March 19 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Tim Corcoran was a talented player who started his career as Tiger.  He started as a Tiger in 1977 and got in 55 games as a outfielder, pinch runner or pinch hitter.  He hit .282 for the season and in 1978 became the main starting right fielder replacing Ben Olglive who was traded to the Brewers for the 1978 season.   Tim hit .265 that season.  The drop in average was due to his inability to hit lefties.  He was .277 against righties but only .200 against lefties.  He spent most of 1979 in Evansville but did get in 18 games but only hit .227.  In 1980 he was the back up first baseman behind Richie Hebner.  Tim hit .288 against Hebner’s .286.  But Hebner was not troubled by lefties so he got most of the starts.  Tim was back in the minors in 1981 until he was traded to the Minnesota Twins for Ron Jackson.  Tim played only 22 games as a Twin in 1981.  He was released by the Twins in spring of 1982 and signed with the Phillies.  He spent 2 years as the Phils back up first baseman until being released by the Phils in 1985 and signing for one final year with the Mets in 1986.  For his career Tim was a .270 hitter.  For the Tigers he was a .272 hitter with 7 homers and 66 RBI’s.

Gee Walker was a fan favorite in Detroit in the 1930’s.  Gee was born Gerald Holmes Walker in Mississippi.  He went to Ole’ Miss and started with the Tigers the same year as his brother, Hub, started with the Tigers, 1931.  Hub actually played more games for the Tigers than Gee in 1931 but Hub went to the minors in 1932 while Gee became a starter.  Gee had lots of talent.  He could hit, throw and field very well.  And he was exciting to watch and the fans loved him for it.  But there are plenty of stories about Gee’s inability to stay focused on the game situation and overestimate his ability to steal a base.   Gee led the Tigers in steals four times.  But he often got caught and often it was not pretty.  Several of his teammates talked about how his recklessness on the base paths cost them games.  One time he was thrown out trying to steal second while the batter was being given an intentional walk.  One time Gee was picked off first and as Eldon Auker recalled it cost the Tigers the game.  Manager Mickey Cochrane was furious.  Before the next game he called a meeting and laid down the law.  The next person to get picked off first would be fined $50.  Much to Mickey’s chagrin, he was the next person picked off first.   Another time, Gee’s roommate Marv Owen recalled, in a game in 1934 Gee was on first and another runner was on second.  Marv was to bunt.  The pitch was a high curve so naturally Marv took the pitch.  The catcher threw to first and had Gee picked off.  So the runner on second took off to try and save Gee and instead got out while Gee ended up on second.  The next pitch Marv hit to the shortstop and was out with Gee still on second.  Before the next batter took a pitch the pitcher threw to second and picked off Gee.  Two out of the three outs in the inning credited to reckless base running by Gee.   On the way out to the outfield Goose Goslin said to Gee, “What the hell are you doingon the base paths?  You’re running like a goddamn drunk or something.”  Gee responded “You big nosed son of a bitch, get off me!”  Cochrane heard this and said “That’s going to cost you $250.”  Gee responded “I don’t care if it costs me $350.”  Cochrane replied “Well, we’ll make it $450 and you’re suspended.”  Cochrane later called a team meeting minus Gee and told the team that Gee didn’t care if they won the pennant or not.  He said he did not want Gee on the team but he would listen to the players.  They took a vote and Gee stayed.   But Gee’s playing time was less in 1934 and 1935.  In game 2 of the 1934 World Series Gee drove in the tying run and was on first.  He started jawing with the Cardinal bench and ended up being picked off first.  The Tiges won the game in the 12^th but Gee was again a base running goat.  After the 1937 season Cochrane finally got his wish and Gee was sent to Chicago after 7 seasons in Detroit where he hit .317 with 132 stolen bases and 50 times caught stealing.  After leaving Detroit Gee played 8 more years with the White Sox, Senators, Indians and Reds.  1938 was the last time he hit above .300 and his steals also dropped.  Finally, after the 1945 season, Gee was done in the majors.  Gee went out to the Pacific Coast League in 1946 but after 19 games was only hitting .188 and was done as a player.  He went on to manage in the minors for a bit in the 1950’s.  In 1981 he died in a Mississippi State Hospital.  Word of his death took a week to reach Detroit. 

Tex Covington spent his entire time in the majors with the Tigers.  He came up in 1911 and went 7-1 in 17 games as a Tiger right handed pitcher.  His ERA was not remarkable at 4.09 and he walked more then he K’d.  But it was close, 33 BB’s to 29 K’s.  He returned to the Tigers in 1912 and was 3-4 with 4.12 ERA.  BB’s to K’s was still in favor of BB’s with 30 BB’s to 19 K’s.  After the season he was sold to the Kansas City Blues of the American Association.  His brother, Sam Covington broke in to the majors as Tex went to pitch in the minors.  Tex continued to pitch into 1919.  He then went in to managing in the minors.  In 1931 he managed the McAllen Palms of the Rio Grande Valley League.  After the season, Tex died at the age of 44 in Denison TX.  

Billy Maharg got his start as a Tiger as one of the Ty Cobb strike game replacement players.  He went 0-1 in the game as a back up third baseman.  His real name was Billy Graham (Maharg backwards) and he was a boxer from Philly.  He did get in one more game in the majors in 1916 with his home town Phillies.  He was 0-1 for the Phils too.  Those were his only two games in organized ball.  A couple years later he made headlines when he teamed up with former Tiger Sleepy Bill Burns and conspired to throw the 1919 World Series.  He is in the book and movie “Eight Men Out”.   He was a very loyal friend.  During the Black Sox trial he was told by American League President, Ban Johnson, that he would not be indicted if he could find Bill Burns to testify.  Billy ran to Texas, found Billy and brought him back to Chicago.  

March 18 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Fernando Rodney was with the Tiges from 2002 through 2009.  He was the set up man for years.  In 2009 he became the closer with the end of Todd Jones career.   He always had more K’s then BB’s but at times he made games exciting when you thought they might already be over.  In 2011 he suffered a back injury and lost his role as the closer for the Angels.  He was sent to the Rays in 2012 and finished with 48 saves and a 2-2 record with a 0.60 ERA and became an all star and won comeback player of the year for the AL.

Geronimo Berroa played part of his 11 years in the majors on 9 teams and one was with the Tigers.  He came out of the Dominican Republic and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1983.  He did not make it to the majors with the Blue Jays but rather with the Atlanta Braves in 1989. He was a back up for two years and then went to the Reds and Marlins, before joining the Athletics in 1994.  It was then that he became a starter but at DH.  He showed that he was a righty batter with good power but was the typical power hitter in that he K’d a lot.  In fact by the time he left Oakland in 1997 he was K’ing 3 times to every BB.  That is not a good ratio.  He split 1997 between Oakland and Baltimore.  He hit 26 homers that season which was his second best total in his career.  His tops was the year before, 1996 when he hit 36.  That did not crack the top 10 for the season.   At the end of the season the Orioles let Geronimo go and he signed with the Cleveland Indians as a free agent for 1998.  He got in 20 games for the Tribe hitting only .200 and no homers while driving in only 3 runs.  The Tribe then traded Geronimo to the Tiges for He played part of one year with the Tigers in 1998.  In 52 games he hit .238 for the Tigers with one homer and 10 RBI’s.  We got him in a trade with Cleveland for pitcher Tim Worrell and minor leaguer Dave Roberts.   Geronimo appeared in 52 games for the Tigers in 1998 mainly as DH.  He hit .238 with 1 homer and 10 RBI’s.  It was his 8^th game with the Tigers that he got his homer off of Woody Williams of the Toronto Blue Jays in Tiger Stadium.  He had a great series against Toronto going 7 for 13 with his lone Tiger homer and 2 RBI’s.  So at the end of the season when the Tigers let Geronimo become a free agent it is not hard to understand why the Blue Jays signed him.  The team that first signed him out of high school finally gave him a job in the majors.   But he only hit .194 with the Jays and only 1 homer.  He was granted free agency at the end of the season and ended his MLB career with the Dodgers in 2000.

Dwayne Murphy played on season with the Tigers in the outfield of 1988 after ten years with the Oakland A’s.  he hit .250 with the Tiges.  Before you say he stunk with the Tigers remember he was a career .246 hitter.  His on base percentage was actually pretty decent and was .100 points above his batting average.

Dick Littlefield pitched part of one season with the tigers in 1952.  He went 0-3 in 28 games as a reliever mainly.  He walked 25 and struck out 33.  He came to the Tigers just before the beginning of the 1952 season from the Browns with Matt Batts, Cliff Mapes and Ben Taylor in the deal that sent Gene Bearden Dick Kryhoski and the guy who pitched to Eddie Gadel, Bob Cain.  Part way through the same 1952 season Dick was sent back to the Browns in a deal that sent Don Lenhardt, Marlin Stuarts and Vic Wertz to the Browns for Bud Black, Jim Delsing, Satchel Paige’s friend Ned Garver and Dave Madison.   Dick bounced around quite a bit playing on 9 teams in a 9 year career.

Fred Hatfield was a product of his time and his environment and was a Tiger.  He never knew his father.  He Dad claimed to be a Hatfield from the famed Hatfield and McCoy’s.  He married Fred’s Mom when she was 16 and left before Fred was born.  Fred got his start in professional baseball in 1942 when he signed with the Boston Red Sox.  It was the first full year of World War II and Fred enlisted as a paratrooper for the war.  After the war he went back to baseball and got his nickname of “Scrap Iron” for his willingness to be hit by a pitch.  He reff’d SEC basketball games and also was in the Red Sox farm system.  It was there that former Tiger, now Red Sox  manager  Steve O’Neil told him to choke up on his bat to hit for average instead of the power he had been hitting with.  The advice was a failure.  Fred hit for neither average nor power.  He was also advised by O’Neil to become a bench jockey.  This gave Fred the reputation of being rather rude to black players in the majors.  Fred had a great start for the 1953 season hitting .320 as a third baseman for the Sox who saw that his value was high and quickly traded  him to Detroit for the rest of the 1952 season.   He came to Detroit from Boston in the deal that sent George Kell to the Red Sox with Hoot Eves, Dizzy Trout and Johnny Lipon.  The Tiges got Fred and Walt Dropo, Don Lenhardt, Johnny Pesky (of Pesky’s pole fame for you Red Sox fans) and Bill Wight.   Fred hit only .248 with Tiges but was more know as a solid fielding third baseman with a strong arm.  But third basemen were paid to hit in that era.  Fred played into 1956 with the Tigers before he was traded.  In five seasons he hit .248 as a Tiger, although he was above average the entire time in fielding as a Tiger third sacker.  He even led the league in fielding for third basemen in 1952.  Fred went on to play for the White Sox, Indians and Reds before his major league playing days were over.  It was there that he learned to be a bit more gracious with the black players as he had teammate Minnie Minoso and later Lary Doby.  After his playing days Fred went on to managing and did well.  He was a Tiger farm manager in the early 1970’s and won titles in 3 out of 4 years but was passed up as Tiger skipper.  Ralph Houk eventually hired him as the Tiger third base coach in 1977 and 1978.  In 1979 Ralph was done as manager and the Tigers hired Les Moss as skipper.  Les would soon be replaced by Sparky Anderson.  But Fred’s career went in the other direction.  Instead of continuing as a Tiger coach or AAA manager, Fred went all the way down to A level Lakeland to be their skipper.  After managing poor minor league teams to poor finishes he was soon scouting for the Oakland Athletics.  He eventually retired from baseball.  His first wife died and he remarried.  His second wife helped him search and find his father.  It turned out Fred’s Dad was not from the Hatfield and McCoy’s but was actually named Richardson and had died in 1943, before Fred ever became a major leaguer.

Hal White pitched for the Tigers from 1941 to 1952, with a couple years off for WWII.  His best season was 1942 when he went 12-12 with a 2.91 ERA and pitched 12 complete games in 34 games total.  We traded him to the Browns in 1952 (imagine that, a trade with the Browns in 1952) in a deal that sent away my Mom’s favorite player, Johnny Groth and Virgil Trucks of two no hit game fame for Owen Friend, Bob Nieman and Jay Porter.  He was a career 40-49 with the Tigers.

Eddie Lake ended his MLB career as a Tiger.  He came out of Oakland, CA in 1937 when he signed with the Cardinals.  He went to Grand Island of the Nebraska State League(Class D)  in 1937 to start his professional career.  He hit .297 with 9 homers playing second base.  The next year he was moved up to Decatur of the Three I League (I’s are for Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, Class B) and was moved to shortstop while hitting .279 with 6 homers.  In 1939 he moved up a again to Houston of the Texas League (Class A1) and hit .261.  But while his average dropped hit power jumped up as he hit 14 homers playing shortstop and his fielding was vastly improved.  By the end of the season the Cardinals wanted to see what he was about and called him up for a late season look see.  In his debut he was used a s pinch runner for Johnny Mize in a game against the NL Champion Cincy Reds.  He did not advance.  A couple of days later he was given a start and went 1 for 3 with a walk playing short and hitting lead off.  His first hit was off of Bill Lee of the Cubs.   Eddie split 1940 between Sacramento of the PCL and St. Louis.  He hit .295 in Sacramento but only .212 for the Cards.  But 1941 brought changes.  For Eddie he had his first full season in the majors playing utility infielder.  The other big change was that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the US was at war.  Eddie did not go off to war.  Instead he went back to Sacramento to play shortstop.    It was in 1942 that the record first shows that Eddie had a great eye and could take a pitch.  In 1942 at Sacramento Eddie got 176 hits for his .278 average.  But he also walked 107 times.  This gave him a .385 OBP!  But this was in a time when walks were not given the credit they get today thru SABRmetrics.   So Eddie was sold the Red Sox at the end of the 1942 season.  During the next three war seasons with the Sox Eddie was only a .247 hitter.  But his walks took his OBP to .382!  In 1945 he led the league in OBP with a .412 while playing shortstop.  But it only garnered him a 31^st rank in MVP voting.  Before the 1946 season the Red Sox traded Eddie to the Tigers for aging slugger, Rudy York.   In 1946 Eddie jumped right in to the Tiges shortstop spot replacing Skeeter Webb who hit only .199 witn 30 walks the year before.  Eddie hit .254 and his 103 walks led the team and gave him a .369 OBP which was third on the team.  He also hit 8 homers which was 4^th best on the team.  In 1947 he again had over 100 walks and a .343 OBP along with 12 homers which was third best on the team.  But this was not recognized and in 1948 Eddie was replaced at short by Johnny Lippon who hit 30 points higher but had an OBP that was 40 points lower.  Eddie was also moved over to be back up shortstop to Eddie Mayo.  Eddie would never be a starter again.  He was dropped to the role of utility infielder where he would stay through 1950 with the Tigers.   Eddie was done in the majors after 1950.  He had been a career .229 hitter for the Tigers yet had a .364 OBP for that same time.  To put that in perspective, he would have been third best on the 2014 Tigers behind only Miggy and V-Mart.  Instead Eddie went to the minors and learned to pitch.  He did not pitch a lot but pitched every season until his minor league career ended in 1956 at the age of 40.                                 

Al Benton was the Tigers third starter in the rotation in the World Championship season of 1945.  He was 13-8 with the Tiges that season and posted a 2.02 ERA.  He pitched in relief three times in that series with a 1.93 ERA against the Cubs.  He was a career 71 and 64 with Detroit with a few years off for the war.

Wiley Taylor pitched one year with Detroit in 1911 and posted  0-2 record in three games as a Tiger pitcher.  He debuted against the St. Louis Browns in September.  He left Detroit for the White Sox in 1912 and fisnshed his career with the Browns in 1913 and 1914.  

March 17 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Vance Wilson ended his playing career as a Tiger.  He started out his career as a backup catcher for the New York Mets in 1999 when he was a defensive replacement in an April game.  He might have started earlier as a major leaguer but was having reconstructive surgery on his left arm and did not play much of 1998 at all.  He did not get an at bat in that debut in 1999 and did not make another appearance that entire season in the majors but was in AAA for the Mets.  He was the backup catcher to Mike Piazza of the Mets until a groin injury to Piazza in 2003 ended his season and Vance became the starter for the season.  He hit .245 and continued to show his strong arm behind the plate gunning down 45% of would be base stealers.  He had thrown out 55% and 49% of base runners in his two previous seasons.  Vance had one more season with the Mets before the Tigers traded for him prior to the 2005 season for minor league infielder Anderson Hernandez.  Hernandez never played for the Tigers but would have a 6 year career as a utility infielder.  Vance was the backup to Pudge II, Pudge I being Carlton Fisk. Vance did not have a particularly good season in 2005 at the plate hitting only .197 in 61 games.  He also had a rougher year than most behind the plate.  His fielding percentage was below his average and he only caught 34% base runners.  However, in that magic season of 2006 Vance was a solid catcher who could have started for most teams.  He hit .283 and committed only 1 error all season.   He did not make an appearance in the post season of 2006.  In 2007 he complained of a sore elbow in spring training.  Turned out he needed reconstruction surgery for his right elbow.  He made only three appearances in Toledo as part of a rehab assignment in 2007.  He did not play at all in 2008 in the majors or minors and at the end of the season he was released by the Tigers.  He signed with Kansas City and played 59 games in AA level ball.  After that his playing career was over having never played in the majors again after 2006.  From 2011 thru 2014 he has been a minor league manager for the Kansas City Royals. 

Oscar Stanage was a Tiger catcher for years starting in 1909 through 1925.  He replaced Boss Schmidt who had been the Tigers catcher starting in 1906 and was a tough player.  He even tried boxing in the off season.  But in the 1907 World Series Boss had a collapse behind the plate and the Cubs ran wild on him.  The Cubs stole 15 bases on Boss while getting caught only 5 times.  Boss also hit only .167 in 4 games in the series.  Boss followed this with 1908 World Series where the Cubs again stole 15 bases in 4 games and were caught only 8 times by Boss. Boss also had a drop in hitting to only 1 hit in 4 games for a .071 average.  Clearly Boss would not get it done if the Tigers made another run in 1909.  Sure enough, the Tigers did make a run in 1909 for the AL pennant and while Boss was still there, there was also a new backstop in Oscar Stanage.  Oscar was in 77 games as a 26 year old rookie.  He actually had played one game in 1906 with the Cincinnati Reds in 1906 where he only had one plate appearance.  But starting in 1909 he would be the Tigers top backstop.  In 1909 he hit .262 to Boss’s .209.  In the 1909 World Series between the Tigers and Honus Wagner and the Pirates Boss again allowed 15 stolen bases while catching only 6 runners.  Oscar allowed 3 stolen bases in 2 games.  The following year, 1910, Oscar took over the starting role as catcher but hit .207 to Boss’s .259.  But he was thought to have a cannon for an arm.  In 1911 it was not close.  Oscar was in and Boss was out.  Oscar caught a league leading and record setting 141 games.  Second place was a distant 103 games by Philly’s Ira Thomas.  No one else even caught 90 games.  That record was the tops for the first two decades of the American League.  Over the next several years Oscar showed he was work horse behind the plate catching hundreds of games while setting records for assists.  However, with his heavy use behind the plate his batting suffered.  He went from a .260+ hitter in 1911 and 1912 to a .220+ and below hitter in 1913-1915.  He still remained the Tiges starting back stop through 1917.  Finally in 1918 Oscar was no longer the starter.  He was 35 and the Tiges were finally looking for a replacement but with little success.  In 1919 Oscar tried to retire but was called back.  In fact, in 1920 Oscar was again the starter at the age of 37 because none of the other candidates could fully replace Oscar.  In 1921 Oscar left Detroit to be closer to home and joined the Pacific Coast League’s Los Angeles Angels.  In 1925 he was back as a Tiger coach.  At the age of 42 he still had it and was called back to catch 3 games that season.  He hit .200 and no one tried to steal on his arm even at 42.  He was still in the majors as late as 1931 as a coach.  He finally moved back to Detroit and was night watchman near Tiger Stadium.  He died in 1964 but it was in the midst of a newspaper strike so his death received little publicity.   He was a career .234 hitter for the Tigers with 8 homers in over 1000 games as a catcher for the Tiges.  Only Bill Freehan and Lance Parrish have more games as a Tiger backstop.

Below is a Mecca Triple Folder of Oscar from my collection.

One other player (non Tiger who has a favorite story of mine with birthday today is Charley Root.  Charley was the pitcher for the Cubs in the 1932 World Series during Babe Ruth’s supposed called shot.  Root claimed Ruth did not call his shot but rather was jawing with the Cubs bench.  Root further claimed that had Ruth called his shot the next pitch would have been in his ear.  There may be something to this based on his career 79 hit batters.

March 16 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Curtis Granderson started his career as a Tiger.  He was drafted out of college by the Tigers in 2002.  In two years he was up with the Tiges at Comerica Park as a late season call up.  He debuted against the Minnesota Twins and Brad Radke.  Curtis was 0-4.  In that first look see he got in 9 games and went 6 for 24 with 2 doubles and a triple.  He also K’d 8 times.  In 2005 he was again up with the Tiges and this time hit .272 while playing perfect centerfield.  In the magical season of 2006 he was the Tiges centerfielder.  He hit .260 with 19 homers.  But he led the league in K’s with 174.  In 2007 he had his best season hitting a career high .302 with a career high 23 triples and joined the 20-20 club with 23 homes and 26 RBI’s.  He followed that with a 2008 season where he hit .280 with a league leading 13 triples and in 2009 he had an All-Star nod.   He spent part of six seasons with the old English D on his uni before putting on pinstripes.  He was our centerfielder and clearly had great speed and power.  But he also had a hard time against lefties and had a penchant for K’s.  When he led the league in K’s in 2006 with 174 it was not a good thing as he was the leadoff hitter for the Tiges.  But he was always good with the fans and the fans liked him. His was likely the only Yankee that could get a cheer in Detroit.  He was traded to the Yanks after the 2009 season in a three way trade.  He went to New York and the Tiges got Austin Jackson, Phil Coke, Max Scherzer and Dan Schlereth. Curtis spent 4 seasons with the Yankees and hit .245 yet made 2 All-Star squads.  In 2014 Curtis was with the New York Mets where he hit .227 with 20 homers and 8 steals and 2 triples.  He also K’s 141 times.   

Charles Hudson was a starting pitcher who ended his career as a Tiger.  He started his career in 1983 with the Phillies.  He was their number three starter as a rookie behind Steve Carlton and John Denny.  He was 8-8 with a 3.11 ERA.  He continued about the same pace for the next three years with the Phils but dropped to 4^th in the rotation.  In four years with the Phils he was 32 and 42 with a 3.98 ERA.  He was traded to the Yankees after the 1986 season and had the best year of his career the following year when he went 11-7 with a 3.61 ERA as a spot starter and reliever.  He dropped the following season, 1988, to 6-6 with a 4.49 ERA.  Before the 1989 season the Tigers traded for Charles in a trade the seemed to take the heart out of the Tigers.  The deal was Charles for Tom Brookens.  In 18 games for the Tigers Charles was 1-5 with a 6.35 ERA.  Tom did not fare much better in his new digs hitting .226 in only 66 games.  Charles was done after the season and Brookens was done in New York at the end of the season as well heading to the Indians for one final season as a back up utility infielder.

Ralph Works pitched the majority of his career with the Tigers.  He began his professional career in 1907 with the Medicine Hat Hatters of the Western Canada League.  He was 26-11 for the Hatters and moved up to the Syracuse Stars in 1908 and was still successful going 21-17.  The Tigers purchased him from Syracuse in August of 1908 and he first appeared in the majors the next year with Detroit going 4-1 with a 1.97 ERA.  He was third in the league in saves with 2 that season.  The only Tiger pitcher with a lower ERA was Ed Killian with a 1.71 ERA.   Ed got into the World Series in 1909 when in Game 3 he pitched the 8^th and 9^th innings relieving Ed Willet with the Pirates ahead 6-4.  A sacrifice by Fred Clarke and a single by Honus Wagner put the Pirates up 8-4.  The Tiges got two in the bottom of the ninth but still lost 8-6.  Ralph continued to play with the Tigers into 1912.  His best season was 1911 when he was 11-5 with a 3.87 ERA.  On September 4, 1912 he was sold to the Providence Grays.  8 days later he was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the Rule 5 draft.  He played with the Reds through 1913 before heading back to the minors.  His career stats in the majors showed a 24-24 record with a 3.79 ERA.  As a Tiger he was 23-22 with a 3.68 ERA.

Walt Kinzie started his pro baseball career as a Detroit Wolverine in 1882.  He was 25 and got in 13 games as a shortstop.  He made only 8 errors in 54 chances for an .852 fielding percentage which was about average for the Wolverines that year.  At the plate Walt went 5 for 53 for a .094 average.  The team hit a collective .230.  That was the end of Walt in Detroit.  The following season he was in Fort Wayne and then Minneapolis for 1884.  He made it back to the majors in 1884 with the Chicago White Stockings of the National League and then the St. Louis Browns of the American Association.  He did well enough at Chicago and St. Louis to bring his career average up to .132.  Walt never made the majors again after 1884 but stayed in baseball through 1889 with Oshkosh, Kansas  City, La Crosse and Burlington before his career ended in 1887.  When he called it quits he had played every position in baseball except pitcher.  He died in 1909 at the age of 52 when Ty Cobb was in his 4^th season in the bigs.

March 15 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Rob Fick is known for hitting the last home run at Tiger Stadium.  Rob was drafted by the Tigers and worked his way up the minors quickly making it to the Tigers in his third year of pro ball, 1998, as a late season call up.  He was only in 7 games that year but showed good power hitting 3 homers in and double out of 8 hits in 22 at bats.   In 1999 he was in only 15 games but one of them was the final game at Tiger Stadium.  In the bottom of the 8^th with the score 4-2 in favor of the Tiges over the Royals, Dean Palmer opened with a double.  Damion Easley singled to send Palmer to third.  Karim Garcia drew an intentional walk to load the bases.  Gabe Kapler then reached first on a force out at home.  On the first pitch from Jeff Montgomery, Rob hit a bomb to right that hit the right field roof of Tiger Stadium.  It was the last homer, last grand slam and last ball to leave the stadium.  In 2000 Rob was the number 3 first baseman behind Tony Clark and Hal Morris.  He became the starting catcher in 2001 and had his best season in the majors hitting .272 with 19 homers.  In 2002 Brandon Inge came in and took over at catcher moving Rob to right field.  At the end of the season Rob was granted free agency and signed with the Atlanta Braves.  In the 5 seasons he played with the Tigers he was an all star in 2002 and a .268 hitter with 45 homers and 163 RBI’s.  He lasted one season with the Braves before being released.  He went on to play as a back up with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, San Diego Padres and finally the Washington Nationals before he was done with the majors in 2007. 

Sailor Stroud started his time in the majors with the Tigers.  Sailor was born Ralph Vivian Stroud in 1885.  He started in pro ball in 1909 with the Williamsport Millionaires of the Tri-State League.  He with fifth in the league with 20 wins against 10 loses.  The top winner was Stan Coveleski with 23.  The next season Sailor was with the Tigers.  He was the fifth starter on the team and posted a record of 5-9 in 28 games with a 3.25 ERA.   At the plate Sailor was 1 for 39 for a .026 ERA.  After 1910 he was back in the minors bouncing from Buffalo to Sacramento before joining the New York Giants in 1915.  He has his best year in the majors in 1915 going 12-9 with a 2.79 ERA.  He was back the Giants in 1916 but was mainly a reliever going 3-2 in 10 games.  He was done in the majors after that but went back to the minors until 1928 when he was done with baseball.  His minor league record was 173 and 126. 

George Disch played his entire time in the majors with the Tigers.  He started his time in pro ball with Milwaukee of the American Association in 1902.  By 1905 he was with Marshalltown of the Iowa League of Professional Baseball Clubs.  He was 8 and 9 with the Marshalltown Grays when on August 6, the Tigers purchased his contract.  He was in his first game in the majors two days later against the Boston Americans.  He only got into 8 games as a Tiger and was 0-2 as a pitcher.  But he had a decent 2.64 ERA for a last place club.  But he never returned to the majors.   He was back pitching in the minors in 1906.  In 1907 he converted to the outfield and hit .310 with Freeport of the Wisconsin State League.  After hitting .241 for Freeport in 1908 he was done with baseball.  His brother Billy played and managed in the minors from 1902 to 1911.  After his minor league career he was the manager for the University of Texas and is in the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

Doc Casey was the first Tiger third baseman in the majors.  He started his career in the majors in 1898 with the Washington Senators and hit .277.  By the end of the season he was the starting third sacker.  In 1899 he was again with the Senators when he was traded to the Brooklyn Superbas who were an outstanding club going 101-47 under the great Ned Hanlon.  Doc was a switch hitting third baseman and had an OBP of .313 which was worst on the team.  This is not so much reflection of Dc as it is a sign of how good the team was.  He played one game for the Superbas in 1900 before jumping to Detroit which was in the American Association and considered a minor league.  He hit .260 for the Tiges that season.  He was back in 1901 and the American League was now considered a major league and Doc was the starting third baseman hitting .283.  His 153 hits was third best on the team, 6 behind the leader and his 105 runs scored was second.  Doc played one more season with the Tiges in 1902 hitting .273 before jumping again back to the National League and the Chicago Cubs for the 1903 season.  He played three seasons with the Cubs before ending his major league career with the Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers) in 1906 and 1907.  Doc was not born Doc, but was born James Patrick Casey.  He probably got his nickname as he must have been smart at the time as he had attended college.  He was the only Doc on that first Tiger team that had a lot of nick names with three “Kid’s” in Gleason, Elberfeld and Nance, one “Ducky” Holmes, one “Pop” Dillon, one “Fritz” Buelow and one “Sport” McAllister.  He also may have been called “Doc” because he studied pharmacology and became a pharmacist after he retired from baseball.  He died in Detroit in 1936 and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

March 14 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Mike Strahler pitched on season with the Tigers in 1973.  He played for three years with the Dodgers from 1970 to 1972 when he was part of the trade that sent Frank Robinson, Len Gabrielson, Bobby Valentine and Bill Singer from the Dodgers to the Angels for Andy Messersmith and Ken McMullen.  However, before Mike was able to play a game for the Angels he was traded to Detroit for Charlie Sands.  Mike was used as a fifth starter during the middle of the season starting 11 games for the Tiges mostly in June and July.  On June 26, he faced the Orioles in Baltimore.  He went the distance and allowed only 3 runs for the complete game victory.  He had a total of four wins for the Tigers, two against Baltimore.  In his last major league appearance he pitched the ninth inning of an 8-3 loss.  He struck out two and forced his last batter to hit into a ground out.  It also was against Baltimore. 

Marty McManus was primarily a second baseman in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  He saw military service during WWI before starting his pro baseball career in 1920.  In fact, it was while he was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone that he took up baseball.  He was spotted by a St. Louis Browns scout and signed for $5,000.  He became a starter in 1921 and was the starting second baseman on the famed 1922 Browns team that finished a game out of first.  He was second on the team with 109 RBI’s but he led the league in errors at second base.   Marty was a .298 hitter for the Browns over 7 years.  He came to Detroit in a trade prior to the 1927 season that brought himself, Pinky Hargrave and Bobby LaMotte to Detroit and sent Otto Miller, Frank O’Rourke, Billy Mullen and Lefty Stewart to the Browns.  Detroit already had a second baseman by the name of Charlie Gerhinger (HOF) so Marty was used as a utility infielder in 1927 and then shored up third the rest of his time in Detroit.  He was always considered hot tempered and it got the best of him early on with the Tigers.  He got in a shouting match with his manager George Moriarity in the club house and was fined $200.  Apparently the conflict was enough to spark the Tigers as they won 17 f the next 21 games.  He was very handy in the lineup too hitting .287 with the Tigers along with 47 homers and 374 RBI’s.  Marty stayed with the Tigers until part way through the 1931 season when we traded him to Boston for catcher, Muddy Ruel.   Marty actually was the manager for the Red Sox during 1932 and 1933 however, not very successfully.  After leaving the majors for good in 1934 he toiled in the minors playing and managing into the 1940’s.  In 1944 he was managing in the AAGPBL (All American Girls Professional Baseball League) for the Kenosha Comets and in 1948 managed the South Bend Blue Sox also of the AAGPBL.

Hub Pernoll pitched for the Tigers from 1910 and 1912.  He was an Oregon boy through and through.  He was born in Applegate, OR in 1888 with the name Henry Huston Pernoll.  But he is known in the record books as Hub and he also went by the nicknames Piano Legs and Jud.  The lefty pitcher started his professional career in his home state of Oregon with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1907.  In 1908 he split time between Portland and Aberdeen Grays of the Northwestern League.  In 1909 Aberdeen moved down the road a few miles to become the Grays Harbor Grays.  Hub was part of a great tandem of himself and former Tiger Ed Siever who pitched on the 1900 Tigers.  Ed was 23-16 while Hub was second best in the league in wins with 25 against 19 losses.  It was in August of 1909 that the Tigers purchased the contract of Hub for $4,000.  In 1910 he was 4-3 with the Tigers, a far cry from his record of 25-19 in the minors but his ERA was a respectable 2.96.  In 1911 he was sent back to Oregon to pitch with Portland in the Pacific Coast League.  He posted another phenomenal 23-16 record with Beavers.  He came back to Detroit in 1912 and failed to win a game in 3 games and was done playing with the Tigers in May.   His final record for Detroit over the two seasons was 4-3 in 14 games.  At the plate he was 1 for 19 with a stolen base.  He finished his time in baseball in 1915 after playing a few more seasons with the Oakland Oaks and later the San Francisco Seals in the PCL.  He died in Grants Pass, OR and was buried there in 1944.  

March 13 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Cliff Mapes ended his career as a Tiger. He started it in 1940 in the Cleveland farm system. He was an outfielder and had a good arm. He convinced his manager to let him pitch one day and late in the season he got a start out on the mound. He gave up four homers to the first four batters. Before the next batter, manager Jack Knight came out to the mound to talk to his “ace”. He asked Cliff, do you think you can hold this next guy to a single?” The next batter then homered as well. It is thought to be a minor league record by starting the game with 5 straight homers. Cliff was never allowed to pitch again. Cliff served in the military for two years during WWII. When he came out he was drafted by the Yankees in the rule 5 draft. In 1948 he made his major league debut as a backup Yankee outfielder. He tied another record in 1948 when he hit more doubled than singles for the season. He had 22 hits that year, consisting of 12 doubles, 9 singles, 1 triple and 1 homer. In 1950 Cliff was the guy chosen by Casey Stengel to replace Joe DiMaggio who was benched for the only time in his career. He stayed with the Yankees into 1951 when he was sold to the St. Louis Browns. When he left another Yankee took his number 7, a guy by the name of Mickey Mantle. Cliff lasted that half of a season with the Browns hitting a career high .274 with 7 homers and 30 RBI’s. Before the 1952 season started he was traded to the Tigers with Matt Batts, Dick Littlefield and Ben Taylor for Gene Bearden, Bob Cain and Dick Kryhoski. Cliff played mainly right field as the third outfielder for the Tigers. He hit .197 in 86 games. At the end of the season he was traded back to the Browns with Neil Berry and cash of $25,000 for Jake Crawford. Cliff did not play again in the majors but spent the next two years in the minors as the property of the Yankees, Reds and White Sox before his professional career was over at the age of 32.

Eric Erickson is the only Tiger born in Sweden.  He was born in Vargarda in 1892.  He started playing professional baseball in 1914 and made it to the New York Giants that year.  He got the start for John McGraw’s Giants on the last game of a double header on the last day of the season.  He faced the Philadelphia Phillies and went 5 innings giving up 7 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks.  However, none of the runs were earned.  He was tagged with the loss and did not appear in the majors again until he was with the Tigers in 1916.  He appeared in 4 games for the Tigers all in relief and did not record a decision.  He was back in the minors in 1917 and was playing for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League.  He led the league in wins with 31-15 record and led the league in ERA for starters with a 1.93 ERA with the Seals.  He was back with the Tigers in 1918 but did not win 31 games.  He won 4.  His record was 4-5 with a team leading ERA of 2.48 (pitchers with 50 or more innings pitched).   He returned to the Tigers in 1919 and started two games against the White Sox both home and away.  He lost both.  Both times he went 7 innings and gave up 8 runs.  In the first game only 3 runs were earned.   Eric did not start another game for the Tiges and instead was traded to the Senators in July for Doc Ayers.   He was in the Senators starting rotation through 1922 and posted a 30-49 record with a 4.03 ERA.  He never pitched in the majors again and was last known in the minors in 1925 with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Mal Eason pitched for the Tigers in the days when you were expected to throw a complete game.  He started in the minors in 1899 with the Auburn Maroons and Troy Haymakers of the Ney York State League and went 12-9.  He also hit .252 playing some third, first and outfield.  In 1900 he played with the Cortland Wagonmakers, Elimra, and the Syracuse Stars before making his major league debut with the Chicago Orphans (Cubs).  He pitched one game and beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 in a complete game victory.  He stayed with the Orphans into 1902 and posted a 10-18 record for with a 3.31 ERA and 26 complete games.  He was sold to the Boston Beaneaters in April of 1902 and was 9-12 with a 2.91 ERA and 20 complete games.  In 1903 Mal jumped leagues and signed with the Tigers.  He went 2-5 for the Tiges with a 3.36 ERA and 6 complete games.  He was back in the minors in 1904 going 26-11 with the Jersey City Skeeters.  This was enough to get him back to the majors in 1905 and 1906 with the Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers).   With Brooklyn he was 15 and 38 and in 1906 he pitched a no hitter against the Cardinals, the same team he beat for his first major league victory.  He was done in the majors as a player after 1906.  In his 114 games he started he completed 90.  He was a player manager in the minors in 1908 and 1909.  In 1910 he returned to the majors as an umpire.  He umped in the National League for 6 years and later umped in the Pacific Coast League. 

March 12 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Eulogio “Frankie” De La Cruz started his career with the Tigers.  Today he is in the Brewers organization.  He started in 2007 with a debut against the Washington Nationals in Washington.  He did not get to bat but he did pitch a full inning starting with former Tiger Dmitri Young.  He got Dmitri to ground out to Placido Polanco.  In the rest of the inning he gave up one single before he was taken out of the game.  He would get in a total of six games for the Tigers.  He pitched 6.2 innings in relief with 5 earned runs for 6.75 ERA without a decision or a save while with the Tiges.  At the end of the season he was sent to the Florida Marlins as part of the Miguel Cabrera deal.  The trade was minor leaguer Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, Mike Rableo and Eulogio for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.  In 2009 Eulogio was sold to the Padres who released him at the end of the season.  In 2011 he was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.  He got in 11 games for the Brewers for a career total of 26 games in the majors with the four teams but never recorded a decision or a save. 

Zach Minor spent most of his time in the majors as a Tiger.  The right handed pitcher was traded to the Tiges from the Braves in 2005 with Ramon Colon for Kyle Farnsworth.  He got his major league start in 2006 and showed lots of promise.  He was given a start on June 4 against the Red Sox at Comerica Park.  Zach go the loss but was in the rotation and did well winning his next six stars including a complete game victory against the Brewers where he gave up only 1 run on 5 hits.  He ended up with a 7-6 record in 16 starts and some time in the pen with a 4.84 ERA as a 24 year old.  In 2007 he was put in the bullpen and was solid with a 3.02 ERA.  In 2008 his ERA was up to 4.27 splitting time between spot starts and the pen.  This continued though 2009.  He missed the 2010 season due to injury and was released at the end of the season.  He was signed by the Kansas City Royals for 2011 but was back in the Tigers farm system for 2012 where he was 2-0 with the Toledo Mud Hens.  This spring he is in the Phillies camp and has a 12.71 ERA in 5.2 innings of spring training.  Zach was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies for 2013 and was 0-2 with a 4.40 ERA.  He was with the Mariners AAA team in 2014 before being released in June.  For his career Zach 25-22 with a 4.25 ERA while with the Tiges he was 25-20 with a 4.24 ERA.

Craig Dingman had his career come to an abrupt end as a Tiger.  He started his major league career in 2000 with the New York Yankees.  He got in 10 games as a reliever and in 11 innings did not record a decision and posted a 6.55 ERA.  In spring of 2001 he was traded to the Colorado Rockies and had a similar experience.  He was in 7 games with 7.1 innings pitched and a 13.50 ERA.  He bounced around without getting back to the show with the Reds, Yankees, Cancun and Yucatan of the Mexican Leagues and the Cubs organizations.  In January of 2004 he signed with the Tigers to a minor league contract.  In 2004 he got in 24 games for the Tigers coming out of the bullpen.  On June 9^th he came in to relieve Jeremy Bonderman in Atlanta to start the third inning with the Tiges leading 1-0.  Craig pitched the next three innings and became the pitcher of record allowing 3 hits and 2 walks but not allowing a run.  The Tigers held on to win 4-2 and Craig got his first major league win.  At the end of June he came in to pitch the 11^th inning of a 7-7 tie with the Indians in Detroit.  He sent the Indians down 1-2-3.  In the Tigers half of the inning Dmitri Young hit a walk off homer to give Craig his second win of his career.  Craig ended the season with a 2-2 record and a 6.75 ERA.  2005 was Craig’s best year.  He was in 34 games and was 2-3 but his ERA was a strong 3.66.  He was one of the many pitchers to get saves that year as the Tiges struggled to find their closer.  Fernando Rodney and Ugueth Urbina tied for the team lead with 9 each.  Craig was fifth with 4 saves.  2006 was by all rights going to be a great year for Craig where he could establish himself as a major league reliever and maybe a set up man or even closer.  But in February while playing catch his pitching arm suddenly lost circulation from the elbow down.   His arm went pale and it was diagnosed as a torn artery in his shoulder.  He had surgery that month to take an artery from his leg and transplanted it into his arm.  But it did not take.  He had to have a second surgery and an artificial artery was put in his arm.  Craig was never able to pitch again and his career came to an end.

The picture above is of Ruppert Jones about to sign his game used bat in my collection (2018).

Ruppert Jones played one season as a Tiger but he picked the right one.  Ruppert started his career in the majors in 1976 with the Kansas City Royals as a late season call up.  He got in 28 games as a back up outfielder.  He was the first draft pick of the expansion Seattle Mariners in the expansion draft.  He made $40,000 as the first Seattle Mariner.  He was the Mariners starting center fielder for the next three years hitting .257 with a .333 OBP with both speed and power.  In 1979 he hit 21 homers and stole 33 bases.  He was traded to the Yankees for the 1980 season but did not do well hitting a career low .223 and the Yanks sent him to the Padres. He was with the Padres for three years hitting almost identical to what he did in Seattle, .257 with a .335 OBP.  But his average in 1983 was only .233 so the Padres released him.  He signed with the Pirates but was cut in spring training of 1984.  The Tigers then called and offered him a minor league contract.  As he said, when you are unemployed you take whatever is offered.  He was hitting .313 in Evansville when the Tigers called him up in June.  In his second game as a Tiger Ruppert went 2 for 4 with a 3 run homer to win the game against the Blue Jays and the crowd chanted “Rupe, Rupe, Rupe”.  About two weeks later he got the crowd cheering again.  This time he was batting against the Brewers in the 6^th.  Tom Tellmann came in on the left handed Ruppert and he pulled it along the right field line up and onto and over the right field roof at Tiger Stadium.  Ruppert had a solid season with the Tigers even though it was only half a season, hitting .284 with 12 homers in 79 games.  He left the Tigers after the season to sign with the California Angels with the opportunity to be a starter rather than a back up in Detroit.  Ruppert played 3 seasons with the Angels before his career was over. 

Larry Rothschild had his number retired by the Tigers.  He started his time in the major leagues as a late season call up in 1981 with the Tigers.  He got into 5 games for the Tigers and pitched 4 of those against the Indians.   He did not record a decision but did get a save against the Indians in his third game.  The other team he faced was the Orioles for one inning.  He was 0-0 with a 1.59 ERA.  In 1982 he was a September call up again and in 2 games, one against the Athletics and one against the Red Sox, he did not record a decision.  He posted a 13.50 ERA in 2.2 innings due to a 2 run homer to Tony Armas of the Athletics and 2 runs to the Red Sox.  Larry never pitched in the majors again.  Larry stayed in baseball as a coach and became the first manager for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998 and staying there into 2001.  As for his number being retired by the Tigers, Larry wore number 42 for the Tigers.  The same number as Jackie Robinson.  In 1997 Major League Baseball retired number 42 throughout the majors, including Detroit.

George Maisel led his brother into the majors and briefly played for the Tigers.  George was 21 when he was called up by the St. Louis Browns in May of 1913.  He had played with his brother Fritz in 1912 with Baltimore of the International League.  He also played with former Tigers Sport McAllister and Fred Payne in Baltimore.  Outfielder George hit .253 compared to his shortstop brothers .276 but George got the call first.  However, George only got in 11 games with the Browns and only got 3hits for a .167 average while striking out 7 times.  His brother made his major league debut 4 months later in August with the Yankees.  George was back in the minors when he became a Tiger for 8 games in 1916.  He played 3 games at third and scored 2 runs as a pinch runner as he never reached base as Tiger.  He had 5 plate appearances without a hit, walk or being hit by pitch.  He was done playing for Detroit after those 8 games.  He would get a call up again in 1921 with the Cubs and enjoyed one season as a starting outfielder for the Cubs before spending one more season as a back up in 1922 and the end of his major league career.

Walt Walker played for the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.  He was born in Berlin, MI in 1860 and on May 8, 1884 he was in New York playing catcher for the Wolverines against the Giants.  He got a single and scored a run in 4 at bats as the Wolverines lost 8-4.  It is unknown if he got that hit from the left or right side of the plate.  Behind the plate he made 5 putouts and an assist while also making 2 errors.  He died in Pontiac, MI in 1922 and is buried in Ionia, MI. 

March 11 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Bill Lawrence was a college team mate of Marv Owen of the Tigers.  The two played ball together at Santa Clara University starting in 1925.  Marv graduated after 1930 and played for the Seattle Indians of the Pacific Coast League before joining the Tigers in 1931.  Bill was also with Marv at Seattle in 1930 but had also played for them in 1929 while still playing college ball.  I assume the two must have been friends as their paths followed so closely.  However, in the book “The Adventures of a Quiet Soul” about Marv Owen and written by his sister Vi, she never mentions Bill and says Marv’s best friends were pitchers Johnny Casanova and Guido Simoni.  These two seemed to be doing the same thing Bill did which is play in the minors but without pay in an effort to keep their college eligibility.  Bill was considered a solid defensive outfielder but not great with the bat.  He debuted for the Tigers on opening day in 1932 and wore number 7 for the Tigers as a 26 year old outfielder.  That was when the Tigers wore pin stripes and had a block “D” on their caps.  He was the starting center fielder on opening day against the Tribe and went 1-5 hitting 6^thin the line up.  He went on a five game hitting streak until he was replaced by Gee Walker in CF.  Walker promptly went on a tear of his own and finished the season hitting .323.  Bill went hitless in the month of July and his average dropped from .238 to .217 while being used mainly as a pinch runner.  On July 21 he made his last appearance in the bigs.  He went to Toronto for a couple years before finding his way to Seattle of the PCL where he finished his baseball playing career in 1943.  He hung around the game and was managing Seattle of the PCL in 1949.    

Art Ruble played without a number for the Tigers.  Known for his speed, Art’s career started in his home state of Tennessee with his hometown Knoxville Pioneers of the Appalachian League in 1924.  Art made his major league debut in 1927 with the Tigers without a number on his jersey.  The Tigers did not start wearing numbers until 1931. Art, whose nickname was “Speedy” came into the game as a pinch runner In the ninth inning of a 3-2 loss to the Indians.  He did not score.  In his one season with the Tigers Art hit .165 in 56 games. He scored 16 runs on 15 hits in his career for Tigers and drove in 11 runs.  I am sure this had to confuse the Tiger front office as Art had hit .350, .385, and .307 in the minors prior to joining the Tigers.  In fact Art had a career .328 average in over 1400 games during 13 years in the minors but only a .207 average in his two seasons in the bigs, 1927 with Detroit and 19 games with the Phils in 1934.  Art’s last year of record in baseball was 1939 when at the age of 36 he was a player manager for the Newport Canners in the Appalachian League in Newport TN, back in his home state of Tennessee.  

March 10 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Bill Heath was less than a season with the Tigers.   Big things were expected from Bill when in 1965 the White Sox Al Lopez was trying to figure out his catching situation.  He had 7 catchers in spring training and fully expected the young left handed hitting Heath to be one of them.  As it was, the other were so inspired by Heath that he was left off the clubs roster heading north.  He was called up as a late season call up by the Sox and had one at bat in one game.  The Houston Astros then got Bill in a trade.  He joined a crew of struggling catchers in Houston’s spring training as a non roster invitee.    The Astros had Ron Brand who had a whole lot of errors behind the plate and John Bateman who hit only .197 as players returning from 1965.  Bill was actually the number two catcher for the Astros in 1966 and hit .301.  This was better than any of the other Houston back stops.  But a slow start in 1967 where Bill hit only .091 in 9 games allowed Houston to part with Bill.  The Tigers purchased him from Houston in May of 1967 and was assigned to Toledo.  In June he was called up to Detroit.  In his first start for the Tigers he got three RBI’s on two hits.  Unfortunately he appeared in 19 games for the Tigers and collected only two more hits and one more RBI.  That equated to a .125 average.  He did not get an extra base hit.  Before the 1968 season got under way the Tigers sold Bill to the Yankees.  He never played a game for the Yankees and was signed as a free agent by the Cubs in 1969.  He played in 127 games with the Cubs and had an average of .157 for the Cubs.  His final game as a Cub was a no hitter being pitched by Cubs pitcher Ken Holtzman against the Cubs.  In the 8^th inning Tommie Aaron (Hank’s brother) was pinch hitting for Phil Niekro.  On a foul ball Bill broke his hand and was taken out of the game.  Holtzman got his no hitter with two catchers and Bill never again played in the majors. 

Art Herring played the majority of his first half career as a pitcher for the Tigers.  He was an outfielder for the Tigers in their farm system starting in 1927.  They converted him to a pitcher and from 1929 through 1933 he was with the Tigers.  In his major league debut in 1929 he was a late season call up.  He got the start in his debut against the Red Sox in Fenway Park.  He pitched a complete game and allowed only 1 run on 8 hits.  He started three more games that season and was 2-1 with a 4.78 ERA.  After 1929 Art saw more action as a reliever but he did start a few games.   1931 was his big year for the Tigers.  He was 7-13 with 9 complete games and an ERA of 4.31.  He was also a league leader that year in hit batsmen with 8.  Ouch!  At the end of the 1933 season Art was sold to Brooklyn.  This was the end of his first half of his major league career.  He had one in between season in 1939 when he was with the White Sox for 7 games.  But he continued to play pro ball in the minors.  In 1944, ten years after his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Dodgers brought him back to the majors.  He would pitch until 1947 when he led the league as the oldest player in the league at the age of 41.  He also had major league record of longest span between hitting doubles.  It was 15 years.  He had hit his fourth career double for the Tigers in 1931 and then hit his next double in 1946.  That record was broken in 2007 by Jamie Moyer who hit a double in 1988 with the Cubs and then in 2007 hit two doubles in the same season for the Phillies.  He broke Art’s record by 4 years and had a career total of 5 where as Art had a career total of 6. 

Jim Curry played half of his career for the Tigers.  In 1909 he got in a game on the last day of the season.  The Philadelphia Athletics were playing the Washington Senators in Philly.  Jim played second base for the Athletics and went 1-4 at the plate and did not commit an error.  Two years later Jim played 4 games for the New York Highlanders, soon to be Yankees.  He went 2 for 11 with the Highlanders and made 5 errors in 22 chances as a second baseman.  Not a stellar job with the glove.  He ended his major league career 7 years later with Detroit.  For the Tigers he got in 5 games in July back in his old stomping grounds of Philly and Washington.  His best game was his second to last game when he faced Walter Johnson and went 2-4 and scored a run as the Tigers won 8-6 and also reached base being hit by a pitch.  Jim only played in one more major league game and went 0-4.  I would imagine being hit by Walter Johnson could make you a little shy at the plate.  For the Tigers he hit .250 with one double.  He played all his games at second base as a 32 year old third string back up.   He continued to play ball in the minors until he was 42 in 1928 mainly class B ball.  Ten years after he retired from baseball, Jim was dead in his home state of New Jersey.

March 9 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Clay Rapada played most of his years with the Tigers.  He signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs out of Virginia State University in 2002.  He worked his way up the minors including a season and a half with the Lansing Lugnuts where he made his last professional start in 2003.  In 2004 he was a full time reliever for Lansing.  It was a success for him.  His ERA dropped about 3 points from a 5.31 to 2.33.  IN 2007 the Cubs called up Clay in June.  He was called on in the top of the 8^th against the Seattle to face Raul Ibanez with the score 4-3 Cubs, runners on first and second and 1 out.  He got Raul to line out to right.  Clay never pitched again for the Cubs.  At te end of August he was traded to the Tigers for Craig Monroe.  He got in 4 games and the lefty pitched 2 and a third innings.  He did not record a decision and had an 11.57 ERA.  He spent half of 2008 with the Tiges and got in 25 games.    In his second game of the season he faced the Twins in Detroit.  With the Twinkies leading 4-3 in the 8^th Clay was called in and got out Mauer and Morneau to send the inning.  The Tigers rallied in the bottom of the 8^th for 3 runs and the lead.  Clay got his first major league win.  He got 2 more wins for the season and was 3-0 with a 4.22 ERA.  In 2009 he spent most of the season in Toledo where he was 4-2 with a 2.76 ERA.  He did get in 3 games for the Tiges but did not record a decision and had a 5.40 ERA.  After the season the Tiges sold Clay to the Texas Rangers.  He had spent three seasons in Detroit and was 3-0 with an even 5.00 ERA.  Clay played for the Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians before his career ended in 2013.  

CJ Nitkowski played two stints with the Tigers.  He was drafted by the Reds in 1994 out of St. Johns University in New York.  In 1995 the lefty was called up to the Reds and pitched in 9 games starting 7.  He was 1-3 with a 6.12 ERA.  In July of that same year Randy Smith traded David Wells for CJ and a player to be named later.  The player to be named later was minor leaguer Dave Tuttle.  CJ went into the Tigers starting rotation as David Wells had been our only lefty starter.   CJ started 11 games and was 1-4 with a 7.09 ERA.  He started 1996 in Toledo and was 4-6 with a 4.46 ERA.  He was up with the Tigers for the second half of the season and was in the starting rotation going 2-3 with a 8.08 ERA.  1996 was also the beginning of the Randy Smith era in Detroit.  This was when we traded for catchers all the time with San Diego and Houston.   CJ was one of the guys who went back and forth with Houston and a catcher.  FCJ was first traded after the 1996 season when we sent him to Houston with catcher Brad Ausmus, Jose Lima, Trever Miller and Daryle Ward for Doug Brocail, Todd Jones, Brian Hunter Orlando Miller and cash.   Three years later Randy Smith made a another large multi player deal which included us sending  catcher Paul Bako, Dean Crow, Brian Powell and minor leaguers Mark Persails and Carlos Billalobos  to Houston and getting back catcher Brad Ausmus and CJ.  CJ pitched almost another 3 years for the Tigers before he was traded to the Mets in 2001 with cash for Kyle Kessel who would never play in the majors.  In all, CJ played 5 seasons with Tiges and was 11-24 with a 5.68 ERA.  After the Mets CJ signed multiple times with multiple teams like back to Houston then St. Louis, Texas, Atlanta, the Yankees, the Twinkies.  He actually came back to Detroit in 2005 but did not get in a game.  He ended his major league career with the Nats in 2005.  In 2007 he was pitching in Japan and become the first player to achieve the fete of pitching only one pitch and getting a double play in both the Majors and in Nippon Pro Baseball.  He had done it with Washington in 2005.  CJ was also in the movie “42” about Jackie Robinson where he plays Dutch Leonard.  Today he works for Fox Sports.

Jim Landis was a replacement for Al Kaline when he was a Tiger.  He started his major league career with the Chicago White Sox in 1957.  He was a great defensive outfielder but an average hitter.  He was the starting center fielder for the 1959 Go-Go Sox who won the AL pennant and finished 7^th in MVP voting that season.  He won his first Gold Glove in 1960 and would win five ina row for Chicago and make an All-Star game roster in 1962.  However, 1962 also saw his batting average drop to .228.  It continued to drop over the next couple of seasons until after hitting .208 in 1964 for Chicago he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics.  He played one season there before heading to Cleveland for 1966.  In 1967 he started with the Houston Astros and was hitting .252.  In late June Al Kaline broke his finger jamming a bat into the bat rack.  While Kaline healed the Tigers then went out and picked up Jim Landis from Houston in exchange for Larry Sherry for the 1967 pennant race against the Twins, White Sox and Red Sox.  Jim got in 25 games for the Tigers and while he hit only .208 he was solid on defense.  Kaline came back towards the end of the season and Jim was released.  He was then signed by the Red Sox just four days later and again was solid on defense making some fantastic plays that Red Sox fans still remember.  But he only 1 for 7 at the plate, granted it was a homer.  But only 6 days after he signed with the Red Sox the Sox picked up Ken Harrelson from Kansas City.  Athletics owner Charlie Finley had a bad relationship with Harrelson and released him.  The Sox signed Harrelson and released Jim.  Jim never played pro ball again.   

Ron Kline was a year and a half as a Tiger.  He started with the lowly Pirates of 1952.  He then went into the military for two seasons before rejoining the Pirates in 1955.  The Pirates were terrible for most of the 1950’s while Ron was not bad.  Ron was 53-83 with a 3.92 ERA.  But the Pirates traded him to St. Louis.  He was there for one year before St. Louis sold him to the Angels for 1961.  He was 3-6 as a righty with a 4.90 ERA.  But the Angels waived him and the Tiges claimed him.  The change was great for Ron as he went 5-3 with a 2.72 ERA for the rest of 1961.  He was with the Tigers again in 1952 and was was 3-6 with a 4.31 ERA pitching mainly in relief.  Before the 1963 season Detroit sold him to Washington.  He went on to the Twinkies, back to the Pirates, San Fran, Boston and finally Atlanta.   He was a career 8-9 with Detroit with 2 saves.  It was with Washington that he had his best seasons.  Gil Hodges, the Senators manager made Ron into a closer and he led the league in saves in 1965 with 29.  He followed that up by being second in saves in 1966 with 23 before being traded to the Twinkies who promptly stopped using him as a closer.  Don’t ask me why, clearly Gil Hodges knew what he was doing with Ron.

Hugh Wise as a player was a career Tiger.  Hugh is an amazing story to me.  He went to Purdue before starting his career in baseball in 1928.  He was a catcher at Beaumont in 1930 and hit .300 for the Tiger farm team.  He was a late September call up in 1930.  In his first game against the White Sox in Chicago he went 1-2 against Hall of Famer Ted Lyons.  He caught a Hall of Famer, Waite Hoyt that day as well.  Not a bad day to remember as your major league debut.  The next day he caught the second game of a double header against the Sox again.  This time he went 1-4 against Hall of Famer Red Faber.  On that mound that day was Mark Koenig.  You may recall Koenig as the shortstop of the 1927 Yankees.  He was the guy responsible for Babe Ruth’s “called shot” in the 1932 World Series.   As a Cub Koenig was voted half a share of the World Series and thus started all the bench jockeying that led to Babe’s “called shot”.  In the game that Hugh caught Koenig went 7 innings as a pitcher rather than his normal shortstop and gave up 10 runs.  After the game Hugh was done as a major leaguer having faced only Hall of Fame pitching and batting over .300 against it.  Hugh played in the minors until 1946 having missed 42 thru 45 during the war.  Hugh went on to be a scout for the Boston Braves and an alternative history has the Braves still in Boston if not for Hugh.  Hugh had been sent down to see a young player on the Birmingham Black Barons but saw the under aged player go 1 for 8 in a double header.  Hugh said he had seen enough and did not recommend that the Braves sign the young player.  Had the Braves signed the young Willie Mays they could have had an outfield of Mays and Aaron and with that outfield in the early 1950’s they might still be in Boston.  Hugh’s son, Casey, would later play for the Tigers in 1960 as well as the Braves.  Hugh’s other son, Hugh Jr. would also play minor league ball in the Braves organization.

Claude “Lefty” Williams started his major league career as a Tiger.  Not that his name doesn’t give it away, Claude was a lefty pitcher.  He played semi-pro until joining the Appalachian League team in Morristown in 1912.  He was 18-11.  He joined the Nashville Volunteers in 1913 and was 18-12.  The Tigers purchased him from Nashville towards the end of the season.  He got in 5 games and started 4 of them with 3 being complete games.  He was 1-3 with a 4.97 ERA for Tiger skipper Hughie Jennings.  Lefty would get in one more game for the Tiges in 1914 early in the season in May.   He faced the Philadelphia Athletics in Shibe Park.  He gave up 5 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in the first inning and was pulled.  He took the loss and never played for the Tigers again.  It is after leaving Detroit that Lefty got his fame or maybe infamy.  He was a solid pitcher for the Chicago White Sox starting in 1916 when he was 13-7.  He peaked in 1919 when he was 23-11.  In the World Series that year he went 0-3 against the Reds as the Sox lost the series.   That is a record to this day.  The following year Lefty again was fantastic going 22-14.  But it came out that Lefty and several of his other Sox teammates threw the World Series.  They were labeled the Black Sox and were banned from baseball for life.  He was a career 82-48 with a 3.13 ERA but was just 1-4 with a 4.80 ERA as a Tiger.

March 8 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Juan Encarnacion spent most of his years as a Tiger.  The best word to describe him was “troubled”.  He came up with the Tigers in 1997as an outfielder with a lot of speed.  He showed he could play by hitting .329 in 1998 albeit in only 40 games.  And in 1999 he hit 19 homers and 74 RBI’s for the Tigers.  But he had difficulty staying out of the dog house.  He missed a team photo shoot in 2000 or 2001 and had issues arguing with his managers.  The Tigers finally had enough of him and sent him off to Cincinnati for the 2002 season for Dmitri Young.  He played well for Cincy hitting .277 with 16 homers and 51 RBIS in only 83 games.  But that was all the longer Cincy would keep him long before they shipped him off to Florida in June.  He bounced to the Dodgers, back to the Marlins and then to the Cardinals where he won his second World Series.  But his post season numbers were always down.  For his career in the post season he was a .183 hitter in 28 games.  In the 2006 World Series against the Tiges Juan went hitless in 9 plate appearances.  In 2007 he was hit in the eye by a foul ball and never recovered to bring his career back.

Justin Thompson was a lefty pitcher for the Tigers in the late 1990’s.  He started his time in the majors in 1996 after missing the entire 1994 season due to injuries. He was 1-6 with the Tigers in 1996 with a 4.58 ERA.   Justin became a young ace of the staff in 1997 when he went 15-11 with a 3.02 ERA at the age of 24 and made the All Star team.   In the All Star game he got Ken Caminiti to ground out to third.  He then K’d Ray Lankford before getting Jeff Blauser to ground to third as well.  In 1998 he went 11-15 with a 3.02 ERA.  After the 1999 season when Justin was 9-11, he was sent to Texas as part of the deal that brought the “great” Juan Gonzalez to Detroit.  The deal was Frank Catalanotto, Francisco Cordero, Bill Haselman, Gabe Kapler, minor leaguer Alan Webb and Justin for Juan, Danny Patterson and Greg Zaun.  Justin got injured again and never really got back to his form of 1997.  After leaving the Tigers he appeared in only two more games in the bigs and that was in 2005 after four surgeries on his arm.  He pitched a total of 1 2/3 innings for the season and showed a 21.60 ERA to show for it.  He stayed in baseball one more year in the minors and was done after 2006.  He was the pitching coach for the Spokane Indians in 2009 and 2010.

Mark Salas ended his career with the Tigers as a back up catcher.  He started his career in 1984 with the St. Louis Cardinals where he went 2 for 20 as a back up back stop.  He went to Minnesota in 1985 where he became their starting catcher.  He held the role until he was traded in 1987 to the Yankees.  He lasted one year as a Yankee back up before being sent to the White Sox for the 1988 season where he was the back up for Carlton Fisk.  He was released by the Sox and signed with the Indians as their back up in 1989.  In 1990 he signed with the Tiges as a back up catcher.  He stayed in Detroit through 1991 as a back up catcher.  He hit .195 with Detroit but had 10 home runs in 221 at bats.  He was granted free agency after 1991 and did not sign with anyone.  He was a scout for the White Sox for a while after his playing days and was also a bull pen catcher under Ozzie as the two played together in 1988.

Jim Small played the majority of his career as a Tiger. He signed as a “bonus baby” in 1955 for $35,000.  From 1953 thru 1957 the rule was that if you signed for a bonus you had to stay on the major league club for two years before you could play in the minors.  This is the reason that Al Kaline never played a day in the minors.  He caught on and stayed in the bigs.  Jim signed in 1955 and at the age of 18 was a Tiger.  As he put it “I got out of high school, and three days later I'm in Detroit, and two days after that I'm in New York. I wasn't allowed to stay out after nine o'clock at home, and all of a sudden I'm tipping porters to carry my suitcase”.  Jim got in 12 games which was really 5 plate appearances and with one walk was 4 at bats.  He did not get a hit.   In 1956 he got into 58 games and showed that there was reason for the bonus as he hit .319.  But in 1957 his average dropped to .214 in 36 games and found himself in the minors as the two years was up.  He hit .321 in Charleston and was back in the Tigers farm in 1958 when he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics.  It was a big trade of Kent Hadley, Duke Maas, Frank House, John Tsitouris and Bill Tuttle for Billy Martin, Mickey McDermott, Tom Morgan, Lou Skizas, Tim Thompson and Gus Zernial.  He got in 2 games for the Athletics and did not get a hit.  After that he went to the minors for the rest of his career.  He never hit a homer in a big league career of 141 at bats.  He stuck around in the Athletics farm system thru 1962 when he contracted rheumatic fever and retired at the age of 25. 

Ervin “Pete” Fox was the Tigers right fielder during the glory years of the 1930’s.  He came up to the Tigers in 1933 and hit .288 as the starter at age 24.  He was again the starter for the 1934 and 1935 seasons when the Tigers won the AL pennant and their first World Series championship in 1935.  In the 1935 World Series Pete went 10 for 26 with 2 doubles and a triple and drove in 4 RBI’s.  He was a .300 hitter for the Tigers and had some good speed and showed it with his stolen bases.  He had 107 steals in 8 years for the Tigers.  Pete lasted with the Tigers thru the AL championship season of 1940.  In his three World Series appearances he hit .327 and a .527 slugging percentage.  After the 1940 season he was sold to the Red Sox where he finished his career in 1945.  While with Boston he made his only All Star appearance in 1944.  He died at the age of 57 in 1966 from cancer.  That was the same year his son Don was a 19 year old minor leaguer in the Boston farm system.

Below is a 1934 Goudey card of Pete from my collection.

Ollie O’Mara started his career as a Tiger.  He started his career in pro ball in 1911 with the Hannibal Cannibals.  He hit .171 for the Cannibals and moved on to Missoula where he upped his batting average to .226.  He returned to the Cannibals in 1912 before getting a call to play for the Tigers in the fall of 1912.  In a game against the St. Louis Browns in Detroit he went 0-4 and had one error as a shortstop.  That was the extent of his time in Detroit.  He was back in the minors in 1913 before being picked up by the Brooklyn Superbas in the 1913 rule 5 draft.  He played for Brooklyn thru 1919 with the exception of the 1917 season.  He held out for a raise in his contract but rather than getting more he was sent to the minors by Charlie Ebbets.  Ollie has the distinction of having been hit by pitches more times than walking in the season of 1918.  In 450 at bats he walked only 7 times and was hit 10 times.  

March 7 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Red Wilson was with the Tigers from 1954 to 1960.  He played center on the football team at Wisconsin and was the Big 10 MVP in 1949 as well as baseball and lettered all four years in both sports.  He went into baseball after graduating rather than join the Philadelphia Eagles and signed with the White Sox.   He came to the Tigers in a trade with the White Sox where we sent the Sox the player with one of the all time great baseball names, Matt Batts.  Red shared the catching duties with Frank House until 1958 when Frank was sent to the Kansas City A’s.  However that role was short lived for Red.  At that end of the 1958 season the Tigers traded for Lou Berberet from the Red Sox and Red was the backup back stop.  Red became the personal catcher of Frank Lary iln the 50’s when Frank was the Yankee Killer, going 16-3 against the Bronx Bombers.  Red and Frank feasted on the Yanks.  Red was a career .262 hitter as a Tiger.  But when he was catching Frank Lary against the Yanks he hit .354.  Red also helped Frank beat the Red Sox in Fenway in 1955.  The Tigers Bill Tuttle was on second when Red came to the plate.  He hit a grounder up the middle.  Frank Bolling, the Sox second baseman threw to the plate to try to get Tuttle.  But the ump ruled him safe.  The Sox catcher, Sammy White, started arguing and threw the ball into center field in his anger.  Jim Piersall retrieved the ball and threw it back in.  All the while Red proceeded around the bases and while everyone was focused on the argument Red stepped around the ump at home plate as he was cleaning the plate to score.  The Sox went nuts claiming time had been called.   But the umps stated when the ball was thrown into the outfield they did have an opportunity to call time.   Red was traded to the Indians part way through the 1960 season.  Red was drafted by the Angles in the 1961 expansion draft but then unceremoniously returned to the Indians.  He was a career .250 hitter who was actually pretty fast.  He had 10 stolen bases in 1958, his one year as a Tiger starter and was second in fielding percentage in the league as a catcher.

Harry “Stinky” Davis was the Tigers starting first baseman as a rookie in 1932.  Dale Alexander was the Tigers starting first baseman since 1929.  But he was replaced by Harry in the opening day line-up of 1932.  Harry wasted no time going 2 for 6 with an RBI off of Wes Ferrell of the Indians.  Dale was traded to the Boston Red Sox half way through the 1932 season and Harry took over as sole first baseman.  Harry did not have quite the year everyone had hoped hitting .269 with 4 homers and 74 RBI’s.  Harry’s days as a starter lasted until 1933 when yet another rookie came up to take the job of first base for the Tigers, Hank Greenberg.  Hank had a little more staying power then Harry or Dale.  Hank hit .301 with 12 homers and 87 RBI’s while now back up Harry, hit .214 with no homers and 14 RBI’s.  Harry never played for h the Tigers again.  He played briefly one more year in the bigs in 1937.  The hapless St. Louis Browns got him from the Toledo Mud Hens.  Harry stuck out the baseball life until his final year in pro ball with the class C Amarillo Gold Sox where he played at the age of 42 when he was player manager of the team.  Maybe he did heave more staying power then Greenberg after all as he had 3039 hits in 23 seasons in the minors.

Ed Willett was a pitcher for the Tigers early in the last century.  He was given a late season trial in 1906.  In his debut he pitched a complete game against the White Sox in Detroit.  He pitched the complete game and gave up only two runs.  However, the Tigers did not score at all and Ed lost 2-0.  Ed pitched two other complete games in 1906 for complete games but also for losses.  In 1907 Ed was not in the rotation but was 1-5 with the Tigers as they won the AL flag only to lose in the World Series to the Cubs.  The Tigers pitching staff of the early 1900’s had a very good rotation of George Mullin, Ed Willett, Ed Summers, Ed Killian and Bill Donavan.  In 1908 Ed was the number four starter and went 15-8 and the Tiges again won the AL flag and again the Cubs beat the Tiges and Ed did not get in the series.   In 1909 Ed had his best year going 21-10 and this time when the Tiges went to the World Series and faced Honus Wagner and the Pirates, Ed got in the series.  In game three Ed came in to relieve Ed Summers when Ed failed to get out of the first and gave up 5 runs in two thirds of an inning.  Ed came in and pitched the next 6.2 innings and did not give up an earned run.   He did give up a run in the second when he hit Tommy Leach and then Fred Clarke.  Honus Wagner came up and grounded out to advance the runners.  Leach then stole home and was out except for Ed’s error at the plate.  Ed also replaced Ed Summers again in game 6 when Ed was down 8-4 in the 8^th with a runner on first.  Ed did not allow a base runner and got the Tigers out the inning before the Tigers lost the game by the score of 8-4. While Ed got in the series, the results were the same, a Tigers loss.  Ed continued to pitch for the Tiges through 1913.  He would win 96 and lose 80 games as a Tiger.  Ed also had one more big day for the Tiges in 1912.  On June 30, hit two homers in the second game of a double header to give the Tigers a 11-9 win over the White Sox in Detroit.  While his pitching may not have been great the two homers is one shy of the record for homers in a game for pitchers.  In 1913 Ed left the Tigers and joined the St. Louis Terriers of the New Major league, the Federal League.  The Terriers were last in the Federal League in 1914 and Ed was 4-17.  Ed stayed with them in 1915 and the Terriers won the Federal League title.  However, Ed was not a big part of it going 2-3 in 17 games.  Ed had not had the same success as he did with Detroit.  In two years for the Terriers he was 6-20.  At the end of the season the Federal League folded when half the owners were bought out by the NL and AL owners and some of the Federal League owners were allowed to buy struggling AL or NL teams.  The owner of the St. Louis Terriers bought the St. Louis Browns and merged the teams.  Ed was left out of the majors in the merger and went down to the minors.  He went on to play four more years before his playing career in baseball was over.  But he then managed a couple of years in the 1920’s before his career in baseball ended.

Below is a Colgan's Chip's card of Ed from my collection.

March 6 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Marcus Thames was a member of the 2006 Tigers.  He started his major league career in 2002 with the New York Yankees after playing in college and several years in the minors.  He only played in 7 games with the Yanks but he showed what he was.  He had 3 hits.  1 homer, 1 double and a single and drove in 2 runs.  But he K’d 4 times and hit only .231.  After 30 games in Texas in 2003 he joined the Tigers in 2004.  He was a free agent signing.  He played mainly left field and DH over 6 years as a Tiger.  He hit .245 with 99 homers and a .501 slugging percentage.  His issue was he K’d 411 times and hit .260 vs lefties while only hitting .236 against righties.  The problem with this is there are a lot more rightie pitchers in the league vs. lefties.  In that magical season of 2006 Marcus was the starting DH for the Tigers and hit .256 with a third best on the Tiges, 26 homers and 60 RBI’s.  His K’s, 92, looked good compared to Curtis Granderson’s 174, Brandon Inge’s 128, Craig Monroe’s 126 and Chris Shelton’s 107.  So no one noticed his weakness.  The Tiges made the playoffs in 2006 as a Wild Card team.  It was their first appearance since 1987.  The Tiges backed into the playoffs in 2006 and celebrated in the visitors’ clubhouse in Kansas City.  In my basement is Marcus’s jersey from that celebration.  But Marcus weakness finally caught up to him and after the 2009 season he was granted free agency by the Tigers.  He signed with his old team, the Yankees and had about his best year in majors as he hit a career high .288 with 12 homers in 82 games.  He hit .300 against lefties and .268 versus righties.  But it wasn’t enough.  He was a free agent again at the end of the season and signed with the Dodgers for 2011.  He only got into 36 games and hit .197.  The Dodgers let him go at the end of the year and no one in MLB would take a chance on a 35 year old who struggled against righties.  Marcus career was over as a .246 career hitter with some good power and a penchant to K.

Gabe Alvarez

Roberto Duran

Joe Hall

Ed Mierkowicz

Joe Orrell

Bob Swift was a back stop for ten years with the Tigers.  He was originally a Tiger farm hand but through a couple of unknown transactions was moved to the Yankees farm and then the St. Louis Browns farm.  In 1940 Bob made his debut as the Browns starting catcher on opening day.  The Browns catcher of 1938, Billy Sullivan, was now a Tiger back up.  The Browns 1939 catcher, Joe Glenn, was with the Red Sox less than two weeks into the season so the starting job was all Bob’s.  Bob was not bad for a rookie.  He hit .244 but had no power as he did not hit any homers in 130 games.  As for behind the plate, the league average in fielding percentage for catchers was .982 and Bob was right in there at .980 as a rookie.  While those are not great numbers it clearly showed that Bob was a major leaguer as a rookie. This was all done while he earned $3,000 for the year.  But the Browns did not show faith in their young catcher.  For 1941 they brought in the aging Rick Ferrell at 35 to be the back stop.  Rick woud hit .252 to Bob’s .259.  The following season the Browns traded Bob to the Philadelphia Athletics.  Bob did not respond well to this arrangement.  In two seasons Bob hit .209.  The Athletics traded Bob with Con Heffner to the Tigers after the 1943 season for Rip Radcliff.  Bob was behind Paul Richards when he first arrived in Detroit but in the 1945 pennant race and World Series title for the Tigers, Bob was the starting back stop.  He still split time with Richards in the Series but hit .250 as the Tigers beat the Cubs in 7 games.  Bob was the starter until 1949 when the Tigers brought in Aaron Robinson.  Aaron came from the Yankees by way of the White Sox.  The Yankees had a young kid who was looking like he might amount to something by the name of Yogi Berra so Aaron went to the Sox who dealt him to the Tiges.  Aaron hit about 30 points higher than Bob.  So Bob started the back up part of his career as a Tiger.  Bob was a weak hitting catcher but a great defensive catcher.  He was always above average in fielding and runners caught stealing.  But starting in 1949, the best he hit was .238 and more often than not, he was below .200.  It was as a back up catcher that Bob got his moment in baseball lore.  He was the catcher when his former team, the St. Louis Browns, brought in the midget, Eddie Gaedel to have one at bat.  The story is that a seven foot cake was wheeled out onto the field between games of a double header between the Tigers and Browns in St. Louis.  Eddie popped out to cheers from the fans.  Then the 3’ 7” Eddie went to the plate with a toy bat and the number 1/8 on his jersey.  Browns owner, Bill Veeck (as in wreck) told Eddie that he had a sniper on the roof top and if Eddie tried to swing he would be shot.  The Tiger pitcher, Bob Cain had no idea what to do.  Bob Swift wanted to lay down behind the plate to give Swift a better target.  But the ump said no.  So Bob Swift gave Bob Cain the only advice he could, “pitch him low”.  Eddie walked on four pitches and was replaced by a pinch runner.  Eddie would never play in the majors again.  Bob was still a Tiger back stop in 1953.  Bob was a highly regarded baseball mind.  His pitcher and a future great manager Fred Hutchinson said he never shook of Bob.   Bob would have one more run as a Tiger in 1965 and 1966.  He was the skipper at the start of the season in 1965 when starting skipper Chuck Dressen of Brooklyn Dodger fame had a heart attack in spring training.  Bob was 24-18 before Chuck came back.  Bob was again a skipper in 1966.  It was the ill fated year for Tiger managers.  Chuck had another heart attack and Bob took over again.  But Bob was then diagnosed with lung cancer.  Bob was replaced by Frank Skaff.  Chuck died in August while Frank was skipper.  Bob died in October shortly after the season ended.  Frank was replaced for 1967 by Mayo Smith who would lead the Tigers to the 1968 World Series title.  Frank out lived Chuck, Bob and Mayo finally dyeing 1988.  Bob was a career 56-43 as Tiger skipper and a .231 hitter as a catcher in a 14 major league career.