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.