Mike
Rabelo was an up and coming back up catcher as a Tiger. He made his major league debut in the magical
season of 2006 as a late season call up with one week to go. He came in to a game against the Royals in
the top of the eighth inning as a pinch hitter for Matt Stairs. He struck out swinging on three pitches but
the catcher, John Buck, dropped the ball and Mike ran to first. But John still managed to throw him out. If you are scoring at home that is K,
2-3. That was the extent of Mike’s time
with the Tigers in 2006. In 2007 he was the back up catcher to Pudge
Rodriguez. He hit a respectable .256 in
51 games as a Tiger. But his K to BB
ratio was not good. He K’s 41 times to
only 6 BB’s. At the end of the 2007
season the Tiges had the opportunity to make a great trade and Mike was part of
it. Mike went to Florida with Andrew
Miller, Cameron Maybin, Eulogio De La Cruz and Burke Badenhop for Miguel
Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. In 2008
Mike was back at Florida for Matt Treanor who hit only .238. But Mike hit only .202 but did manage to drop
his K’s to 25 compared to 8 BB’s. He
was back in the Tigers organization in 2010 playing in Toledo. That was the end of his playing days. Last year Mike showed he may still have a
future in baseball. He was a hitting
coach for the Gulf Coast League (Lakeland) Tigers in 2011. In 2012 and 2013 he was hitting coach with
the Connecticut Tigers of the New York-Penn League (A short season).
Jerry
Turner played DH/outfield for the Tigers in the early 1980’s. He started his career as an outfielder for
the San Diego Padres playing back up in 1974 and 1975 and then becoming the
starting left fielder replacing Bobby Tolan in 1976. He was the starter for one season then he was
back up to Gene Richards as Gene hit for higher average and showed more speed
but Jerry had more power. Jerry still
got in over 100 games per season for the Padres unit 1980 when he was in 85 as
a back up outfielder. In 1981 Jerry was
hitting .226 when the Padres sold him to the White Sox. At the end of the season the Sox released
him. The Tigers signed him before the
1982 season and Jerry when Jerry appeared in a Tiger uniform he became the 1000th
Tiger. He was used mainly as a DH. He hit .248 and drove in 27 runs in 210 at
bats. But in 1983 the Tiges had lots of
guys who could do that like John Wockenfuss and Johnny Grubb so Jerry was
released. He signed once again for the
Padres and finished out his career with the team he started it for 10 years
earlier.
Dick
Brown was a starting catcher during his time as a Tiger. He started his career in the majors in 1957
as the third string back up to Cleveland’s Jim Hegan. He moved up to the number 2 spot in 1958
ahead of Jay Porter (see below) but still was the back up through 1959. He was a .238 hitter with the Indians when
they traded him to the White Sox with Minnie Minoso, Don Ferrarese and Jake
Striker for Johnny Romano and future Tigers Bubba Phillips and Norm Cash. In Chicago Dick was second string back up to
Sherm Lollar behind former Tiger Joe Ginsberg.
Dick’s average dropped to .163 and he was sold to the Milwaukee Braves
after the season. He was property of
Milwaukee for less than two weeks when he was part of a big trade that sent
Dick, Billy Bruton, Terry Fox and Chuck Cottier to the Tiges for Frank Bolling
and Neil Chrisley. He became the
starting catcher in 1961 replacing Lou Berberet who had hit only .194 in
1960. Dick looked like an all star to
the Tigers hitting .266 with 16 homers and driving in 45 runs. On May 23, in the 9th of a 2-2
game against the Twins, now a Tiger team mate, Norm Cash led off with a
homer. Steve Boros followed with a homer
and then Dick came up and did the same for the third Tiger homer in a row. The final score was 5-2. In 1962 Dick’s production dropped off to .241
and he only had 12 homers and 40 RBI’s in over 130 additional at bats. At the end of the season Dick was traded to
the Baltimore Orioles for Whitey Herzog and the 1963 Tiger starting catcher,
Gus Triandos. He was a back up his first
year but moved up to the starting position in 1964 and 1965. But he never did get back up to his levels of
1961. At the end of the 1965 season he
had to retire due to a brain tumor. He
was respected by the Orioles so much so that he threw out the ceremonial first
pitch for game 3 of the 1966 World Series.
He scouted for the Orioles until he died from the brain tumor in
1970.
Jay
Porter was drafted into the military during Korea and that was why he played
with the Tigers. He started with the St.
Louis Browns in 1952 but the Browns traded him off rather than wait for him to
come out of the military. The Tigers
took a chance on him and after the 1952 season made a trade of Owen Friend, Bob
Nieman and Jay for Johnny Groth, Virgil Trucks and Hal White. In his first year with the Tigers he got in
24 games and played first, catcher and outfield. He was a utility player for the Tigers
through 1957. He hit .231 as a Tiger and
hit 2 homers and drove in 24 runs. He
was traded to the Indians with Hal Woodeshick for Hank Aguire and Indians
catcher Jim Hegan. The Indians tried to
turn Jay into a catcher and he was back up to back up Dick Brown. At the end of the season and with Jay hitting
only .200 the Indians traded him to the Senators. The Senators waived him part way through the
season and the Cardinals picked him up.
But at the end of the season, Jay’s time in the majors was over.
Mayo
Smith was the Tigers manager for the 1968 World Series champs. He was a professional pool player and an
excellent golfer. He had the opportunity
to be a professional golfer but went to baseball instead. His time as major league player was one year
during the war with the Philadelphia Athletics as a 30 year old back up
outfielder. He was back in the minors
after 1945 and in 1949 became a player manager in the Yankees farm system. This continued until 1951 when he was
strictly a manager in the minors. His
major league break came in 1955 when he became manager of the Philadelphia
Phillies. The Phils finished exactly
.500 in 1955 and 1957. In 1956 they were
71-83. In 1958 when the Phils were 39-45
under Mayo, he was fired. For 1959 Mayo
was tagged to replace Cincinnati Reds interim manager Jimmy Dykes who would end
up managing the Tigers in 1959. Jimmy
was interim as he was replacing former Tiger catcher Birdie Tebbetts as
manager. While Reds manager, Mayo rented
Tigers pitcher Jim Bunning’s house in Kentucky.
But Mayo did not last the season and was replaced by former Tiger
pitcher and manager, Fred Hutchinson.
Hutchinson was originally not going to take the job and called his
friend Mayo to tell him. Mayo talked him
into taking it. A whole lot of Tigers
were managing in 1959. Mayo went in to
scouting for the Yankees after leaving Cincy.
In 1966 the Tigers had a hard time at manager. Chuck Dressen died during the season. His replacement, Bob Swift was soon
hospitalized and died shortly after the season.
He was replaced interim manager Frank Skaff. At the end of the season Mayo took over the
reins of the Tigers. In his first year
as Tiger manager the Tigers finished second, one game out of first. In his second year as Tigers manager he led
them to the World Series. He then made
his most famous move as a manager. He
moved starting centerfielder Mickey Stanley to shortstop. Right fielder Jim Northrup was then moved to
center and Al Kaline was then put in right field. Kaline had missed much of the season with a
broken arm. The Tigers won the series in
seven games. He remained the Tigers
manager through 1970 when the team collapsed.
Mayo was known as a manager who treated the players like and expected
them to then play like men. He was not
fiery and that appeared to be what lost him his job. It is thought that the Tiger players quit in
1970 after taking advantage of Mayo. In
order to get some fire back in the Tigers they hired Billy Martin in 1971 and
Mayo’s time in the majors as a manager were over.
Milt
Scott played a season and a half as a Detroit Wolverine. He started his career in 1882 with the
Chicago White Stockings of the National League when he played on game at
first. He spent 1883 with the Fort Wayne
Hoosiers of the Northwestern League. He
was purchased by the Wolverines for the 1885 season for the sum of either $250
or $500. He was the Wolverines starting
first baseman in 1884. Milt hit .247
which was fourth highest on the team whose team batting average was .208. The 1884 team was terrible. They finished in 8th place, 56
games out of first in a season that only had 112 games. He was with the Wolverines again in 1885 and
was hitting .264 when he was sold to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. Before the 1886 season Milt was assigned to
the Baltimore Orioles where he finished his playing career. His career batting average was .228 with 132
RBI’s and 5 homers.
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