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 8thJohnny 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.
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