March 1 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Kris Keller spent his entire time in the majors with the Tigers.  He was a fourth round draft pick for the Tigers 1996 and promptly went to Lakeland in 1996 and was a starter in Lakeland.  In 1997 he was moved to the pen and by 2001 had worked his way up the Tigers farm system to AAA Toledo.   There he 5-2 with a 4.48 ERA and 4 saves.  He showed good control with 60 K’s and 38 walks.  In 2002 he was looking good while in Toledo with a 2-0 record and a good a 2.08 ERA.  The Tiges called on him and he was called in from the pen in the 8^th inning to end a blood letting.  The Tigers were down 9-1 to the White Sox in Chicago.  Kris walked Royce Clayton, K’d Kenny Lofton and then walked Ray Durham.  Then Sox outfielder Magglio Ordonez hit a homer to left center to clear the bases and make the score 12-1.  Paul Konerko then hit a fly to deep left for the second out.  Kris walked Frank Thomas and gave up a single to Jose Valentin before getting Carlos Lee to ground out and end the inning.  Kris’s final line score was 1 inning pitched, 2 hits, 3 walks, 1 K, 1 homer and 3 runs for a 27 ERA.  That would remain his career line score as Kris never made it into another major league game.  Less than a month later Kris was sent to the Atlanta Braves for George Lombard. 

Jimmy Hurst was a professional ball player who spent his whole major league experience with the Tigers.  He started in 1991 in the White Sox farm system at the age of 19.  He worked his way up to AAA, Nashville in 1996.  Before the 1997 season started the Sox waived him and the Tigers picked him up.  He was hitting .271 as an outfielder for the Mud Hens when he got a late season call up in 1997.  He made his debut as a defensive replacement for Bobby Higginson in the 7^th inning of a game against the Mariners in Seattle with the Tigers trailing 6-0.  He did not have a ball hit to him.  He came to the plate to lead off the Tigers 8^th and hit a fly to center.  That was the end of his debut.  On September 15 he made his first start in right field against the Oakland A’s in Oakland.  He almost reached in the fifth on a dropped third strike but was thrown out.  In the 8^th he ripped a single to center for his first career hit off of Andrew Lorraine.  But he was promptly taken off the bases by a double play ball, 1-6-3.  He had his best game against David Wells and the Yankees in Tiger Stadium on the second to last game of the season.  He went 2 for 3 with a walk and a homer to deep left field for the Tigers lone run of the game.  He played the next day for his final game in the majors.  In total he was in 13 games and got 3 hits, including the homer, in 17 at bats.  However, his career in pro ball was not half over.  Jimmy would continue to play in the minors into 1999.  In 2001 he started playing independent ball in the Atlantic League before heading to Japan to play for the Hiroshima Carp and Mexico for the Monclove Acereros.  He was still playing in the independent Northern League into 2008 at the age of 36.  You have to admire the commitment and obvious love of baseball.

Doug Creek was a nine year major leaguer who ended his career with the Tigers.  He started it in 1995 with the St. Louis Cardinals and in six games the lefty pitcher was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA.  He would move on to the Giants in 1996 and Cubs in 1999.  He was in Tampa from 2000 into 2002 and finally Seattle and Toronto in 2003.  In all this time he was uses a reliever appearing in 259 games with a record of 7-14 and 1 save and a 5.32 ERA.  He was a released by the Cardinals after the 2004 never having played the entire season in the minors going 2-1 with a 4.71 ERA.  The Tiges signed him as a free agent and in 2005 he appeared in 20 games pitching 22.1 innings.  He did not record a decision and posted a 6.85 ERA.  On July 22, the Tigers released him and his career in pro ball was over. 

Tim Thompson ended his career as a Tiger.  He was a back up catcher in the 1950’s.  He played one year with Brooklyn in 1954 where he appeared in 10 games.  He stayed with the Dodgers in their minors until 1956 when he was traded to the Kansas City A’s.  He had two seasons with the A’s before being part of the big trade with theTigers that saw Kent Hadley, Frank House, Duke Maas (Kevin Maas’ dad) Jim Small, John Tsitouris, Jim McManus and Bill Tuttle to the A’s for Billy Martin, Gus Zernial, Lou Skizas, Tom Morgan, and Mickey McDermott.  Thompson was 34 years old when he made his Tiger debut against the White Sox in Chicago in the second game of the season.  He came in to play catcher in the bottom of the 7^th with the Tigers trailing 4-2.  He came to the plate in the 9^th with a Charlie Maxwell on first and one out with the Tiges still trailing 4-2.  Tim represented the tying run and he hit a single off of Dick Donovan to center to keep the rally going.  Two batters later Frank Bolling hit a homer run to score Tim and Charlie Maxwell and take the lead 5-4.  That would be the final score.   Four days later he started behind the plate and while he did not get hit he walked 3 times.  He would get in 2 more games for the Tiges over the next week but never get on base again.  His final stats as a Tiger was a .167 batting average with that one hit off of Donovan.  But the three walks brings his on base percentage to .444.   Many Tiger fans may still know who Tim Thompson is as he has a Topps baseball card from 1958 as a Tiger.  After his playing days Tim went on to become a scout for the Cardinals, Dodgers and Orioles.