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 9th 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 11th
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.
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 6th. 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.
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