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.