John
Gamble spent his entire time in the majors with the Tigers. John was a minor
leaguer for the Dodgers playing mostly short and third. But his errors kept him
from moving up too far. He committed 48 errors in 97 games one year. But that
same year he hit .297 with a .353 on base percentage and 33 stolen bases. He
finally was able to improve his fielding enough that the Tiges picked him up
through the rule 5 draft. He made his major league debut in 1972 as late season
call up and appeared in 6 games. He only played the field in 1 game as at short
and had 5 chances. He made three put outs and 2 assists with no errors. He made
three plate appearances and did not get a hit. He was a pinch runner in the
other games and did not score a run. He started 1973 in Toledo but was called
up in early May. He got in 7 more games as a pinch runner and scored one run.
By the end of May he was back in Toledo. He was injured and did not finish the
season. He continued to play in the minors through 1976 before his career as a ball
player was over.
Jerry Davie was in the majors only with the Detroit
Tigers. He was born in Detroit and
signed to a minor league contract in by the Tiges early in 1952. In his first year as a pro he was 17-3 with a
2.63 ERA as a 19 year old. He was then
drafted by Uncle Sam and served in the military during the Korean War in 1953
and 1954. He came back in 1955 to resume
his career and start working his way up the Tiger farm system. In 1958 he 17-5 with a 2.45 ERA. In 1959 the Tigers felt Jerry was ready and
he came up with the team from Spring Training.
He made his debut in the fifth game of the season against the
Indians. Jim Bunning had struggled and
in the fourth inning it was Cleveland ahead 4-0. Jerry came in and got Billy Martin to ground
out, walked Minnie Minoso, got Rocky Colavito to hit into a fielders choice and
then struck out Russ Nixon. He was then
taken out of the game for a pinch hitter.
Jerry’s best week of his career came in the end of May. On Monday, May 25, he started against the
Kansas City Athletics and pitched 8.1 innings giving up 3 runs (only 2 were
earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks. He also
got one of the Tigers 6 hits in the game and won his first game in the majors,
4-3. On Sunday he started against the Cleveland Indians and this time went the
distance. He gave up only 4 runs on 4
hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.
At the plate Jerry went 2 for 3 with a walk and drove in 2 runs while scoring
one himself. The Tigers won 7-4. That would be Jerry’s second win in a week
and of his career and last win of his career.
Jerry was back in the minors ten days later and would never come back to
the majors. Jerry got in a total of 11
games and went 2-2 with a 4.17 ERA. At
the plate he was a .400 hitter with an on base percentage of .500. Or, he was 4 for 10 with 2 walks.
Jim Stump had a very similar career to Jerry Davie as a
Detroit Tiger. He came out of Lansing in
1951 and signed a minor league contract.
He was 14-3 in 1951 with a 1.93 ERA and then went into the military for
two years. He came back and climbed the
Tigers farm system until he was 14-11 in 1957 with a 3.40 ERA and he got a call
to join the Tigers in the late summer.
He debuted against the Red Sox coming in out of the bull pen in the 9th
with the score Red Sox 5, Tigers 1. He
pitched the ninth and gave up one run on one hit. Two days later he came in from the pen in the
8th with the Tigers tied 6-6 with the Indians. He allowed 1 run in the 8th on 1
hit to give the Indians the lead 7-6.
The Tigers got the run back in the top of the 9th on a
Charlie Maxwell homer to tie it 7-7. Jim
came back in the bottom of the 9th and got the side out without a
run. In the top half of the 10th
the Tigers got a run on a Harvey Kuenn RBI and went ahead 8-7. Jim came back and gave up a lead off walk and
then got Gene Woodling out on a sacrifice bunt.
Jim was relieved but the Tigers got the win for Jim, his first in the
majors. Jim got in 3 more games that
year but did not get a decision. At the
plate Jim was 1 for 2 for a .500 average.
In 1958 Jim was back in the minors but returned to the Tiges in
1959. He got in 5 games in 1959 but did
not get a decision. He was 1 for 1 at
the plate with a run scored. His final
career totals were a 1-0 record with a 2.19 ERA and 2 for 3 at the plate for a
.667 batting average. Jim never played
in the majors again.
Bob “Lefty” Logan had about the briefest of cups of coffee
with the Tigers. He was born in
Thompson, Nebraska and got his start in the pros at the age of 20 with the
Fairbury Jeffersons of the Nebraska State League in 1930 just 10 miles
away. It was class D ball and he was
9-12 but his 4.07 ERA earned enough attention that he was in Oklahoma City the
following year and up in AA Indianapolis by the end of that same season. He was in the minors for a few more seasons
before making the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935.
He only got in 2 games and pitched only 2.2 innings of relief but only
allowed one run. However, it was not
enough to keep him in the majors even on the poor Dodgers ball club that was a
second division club. It is possible that decisions like that kept the Dodgers
in the second division. Back in
Indianapolis in 1936 he was 16-9 leading the team in games, ERA and winning
percentage. This caught the eye of the
Tigers and they made a deal at the end of the 1936 for Lefty and Dizzy Trout
for Red Phillips and Salty Parker. On
April 29, 1937, the Tigers were playing the Cleveland Indians in League Park. Eldon Auker started the game but did not fair
well. He got four batters out but had
given up 6 runs on 7 hits. Mickey
Cochrane called for Lefty out of the bull pen to get the Tigers out of the
second inning. His first batter faced
was Hall of Famer Earl Averill, followed by Hal Trosky, Moose Solters and Odell
Hale. One of these players got a hit,
one got a walk, one K’d and one got out.
Hale had to get out but I don’t know if he K’d. More than that, I can not tell from the box
score. That was the extent of Bob’s
career as a Tiger. A couple of days
later he was purchased from the Tigers by his old Indianapolis Indians. He played with Indy until the end of his
baseball days in 1946 with a couple of sojourns into the majors with the Cubs
in 1937 and 1938. As well as 1941 with
the Reds and 1945 with the Boston Braves.
His career record in the majors was 7-15 with a 3.15 ERA. At Indianapolis he was 154-126 over 16
seasons. He died in 1978 in his adopted
home of Indianapolis.
George Quellich spent his entire lime in the majors as a
Tiger. He started in pro ball in 1923 at
the age of 20 for the Martinsburg Blue Sox of Martinsburg WV of the Blue Ridge
League. He moved up in the minors and
made it to Michigan playing for the Grand Rapids Homoners of the Michigan
Ontario League in 1924 where he hit .349.
He continued to move up the minors finally reaching Reading of the
International League in 1927. He would
play part of the next six seasons with Reading and set a professional baseball
record that still stands to this day. In
August the Reading Keystones were playing the Toronto Maple Leafs. George hit a single, double and a homer in
his last three at bats in the game. The
next day Reading was playing the Montreal Royals. George went 6 for 6. The hits were all singles except for one
homer. The next day he went 4 for 4 with
2 homers and 2 singles. The fourth day
he got a single and then a grand slam before finally not recording a hit in an
at bat. That was 15 consecutive hits in
a row. George then went on a tear of 13
for 18. The 15 hits in a row still
stands to this day. That was in 1929
when George hit .347 with 31 homers and 130 RBI’s and 10 stolen bases in 162
games. He belonged to the Cubs at that
time but the Cubs had an outfield of Riggs Stephenson who hit .362 with 110
RBI’s, Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler who hit .360 with 102 RBI’s and Hall of Famer
Hack Wilson who hit only .345 but had 159 RBI’s as they won the NL
pennant. So George was not going to
break into that line up. Finally in 1931
George was no longer under a Cub contract.
He was purchased by the Tigers in July and was in the line up as the
left fielder for the Tigers in there very next game. He went 1 for 4 against former Tiger Vic
Fraiser and the Chicago White Sox. In
his next game he went 2 for 5 with an RBI.
In his third game he went 2 for 4 with a homer and 3 RBI’s against Hall
of Famer Red Faber. He would get into 13
games as a Tiger in a row as their left fielder and right fielder. He did not make an error in the field and hit
.222 with 3 walks and drove in 11 runs and stole a base. On the day of his last game in Detroit he was
sold back to Reading. He would play in
the minors until 1934. After retiring
from baseball he became a policeman in Oakland California, the city in which he
last played baseball. He retired from
the police force in 1958 and died in a car accident shortly after. He was elected to the International League
Hall of Fame in 2008.
George Bryant was very briefly a Wolverine. He is one of those players that I
ponder. Not much is known of
George. He was born in Bridgeport, CT in
1857. That is 3 years before the Civil
War. His first known appearance in pro
ball was in an August 6, 1885 game between the lowly Wolverines who were in 7th
out of 8 teams in the National League, 31.5 games out of first, and the 3rd
place Providence Grays who were 22 games ahead of the Wolverines. The Wolverines were nearing the end of a
miserable road trip. They were 3-11 since going on the road and had two more
games to play before going home for nine games.
Things would not get much better when they got home as they would go 1-8
at home. The Wolverines normal second
baseman was Sam Crane who was good with the glove but hit only .192. Their better hitting back up was Joe
Quest. He was not nearly the fielder Sam
was but hit .195. Ok, so Joe was not
that much of an improvement. Joe did
have one more walk than Sam during the season.
So Sam and Joe were given the day off and 28 year old George took the
field. No one knows if George was lefty
or a rightie throwing or hitting. I have seen one picture of George. It may well be the only image of George to
exist. It was taken after his time as a
Wolverine. But the rookie George played
second and had two chances in the field. He started a double play and made no
errors, which was big for that time.
However, at the plate George went 0-4 with 2 K’s. But he did drive in the lone Wolverine run in
3-1 loss to the Grays. That was the
extant of George’s time in the majors and with the Wolverines. Three years later he appeared with the Salem
Witches of the New England League for seven games. He went 7 for 29 for a .241 batting average. That is better than Joe Quest or Sam Crane
did for the Wolverines. So here are some of the things I ponder. How did George get in the game for the
Wolverines? Obviously Quest and Crane
were out for some reason. Why? Where they hurt? Did one not make the trip? Were they too hung over to play? So Crane and Quest can’t play. How did the find George? I imagine Wolverines skipper Bill Martin
talked to Grays skipper, Frank Bancroft and said “hey, my second baseman is
still drunk. Do you know of anyone we
could use?” And Frank replied that
“yeah, there is this guy who comes to the games who is a pretty good ball
player.” And thus could George have been drafted for the day? Obviously George was a local. He was born in CT. He played one game in the majors and it was
in nearby Providence. His later time in
the minors was in Salem, MA. He was a
New Englander through and through. I am
guessing he never would have played for the Wolverines in Detroit but would
have played for the Grays. So why did
the Grays not hire George? He was local
and they did not have a great second baseman either. They had Jack Farrell who hit .206. Okay, obviously I over think these
things. On a historical note, I often
think of what people did or did not see or do in their lifetimes. George died in 1907 at the age of 50. So he did not see manned flight, nor the
Titanic, World War I or II nor radio.
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