Eric King
Frank Lary got his nickname “The Yankee Killer” while a
Tiger. He grew up in Alabama and was one of five boys who went to
the University of Alabama to play football and or baseball for the Crimson
Tide. In 1950 he was being recruited by the Cubs, Tigers and Yankees
before the Tigers won the bid for Frank. It would be one of many
future loses by the Yanks. He sat out the 1951 and 1952 seasons with
the US Army during the Korean War but he never left the US. He was a
late season call up in 1954 and made his major league debut against the
Yankees as a sacrificial lamb in a game with the Tigers already down 11-0 in
the 9th. He did not allow a run in the
one inning pitched. In 1955 he
was part of the Tigers rotation. He was a hard throwing fastballer
who was too wild until Tiger pitching coach Schoolboy Rowe had him take a
little off his throws to gain some more control. From that point on,
Frank was a major leaguer to stay. He also could throw a good
knuckle ball to give him 4 solid pitches, fastball, curve ball, slider and
knuckler. He was 14-15 in 1955 with a solid 3.10 ERA. The
next year, 1956 he led the league in wins with 21 and games started in 38 and
innings pitched with 294. He would lead the league in innings
pitched three times in his career. He also led the league in hit
batters with 12. It was a position he would hold for 4 of the next
five seasons. Needless to say, a fastballer who is a little wild
will keep the batters a little off their game. Frank was in the starting
rotation for the Tiges from 1955 through 1961. Twice he won 20 games
during that period. But his greatest notoriety came at the expense
of the Yankees. The all-star righty was a career 28-13 against the
Yankees. All his other games he was an average pitcher at 95-95 for
his career. When Red Wilson was his
catcher he was 19-3 against the Bronx Bombers. This was at the time
when the Yanks were the tops of the baseball world and the Tigers constantly
finished in the second division. He could never explain why he was
so hard on the Yanks. But it did not go unnoticed by the
Yankees. Casey Stengal took to calling him “Bulldog” and New York
Times writer John Drebinger called him “The Yankees’ arch tormentor these past
six years”. In 1961 he had probably his best all around season going
23-9 with a league leading 22 complete games (the third year in a row he led
that stat), a 3.24 ERA, a Gold Glove to his name, batting .231 and hit one of
his 6 career homers for a pitcher, He
also was third in Cy Young voting. But that was effectively the end
of his career. In 1962 he was hurting during spring
training. He had had a sore arm since 1959 and with some other
injuries and finally tearing a muscle rounding first on opening day he was no
longer the all-star he had been. Frank went from a 23-9 record in
1961 to a 2-6 record in 1962. He would still pitch for three more
seasons but he would never win more than 4 games in a season after
1961. He was sold to the Mets in 1964 and also saw a little bit of
time with the Milwaukee Braves, the Mets again and finally the Chicago White
Sox in 1965.
Cliff Bolton
Rudy Kneisch
Art Loudell was
spent his entire cup of coffee with the Tigers. He was born in Missouri in 1882 Arthur
Laudel but switched it to Loudell. He
went south to Texas to start his professional baseball career in the Texas
League in 1907. He was 4-1
that first season but showed a huge improvement the next season when he was
18-11. In 1909 he had a bit
of a drop to 11-11 with both Dallas a Waco. In 1910 at the age of 28 he was 9-10
in Waco. The Tigers called
for him and he made his debut as Tiger in August. Art was called out of the pen that day
and the Tigers, behind starter Sailor Stroud, lost to the Senators. Sailor was the number 4 or 5 starter
for the Tigers. On August
19 Sailor was the starter against the Red Sox and the Tiges lost again. On August 27 Sailor started against
the Senators and again the Tigers lost. On
September 5, Sailor was due to start again. But Hughie Jennings put Art on the
mound for his first major league start against the St. Louis Browns at
Detroit’s Bennett Park. The
Tigers won. On September
13, another of Sailor’s planned starts, Art was put on the mound to start the
game. The Tiges lost this
time to the Indians. On
September 24, Art was called in from the pen against the Red Sox. That would be Art’s last game in the
majors. I can not tell you
which of the two games Art started he won, if either. But I do know Art was in 5 games for
the Tiges, and was 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA. He
made just those two starts and one was a complete game. However, it is possible that he still
lost the complete game, whichever start it was. At the plate Art was 1 for 7 with a
walk, 1 RBI and a sacrifice. In
1911 he was back in the minors for Minneapolis and was done in baseball the
next year after pitching for Fort Wayne.
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