1890 many more players were wearing gloves and credited Art for the trend.  Art played a few more years in the majors and then headed back to the minors managing back in Lowell, the starting point of his career.  He as was done in baseball in 1893 and died 50 years later, in Lowell.