Wil Ledezma
Jeff McCurry
Tom Urbani played briefly with the Tigers. Shortly after his playing days ended the
Tigers retired his number. He was
drafted four times starting after high school before he finally signed with the
St. Louis Cardinals in 1990. The first
three times he was drafted he chose to stay in college. He started his professional career in Johnson
City with the rookie level Cardinals in 1990 and by 1992 was in AAA at
Louisville. In 1993 he split time
between the Louisville Redbirds and the St. Louis Cards. In Louisville he was 9-5 with a 2.47 ERA as a
starter. In St. Louis he was 1-3 with a
4.65 ERA splitting time between the bull pen and the starting rotation. That is how his career went. He would be a starter in the minors and split
time in the majors. His ERA tended to be
higher in the majors and he never quite caught on. In June of 1996 the Cards finally dealt him and
minor leaguer Miguel Inzunza to the Tigers for Micah Franklin and Brian
Maxcy. Tom went 2-2 with a 8.37 ERA in
Detroit. Early in August Tom found
himself in Toledo where he was 0-3 with a 6.43 ERA. The Tigers granted him free agency at the end
of the season. Tom bounced around the
minors a few more years before going to Italy to play in 1999 with Semenzato
Casa d’Aste Rimini. Ah yes, the Fightin’
Rimini’s or whatever their nickname is.
He led the league with 12 wins and a 1.35 ERA. He also pitched a perfect game. Italy went on to win a silver medal in the
1999 European Championships. As for the
Tigers retiring Tom’s number. Tom wore
number 42 for the Tiges in 1996. In 1997
MLB retired the number 42 in all of MLB.
However, that does not mean Tom was the last Tiger to wear the number. Anyone who had been wearing it was
grandfathered and could continue to wear the number. So Fernando Hernandez wore it for the Tigers
in 1997 and Jose Lima wore it in 2001 and 2002.
Bob Reynolds was briefly a Tiger as he
was with most of the other teams he played for. He was drafted by the San Francisco
Giants in 1966. He showed
good promise in the low minors for the Giants going 8-1 with a 2.41 ERA in
rookie ball and when he moved up to A ball he was 2-0 with a 0.32 ERA having given up only 1
run in 28 innings! He had
made it up to AA ball in 1968 when he was drafted by the Montreal Expos in
their expansion draft. He
made it up to AAA with the Vancouver Mounties in 1969 where he was 5-3 with a
3.09 ERA being used mainly in relief. At
the end of the season he was given a call up to the Expos as the roster
expanded. In his debut he
faced the Philadelphia Phillies as the starter. He gave up a single to future Tiger
Tony Taylor as the first batter he faced. He then threw a wild pitch that
moved Taylor to third before he gave up a sac fly to Cookie Rojas to score
Taylor. He then walked
Johnny Callison before calming down and striking out Dick Allen and Deron
Johnson. He came back out
in the second and things got worse. He
gave up a walk then a foul fly ball for his first and last out of the
inning. He then gave up a
single, then an error loaded the bases before Bob walked Tony Taylor to being
in a run and another single. At
that point he was pulled. In
1.1 innings pitched he had given up 6 runs, 3 earned, on 3 hits and 3 walks for
a 20.25 ERA. Bob never
pitched again for the Expos. He
was in their minors in 1970 and 1971 with AAA Winnipeg Whips where I may have
seen him play. In 1971 he
was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. He
got in four games for the Cards and was 0-0 with a 10.29 ERA. The Cards kept him for two weeks
before trading him to the Milwaukee Brewers. In three games as a Brewer he
was 0-1 and in spring training the following year was traded to the Baltimore
Orioles. In Baltimore Bob
had his greatest success and spent the most amount of time. In 1973 he was a solid bullpen pitcher
getting in 42 games and going 7-5 with a 1.95 ERA. He followed that up with another 7-5
season and a 2.73 ERA in 54 games. But
in 1975 he was in only 7 games and was 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA. At this point the Orioles off loaded
Bob to the Tigers for Fred Holdsworth. Bob
did get his ERA down to a 4.67 in Detroit. But he was 0-2 for the Tiges and less
than three months after the Tigers picked him up they waived Bob. He was claimed by the Cleveland
Indians and after appearing in only 5 games with the Indians was done in the
majors. His final career
totals were 14 wins (all in Baltimore) and 16 loses and a 3.15 ERA. I have looked and can not find a photo
of Bob in a Tiger uniform.
Bill Graham
Willie Ludolph was also known as Wee Willie while a
Tiger. He was anything but “Wee” as he
stood 6’ 1” while at St. Mary’s College in California on what must have been
one heck of a major team. With him were several
other future major leaguers in Bill Doran, Frank Mack, Karl Schnell, Pete
Scott, Kettle Wirts and Lew Fonseca. Lew was born exactly 1 year before Willie and
shared the same birth date. Willie left
college and went to the minors as a right handed pitcher. In 1923 his minor league path took him to Bay
City of the Michigan-Ontario League where he was 9-1 with a 2.09 ERA. The following year he was in the Pacific
Coast League with the Vernon Tigers when he got a call to join the Tigers in
Detroit. On May 28, the Tigers were
playing a double header against the St. Louis Browns in Detroit. The Tiges took the first game 4-3. In the second game the Tigers trailed 7-0
after 7 innings. Starting pitcher Ken
Holloway was pulled from the game at that point and Willie made his major
league debut. He pitched the last two
innings of the game and allowed only 1 hit.
The Tigers did not score so Willie got a “no-decision”. About a week later the Tigers were playing
the Washington Senators in Detroit. The
great Walter Johnson was pitching a 4 hit shut out against the Tiges. Starting pitcher Earl Whitehill was pulled after
giving up 5 runs in 8 innings. Willie
got the call and pitched the last inning and again allowed only 1 hit and no
runs. Two weeks later Willie got the
call again when the Tiges trailed 9-6 to the Indians. Willie came in and pitched the last 2.2 innings. This time he gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2
walks. The Tiges lost the game 11-9 and
Willie never got into another major league game. Willie went into the minors and pitched for
another 13 seasons mainly with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast
League. His minor league record was
226-163 while he had no decisions in the majors in his three games as a
Tiger.
John Mohardt is an interesting Detroit Tiger. He came out of the University of Notre Dame
where he played football. He joined the
Tigers in 1922 and played one week for them.
In his first game he made one plate appearance and drew a walk and
scored a run. He made two more
appearances as a pinch runner before getting called in to pinch hit again and
this time he got a hit. In his last game
he was called in to pinch run for Ty Cobb of all people. He ended up scoring a run. That was the end of his major league
career. He batted 1.000 and replaced Ty
Cobb on the base paths. That same year
he was in Chicago playing for the NFL Chicago Cardinals who today are the
Arizona Cardinals by way of St. Louis.
His NFL career lasted through 1925 when in his last year he was with the
Chicago Bears where he was in the back field with Red Grange. In between the Cardinals and the Bears he
played for Racine against the Packers.
When this was found out he was declared ineligible for playing for Notre
Dame. He served as a doctor during
World War II and retired from the Army as a Lt. Colonel.
Bernie Boland
Arch McCarthy
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