January 9 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Freddy Dolsi toiled in the minors for four years before making his major league debut as a Tiger in 2008.  The first batter he faced as a major leaguer was Manny Ramirez who hit his first pitch for a homer to deep center field.  The Tigers were already down 4-0 when Freddy came in in the seventh and the final score was 5-0.  Freddy would pitch in 42 games for a 1-5 record and a 3.97 ERA.  His only win was a game in Detroit against the Colorado Rockies.  Freddy came in to in relief in the 9^th with two outs in a game the Tigers were down 6-5.  Freddy walked Troy Tulowitzki and then got Willy Tavares to ground out.  In the bottom of the ninth the Tiges came back and Miguel Cabrera hit a double to center to score Placido Polanca and Ryan Raburn to win the game for Freddy.  Freddy was back with the Tigers in 2009 but was only in six games.  His record was 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA.  At the end of the season the Tigers waived him and he was selected by the White Sox.  He did not pitch in the majors with the Sox and they released him November 2, 2011. 

Phil Mankowski was a Tiger third baseman in the late 1970’s.  He got his start in 1976 and in 24 games behind Aurelio Rodriguez he hit .271 with one homer and 4 RBI’s.  In 1977 and 1978 the Tigers platooned Aurelio and Phil at third.  Aurelio had more power, 10 to 3 in homers, but Phil had a higher on base percentage, .318 to .257 due in large part to higher batting average, .276 to .219.  This continued in 1978.  But in 1979, with the addition of Tommy Brookens, Phil got less playing time at third.  At the end of the season Phil was traded with Jerry Morales to the Mets for Richie Hebner.  Phil’s major league career ended in 1982 as did his minor league career.  However, he managed to continue playing professional ball in 1984 with the New York Knights.  Phil was in the movie The Natural as player Phil Benz.  

Ivan de Jesus ended his career in the major leagues with seven games as a Tiger in 1988.  He started his career as a Dodger in 1974.  He was there until being traded to the Cubs in 1977 with Bill Buckner and minor leaguer Jeff Albert for Mike Garmam and Rick Monday.  He was the Cubs shortstop until traded to the Phillies in a rather one sided deal.  The deal was Ivan for Larry Bowa and a young second baseman named Ryne Sandberg.  He was sent from the Phils to the Cardinals in 1985 but was not their starter as they had a guy by the name of Ozzie Smith at short.  He was granted free agency at the end of the year and went to the Yanks and then the Reds and Cards again without playing in the majors for either the Reds or Cards before going to the Giants for 1987 as a back up shortstop.  The Giants released him in July of 1987 and he was out of baseball until the Tigers signed him on June 22 of 1988.  He got in 7 games for the Tiges and got 3 hits.  His final game was less than a month later against the Angels.  He got a hit off of Mike Witt and scored a run in his first at bat but grounded out in his second and was replaced by Ray Knight who pinch hit for him in the 7^th of a 4-6 Tigers loss.  Ivan went on to manage in the minors and was there as late as 2006 with the Houston farm system. 

Julio Navarro pitched for the Tigers in the mid 1960’s.  He toiled in the minor leagues for seven years before finally making his major league debut with the California Angels in 1962.  He pitched for the Angels until early in the 1964 season when he was traded to the Tiges for Willie Smith.  Julio went 2-1 for the Tigers with a 3.95v ERA in 26 games as a reliever.  His two wins were against the White Sox and Kansas City Athletics four days apart from each other in August.  In 1965 he again was up for a bit with the Tiges but this time only appeared in 15 games.  He went 0-2 with a 4.20 ERA.  In 1966 he appeared in one game for the Tigers and faced three batters.  He gave up two hits and hit a batter giving up three earned runs before being taken out.  His record for the season was 0-0 with an infinite ERA.  In June the Tigers sent him to the Red Sox to complete the deal of Don Demeter, and a player to named later (Julio) for Joe Christopher and Earl Wilson.  Later that same season he would be traded to the Braves where he would continue to toil in the minors until getting into 17 games in 1970.  He finished playing in 1974, with a couple of seasons in Mexico, 20 years after starting his pro career.  He continued to work in baseball as a scout and a coach until the 1980’s and is the father of former major league pitcher Jamie Navarro.

Frank Barnes pitched four games for the Tigers in 1929 at the age of 29.  “Lefty” went 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA.  In five innings pitched he gave up ten hits, walked three and did not record a strike out.  He also hit a batter and recorded a balk.  It was a busy five innings.  His one loss came at the hands of the Senators when he got his lone start as a Tiger.  He lasted one inning and gave up 4 runs on 5 hits.  He went on to pitch one more season in the majors with Yankees in 1930.  He was 0-1 in two games started.  That was the end of Frank’s major league career. 

Frank Olin played with the Detroit Wolverines for one game in 1885.  He went to Cornell and played there for three years before becoming a pro with the Washington Nationals of the American Association.  He played for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884 where he played the outfield in 26 games and hit .256.  He was a good fielder with a fielding percentage of .875 compared to the league average of .847.  In 1885 he played one game for the Wolverines as a third baseman and went 2 for 4 and scored a run.  In the field with six chances he made two outs, recorded two assists and made two errors.  That was the end of his major league career.  He played two more seasons in the minors with the Syracuse Stars and the Oswego Starchboxes before relying on his college training as an engineer and founded the Fortune 500 company the Olin Corporation which manufactures ammunition and his F. W. Olin Foundation created the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering.   Fitting as while he was at Cornell he was also on the rifle team (along with the track team and rowing team) and graduated with a degree in engineering.