February 5 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Mike Heath was a talented and athletic catcher for the Tigers.  He was actually drafted and made his major league debut with the Yankees under former Tiger manager Billy Martin against the Oakland Athletics at the age of 23 in 1978.  The small irony is that the Tiger and Athletics are the two teams Mike played all but two of his seasons with.  After the 1978 World Series where the Yanks beat the Dodgers and Mike made one appearance behind the plate, Mike was traded to the Texas Rangers with Sparky Lyle, and some other players for Dave Righetti and 4 other Rangers.   But the Rangers has Jim Sundberg as their catcher.  Jim was in the midst of winning 6 Gold Gloves in a row and was hitting .275.  So Mike never played a game for the Rangers but was with their AAA club when he was traded to the Oakland Athletics.  At Oakland Mike was used primarily as an outfielder that first year along with some catcher and third.  Mike did not become the starting catcher Oakland until 1981.  Mike would stay as the Athletics backstop until after the 1985 season when he was traded with Tim Conroy to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joaquin Andujar.   Mike was splitting time with Mike LaValliere as the Cards catcher but did not finish the season before the Tiges picked him up for Ken Hill and Mike Laga.  Mike was the third catcher on the depth chart behind all start Lance Parrish and up and coming Dwight Lowry.  But at the end of the 1986 season the Tigers released Darrell Evans, granted free agency to Larry Herndon, Jack Morris and Mike Heath.  It was in the midst of the owner’s collusion of the late 1980’s and remarkably none of these players were able to find another home except Lance Parrish.  Mike and the others would rejoin the Tiges and teach young Matt Nokes the finer points of catcher as the 32 year old vet.  Along he way the Tigers won the American League East title.  During the season Mike showed his versatility playing a game at every position except pitcher for the Tiges that season.  Mike would remain the Tigers back up back stop until 1989 when he became the starter as Matt went down with a knee injury.  Mike would play one more year with the Tigers in 1990 and hit .270.  After that he was released and signed with the Atlanta Braves for one final year in the majors.  He retired after 14 years in the majors as a .252 hitter.  In the 5 seasons he played with the Tiges he was a .266 hitter and in the 1987 playoffs he split the catching duties for the Tiges with Nokes and hit .286.