January 30 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Dave Stegman was drafted several times by many teams but never signed and always opted to continue playing with University of Arizona until he was drafted by the Tigers in 1976.  He signed with the Tiges and went to AA Montgomery.  He worked his way up to the Tiges a late season call up in 1978.  In his first appearance as a major leaguer he started in right field against the Yankees.  His first at bat came in the second inning and Dave hit a double to left off of Paul LIndblad.  Dave would get in 7 more games as a Tiger that season and hit .286 with a .643 slugging percentage.  Dave would get another late season call up in 1979 but the results were not as good.  In 12 games he hit only .194 with a .484 slugging percentage.  In 1980 Dave made the Tigers out of spring training as a back up outfielder to the starting corps of Al Cowens in right, Rick Peters in center and Steve Kemp in left.  Dave had his worst season to date in the majors hitting only .177 with a .262 slugging.  At the end of the season Dave was traded to the Padres for reliever Dennis Kinney.  Dave never played for the Padres but rather was sent to the Yankees and later the White Sox.  For his career Dave hit .206 with a .325 slugging percentage. 

Sandy Amoros ended his career as a Tiger but is probably better known for his series saving play in the 1955 World Series.  The Cuban born Sandy came up to the majors with the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers as late season call up.  He was a speedy left-handed batter and fielder.  He got his first year as a starter in 1954.  But it was in 1955 he made baseball lore when he made a great catch off of Yogi Berra’s bat.  In game 7 with the Dodgers up 2-0 in the sixth, runners were on first nad second with no out.  Sandy had just been brought into play the outfield. Yogi Berra hit a slicing drive to left.   Sandy made a great running catch to his left that Berra even said the only player who could have caught that was Sandy, because of his speed and the fact that he was left handed.  Had he not made the catch the two runners would likely have scored.  But as it was Sandy preserved the 2-0 lead and the Brooklyn Dodgers won the World Series.  It was the only series they would ever win.  Sandy stayed with the Dodgers and made the move to Los Angeles but was done as a starter in 1957.  In 1960 he was traded to the Tigers for Gail Harris.  Sandy got in 65 games for the Tigers but mainly as a pinch hitter or pinch runner.  He did play the outfield for 10 of those 65 games.  He hit only 10 hits as a Tiger but did get 12 walks.  For his career he was a .255 hitter.

Walt Dropo was a Tiger first baseman in the early 1950’s.  He was Rookie of the Year in 1950 with the Boston Red Sox hitting .322 with 34 homers and a league leading 144 RBI’s.  He dropped drastically in 1951 to .239 with 11 homers and 57 RBI’s.  In 1952 he still was not living up to the promise of his rookie year and was traded in June of 1952 to the Tigers with Fred Hatfield Don Lenhardt, Johnny Pesky and Bill Wight for Hoot Evers, George Kell, Johnny Lipon and Dizzy Trout.  He played first for the Tiges through the 1954 season hitting .266 with 40 homers and 210 RBI’s over the 2 and a half seasons.  At the end of the 1954 season Walt was sent off to the White Sox with Ted Gray and Bob Nieman for Leo Cristante, Ferris Fain and Jack Phillips.  Walt would lose his starting role in 1956.  He stayed in the majors going to the Reds and Orioles until 1961.  He was released by the Orioles in May of 1961, his thirteenth year in the majors, with a career average of .270 with his rookie seasons totals accounting for a fifth of his totals of 152 homers and 704 RBI’s.

Tony Mullane was born in Ireland but made his major league debut with the Detroit Wolverines. The “Count” or “the Apollo of the Box” was a pitcher with the Wolverines in 1881 as an ambidextrous pitcher.  He injured his right arm so he taught himself how to throw leftie.  But his right arm healed and he could and would pitch with either hand in the same game.  He did not have to worry about changing gloves as he did not wear one.  In his debut he beat the Chicago White Stockings 9-1 in a complete game victory.  It was his only victory in Detroit.  He pitched four other complete games for the Wolverines in 1881 losing them all.   He posted a 4.91 ERA.  This was not great considering the team ERA was 2.65 and the majority of the games were pitched by two pitchers, George Derby, who pitched 55 complete games, and Stump Wiedman who pitched 13 complete games.  That is 68 complete games for a season that comprised of only 84 games.  As a batter he hit .263 in those five games and drove in a run.  Not bad at all for team that had a team batting average of .260.   He left Detroit in 1882 and went to the Louisville Eclipse, where he won 30 games.  He would win 30 games or more for his next four seasons as well with the St. Louis Browns, Toledo Blue Stockings, and Cincinnati Red Stockings.   In 1893 the pitchers box was moved 5 feet further away from home plate and Tony was not as successful.  He went on to play with the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Spiders but did not have the same success.  His career over after 1884, with his record at 284 wins against 220 loses over 13 seasons.