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 7th 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 4th. 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 8th. 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.
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