March 1 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Kris Keller spent his entire time in the majors with the Tigers.  He was a fourth round draft pick for the Tigers 1996 and promptly went to Lakeland in 1996 and was a starter in Lakeland.  In 1997 he was moved to the pen and by 2001 had worked his way up the Tigers farm system to AAA Toledo.   There he 5-2 with a 4.48 ERA and 4 saves.  He showed good control with 60 K’s and 38 walks.  In 2002 he was looking good while in Toledo with a 2-0 record and a good a 2.08 ERA.  The Tiges called on him and he was called in from the pen in the 8^th inning to end a blood letting.  The Tigers were down 9-1 to the White Sox in Chicago.  Kris walked Royce Clayton, K’d Kenny Lofton and then walked Ray Durham.  Then Sox outfielder Magglio Ordonez hit a homer to left center to clear the bases and make the score 12-1.  Paul Konerko then hit a fly to deep left for the second out.  Kris walked Frank Thomas and gave up a single to Jose Valentin before getting Carlos Lee to ground out and end the inning.  Kris’s final line score was 1 inning pitched, 2 hits, 3 walks, 1 K, 1 homer and 3 runs for a 27 ERA.  That would remain his career line score as Kris never made it into another major league game.  Less than a month later Kris was sent to the Atlanta Braves for George Lombard. 

Jimmy Hurst was a professional ball player who spent his whole major league experience with the Tigers.  He started in 1991 in the White Sox farm system at the age of 19.  He worked his way up to AAA, Nashville in 1996.  Before the 1997 season started the Sox waived him and the Tigers picked him up.  He was hitting .271 as an outfielder for the Mud Hens when he got a late season call up in 1997.  He made his debut as a defensive replacement for Bobby Higginson in the 7^th inning of a game against the Mariners in Seattle with the Tigers trailing 6-0.  He did not have a ball hit to him.  He came to the plate to lead off the Tigers 8^th and hit a fly to center.  That was the end of his debut.  On September 15 he made his first start in right field against the Oakland A’s in Oakland.  He almost reached in the fifth on a dropped third strike but was thrown out.  In the 8^th he ripped a single to center for his first career hit off of Andrew Lorraine.  But he was promptly taken off the bases by a double play ball, 1-6-3.  He had his best game against David Wells and the Yankees in Tiger Stadium on the second to last game of the season.  He went 2 for 3 with a walk and a homer to deep left field for the Tigers lone run of the game.  He played the next day for his final game in the majors.  In total he was in 13 games and got 3 hits, including the homer, in 17 at bats.  However, his career in pro ball was not half over.  Jimmy would continue to play in the minors into 1999.  In 2001 he started playing independent ball in the Atlantic League before heading to Japan to play for the Hiroshima Carp and Mexico for the Monclove Acereros.  He was still playing in the independent Northern League into 2008 at the age of 36.  You have to admire the commitment and obvious love of baseball.

Doug Creek was a nine year major leaguer who ended his career with the Tigers.  He started it in 1995 with the St. Louis Cardinals and in six games the lefty pitcher was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA.  He would move on to the Giants in 1996 and Cubs in 1999.  He was in Tampa from 2000 into 2002 and finally Seattle and Toronto in 2003.  In all this time he was uses a reliever appearing in 259 games with a record of 7-14 and 1 save and a 5.32 ERA.  He was a released by the Cardinals after the 2004 never having played the entire season in the minors going 2-1 with a 4.71 ERA.  The Tiges signed him as a free agent and in 2005 he appeared in 20 games pitching 22.1 innings.  He did not record a decision and posted a 6.85 ERA.  On July 22, the Tigers released him and his career in pro ball was over. 

Tim Thompson ended his career as a Tiger.  He was a back up catcher in the 1950’s.  He played one year with Brooklyn in 1954 where he appeared in 10 games.  He stayed with the Dodgers in their minors until 1956 when he was traded to the Kansas City A’s.  He had two seasons with the A’s before being part of the big trade with theTigers that saw Kent Hadley, Frank House, Duke Maas (Kevin Maas’ dad) Jim Small, John Tsitouris, Jim McManus and Bill Tuttle to the A’s for Billy Martin, Gus Zernial, Lou Skizas, Tom Morgan, and Mickey McDermott.  Thompson was 34 years old when he made his Tiger debut against the White Sox in Chicago in the second game of the season.  He came in to play catcher in the bottom of the 7^th with the Tigers trailing 4-2.  He came to the plate in the 9^th with a Charlie Maxwell on first and one out with the Tiges still trailing 4-2.  Tim represented the tying run and he hit a single off of Dick Donovan to center to keep the rally going.  Two batters later Frank Bolling hit a homer run to score Tim and Charlie Maxwell and take the lead 5-4.  That would be the final score.   Four days later he started behind the plate and while he did not get hit he walked 3 times.  He would get in 2 more games for the Tiges over the next week but never get on base again.  His final stats as a Tiger was a .167 batting average with that one hit off of Donovan.  But the three walks brings his on base percentage to .444.   Many Tiger fans may still know who Tim Thompson is as he has a Topps baseball card from 1958 as a Tiger.  After his playing days Tim went on to become a scout for the Cardinals, Dodgers and Orioles.  

February 29 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

There are no Tiger birthdays for Feb 29.  So Sadie Houck who has a known birth some time in the month of March seems apropos. 

Sadie was a player with the Detroit Wolverines when he was blacklisted.   He started his major league career in 1879 with Boston of the National League.  He was an excellent fielder and hit .267 for the Boston Red Stockings as a starting outfielder and shortstop.  .267 was good for fifth best on the team and his 49 RBI’s was 8^th best in the league.  Also making a major league debut in 1879 was the reserve clause.  It was also called the “five man rule” because at the time the clause was applied to the five players of a teams choice.  If a team put you on reserve no other team could touch you or offer you a contract.  You became the property of that team in perpetuity.  Sadie’s contract in 1879 was for $600.  In 1880 he was sent to Providence part way through the season but his average dropped down to .201 at Providence.  In 1881 at the age of 25, Sadie joined the Wolverines in Detroit of the National League.  He boosted his average up to .279 which tied him for fourth best hitter on the team.  His salary was $700.  This was fifth highest at best for the Wolverines.  In fact, the Wolverines big stars, Charlie Bennett (Tiger Stadiums original name was Bennett Park named after Charlie) and ace pitcher George Derby made double what Sadie made at $1,400 and Hall of Famer Ned Hanlon made almost double at $1,200.  This must have eaten away at Sadie that he could not earn more money with the Wolverines yet he could not move to another team to make more money either.  I can only assume that he tried to jump leagues after 1881 as he was blacklisted and did not play baseball in 1882.  He was reinstated back in baseball in 1883 as he resigned with the Wolverines and hit .252, fourth best on the team.  Clearly he was still on Detroit’s reserved list as at the end of the season Sadie’s contract was purchased by Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association.  The reserve clause was sticking.  Sadie would play out his days with teams in the American Association or National League until 1887.  In his 8 year career he hit .250 and as a Wolverine he hit .264.  The reserve clause would expand to all players on a team.  It would be challenged time to time by rival leagues but would never be broken until struck down almost 100 years later in 1975.  However, by that time Sadie had been dead for over 50 years.  

February 28 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Ron Samford got his first major league hit as a Tiger.  Ron started his time in the bigs with the New York Giants in their championship year of 1954.  He was with them at the beginning of the season and got in 12 games with the Giants but was used mainly in defensive situations or as a pinch runner.  So he only has 5 at bats and never reached base yet scored two runs.  He spent the balance of the year at Oakland of the Pacific Coast League.  He was waived by the Giants at the beginning of the 1955 season and the Tigers claimed him.  On April 26^th, the Tigers were playing the Orioles in Detroit.  Erv Palica was on the mound with for the O’s.  In the fifth Harvey Kuenn was taken out of the game and Ron came in to play short in his place.  No balls were hit to him.  In the Tigers half of the inning with the score was tied 2-2 with two outs and Ron came up to the plate and struck out.  That was the extent of his 1955 season in the majors.  He was still without a hit in the majors.  Ron was with the Charleston Senators in 1956, the Tigers AAA team.  He hit .271 as a shortstop second baseman.   In 1957 he was back up with the Tigers.  April 28, found the Tiges in Cleveland facing the Indians and Mike Garcia.  In the second inning the Tiges had runners on first and third.  Ron came up and grounded out to second but Bill Tuttle, the runner on third scored to give Ron his first RBI.  On April 30, he started at short against the Yankees and Duke Maas.  In the bottom of the fifth he was facing Johnny Kucks and he got his first major league hit, a single to center.  Ron would get in 54 games and make 99 plate appearances and get 19 more hits and 4 more RBI’s.  He spent 1958 back in the minors and at the end of the season he was sent to Washington with Reno Bertoia and Jimmy Delsing for Rocky Bridges, Neil Chrisley and Eddie Yost.  Ron played one more season in the majors in 1959 as the back up shortstop to Billy Consolo.  Ron got 53 hits for the Senators for a career total of 73.

Lil Stoner started his career in the majors as a Tiger.  He was born Ulysses Simpson Grant Stoner but was called Lil by his little brother, Theodore Roosevelt Stoner could not pronounce Ulysses and called him Lil instead.  When Lil was about 3 he walked up to his bigger brother and asked him shop of his finger.  His brother took a whack at it and he almost lost it completely.  The doctor wrapped it and hoped to see it reattach itself.  It did but it was crooked.  This helped him when he was on the mound.  He was brought up to the Tigers in 1922 and was 4-4 with a 7.04 ERA.  Manager Ty Cobb had Lil in the minors in 1923 but brought him back up to Detroit in 1924.  He was the number three starter in 1924 behind Earl Whitehill and Rip Collins.  Lil was 11-11 with a 4.72 ERA.  That was the most wins he would get in the majors.  He was still the number three or four starter in 1925, 1926 and 1927.  In 1926 Lil had never given up a homer to Babe Ruth when he faced him in Navin Field in Detroit.  In the fifth inning he was behind 3-0 to Ruth and threw a strike.  Estimates where that the ball went 600 to 626 feet for Ruth’s longest homer in his career.  Starting in 1928 Lil was used more in relief.  In 1930 Lil found himself in Pittsburgh.  He was in five games and did not record a decision.  However, in the minors Lil pitched a no-hitter.  He was a puzzle to managers that he could perform in the minors but not in the majors.  He was given one more chance in 1931.   He was in Philadelphia with the Phillies and was in seven games without a decision for 1931 but had a 6.59 ERA.  He would never pitch in the majors again.  For his major league career Lil was 50-58 with a 4.76 ERA.  

February 27 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

I need to make a correction to yesterdays birthdays.  You all got a glimpse of what I do for the birthdays yesterday.  The weekend before I go through the postings for the up coming week that I sent last year.  My first step is to check each day and see if there are any new players with birthdays for the week.  I also look to make sure that I dont need to update what I sent last year due a player continuing to play.  Then I try to do write ups for the guys I did not get to last year.   The gray area is what showed up yesterday.  I did not actually read what I wrote yesterday on Dennis Kinney.  Yesterday i wrote  "But he only got in 6 games with Old English “D” and pitched only 3.2 innings. He was 0-0 and had an ERA of 9.82. However, I am questioning this ERA. I see he gave up 4 earned runs and the formula for ERA is 9*earned runs / innings pitched. I do the numbers and come up with an ERA of 11.25. Dennis has a posted ERA of 9.82 as a Tiger. (I will let you all know what I find out on my difference in ERA. )"  I did find out what the issue was on his ERA.  The issue was I was a dumb @**.  It was politely pointed out to me that 3.2 innings pitched is actually 3.66 as a mathmatical number.  So if you use the correct 3.66 you come up with the correct ERA of 9.82.  Good thing I dont work in an engineering field where numbers are important.  Oh, wait.  I do.  As I said before, "dumb @ss."

 

Craig Monroe played most of his career in Detroit.  He started as a major leaguer in 2001 with the Texas Rangers.  He got in 27 games as a back up outfielder and hit .212.   The Rangers waived him and the Tigers claimed him for 2002.  For Detroit in 2002 he did worse than his time in Texas.  He was in only 13 games and his .120.  But in 2003 Craig made it into a starting role as the Tigers starting left fielder.  He raised his average to .240 and showed some power with 23 homers.  He improved in 2004 to a career high .293 average and his homers stayed relatively up at 18.  2006 saw Craig hit his most homers in a season when he hit 28 and drove in 92 runs.  But his average dropped to .255.  Craig would never hit .250 again.  He did not do well in the ALDS against the Yanks but he was great against the A’s in the 2006 ALCS hitting .429 with a .500 OBP.   In 2007 he was hitting .222 with 11 homers for Detroit near the trade deadline when he was traded to the Cubs for a player to be named later.  The Tiges later took Clay Rapada.  At the end of the season the Cubs sent Craig to the Twins.  Before the end of the season the Twins released Craig.  He signed for the Pirates in 2009 but hit .215 in 34 games and was released July 1 and his major league career was over. 

 

Matt Stairs played for twelve different teams in the majors and one of them was Detroit.  He started with the Montreal Expos in 1992 and spent the next fourteen years with the Red Sox, Athletics, Cubs, Brewers, Pirates, Royals and Rangers before being picked up off of waivers by the Tigers in 2006.  Matt was a .260 hitting outfielder/ first baseman with your typical extra K’s in exchange for homers.  He came to Detroit on September 16 of 2006 and played 14 games for the Tigers, all at DH.  In 41 at bats he got 10 hits, two were homers and struck out 12 times.  But the Tigers clinched a playoff spot with Matt on the roster.  After the season the Tigers let him go.  He then joined the Blue Jays and went on to the Phillies, Padres and Washington Nationals before his 19 years in the majors came to an end. 

 

John Wockenfuss played a key role in the 1984 Tigers.  Johnny B came to the Tigers in a trade of minor leaguers between the Cardinals and the Tigers.  The Tiges sent Larry Elliot to the Cards for Johnny B.  Larry never made it to the majors but Johnny B started his time in the majors with the Tigers in 1974.  He was a back up catcher and also played first and the outfield for the Tigers and was a fan favorite.  He was an average fielder and an average hitter hitting .261 as a Tiger.  He was known for a quirky batting stance where the bat was straight up in the air and he fluttered his back hand waiting for the pitch.  His pivotal role in the 1984 season took place in March of 1984 when he was traded with Glenn Wilson to the Phillies for Dave Bergman and Willie Hernandez.  John played in the majors until August of 1985 when the Phillies released him.  He went on the manage in the minors for into 1997 and was successful at it leading his teams to a first place finish before losing in the playoffs three times.

 

Cy Perkins ended his career as a Tiger.  He started his career in Philadelphia in 1915 and stayed there through 1930 with the Athletics.  He was a .259 hitter as starting catcher until a guy by the name of Mickey Cochrane came along and took his starting role for Philadelphia.  He then was Mickey’s back up until after the 1930 season when the Yankees bought him.  He then was back up to another hall of famer in Bill Dickey.   Mickey Cochrane became the Tigers catcher and manager in 1934 and one of his coaches was Cy, or Ralph as was his real name.  In the last game of the season of 1934 Cy came in as a pinch hitter for Tommy ridges in the 5^th inning.  He faced the St. Louis Browns pitcher, George Blaeholder but did not reach base.  That was the last time he played as a major leaguer.  He managed the Tigers briefly in 1937 when Mickey Cochrane was beaned and sent to the hospital.  He was 6 and 9 as the Tiger skipper.   He would continue coaching in the majors but never managed again.

 

February 26 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Dennis Kinney had a brief time pitching for the Tigers.  He was born in Toledo and raised in Michigan graduating from Bedford High School in Temperance, MI.  He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians out of high school and spent eight long years in the minors before finally making it to the majors in 1978 with the Indians and going 0-2 with a 4.42 ERA in 18 short games out of the bull pen.  His reward for eight years of work was to be traded half way through the season to the Padres.  He spent the next 2 and a half seasons with the Padres going 4-7 in 107.2 innings with a 4.26 ERA out of the Padres bull pen.  At the end of the 1980 season he was traded to the Tigers for Dave Stegman.  He went to Evansville to start the 1981 season and spent most of the year in Evansville going 6-4 with a 2.03 ERA.  It was enough to get him a call up to the Tigers in September as the rosters expanded.  But he only got in 6 games with Old English “D” and pitched only 3.2 innings.  He was 0-0 and had an ERA of 9.82.  However, I am questioning this ERA.  I see he gave up 4 earned runs and the formula for ERA is 9*earned runs / innings pitched.  I do the numbers and come up with an ERA of 11.25.  Dennis has a posted ERA of 9.82 as a Tiger.  (I will let you all know what I find out on my difference in ERA. )  Regardless of any ERA discrepancy in ERA, Dennis did not impress the Tiger brass and was released at the end of the season.  He was signed by the Oakland Athletics for 1982 and pitched 3 games in May in 1982 to end his major league career.  He never pitched again after 1982.  His final MLB stats was a 4-9 record and a 4.55 ERA with all his games coming out of the bull pen.  Last I heard, Dennis was coaching in college baseball for DeSales University in Pennsylvania. 

Don Lee started his major league pitching career as a Tiger.   He was born to the pitcher Thornton Lee who was an All-Star pitcher in the 1930’s and 1940’s for the White Sox, Indians and Giants.  In 1939 Thornton gave up a homer to Ted Williams in a 6-2 White Sox Victory over the Red Sox.  The lone Red Sox run was the homer by Williams.  The son Don Lee whom we are talking about, went to the University of Arizona for three years before signing with the Tigers in 1956.  He spent 1956 in A ball at Augusta in the Sally League (South Atlantic League) where he went 7-3 with a 2.51 ERA.  He started 1957 in Charleston of the American Association, the Tigers AAA team at the time.  He was moved back o AA Birmingham of AA before being called up to the Tigers for a major League debut on April 23, 1957.  He was 23 years old and got the start against the Kansas City Athletics at a afternoon game in Briggs Stadium.  It was a small crowd of less than 7,000 who showed up to see Don.  Don pitched well except for the long ball.  He went 8 innings and gave up only 5 runs on 7 hits and 1 BB while recording 5 K’s.  But of the 7 hits, 3 were for home runs.  These are the signs of a fastball pitcher.  When Don was pulled he had just given up his third homer to former Tiger Lou Skizas to make it 5-4 and put a man on second.  The winner was the Kansas City pitcher and former Tiger, Virgil Trucks, who pitched 2 innings of relief.  Don’s next decision was a start against the Boston Red Sox.  He went 7.2 innings and gave up only 4 runs for his first major league win.  It would be his only win in 1957 and his only win as a Tiger.  He was 1-3 for the Tiges in 1957 with a 4.66 ERA.  In 1958 Don was 14-7 in Charleston in AA ball with a 2.95 ERA.  He was called up and in September and got in one game, the last game of the season.  The game was already 4-2 Indians in the 7^th when Don was called in.  He went 2 innings and gave up a homer to Rocky Colavito which also drove in Minnie Minoso to make the score 6-2.  It was the final score of the game and Don’s final game as a Tiger.  He spent 1959 in the minors going 14-9 in AA Charleston with a 3.57 ERA.  At the end of the season Don was not called up by the Tiges but rather ended up being sent to the Milwaukee Braves with future great batting coach, Charlie Lau, for Don Kaiser, Mike Roarke and Casey Wise.  Don never pitched for the Braves but was traded to the Washington Senators for 1960.  He hit his only homer of his career in August when he hit a ball from Johnny Kucks for a 1-0 lead in the 4^th.  But it did not hold up.  The Athletics came back and while Don pitched 10 innings, he did not get the win.  The win went to reliever Ray Moore.  1960  was also Ted Williams last season.  Don pitched a complete game victory over the Red Sox on September 2, but allowed 1 run.  The one run was a homer by Ted Williams in the 8^th.  Thus Don and his dad became the only father/son combo to give up homers to Ted Williams.    Don would continue pitching in the majors through 1966 with the Senators, Twins, Angels, Astros and Cubs before his career ended.  He was starter through 1963 when he was moved to the bull pen.  His final stats after 9 years in the majors were 40 wins against 44 losses and 11 saves with a 3.61 ERA. 

Sam LaRocque led the Wolverines in batting in his debut season.  Ok, so he only appeared in two games for the Wolverines, but still he did get 4 hits in 9 at bats and drew a walk for a .444 batting average and a .500 OBP as a 25 year old second baseman.  He was born in Quebec during our Civil War and played in the minors in New England for teams like the Lynn Lions and Newburyport Clam Diggers.  He was brought to Detroit in 1888 and faced the Indianapolis Hoosiers in his debut in a game played in Detroit.  The Wolverines lost the game and remained tied with the New York Giants in the National League with identical records of 47-28.  The Giants would go 37-19 for the rest of the season to win the National League flag.  The Wolverines would got 21-35 and finish a distant 16 games back.  Sam was back in the minors in 1889 but returned to the majors in 1890 and 1891 with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys and the Louisville Colonels before he returned to the minors in 1892.  He would stay in the minors through 1907 sometimes as a player manager and others just as a player when at the age of 44 he appeared in 41 more games with the San Antonio Bronchos of the Texas League. 

February 25 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Rich Rowland was an up and coming catcher for the Tigers.  He was a defensive stand out leading the International League in fielding percentage and in throwing out base runners while at Toledo.  But he was about a .250 hitter in AAA.  Still the Tigers brought him up in 1990 at the age of 26.  He got in 7 games and hit .158.  In 1991 he was in Toledo and had some problems with his back but still hit .272 for the Mud Hens and was again a late season call up.   In 4 games he hit his major league career high of .250.  He was again solid defensively in 1992 and while posting good power in Toledo (25 homers and 82 RBI’s) he hit only .235.  He was again called up in September and in 6 games hit .214.  He led Toledo in homers in 1993 and hit .268 and was called up in August to Detroit.  But in 21 games he hit .217.  In the spring of 1994 Rich was traded to the Red Sox for catcher John Flaherty.  Rich played two seasons with the Sox and hit .218 in 60 games.  Rich continued to play in the minors through 1997 for the Blue Jays and Giants and even pitched in a game in the minors.  But after the Red Sox he nave made it back toe the bigs.  Ernie Harwell used to talk about Rich because Rich was a lumberjack in the off seasons and Ernie talked about how he once asked Rich if the red woods of California (Rich’s home state) did not have deep roots.  Rich replied that they did not.  In fact they were rather shallow but that the trees spread out their roots and intertwined with other trees so they all supported each other.  Ernie would use that analogy in his baseball ministry.  Today Rich has two sons in the minors.

Ken Szotkiewicz had his number retired by the Tigers.  Ok, he had it retired by the entire majors.  Ok, so he wore 42 and it was retired for Jackie Robinson.  But still, Ken did have his number retired!  He was signed out of Georgia Southern University in 1968 as a shortstop.  He was on the Tigers 40 man roster for 1970 despite having had knee surgery.  He was on the roster at the beginning of the 1970 season as a back up for starting shortstop, Cesar Gutierrez.    He got into 47 games that season and had three homers.  However, he only had 9 total hits in 84 at bats for a .107 average.  In July he went on the DL with a strained knee and was there until September.   While a good fielder, .107 will not cut it in the majors and a player with a known bad knee is not something the majors will want to carry around.  Ken never got back to the majors after 1970.  He was able to hang on in the minors through 1974 but never played a whole season.  At the age of 27 Ken was done with baseball, or rather, baseball was done with Ken.  Ken had one baseball card made of him in 1971.  It is kinda valuable as it is a “hi-number”.   Baseball cards used to be sold by “series” where the company, Topps, would sell the first 132 cards in the set at the beginning of the season and every month or so release another series.  By the end of the season kids were turning their attention to other sports like football and buying fewer baseball cards.  So the higher series would be printed less than the first.  Thus the “hi-numbers” would be considered rare.  Ken has card number 749 out of a set of 752. 

Jack “Lucky” Lohrke was never a Tiger.  But he has a very interesting or maybe alarming nickname.  He served in the army in WWII and was in the Battle of the Bulge.  Twice, comrades beside him were killed during combat.  On his way to California to be discharged from the army he was bumped from the flight by a Colonel.  The plane crashed with no survivors.  He made it back to baseball and was in the minors in 1946 with the Spokane Indians.  He was traveling on the team bus when he learned he had been called up by the parent club, the San Diego Padres, of the Pacific Coast League.  He got off the bus at a stop to hitchhike back to Spokane to catch a plane to San Diego.  About 15 minutes later, the bus he had been on ran off the mountainside and crashed.  Nine players were killed.  Jack went on to play 7 years in the majors with the New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies from 1947 to 1953 but he did not relish the moniker “Lucky” and would refuse to talk about it later in life. 

February 24 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Bryan Kelly

Bubba Phillips started and ended his career as a Tiger.  His given name was John Melvin Phillips and he got the nickname Bubba from his brother.  I am not sure which is better or maybe worse, the name Melvin or Bubba.  He was a star athlete in high school leading the nation in scoring in football with 235 points in only 9 games.  He went on play football in his home state at Southern Mississippi College.  He was a great college football player and baseball player and was highly recruited by the San Francisco 49ers of the All American Football Conference.  But he instead signed with the Tigers in 1948 while still in college.  He was moving up the Tiger farm system and was expected to join the majors in 1952 but he was drafted by the US Army and went to serve for a couple years first.  He finally was released by the army and joined the Tigers again in 1955.  He was the starting left fielder in 1955 when the Athletics who had newly moved from Philadelphia to Kansas City played the first major league game in KC.  Bubba made his debut that game but went 0 for 3.  Bubba was one of the most called bench players for the 1955 Tiges hitting .234 with 3 homers and 23 RBI’s.  But the Tiges sent him to Chicago at the end of the season for Virgil Trucks who was on his second round as a Tiger in his aging years.   He was with the Chisox for the next several years and was the starting third baseman on the 1959 Go-Go Sox that won the Sox first pennant since the Black Sox of 1919.  Rather than keep Bubba the Sox traded him to Cleveland with future Tiger Norm Cash and Johnny Romano for future Tiger Dick Brown and others including Minnie Minoso.  Bubba spent the next three years as the Tribes third baseman hitting .249 and averaging about 11 homers and 53 RBI’s.  However, after the 1962 season the Tribe was done with Bubba and sent him to Detroit for Ron Nischwitz and Gordon Seyfried.   Bubba would be the Tigers starting third baseman in 1963 hitting .246 with 5 homers and 45 RBI’s.  This would be his only year as the starter in Detroit.  In 1964 a young Don Wert who had shared time with Bubba in 1963 actually took over the spot as starter.  Bubba was back on the bench and giving up his spot to a 25 year old when he was 34 or so everyone thought.  Bubba was actually two years older at 36.  In spring training of 1965 the Tigers went full swing with Don Wert and Bubba was done as a major leaguer.  The Tigers released him early in spring 1965 and his career in baseball was over.

Lynn Nelson ended his MLB career as a Tiger.  He was born and raised in North Dakota.  He was a minor league pitcher who could hit both literally and figuratively.  He started boxing after he had signed a minor league contract so he had to box as “The Masked Marvel”.  He was 21-0 as a boxer.  But baseball was where he made his fame.  He worked in the minors for several years before getting a call up to the Chicago Cubs in 1930.  He was used as reliever most of the time.  In his rookie year he was 3-2 with a 5.09 ERA.  As a batter he was 4 for 18 with a double, triple and 2 RBI’s.  But the Cubs sent him to the minors for a few years before calling him back in 1933.  The righty pitcher was 5-5 with 3.21 ERA.  At the plate Lynn batted lefty and hit .238 with another double and another triple and 2 more RBI’s in 21 at bats.  In 1934 he was mainly a minor leaguer and pitched his last games for the Cubs going 0-1 in 2 games before being sold to the Atlanta Crackers.  He was in the minors for a few more years before Memphis traded him to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1937.  Lynn pitched three years for the Athletics.  He started out in the bullpen but the Athletics staff was so bad that soon he was called on to be a starter.  In 1939 he was the ace of the staff going 10-13 with a 4.78 ERA.  But he was also used as a pinch hitter quite a bit.  In fact he pinch hit in about as many games as he pitched.   And he had a .282 batting average for the Athletics with 4 homers and 49 RBI’s in the three seasons.  In 1939 he was the Athletics starting pitcher in the first night game in the American League.  He pitched well but did not get a decision.   However, in 1939 he was actually struggling.  His arm was sore and while he was the ace he also gave up a lot of homers and hit a low .188 so Connie Mack waived him.  The Tiges picked him up in February as they had to rebuild their farm after Judge Landis had decimated their farm.  For Detroit Lynn was only in 6 games as a pitcher and was 1-1 with a 10.93 ERA.  But he made batted in 19 games due to his pinch hitting skills and hit .348 and hit his last major league homer.  But his pitching was just not up to par as the Tiges were working on a AL pennant.  Lynn was sent to the minors in July to end his time in the majors.  The Tigers won the AL flag but lost the series to the Reds.  But the Tigers voted Lynn a half share of their World Series earnings.   Lynn went on to play another 3 seasons in the minors before his playing career was over.   He died in 1955 short of his 50^th birthday by 9 days. 

Wilbur Cooper

Bugs Raymond

Monte Beville 

February 23 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Rondell White was a starting outfielder for the Tigers.  He started his major league career in 1993 with the Montreal Expos.  He only got in 23 games and hit .260.  He continues with the Expos and in 1995 became the starting center fielder.  He was second on the team in OBP, stolen bases and doubles and third in batting average.  In 1999 he moved over to left for the Expos but was still solid at the plate hitting .312.  In 2000 he was traded to the Cubs for Scott Downs.  His last four seasons in Montreal he purchased 200 tickets every Sunday for underprivileged kids in Montreal.  He stayed with the Cubs through 2001 and was still hitting over .300.  After the 2001 season he signed as a free agent with the Yankees.  The Yanks kept Rondell for one year and then sent him to the Padres for Mark Phillips, Bubba Trammell and cash.  He was an all star vor ht Padres yet did not last the season before he was sent to the Kansas City Royals to finish the season.  At the end of 2003 The Tigers signed Rondell as a free agent for $2,750,000.  Rondell was out starting left fielder in 2004 and hit .270 and was in a three way tie for third place on the team in homers with 19.  The others he tied with were Pudge Rodriguez and Eric Munson.  Rondell returned as a Tiger in 2005 and hit .313 in 97 games as the left fielder.  He was granted free agency by the Tigers at the end of the season and signed with the Twins.  He played in Minnesota for 2006 and 2007 but was hitting only .229.  That December he was named in the Mitchell report for using steroids.  He did not play again in the majors after that. 

John Shelby ended his career as a Tiger.  He started his career in 1981 with the Orioles and appeared in 7 games with 2 at bats but did not get a hit.  He stayed in Baltimore into 1987 playing mainly center field.  In seven seasons with the O’s, T-Bone, as he was called, stole 52 bases in 512 games.  But he only hit .239 with an OBP of .281.  The O’s sent T-Bone to the Dodgers early in the 1987 season with Brad Havens for Tom Niedenfuer.   He stayed with the Dodgers and showed his speed stealing 43 bases in 393 games as their center fielder.  Before the 1990 season was over T-Bone was released and signed by the Tigers.  I always remember him for a July game at Fenway Park in 1991.  T-Bone was hitting 9^th in the lineup behind Pete Incaviglia and Rob Deer.  In the second inning Roger Clemons walked Dave Bergman and then gave up back to back homers to Pete Incaviglia and Rob Deer making the score 3-2.  Roger was not happy and wanted to show his displeasure.  T-Bone hit .154 for the season and only 3 homers and Roger threw 130 pitches that day and only 41 were not for strikes.   However, he somehow lost control of an 0-1 pitch to T-Bone and threw it behind him so when T-Bone bailed he bailed into the pitch and it hit him in the back.  T-Bone justifiably was not happy and charged the mound.  The benches cleared and there was a typical baseball brawl for 15 minutes.  Unfortunately T-Bone did not drop his bat before charging the mound.  As result he was ejected while Roger stayed in the game.  As a Tiger fan in Fenway I could not get too vocal but I did give my displeasure with a loud boo when T-Bone left the field.  T-Bone was done as a major leaguer about a month later.  His career average was .239 while his average with Detroit was .211.

Roy Johnson started his career as Tiger.  In 1929 Roy was 26 and in his first season in the majors jumped right into the Tiger starting line up and hit .314 as the starting left fielder.   He led the league in at bats and in doubles his rookie season.  He moved over to right in 1930 but his batting average dropped to .275.  He stayed in right for the Tigers into the 1932 season.  He was traded to the Red Sox half way through the 1932 season with Dale Alexander for Earl Webb.  In his four seasons with the Tiges Roy hit .287 with 23 homers and 181 RBI’s.  In 1933 Roy’s brother, Bob, joined the majors with the Philadelphia Athletics.  Bob was known as “Indian Bob” as the Johnson’s were part Cherokee.  Roy would go on to play for the Yankees and Boston Bee’s (also known as the Brave’s) and was a career .296 hitter with a career .369 OBP. 

February 22 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Steve Colyer played the majority of his time in the majors with the Tigers.  He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1997 and worked his way up to the show with the Dodgers in the spring of 2003.  He got in 13 games as a middle reliever and had 16 K’s to 9 walks and an ERA of 2.75 without a decision or a save.  The following April he was traded to the Tigers for backup outfielder Cody Ross.  Cody had appeared in 6 games for the Tigers and hit .211 with a homer in 2003 and the Tiges needed any help in 2004.  Steve was a lefty situational reliever for the Tigers.  On April 11 Steve got the call from pen with the score tied 5-5 against the Twins in the 10^th inning.  He got Lew Ford to pop up to short.  Then he walked Henry Blanco before getting Cristian Guzman to hit into an inning ending double play, 6-3 for those scoring at home.  In the Tiger half of the 10^th, Pudge Rodriguez led off with a K.  Rondell
White then walked.  Andres Torres then pinch ran for Rondell and stole second.  Craig Monroe then hit a line drive single to left to score Torres and give the Tigers and Steve the win.  It was Steve’s only win as a Tiger and in his time in the majors.  He got in 41 games for the Tigers and had a record of 1-0 with a 6.47 ERA.  A year and a day after the Tigers had traded for him Steve was sent to the Mets for Matt Ginter.  He never pitched for the Mets but in 2007 he got back up to the show with the Braves and in seven games was 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA.  Steve was released by the Mets on May 14, 2007 and his time in the majors was over. 

Sparky Anderson was a Hall of Famer as Tiger.  I was there when he told myself and a few others including my cousin that if he ever got elected to the Hall of Fame he would go in as a Tiger.  If you are wondering, he has a “C” on his cap on his plaque at Cooperstown.   I am not sure if it was one of those situations where the Hall dictated what cap he wore as is the case with Andre Dawson.  It may just have been one of those things where Sparky was just talking.  He was good with stories.  Who can forget that Chris Pittaro was going to be the greatest player since Mickey Mantle only to be done playing after 53 games.  Sparky was not loved by Bill James.  James has always stated that Sparky was even at best in wins according to the James Pythagorean winning percentage.  This is a formula where you take the runs scored to the power of 1.83 and divide by the sum of runs scored to the power of 1.83 plus runs allowed to the power of 1.83.  This gives you the estimated winning percentage.  James feels that if you finish below this then your manager did not do a good job or at least your team was unlucky.  The theory assumes that the players will perform the same regardless of the manager.  And this is where I have the issue with the James assessment.  While Sparky may not have helped Chris Pittaro and other rookies, other players blossomed under Sparky as they could not under other managers.   It is also odd that James would have a hard time with Sparky when you look at 1984.   In 1984, Sparky became the first manager to win a World Series title as both an NL and an AL manager.  He did it by winning 104 games.  Yet according to the Pythagorean win loss formula he should have only won 99 games.

My greatest Day in BAseball

Jackie Sullivan played his entire time in the majors as a Tiger.  He started his career in pro ball in 1940 in the Tigers farm system.  He went off to serve in the military during World War II for two years but was out in 1944.  The Tigers brought him to Detroit after he got out of the service and on July 6, in a game against the Red Sox in Fenway Park, Jackie got the nod to replace second baseman Eddie Mayo late in the game.  The game was already out of hand and Jackie got one at bat against the Sox Tex Hughson and failed to get on base.  He had one ball hit to him in the field and he made the put out.  After that game Jackie would end up getting optioned off to Buffalo and never got back into the majors.  He was released by the Tigers as a player after 1947, but played in the minors until 1955 as a player manager until 1955.  At that time he was done in baseball and went back to his home state of Texas and became a police officer.   

Tony DeFate played briefly for the Tigers in his career.  He began his time as a pro player for the Topeka Savages  in 1916 and hit .324 in 64 games.  He was picked up by the St. Louis Cardinals at the end of the season and started the 1917 season as a Cardinal.  He got in to 17 games with the Cards.  But he only made 20 plate appearances.   These totaled 16 at bats with 4 walks.  Of the 16 at bats he got 2 hits and 1 RBI.  He played third base in 5 of those 17 games and one as a second baseman.  At some point during the 1917 season he left the Cardinals and became a Tiger.  For the Tiges he got into 3 games and had two plate appearances.   He did not get a hit but struck out once and scored a run once.  He also played second base one game and made an assist in one chance.  After July 9, 1917, Tony was done in the majors.  He stuck around in the minors for another 14 years.  He was a career .303 hitter in the minors in over 1500 games playing mainly Class A ball.

Clarence Mitchell started his 18 year major league career as Tiger.  He started his career in baseball in 1910 with the Red Cloud Cloud of the Nebraska State League.  He was 14-13 as a left handed pitcher.  He went to Michigan in 1911 and split time between Saginaw and Detroit.  While with Detroit he mainly pitched batting practice but he made his major league debut on June 2, 1911, in Washington against the Senators in a game that Tiges would loose but Clarence did not get the loss.  About two weeks later Clarence came in to a game the Tiges trailed 15-8 in the 8^th against the White Sox.  He put the Sox down without allowing a run that inning.  In the Tigers half he got his first major league hit when he hit a ball that bounced off the third base bag.  He moved around the bases and scored to and by the end of the inning the score was only 15-13 in favor of the Sox.  In the next inning Clarence put the Sox down 1-2-3.  Then the Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game 16-15 and give Clarence his only win as a Tiger.  It was a 12 run come back and a loss for Sox Hall of Fame pitcher Ed Walsh.  Clarence left the Tigers in 1911 when it was reported that he was warming up and manager Hughie Jennings was watching him warm up.  He asked Clarence what kind of pitch he was throwing and Clarence responded “ a slit ball”.  Hughie was mad and said there was no such thing as a left handed spitballer and told him to go home.  Clarence kept on throwing the spitball and in 1920 was one of 17 pitchers allowed to continue throwing the pitch after it was banned.  Also in 1920 Clarence became famous for another play in the World Series.  While pitching for Brooklyn he hit into the only unassisted triple play in World Series history.  He won 125 games in the majors over 18 seasons and was in two World Series.  But his time in Detroit was 5 games with a 1-0 record and an 8.16 ERA.  

February 21 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Alan Trammell is soooo underrated. I can not figure out why he is not in the hall. Him and Lou belong in. Ozzie did a back flip so he gets in. Really? Can't people see the consistency in hitting? A life time .285 hitter averaging 71 RBI's a season at short. The clutch hitting? WS MVP, talk about clutch! The gold gloves? 4. Six all star games. Come on writers, vote him in. He is class all the way. I would like nothing better then to see the Hall realize they done screwed up big with Lou and put the two in together. The Tiges of the 80's were a machine. The only team in baseball to win more games then the Tiges was the Yankees by only I think a game or two. And the heart of the machine was Tram and Lou.  Oddly enough, this year we will see 1 and 3 up the middle again.  Only this year it will be reversed,  Shortstop will be Jose Iglesias wearing number 1 and second baseman Ian Kinsler wearing number 3. 

Bill Slayback has been compared to Leonardo De Vinci for his time pitching for the Tigers.  This is because he is artistic as well as being a decent pitcher for the 1972 Tigers.  However, I don’t think there are any movies titled “The Slayback Code”.  He grew up in California and spent some time in community college and then Cal State Northridge before baseball and the Tiges intervened in 1968.    He was a tall righty with a great fastball.  In high school he was throwing 90 mph.  The problem was that he had no idea where the ball was going.  He would K 10 per game but would walk about the same.  He was not pitching in college but a neighbor who was coaching a local team asked Bill to pitch a game for him.  In typical movie fashion he was fast but this day had pinpoint control.  And in typical movie fashion there was a Tiger scout in the stands.  He met with Bill but Bill soon forgot about it.  A few months later someone told Bill he had been drafted.  This was 1968 and the Vietnam War was in full swing.  Bill was a bit concerned.  But then it was explained that he had been drafted by the Tigers.  Shortly after starting his career in baseball Ernie Harwell wanted to talk to Bill.  Bill had no idea who Ernie was at the time.  The two would meet due to Ernie’s love off music and composing.  He wanted to meet Bill because Bill also wrote and played music.  The two would start a collaboration and friendship that would last for the rest of Ernie’s life.  Bill worked in the minors and was a starter in Toledo in 1972 and pitching very effectively when he was called up to Detroit and a pennant race on June 26 of 1972.   He drove from Toledo to Detroit and got lost trying to find Tiger Stadium.  When he found it and told the attendant who he was the attendant informed him that he was starting that night against the Yankees.  Welcome to the majors.  Bill was pitching well but no one was talking to him during the game even though they had been friendly before the game.  In the 8^thJohnny Callison hit a single to right field that Al Kaline charged hard and threw hard to first to try and get Callison who was still safe.  Bill was shocked by the effort from Kaline and told him so.  Kaline said “Kid, you didn’t know what was going on did you?”  At the point Bill was informed that he had a no hitter going when Callison finally broke it up.  Bill was put right into the rotation and was very effective.  He had pitched several complete games and had an ERA of 1.40.  But then Tom Timmerman got into trouble in the first inning and Tiger skipper Billy Martin called on Bill to pitch from the bull pen.  It was too much for the young arm and bill was never quite the same.  A few weeks later Martin was angry that the Oakland A’s were starting to hit Tiger pitching.  Martin called in Slayback to pitch in relief.  While on the mound Bill got a pitch call to bean the A’s batter.  Bill had never threw at a batter before.  He asked Tiger catcher Duke Sims what he should do.  Duke told him that if he did not throw at the batter he was likely on his way back to the minors.  The next pitch sailed behind the A’s batters head and a brawl ensued.  Bill and two others were tossed from the game.  After the game Martin called Bill into his office and told he had guts and that Martin would pay his fine and try to get him a raise.  Bill did not tell Martin that it was actually a wild pitch that he had lost control of.  Bill was not effective the rest of the season and finished the season at 5-6 with a 3.20 ERA.  He did not pitch in the playoffs against the A’s.  He pitched in three games for the Tigers in June of 1973 but was still very ineffective and was sent back to the minors.  It was also in 1973 that his record that he co wrote with Ernie Harwell “Move Over Babe, Here Comes Henry” was released.  It was a single about Hank Aaron’s pursuit of Babe Ruth’s homerun record.  In 1974 Bill would spend the entire season as a Tiger.  Pitching mainly in relief he went 1-3 with a 4.77 ERA.  He was back in the minors in 1975 and pitched in Evansville and roomed with a young pitcher named Mark Fidrych.  Bill was at the end of his baseball career in 1976 as Fidrych’s was taking off.  Bill then left baseball and toured with Jose Feliciano as well as writing a few commercials for Budweiser, Miller and Nike.  Bill is also talented as a painter and sculptor. 

Jack Billingham

Doug Gallagher

Alex Remneas spent one third of his time in the major leagues with the Tigers.  He appeared in the record books starting in 1911 with the Butte Minors where the 25 year old pitcher was 22-18 at the Class D level team.  The next year he found himself in Detroit and Tiger manager Hughie Jennings decided to give him a chance at the majors.  So on April 15, 1912 Alex found himself on the Tigers roster in Chicago on the fifth day of the season.  The Tigers, who were 2-2 in that early part of the season were playing the 2-2 White Sox.  The Tigers were already behind when Alex got a call from the bull pen.  He lasted all of 1.2 innings and gave up 5 runs on 5 hits for an ERA of 27.  At the plate Alex made one plate appearance and drew a walk.  The Tiges would lose the game 12-7 and Alex would never play again for the Tigers.  He did get into 2 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1915 and did drop his career ERA to 7.04.  But he never did get a decision in his three games in the majors.  He never appeared in baseball again after 1915. 

February 20 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Buck Farmer is one of the more recent Tigers.  He was drafted out of Georgia Tech and signed by the Tigers in June of 2013.  So he has been with the club less than two years.  He pitched in A level ball with the Connecticut Tigers in 2014 and was 0-3 in 11 starts but did post a 3.09 ERA.  In 2014 he was moved up to West Michigan where he was 12-6 in 22 starts and a 2.60 ERA.  He was moved up to Erie (AA) where he was 1-0 in 2 starts with a 3.00 ERA and then to Toledo where he was 1-1 in 2 starts with a 9.82 ERA.  Mind you, this was all just last year in 2014.  In August he was called up to Detroit.  In his debut against the Pirates he started the game and lasted 5 innings.  The young righty allowed 4 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks while K’ing 4.  He got no decision.  10 days later he started a game against the Twins and lasted only 1.1 innings.  He took the loss as he gave up 7 runs in the brief period on 5 hits and 2 walks while K’ing 3.  His next two appearances were in relief against the Giants and the Twins in the last game of the season.  His Tiger and MLB totals to date are 9.1 innings pitched in 4 games with a 0-1 record and a 11.57 ERA.  He was walked 5 but K’d 11.  So it looks like he has some serious heat, but maybe not many other pitches.  Hopefully we will learn more about him this season. 

Justin Verlander has the beginning of a Hall of Fame career with the Tigers.  He was first in the majors in 2005 when he started two games and lost both.  The first was a 4^th of July start against the Cleveland Indians when manager Alan Trammell kept him in the game for 5.1 innings.  Justin gave up 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks and a wild pitch.  Justin managed to get 4 K’s, the first being Travis Hafner who struck out swinging in the first inning.  His second K was Hafner swinging again in the second inning.  His second game was about three weeks later when he faced the Twins and lasted 6 innings giving up 5 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks and on hit batter.  He managed 3 K’s in that game.  His ERA for the two games was 7.15.  He spent the rest of the 2005 season in the minors.  In 2006, his rookie season, was 17-9 and won Rookie of the Year honors and opened the 2006 World Series.  Unfortunately the Tigers had a week off before the Series started and the Tiges went down 4-1.  Verlander had not pitched for 10 days and it showed.  He lasted only 5 innings and game up 7 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks.  He started the sixth inning but after a leadoff walk to Albert Pujols, an error by Justin on an attempted pick of Pujols sending him to third, a single to Edmonds to score Pujols, and a Major League Baseball rule double to Scott Rolen Justin was taken out of the game.  Since then Justin has been putting up Hall of Fame numbers.  He has 152 wins in 10 seasons (including the 2005 season), led the league in wins twice, led the league in innings pitched three times, led the league in K’s three times, been in the top five for complete games four times including 2012 when he led the league with 6, has 6 career shutouts, been an All Star 6 times, won a Cy Young award and an MVP.  If he keeps it up he is shoe in for the Hall. He is 32 today.

Kurt Knudsen pitched his entire time in the majors with the Tigers.  His first game was in May of 1992 when he was called in from the pen to relieve Scott Aldred who had started and was up to 102 pitches in the sixth and had just given up a his first run of the game on a George Brett double.  Kurt came in and walked his first batter faced, Kevin McReynolds.  His next better was Mike Macfarlane who Kurt struck out while giving up a wild pitch.  Kurt lasted two innings and allowed one run, on two hits and two walks.  Four days later he came in to a game against the Brewers in Detroit that Bill Gullickson had started and had one out in the 9^th but trailed 2-1.  Bill was taken out for Mike Munoz who faced Dave Nilsson. Nilsson went down with a ground out to shortstop Travis Fryman.  Kurt was called in by Sparky Anderson to get the last out.  Kurt game up two singles in a row before Tim McIntosh was caught stealing for the last out.  In the Tigers half of the inning Lou Whitaker got a leadoff single.  Cecil Fielder was walked to bring up Mickey Tettleton.  Mickey hit a 3 run walk of homer to give Kurt his first win as a major leaguer.  About a month later Kurt came in to pitch the 11th of a tie game against the Red Sox.  He K’d Louis Rivera, gave up a single to Wade Boggs before getting Jack Clark to pop out and K’ing Herm Winningham.  In the bottom of the inning Travis Fryman got a single and Mickey Tettleton came up and hit a 2 run walk off homer for Kurt’s second win and last of the season.  His record for 1992 was 2-3 with a 4.58 ERA.  He got his second win of the 1993 season when he pitched the 8^th and the Tigers were down 6-2.  In the top of the 9^th Mickey Tettleton got a double to start a 6 run rally and Kurt got the win. Towards the end of the season Kurt got his third win when Mickey Tettleton sealed the victory with two run homer in the ninth.  For 1993 Kurt was 3-2 with a 4.78 ERA.  In 1994 Kurt got one more win.  The Tigers had just taken the lead in the 10^th against the Baltimore Orioles of off a Mickey Tettleton homer.  Kurt came in and gave up a homer to Rafeal Palmeiro to tie the game back up.  The Tigers got the game back and won 5-3 but Mickey did not provide the heroics for the end of the game.  Kurt was 1-0 with a 12.50 ERA in 1994, his last year in the majors.  I do not think Kurt ever married Mickey.

Bill Gullickson ended his career as a Tiger.  He started his career with the Montreal Expos in 1980 and finished second in Rookie of the Year balloting behind Steve Howe of the Dodgers.  Bill was 10-5 with a 3.00 ERA and 120 K’s.  Steve Howe was 7-9 with a 2.66 ERA and 39 K’s.  Bill was in the rotation for the Expos and had two shut outs as well as a strong September with the race against the Phillies.  Bill was 4-1 in September-October including a complete game gem against the Cubs when he struck out 18 batters, a record for rookies until Kerry Wood broke it a few years later.  But the biggest stat was Steve played in LA and Bill played in Montreal.  Bill stayed with the Expos through 1985 as a starter going 72-61 with the Expos and a 3.44 ERA.  At the end of the 1985 season Bill was traded to the Cincinnati Reds with Sal Butera for Dann Bilardello, Andy McGaffigan, John Stuper and Jay Tibbs.  He was in Cincy for a year and a half going 25-23 with a 3.98 ERA.  The Reds traded Bill to the Yankees in August 1987 for Dennis Rasmussen.  He won 14 games in 1987 between the Reds and Yankees with a 4.86 ERA and could not find a home as a free agent.  One of the victims of the owners collusion of the late 1980’s.  So Bill went over to Japan and pitched for the Yomiuri Giants for two years going 21-14 with a 3.29 ERA.  He returned to the US in 1990 signing with the Houston Astros going 10-14 with a 3.82 ERA.  He then signed as a free agent with the Tiges in 1991 and immediately became the ace of the staff going 20-9 with a 3.90 ERA.  That was the last time a pitcher won 20games for the Tigers in 20^th century.  In 1992 he dropped a bit to 14-13 with a 4.34 ERA but still was the ace.  In 1993 Bill was not the ace and dropped a bit further to 13-9 and his ERA climbed to 5.37.  In 1994 Bill struggled with injuries and posted only a 4-5 record with a career high 5.93 ERA.  Bill retired before the end of the season.  He was a diabetic his whole career and in 1994 Bill had a talk with a 12 year old kid about dealing with his diabetes.  The kid was current Tampa Bay outfielder, Sam Fuld.

Roy Face played only part of a season with the Tigers but he picked the right season.  Roy spent most of his career with the Pittsburg Pirates as their closer.  He started with the Pirates in 1953 and was in the minors in 1954 but back up in the majors in 1955.  He was not a successful starter and was converted to a reliever.  He then became one of the NL’s top relievers for the late 1950’s and 1960’s.  In 1959 he won 18 games without making a single start.  He led the league three times in saves for the Pirates and was the major leagues career leader in saves for two years starting in 1962 and held that title for one more year before Hoyt Wilhelm passed him in 1964.  Roy had a career 188 saves for the Pirates, a franchise record, and was a three time all star.  He was 40 when he was purchased by the Tigers on August 31, 1968.  Before he left Pittsburg he got in one more game to tie him with Walter Johnson for most games pitched with on team at 802.  He got in his first game with Detroit on September 2 in the second game of a double header against the Athletics in Oakland.  The Tiges were leading 3-2 in the 8^th and with runners on first and second and one out.  Roy gave up a single to Danny Cater that scored Bert Campaneris and tied the game.  Roy then got Sal Bando to fly out to left and moving Danny Cater to second.    Roy then intentionally walked Rick Monday before ending the inning by getting Jim Pagliaroni out on strikes. Roy was pulled the next inning.  The next day Roy was called in again with the Tigers leading the Athletics 2-1 in the 8^th with runners on first and second and two outs.  Roy faced Joe Keough.  Joe hit a single to right scoring the runners but Joe was called out trying to stretch the single into a double to end the inning.  Roy never pitched again for the Tigers.  His record after 1 inning pitched for the Tigers was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA but two blown saves.  In the spring of 1969 Roy was released.  He was signed by the Expos as free agent and was the Expos main closer their first year in existence closing out 27 games before his career was closed out at the end of the season.

Muddy Ruel was a 19 year catcher in the majors with two of those years as a Tiger.  He started his career in 1915 with the Browns as a 19 year old back up and in 14 at bats did not get a hit.  He was in the minors before coming back to the majors in 1917 with the New York Yankees as a backup catcher through 1920.  He was always a strong defensive catcher.  In 1920 he was the catcher when Carl Mays threw the pitch that killed Cleveland’s Ray Chapman.  At the end of the season he was traded to the Red Sox with Del Pratt, Hank Thormahlen, and Sammy Vick for Harry Harper, Waite Hoyt, Mike McNally and Wally Schang.   He became a starter with the Red Sox and hit .269 over three seasons before being sent to the Washington Senators.  He was their starter when they made their only two appearances in the World Series.  He scored the winning run in game 7 of the 1924 World Series when the Senators won their only World Series.  After 8 seasons with the Senators he was sold back to the Red Sox.  He played one season as a backup with the Sox before being traded to the Tiges for Marty McManus on August 31, 1931.  He got in 14 games for the Tigers in 1931 and hit .120.  He was back with Detroit in 1932 as a 36 year old backup catcher.  The value of a smart defensive catcher has always been great in baseball.  He hit .235 for the Tiges and at the end of the season was released.   He went back to the Browns for 1933 and then to the White Sox in 1934 before his playing days were done.  After his playing career he coached for the White Sox through 1945.  He then became assistant to Commissioner Happy Chandler in 1946 before joining the St. Louis Browns as their manager in 1947.  He left the Browns in 1948 to work as coach for the Cleveland Indians and stayed there until coming back to Detroit as director of their farm system before becoming the Tigers General Manager from 1954 through 1956.  Muddy held a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

Q.         Who is the only player to collect 500 career RBI while hitting fewer than five career home runs?

Hint:     He turned more double plays in a season than any other catcher in Boston Red Sox history.

Hint:     He played for St. Louis as a rookie then again eighteen years later then fourteen years later was the manager of that same franchise.

Twint:    He was General Manager of the Detroit Tigers 1954-56 and later special advisor to the owner.

A.         Muddy Ruel (536 RBI, 4 HR; 17 DP in 1922; Rookie in 1915 for SLB, as a veteran for them in 1933 and Mgr in 1947)

Suds Sutherland played his only games in the majors with the Tigers.  He had played seven years in the minors winning 20 games twice before getting a chance in the majors in 1921 with the Tigers.  He won opening day in 1921 when he came in a pitched the last four innings and allowed only 1 run to beat the White Sox 5-4.  He would go on to win 5 more games for the Tigers and was 6-2 record and posted a 4.97 ERA when he got the start on June 12 against the Yankees.   Suds was on the mound when Babe Ruth hit a homer and the Yankees went up 8-3.  Tiger Manager Ty Cobb was not happy and came in from center field to take the ball away from Suds.  Suds would pitch only one more game as a reliever and never get another start. His tim

February 19 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Chris Zachary was a member of the 1972 AL East Champion Tigers.  Chris started his professional career due to expansion when he signed as an amateur free agent with the expansion Houston Colt .45’s.  Chris spent most of his career in Houston with the Colt .45’s and the Astros.  He made his major league debut in 1963 with Houston at the age of 19.  He was called in from the bull pen to pitch the 9^th inning against the San Francisco Giants who were already ahead 4-1.  He faced Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda for his first three batters as a 19 year old major leaguer.  Not an enviable task.  The three Hall of Famers proceeded to get a walk, a single and homer to make the score 7-1.  But Chris did get the next three batters out to end the inning and earn a no decision.  Chris went on to be a spot starter for the Houston franchise and over the next 5 years compiled a record of 6-16 with a 4.64 ERA.  He had baseball cards in 1964, 1966 and 1967 for Houston.  He described himself as being “a pretty decent 10^th man on a 10 man staff”.  He was in the minors in 1968 but expansion came to his aid again.  This time the Kansas City Royals picked him up from the now Houston Astros and Chris played for the expansion Royals in their debut season of 1969 where he was 0-1 in 8 games.  In reward for his 1969 performance Topps made a card of him in 1970 with the Royals.  However, he spent the whole season in the minors and was traded half way through the season to the St. Louis Cardinals.  He was brought back to the majors in 1971 with the Cards and was 3-10.  However, Topps did not bother with a card of him in 1971 or 1972.  After the 1971 season the Cards sent Chris to the Tiges for Bill Denehy.  Chris proceeded to show Topps they made a mistake by not making a card of him in 1972 by appearing in 25 games for the AL East champ Tiges and posting a 1.41 ERA in relief.  Chris pulled off a win for the 1972 Tiges when he came in to pitch the bottom of the 7^th inning for the Tiges in a game they trailed the Brewers in Milwaukee 5-4.  Chris got the Brewers out 1-2-3 and the Tiges came back to score 4 in the 8^th to give Chris the win.  It was his only win as a Tiger but as the Tigers won the pennant by half a game, it was an important win.  Chris got into the 1972 post season with the Tiges and in game 2 of the playoffs he got the call with the Tigers trailing the Oakland Athletics 2-0.  With Bert Campaneris on third and Jesus Alou on first Chris faced Joe Rudi.  He gave up a wild pitch that scored Campy and moved Alou to second.  A second wild pitch moved Alou to third before he gave up a walk to Rudi.  He was then pulled from the game.  Chris never pitched in the series again.  Topps rewarded a post season appearance with a baseball card in 1973 as a Tiger.  However, just before the 1973 season Chris was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Charlie Sands without ever making another appearance as a Tiger.  He was done in the majors after going 0-1 with the Pirates and done in baseball after 1974.  He died in 2003 at the age of 59 of cancer.    

Jackie Moore spent his entire major league playing career as a Tiger.  He was signed as a amateur free agent in 1957 by the Tiges.  He then spent the next 8 years working his way up the Tigers food chain as a catcher hitting about .250 in the minors with decent defensive abilities.  He finally got the call in 1965 when he started a game at catcher against the Los Angeles Angels in Dodger Stadium.  His first at bat came against Rudy May in the second.  Jackie struck out looking.  He came up again in the fifth and the 26 year old struck out looking again.  He made two more outs until the 13^th inning with the score tied 1-1.  Will Horton lead off with a single.  Jackie then followed with his first major league hit, a single to center to move Horton to third.  Jackie was then taken out of the game for pinch runner Jim Northrup.  Northrup would score as did Horton and Dick McAulilffe to give the Tiges the win 4-1.  Jackie would start 15 more games and appear in a total of 21 games.  He would get 4 more hits and 2 RBI’s while K’ing another 11 times in the season.  His last at bat would come against the Cleveland Indians.  Jackie was a pinch hitter for Terry Fox in the 13^th facing Sam McDowell.  He struck out.  He would never appear in another game as a player again.  His final batting average as a Tiger was .094.  The next year Jackie was part of the deal that brought Bill Monbouquette to the Tigers from the Red Sox.  Jackie must have recognized that his play would not keep him in the game because in 1968 he started managing in the minors for Boston’s A- level club in Jamestown.  Managing and coaching would keep him in the game.  He managed in the majors for the Oakland Athletics from 1984 to 1986 and was managing Houston’s AA team as late as 2007.  In 2012 he was bench coach for the Texas Rangers.   His lone player card is a 1965 Rookies card with John Sullivan. 

Russ Sullivan had all the potential to be a great Tiger and was an all around class act. He joined the Navy out of high school in 1943 rather than a baseball team.  After all, there was a war going on.  He served aboard the USS Hancock which was an aircraft carrier.  He served in the battle of Okinawa and sometimes went on missions as a tail gunner.   After the war he joined the Tigers and baseball.  He was already 25 when he signed in 1948.  He hit .335 his first year in pro ball in class C and led the league in homers and RBI’s while being chosen as an all star as an outfielder.  He was again an all star in class A in 1950 with Williamsport where he hit .317 with 25 homers.  He was in AAA at Toledo in 1951 and hit .341 with 11 homers and 88 RBI’s.  That year he was also a late season call up for the Tigers and made his major league debut in September.  He started a game against The White Sox in Chicago replacing Vic Wertz in right field.  He walked in his first major league plate appearance against Lou Kretlow.  He then went 0 for 3 for the rest of the game but was perfect in the field.  Russ got in a total of seven games for the Tiges that season and went 5 for 26 with 2 walks for a .250 OBP.  He also hit one homer.  Russ had another late season call up in 1952 where he hit .327 in 15 games.  The high lite of his career was when he was taking batting practice in Boston and Ted Williams was watching.  Williams watched Sullivan hit ball after ball into stands and said “Boy, you hit ‘em as hard as I do”.  That same year he helped Hal Newhouser win his 200^th game of his career when he hit a homer atop the right field roof of Briggs Stadium similar to the blast Reggie Jackson hit years later in the all star game.  Russ would play in 23 games for the Tigers in 1953 also and hit .379.  The problem for Russ was that he was already30 at that time and the Tigers were starting to rebuild.  Youth was what they would be looking for in the likes of Al Kaline and others.  In fact, after the Al Kaline appeared Russ was sent to Kansas City.  He stayed in pro ball through 1957 but never appeared in the majors again after the Tigers.  His final stats were 45 games in three seasons with a .267 average and 5 homers with 12 RBI’s.   

February 18 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jerry Morales

Leo Marentette was born in Detroit before he became a Tiger. He was offered a football scholarship out of high school with Arizona State but he signed with the Tigers from Wayne High school at the age of 19 in 1960.  He had been a catcher in high school but switched to pitcher when he signed with the Tiges.  He worked his way up the minors but his role was never really defined for him in regards to being a starter or a reliever.  But he always looked decent with a low ERA in the 3’s or low 4’s and always striking out more than he walked.  At the end of the 1963 season he was sold to the Los Angeles Angels but was returned to the tigers before the 1964 season started.  In 1965 he started 26 games and completed 11.  He was 12-11 with a 3.03 with Rocky Mount which was class A.  He had pitched in AA and AAA in 1964.  The Tigers made him a late season call up in 1965 and he made his debut in Detroit against the Indians in a game that the Tigers trailed and was already out of hand, 7-1 when Tiger skipper Chuck Dressen called him in to pitch the 9^th.  Leo came in and got Fred Whitfield to fly out for his first batter faced.  He then struck out Max Alvis before giving up a single to Larry Brown before ending the inning by getting Duke Sims to ground out second to first.  Five days later, on the last day of the season, the fourth place Tigers were playing the 8^th place Senators in Washington DC.  Joe Sparma had started against future Tiger Joe Coleman (the son).  It was the 6^th and the Senators lead 3-2.  Dressen pulled Sparma and put in Leo.  Leo walked future Tiger Frank Howard.  Don Lock came in to pinch run for the lumbering Howard but was picked off by Leo.  Leo then got Willie Kirkland and Woody Held to end the inning.  In the 7^th Leo got the Senators out 1-2-3 including future Tigers Eddie Brinkman and Joe Coleman who K’d.  In the 8^th Don Demeter came in and pinch hit for Leo.  Leo would never again play in a Tiger uniform.  His final record as a Tiger was 3 innings pitched in 2 games.  He gave up only 1 hit and 1 BB while recording 3 K’s.  His ERA was 0.00.  He was back in the minors for the Tigers after the 1965 season until he was sent to the Houston Astros before the 1969 season.  The Astros did not keep Leo long before they sold him to the new Montreal Expos before the season started.  Leo got in 3 games as an Expo and was 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA during one last week in the majors in June of 1969.  He played with the Expos AAA team in 1970, the Buffalo Bisons who moved to Winnipeg and became the Whips.  The Whips were a short lived team the turned me into an Expos fan as I saw them play as a 7 year old.

Bob Miller is a confusing Tiger.  There is Bob Miller the pitcher who played on the expansion Mets and the Tigers.  And there is the Bob Miller the pitcher who played on the expansion Mets and the Tigers.  This is the former, er,…maybe the latter.  Today’s Bob Miller is the righty Robert Lane Gemeinweiser who changed his name to Bob Miller.  Not the leftie Robert Gerald Miller.  Today’s righty Robert started his career in 1957 with the St. Louis Cardinals as a “bonus baby”.  He pitched for the Cards through 1961 going a combined 9-9 for the Cards.  At the end of the season he was drafted by the expansion New York Mets.  His roommate on the Mets was, Bob Miller.  They ended up with nicknames Righty and Leftie to distinguish themselves.  Righty Bob became the number 4 starter for the expansion Mets and went 1-12 on that abysmal team that had a combined 40-120 record.  But Bob was stuck with the Mets for only one year and was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 1963 season.  He dropped his ERA a full 2 runs by joining the Dodgers and over the next 5 years was 29-33 as a starter only his first year and then as a bull pen standard.  He was traded around after the Dodgers going to the Twins, Indians, White Sox, Cubs, Padres, Pirates and back to the Padres by early 1973.  Along the way he got into 9 postseason games including 6 World Series games in 3 different series.  While his team won 2 of the 3 World Series Bob never won a game.  In June of 1973 the now 34 year old Miller was with the Padres (Among his teammates was Jerry Morales.) and Bob was 0-0 with a 4.11 ERA.  The Padres waived Bob in order to go with more youth in the pitching staff.   The Tigers picked up Bob off of waivers and Bob had a bit of a resurgence under Billy Martin and the Tiges.  In his first appearance as a Tiger Bob relieved Mickey Lolich in the 5^th with the game tied 5-5 between the Brewers and Tigers at Tiger Stadium.   Bob got the next six batters in out.  He did give up 1 run on 3 hits to make the score 6-5 Brewers in the 7th.  But sent he Brewers down 1-2-3 in the 8^th while the Tigers bats scored 2 in their half of the 8^th and Bob got the win in his first Tiger appearance.  Bob appeared in 22 games for the Tiges all in relief and was 4-2 with a 3.43 ERA and one save.  But Billy Martin did not last the season for the Tigers and the aging Tiges desperately needed to rebuild with youth.  So in September of 1973 Bob was sold to the New York Mets where he ended his career in 1974.  Three years later he became the first Toronto Blue Jays pitching coach in their history.  Later he was with the San Francisco Giants organization.  He would die in car accident in 1993 at the age of 54 while he was an advance scout for the Giants.   

Frank House was a bonus baby for the Tigers.  He signed out of high school in Alabama for $75,000 and 2 cars in 1949 with the Tigers.  That was considered about the biggest signing bonus ever at the time for an amateur free agent.  He made his major league debut against the New York Yankees as a defensive replacement as he was known for being a strong defensive catcher with a solid arm.  He would mainly ride the bench that first season getting in only 5 games and making only 5 plate appearances.  His first plate appearance was in late August again, against the Yankees.  He was a pinch runner and stayed in the game.  He came to the plate in the 8^th and was struck out by Allie Reynolds.  He would not see the plate again while holding a bat until the last game of the season.  He got his first major league start that day against the Indians and his first major league hit by going 2 for 4 and scoring a run.   Frank, or “Pig”, which was his nickname, got into 18 games for the Tiges in 1951 before his career was interrupted by the Korean War.  Frank was in the military for the next two years and did not play before returning to baseball in 1954.  That season he was the starting catcher for the Tigers.  (One of the pitchers Frank caught was a young LEFTY named Bob Miller.)  Frank started the season very well among the league leaders in hitting.  But as the season wore on Frank wore out.  He dropped almost 40 pounds that season and was in the hospital a couple of times but they never found the reason for his weight loss.  Frank came back and continued to be the Tigers starting back stop from 1954 through 1957 hitting .250.  His best season was 1955 when he hit a single season high of 15 homers and drove in single season high of 53 RBI’s.  At the end of the 1957 season the Tiges went with righty hitting Red Wilson as their number one back stop and in a big trade Frank ended up on the Athletics in Kansas City with Kent Hadley, Duke Maas, Jim Small, John Tsitouris, Jim McManus and Bill Tuttle for Billy Martin, Mickey McDermott, Tom Morgan, Lou Skizas, Tim Thompson and Gus Zernial.  Frank spent two years in KC and then was sent to the Cincinnati Reds for 1960.  Frank was a back up by that time and hit only .179 for the Reds.  He was sold to the Baltimore Orioles by in 1961 but never played a game for them but was in their farm system until the Orioles traded him back to the Tigers for back up back stop Harry Chiti.  Frank got in 17 games for the Tiges that season and hit .227.  He was released at the end of the season.  After his playing days Frank spent some time in the Alabama State Legislature and also helped found the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.  He died in 2005 at the age of 75.

Herm Wehmeier

Joe Gordon

Larry Twitchell

February 17 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Danny Patterson

Roger Craig

Jack Crimian ended his major league career as a Tiger.  He started his professional career by signing with the Philadelphia Blue Jays in 1944.  The Phillies were so bad by the time World War II broke out that after a full year of war the Phillies had a contest to rename the team.  The winner got $100 and 2 season tickets to the newly christened Philadelphia “Blue Jays”.  They would keep the name for two seasons and in 1945 World War II came to an end as did the name “Blue Jays”.  The name Phillies was used for 1945 and Germany and Japan surrendered.  After the war Germany and Japan would get better.  The Phillies would not until the 1950’s.   Jack spent 1944 in the Blue Jays farm system until he was drawn in to World War II to serve in 1945.  He was out and back in the minors in 1946.  At the end of the season the St. Louis Cardinals drafted him and the righty would make the majors in 1951 with the Cardinals.  He was called up for the month of July in 1951 and in 11 games and went 1-0 with a 9.00 ERA.  Hs one win came when he was called in to relieve Harry Brecheen in the 6^th inning of a tie game between the Cards and his old team, the Phils.  He basically pitched the rest of the game except the last better.  He gave up 3 hits and 1 run in the 3.2 innings pitched and also got a hit going 1 for 2 at the plate.  But Jack was back in the minors for the rest of 1951 and most of 1952 with the exception of 5 games in June on 1952 over a 2 and a half week period in June.  He did not record a decision and had a 9.72 ERA.  At the end of the following year, 1953 Jack was sent to Cincy with $100,000 for future Tiger coach, Alex Grammas.  After a couple of more moves he was in Kansas City with the Athletics in 1956 and had his only full year in the majors.  He was mainly a reliever in 1956 and in 54 appearances he was 4 and 8 with a 5.51 ERA and 3 saves.  At the end of 1956 he became a Tiger.  In a multi player trade the Tigers sent Virgil Trucks, Ned Garver, Gene Host and Wayne Belardi for Jim FInigan, Eddie Robinson, Bill Harrington and Jack.  He made the team out of spring training and got in 4 games by May 6.  All of them were in relief and his only decision was a loss in his final appearance.  As a Tiger he was 0-1 with a 12.71 ERA.  He stayed in pro ball through 1959 but was in the minors. 

Orlin Collier

Eddie Phillips

Eddie Onslow is part of the first brother combos to play at the same time for the Tigers.  There have been three sets of brothers to play for the Tigers at the same time. The Onslow brothers with older brother Jack and younger brother Eddie did it first in 1912.  Jack was a back up catcher who played the one season for the Tigers and then had one other cup of coffee with the New York Giants in 1917.  Eddie was a back up first baseman for the Tiges in 1912 and 1913.  He hit .227 his first season as a major leaguer in 1912 with the Tiges.  The following year he hit .255.  He also had cups of coffee with the Indians in 1918 and the Senators in 1927.  The second set of brothers to play for the Tigers at the same time were the Walker brothers.  Older brother Hub and younger brother Gee both joined the Tigers in 1931 as outfielders.  Hub won a starting role in 1931 while Gee was a backup.  But Gee would have the better Tiger career.  Come the following year Gee became a Tiger starting outfielder for the next several seasons and even was a Tiger All-Star in 1937 while Hub was down in the minors.  The two were joined once more in 1935 when Hub played 9 games for the Tiges.  Hub would be sent to the Reds for 1936 and 1937 and joined the Tigers once more in 1945 after Gee had retired from baseball.    The third set of brothers to play for the Tiges was the Bolling brothers.  Frank signed with the Tigers in 1951 and had joined the Tigers in 1954 as their starting second baseman thru 1960 with the exception of the 1955 season when he was serving in the military.  He was eventually an All-Star the year he left Detroit.  Milt joined the ranks of the major leagues before Frank did when he was with the Boston Red Sox in 1952 as a back up shortstop.  In 1958 he was traded to the Tigers.  The two becoming a brother double play combo.  They would do this a total of 13 times.  The two brothers would play in 24 games together.  Milt would never play a game for the Tigers that his brother was not in.  At the end of the 1960 season Frank was sent to the Milwaukee Braves.  Frank would become an All Star at Milwaukee and moved with the Braves to Atlanta in 1966 where he ended his career.  Eddie Onslow made the Hall of Fame for the International League.  He was in the league for 17 years with Providence, Toronto, Rochester, Newark and Baltimore.  He collected 2,445 hits in 2,109 games in the league.  He also managed in the league.  He made their Hall of Fame in 1951.  After that he was a scout for the White Sox and Philadelphia Athletics.

Wally Pipp was a Tiger long before the whole Lou Gerhig bit. 

Stump Wiedman played most of his major league career in Detroit.  He was born in Rochester, NY and also went to college at the University of Rochester in 1880.  That same year he played for the National Associations team in Rochester and went to play for the Buffalos Bisons of the National League.  That was a busy year, college, minors and majors all in one season and at the age of 19.  The following year he was in Detroit playing for the Wolverines.  He was 8-5 that first year in Detroit and led the league in ERA with a 1.80 posting.  He was not the ace of the staff as the ace was George Derby  who started 55 of the teams 84 games and pitched them all as complete games.  Stump was the second starter starting only 13.  But he did complete them all.  The following year, 1882, Stump was the ace staring 45 games and completing 43 for a 25-20 record including a 1-0 victory that Stump pitched all 18 innings!  But his ERA climbed up to 2.63.  While best on the team it was 7^th in the league.  He was the ace again in 1883 for the Wolverines and started 47 games completing 41 with a 20-14 record and a 3.53 ERA.  But this ERA was not best on the team.  In fact it was third best of the 4 pitchers who pitched more than 3 games for the team.  In 1884 the Wolverines had a terrible season at 28-84.  Stump had a terrible season too going 4-21 as the number 3 starter.  In 1885 Stump regained some of his earlier form and so did the Wolverines.  Stump was again the ace with a 14-24 record in 38 games started and 37 complete games.  The Wolverines were better than the year before at 41-67.  But they were still a poor team.  At the end of the season Stump was put under league control by the Wolverines.  The league sent him to the new expansion Kansas City Cowboys.  He was 13-36 for KC and after the season the Cowboys folded and the league sent Stump back to Detroit.  Stump was now the third starter for the Wolverines who were champs of the National League at 79-45.  Stump was behind the younger Pretzels Getzien and Lady Baldwin and was 13-7 with an astronomical 5.36 ERA.  But Stump did not play in the World Series and never played with the Wolverines again.  He was sold to the New York Metropolitans of the American Association part way through the season for a sum between $800 and $1,000.   Stump played thru 1888 in New York when his playing career ended at the ripe old age of 27.  He died in 1905 at the age of 44.