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.