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.