Fernando Arroyo started his career as a
Tiger pitcher. He was drafted and signed as an 18 year old kid out
of high school in Sacramento by the Tigers in 1970. He was 4-1 that
year in rookie ball and started the climb up the Tigers farm
system. In 1975 he was 5-4 with a 2.62 ERA at AAA
Evansville. He was brought up and made his debut at the end of June
as a reliever for the Tiges. They were down 5-2 with a runner on
first and one out in the 5th against the Orioles in
Baltimore. He faced HOF’er Brooks Robinson who the year before had
shown his career was not over by finishing 12th in MVP
balloting. Fernando got him out and also Dave Duncan to end the
inning. He pitched a scoreless 6th followed by a
perfect 7th. In the 8th he gave up a
single and two walks before Don Baylor drove in two runs on a
single. About a month later Fernando would get his first decision as
a major leaguer when he pitched 4.2 innings of relief against the Indians
trailing 7-2. He did not give up a run while the Tiger bats clawed
their way back and scored 6 runs to make it a 8-7 Tiger lead and give Fernando
his first win. In September he pitched a gem in Fenway
Park. He went the full 9 innings and allowed only 3 runs against the
AL champs while the Tiges scored 10 to give Fernando a complete game
victory. In a total of 14 games for the Tiges that season Fernando
would only win these two games while posting a 4.56 ERA. But
Fernando struggled in 1976 and was 4-10 with a 4.76 ERA in Evansville. But
he returned to form in 1977 still for a poor Tiger team and was 8-18 with a
4.17 ERA with 8 complete games as the number two starter for the Tiges behind
young Dave Rozema. Fernando would get two more years for the
Tiges but only go 1-1 in the two years and his ERA was above 8 both
seasons. After the 1979 season the Tiges dealt Fernando to the
Minnesota Twins for Jeff Holly. Fernando would appear in the majors
as late as 1986 with the Oakland Athletics. But he only recorded 13
more wins in the majors. He went into coaching after his playing
days and as late as 2008 was coaching in the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization)
with the Lotte Giants under Jerry Royster.
Owen Friend
Boyd Perry
Joe Samuels
Frank Sigafoos
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