Juan Rincon pitched briefly with the Tigers during his ten
year career. He started his time in the
majors with the Minnesota Twins in 2001.
He had his best years in 2004 and 2005.
In 2004 he was 11-6 with a 2.63 ERA.
In 2005 he dropped his ERA to 2.45.
The right hander had a fastball in the low 90’s and a slider in the low
80’s. In 2005 he was suspended 10 games
for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Angels manager Mike Scioscia was not happy
that the suspension was only ten games.
He stated "If Juan Rincon comes
back and pitches 11 days from now, are the effects of steroids going to
deteriorate to where his talent is back to his God-given level? No. He'll have
the benefit of whatever steroids he took. I guarantee you, in 10 days, Juan
Rincon does not become a mere mortal. I think he'll still be throwing the ball
pretty good with the enhanced chemicals."
Juan’s ERA climbed every year after 2005 while with the Twins and in
2008 the Twins after refusing a minor league assignment, Juan was granted free
agency. He signed with the Indians for
the rest of the 2008 season. In 2009 the
Tigers signed him to a minor league contract but he made the major league
roster. In May the Tigers needed to make
room on the roster for Dontrelle Willis who was now healthy and ready to
pitch. So the Tigers assigned Juan to
Toledo. However, Juan refused the
assignment and became a free agent. In
the short time Juan was with the Tiges he pitched 10.1 innings over 7 games and
had a 5.23 ERA. He did manage one win in
a game that he replaced Justin Verlander in the sixth. Justin had given up 7 runs in 5 innings. The score was 7-5 for Mike Scioscia’s
Angels. Juan came in and pitched the
bottom of the sixth and gave up run on a MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL RULE DOUBLE AS
THE BALL BOUNDED OVER THE WALL. However,
the Tiges came back in the next inning and took a 11-8 lead. Juan was taken out but ended up with the
win. Juan left Detroit for Colorado and
last played in the majors for the Rockies in 2010. In 2012 he was in the Atlantic League
pitching for the Bridgeport Bluefish which is independent ball but finished the
season with the Angels AAA farm team in Salt Lake City where he was 0-1 with a
3.12 ERA. He was granted free agency by
the Angels and in 2013 he was back in the Atlantic League pitching for York and
going 1-8 with a 3.26 ERA. 2014 found
him again in the Independent Atlantic League but playing for the Somerset
Patriots where he was 2-0 with a 2.59 ERA.
Charlie Spikes played briefly with the Tigers during his 9
seasons in the majors. He started with
the Yankees in 1972 as a late season outfield call up. He was traded to the Indians at the end of
the season in the deal that sent Graig Nettles to the Yankees. Charlie became a starter for the
Indians. He was a power hitting
outfielder hitting 23 and 22 homers his first two years with the tribe. Over four years as a starter he hit an about
.250 but had an on base percentage of over .300. He was traded to the Tiges after the 1977
season for Tom Veryzer. That season he
played 16 games in Evansville hitting .320 with 2 homers. He also got up to Detroit where he got in 10
games and hit .250 with no homers. He
was released with a week to go in the season.
He then signed with the Atlanta Braves before heading to Japan for one
final professional year in 1981.
Billy Mullen had one of his several cups of coffee with the
Tigers. In 1920 he made his major league
debut with the St. Louis Browns on the last day of the season. In the first game of a double header he was
called in to pinch hit for the pitcher in the bottom of the eighth with the
White Sox leading 10-4. He did not get
on base. In the second game he came in
to finish the game playing second. He
did not get a hit. In 1921 Billy was
again a late season call up and again did not get a hit. Towards the end of the 1922 season the
Brooklyn Robins (todays Dodgers) purchased Billy from the Mobile Bears. Billy got in 4 games as a late season call up
for the Robins in 1923 and got three hits for Brooklyn. One of the hits was off of Hall of Famer,
Jessie Haines. In 1926 Billy showed a
little more staying power in his time as a major leaguer. He played 11 games for the Tiges as a new 30
year old third baseman. His production
however, still was not there. He was 1
for 13 as a Tiger but did draw 5 walks for a .333 on base percentage. Before
the 1927 season Billy was traded to the St. Louis Browns with Otis Miller,
Frank O’Rourke and Lefty Stewart for Pinky Hargrave, Bobby LaMotte and Marty
McManus. In 1928 Billy would get in 15
more games for the Browns and picked up his highest total of 7 hits and posted
a .389 batting average. With his 3 walks
he posted a .476 on base percentage at the age of 32. Billy never got to the majors again. He continued to play in the minors until he
was 43. He even played in the Tigers
farm system but never again in the majors.
Red Donahue ended his career as a Tiger and just a tad too
soon. He started his career as a student
at Villanova. While playing for
Villanova he started his pro career as well playing for the 1893 New York
Giants and also the 1895 St. Louis Browns of the National League (not a typo,
they did not become the Cardinals until 1900) and stayed in St. Louis through
the 1897 season. It was in 1897 that he
had arguably his worst season as he went 10-35 with a 6.13 ERA yet Red
accounted for over a third of the Browns wins as they went an atrocious
29-102. After the 1897 season Red was
traded to the Philadelphia Phillies where he threw no hitter in 1898 and stayed
through 1901. He won 20 or more games
twice in Philly put up a 3.26 ERA in those 4 years. In 1902 he jumped leagues yet went back to an
old team, kinda. He went to the St.
Louis Browns but this was a different franchise than the Browns he played with
in the past. This Browns team had moved
there from Milwaukee where they had been the Brewers in 1901. Red was 22-11 with the new Browns and posted
a 2.76 ERA, lowest on the team. In 1903
he was traded to the Cleveland Naps and stayed there through 1905. While in Cleveland he won 32 games including
19 in 1904 alone. At the end of 1905 Red
was traded to the Tigers by the Naps for Happy Townsend. In 1906 with the Tigers Red was the number 2
starter behind George Mullin. Red went
13-14 at the age of 33 and had an ERA of 2.73.
He was not a power pitcher but rather a crafty pitcher. He was done playing after 1906, just before
the Tigers went on to win three pennants in a row. He died in 1913 at the age of 40 of
tuberculosis.
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