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.