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 50th birthday by 9 days.
Wilbur Cooper
Bugs Raymond
Monte Beville
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