Brayan Pena
Jim Hannan was part of one the greatest trades ever for the
Tigers. He was a 9 year veteran rightie
for the Washington Senators after the 1970 season. He had shown himself to be a reliable
reliever and spot starter. He had a
record of 39-47 with a 3.84 ERA and 7 saves for the Senators who were a lowly
team in the AL during his tenure. He was
also known for being a terrible batter.
Over those 9 seasons he recorded 19 hits, all singles, for a .093
batting average and 4 RBI’s. He also set an AL record that still stands today
of striking out 13 times in a row. At
the end of the 1970 season the Tiges traded Denny McLain, Don Wert, Norm McRae
and Elliot Maddox for Joe Coleman, Aurelio Rodriguez, Eddie Brinkman and
Jim. At 31 years of age and making
$26,500 Jim was a Tiger. He made three
starts for the Tiges but did not record a decision in those three. He did get one win for the Tiges against the
Yankees when he came in in relief with one out in the 7th and the
Tiges trailing 2-1. He finished the game
and got the win when Eddie Brinkman drove in Aurelio Rodriguez for the winning
run. But Jim only got in 7 games for the
Tiges before he was traded to the Brewers in May to finish out his season and
his career. His record for the Tigers
was 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA. At the plate he
was 0 for 2 but did not K.
Ray Semproch played one season as a Tiger. He was drafted by the Phillies in 1951 and
went 17-11 in Class D ball in 1951 with Elizabethton in the Appalachian
League. But he missed the next two
seasons due to military service. After
he returned in 1954 he worked his way up the Phils ladder until he made the
majors in 1958 going 13-11 with a 3.92 ERA.
He was 3-10 the next year and was traded by the Phils with Chico
Fernandez to the Tigers for Ted Lepcio, Ken Walters and a minor leaguer, Alex
Cosmidis. Ray was 29 and making $9,000
as a Tiger. He was in 17 games for the
Tiges that season and was 3-0. His wins
came in less than a month during May/June when he beat the Indians, White Sox
and Orioles all in Tiger Stadium. At the
end of the season he was picked by the expansion Washington Senators (the original
Senators had just moved to Minnesota to become the Twins) as their second
player before they expansion draft. But
he never played for the Senators as he was traded April 7 to the expansion Los
Angeles Angels where he ended his major league career that season. In 2007 he and his wife celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary.
Johnny Grabowski ended his major league career as a
Tiger. It started in 1924 when he was
the third string catcher for the Chicago White Sox playing behind Buck Crouse
and Hall of Famer Ray Schalk. In three
years for the Sox he was in 89 games and hit .268. In January of 1927, less than a week after
his 27th birthday, Johnny was part of a very fortunate trade that
sent him to the Yankees for 1927 where he would get a $1,000 raise and earn
$5,500 for the season. The ’27 Yankees
were possibly the greatest team in baseball history going 110-44 for the
regular season and then sweeping the Pirates in the World Series. Johnny was the back up catcher on the team
behind Pat Collins. Johnny went .277
for the regular season and did manage to get into the series when he started
game 3 in Pittsburgh. He went 0 for 2
but would forever be able to say he was a part of the 1927 Yankees. Johnny played two more seasons with the Yanks
as a back up catcher to Hall of Famer Bill Dickey before going to the minors in
1930. He returned to the majors for one
last hurrah in 1931 as one of the five Tiger backstops that year. Known more for his defense, Johnny hit .235
for the Tiges with 14 RBI’s and 1 homer.
He was done in the majors after that and played two more years in the
minors before starting a new career as a umpire in the minors. In 1946 Johnny died in a house fire that took
his house and his life. He was 46,
Topper Rigney spent most of his career as a shortstop for
the Tigers. In August of 1921 the Tigers
waived long time shortstop Donie Bush and replaced him with converted
outfielder Ira Flagstad. But Ira was a
weak fielder and for 1922 the Tigers needed a more shore handed fielder than
Ira. So the Tigers brought up 24 year
old Emory Elmo Rigney also known as Topper.
Topper had played at Texas A&M before joining the Tigers farm
system. He had hit .292 in class A Fort
Worth in 1921. The other choice for the
Tigers at short was Herm Merritt who had also played a bit of short at the end
of 1921 as well. But he fielded worse
than Flagstad and was demoted to the minors after spring of 1922. On the way to Augusta he was in a car crash
and was paralyzed. He died in 1927. So Topper was it. In 1922 Topper hit .300. He joined other Tigers catcher Johnny
Bassler, first baseman Lu Blue, and outfielders Harry Heillmann, Ty Cobb and
Bobby Veach who all hit .300 or better.
Heillmann hit .401. Topper stayed
as the starting shortstop until 1925 when a rookie Jackie Tavener took over the
role and in April 1926 he was sold to the Red Sox where he earned $8,000 for
the season. In the four seasons Topper
played with the Tigers he was a .296 hitter with great speed. He hit 29 triples in that time and also stole
37 bases. He also had an OBP of .389 and
was in the top 5 in the league in sac hits his first three seasons. He would play through 1927 when he split the
season between the Red Sox and the Washington Senators. He played one more season in the minors,
1928, before his career in baseball over.
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