January 6 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Casey Fossum pitched one season for the Tigers. After pitching for Texas A&M and for USA in the International Cup, he started his major league career with the Red Sox in 2001. He was a starter for the Sox for three years before heading to Arizona and then Tampa Bay. By the time the Tiger got him as a free agent in 2008 he was used only in relief. For Detroit he was 3-1 with a 5.66 ERA in 31 games and 41.1 innings pitched. The Tiges granted him free agency at the end of the season and he signed with the Mets for 2009. 2010 found him pitching in Japan for the Tigers, the Hanshin Tigers. 2011 he was under contract to the Mets again and was with their AAA team, Buffalo. He was released by the Mets in spring 2012 and signed with the Orioles but was released shortly after the season started with making it back to the majors since 2009.  He has been out of baseball since then.

Bob Adams worked in the Tigers farm system for four and a half years before making it to the majors in 1977. Prior to his time in the Tigers farm system he spent three seasons in college ball at UCLA. He had a career minor league average of .265. He looked to be coming alive in 1977 when he was hitting .330 for the Tigers AAA farm team, the Evansville Triplets, when he was called up to the Tigers. The catcher, first baseman hit .250 for the Tigers in 1977 in 15 games with 2 homers, 2 RBI's and five K's. The Tigers had Milt May as their starter and in 1978 a young rookie named Lance Parrish as a back up. So Bob was back in the minors with AA Montgomery and AAA Evansville. He hit .199 for the season and that would prove to be his final season in the pro ball.

Lenny Green finished his major league career as a Tiger. Lenny was born in Detroit and graduated from Pershing High School in Detroit. He was signed by the St. Louis Browns and worked his way up the farm system and stayed with the organization when they moved to Baltimore and made his major league debut as a Baltimore Oriole in 1956. He got his first hit in his fifth game against Mike Garcia and the Cleveland Indians. It was a bases loaded triple. In 1959 Green was traded to the Senators in May of 1959 and the very next day played against his old team, the Orioles. He stayed with the Senators when they moved to become the Minnesota Twins. Lenny was their starting center fielder. He stayed with the Twins until 1964 when he was sent to the Angels. The Angles sold him to the Orioles in 1964 and the very next day the Orioles played the Angels. In 1965 Lenny was sold to the Red Sox. Green was released after the 1966 season and signed by the Tigers to a minor league contract. He was called up after Al Kaline and Gates Brown suffered injuries. He stayed with the team the rest of the season. In 1968 he was again signed to a minor league contract but did manage to getup toe Detroit for a week of games in June of that season. For the two partial seasons in Detroit he hit .277. That was .010 points higher than his career average of .267.

Ralph Branca was a Tiger when he found out the truth about the famous homer he gave up as a Brooklyn Dodger. Ralph started his career as a Dodger in 1944 and won 21 games in 1947. But he is most noted for the homer he gave up to Bobby Thompson of the Giants in the 1951 playoff when the Russ Hodges, the Giants radio announcer that day (Ernie Harwell was doing the TV broadcast that day) screamed over and over "THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!" Better known as "the shot heard round the world". In 1953 he was claimed off of waivers by the Tigers. He roomed with Ted Gray with the Tiges and Ted told Ralph one night that he had heard that the Giants were stealing signs and had an elaborate system where they had a coach up in the centerfield offices with a telescope and an elaborate buzzer system that ran wires all the way to the Giants dug out and bull pen. They then called out key words and phrases to let the batters know what was coming. It was this electronic system that keyed the Giants to miraculously catch the Dodgers after the fourth of July and gave Bobby his homer. If you see a photo of the Polo Grounds at the time look for the one window in the centerfield offices (Leo Durochers office) with the lights out. That is where the telescope was. With Detroit Ralph was 7-10 in two partial seasons with a 4.64 ERA. He was released by the Tiges part way through the 1954 season and picked up by the Yankees. The Yanks released him at the end of the season and in 1956 he signed once more for the Dodgers where he finished his major league career.

Billy Purtell finished his career as a Tiger in 1914. He had played four seasons mainly as a back up infielder, mainly at third base, for the White Sox and Red Sox from 1908 through 1911. The Red Sox sent him to Jersey City in 1912 and the Tigers claimed him from Jersey City under the rule five draft after the 1913 season. Billy was not known for power. In fact he set a dubious record for fewest doubles by player in at least 150 games when in 1910 he hit 6 doubles in 536 at bats. He also hit his 2 career homers that year. He played in 28 games for the Tigers in 1914 and hit .171 with 4 doubles in 76 at bats. Billy went on to play in the minors as a player manager until the end of his playing career in 1928.

Joe Lake ended his career as a Tiger the year before Billy Purtell did. Joe had been a starting pitcher for the New York Highlanders (Yankees) for two years in 1908 and 1909. In 1908 he led the league with 22 losses on a Highlander team that was 51-103. In 1909 the team still lost over half its games but Joe had a career high 14 wins in and led the team in both wins and ERA with a 1.88 ERA. The rightie was sent to the St. Louis Browns at the end of the 1909 season with Ray Demmitt for Lou Criger. Joe stayed in St. Louis for two and a half years with the Browns loosing over 100 games each year. The Tigers purchased him in June 1912. He went 9-11 for the Tigers in 1912 with a 3.10 ERA on a team that was 69-84. He came back in 1913 and was 8-7 with a 3.28 ERA on a team that was 66-87. Joe never played on a major league team with a winning record and played on some down right bad teams. His career record was 62-90 with a 2.85 ERA. I wonder what he would have done on the Philadelphia Athletics or Boston Red Sox of the time.

Gene Moriarty played one season with the Detroit Wolverines in 1885. He has played the year before in Boston with the National League Beaneaters and the American Associations Indianapolis Hoosiers. He played outfield, third base and even pitched. In 1885 the Wolverines bought him from the Hoosiers then of the Western Association. For Detroit, Gene got one hit in 39 at bats and no walks for a .026 average for both batting and on base. But he was a good defensive outfielder. However, at third, his fielding left a bit to be desired as he committed 5 errors in 19 chances. Even with the league average fielding percentage at the time being just .866 due to the lack or poor gloves at best, this was not good. He also pitched one game for Detroit pitching the last two innings and getting a no decision. Gene played one more year in the majors in 1892 with the St. Louis Browns.