March 23 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

There are no known Tiger or Wolverine birthdays on March 23.  As there are no known birthdays I will give a couple of players who has no known birthday their moment on the internet.

Ed Santry has no known birthday.  It is only known that he was born in 1861, during the Civil War, in Chicago.  His record does not show if he threw or batted righty or lefty.   I can only guess how he became a pro ball player.  But he joined the majors with no time in the minors in 1884 with the Detroit Wolverines.  He debuted in a game on August 7.  The Wolverines had just arrived home for the series against Buffalo after a series in Chicago.   Ed had played in the Chicago City League in the 1880’s.  How did he join the Wolverines?  Had he secretly played for the White Stockings under an alias and the Wolverines noticed?  Had he come down to the game to watch the White Stockings and Wolverines and showed baseball aptitude in the stands while watching the game and drew attention to himself?  The how is now lost to time.  But somehow Ed left the Chicago City League and joined the Wolverines in Detroit.  I imagine he may have ridden the train with the Wolverines back to Detroit and shared his knowledge with the Wolverines.  The Wolverines arrived back in Detroit from Chicago for an August 2 game against Buffalo.  Ed did not get into a Wolverine game until Thursday, August 7.  He played shortstop and went 0-3 that first game.  On Friday he played a double header for the Wolverines against Buffalo and got the hit that scored the game winning run in the second game.  However, Ed did not get the RBI.  Instead, the runner scored on a throwing error to give the Wolverines a 1-0 win.  He got in two more games for the Wolverines before his Major League career ended.  He had played 6 games for Detroit and gone 4 for 22 with a walk.  He made 5 errors for a .821 fielding percentage.  This was not far off the team average at short of .830.  After his 6 games he returned to Chicago and their City League.  He would swear off baseball and the Chicago City League only to play briefly for Oshkosh in the Northwestern League in 1886 and for Memphis in the Southern Association that same season.  He was still playing in the Chicago City League as late as 1889.  Years later there was a Chicago boxer who appeared on the scene with the name of Ed Santry.  People thought it was the former Wolverine.  But a local paper dug into the story and found that the former Wolverine had died in 1899 in his home on Orleans Street in Chicago. 

Dave Beadle spent one glorious day as a Detroit Wolverine.  It is unknown when Dave’s exact birthday is.  It is known that Dave Beadle was born in New York in January 1864, while the Civil War was still raging across the United States.  He was a big man especially for his time, standing 6’2” and weighing 200 pounds.  He debuted as a professional ball player and as a Detroit Wolverine in 1884 on June 17 against the Cleveland Blues in Cleveland’s old National League Park.  The Wolverines were 9-27 and in last place in the 6 team National League, 19.5 games behind the league leading Boston Beaneaters and 3 games behind the 6^th place Blues.  Dave played that day splitting time behind the plate as the backstop and in the outfield.  He made 2 errors as the catcher and one more as an outfielder.  He did make one put out in the outfield and two as a catcher plus an assist.  This may not sound good but keep in mind that the league fielding percentage for catchers was .896.  At the plate Dave did not do well.  He made three plate appearances and was 0 for 3 and K’d twice.  The final score was Blues 9, Wolverines 3.  The Wolverines would finish the season in last place with a 28-84 record and 56 games behind the Providence Grays who had a symmetrical record of the Wolverines at 84-28.  Dave never played in the majors again.  While his birthday is unknown, it is known that Dave died September 22, 1925 at the age of 61 having spent one afternoon in the majors.

Another interesting player who was not a Tiger but has a birthday March 23 is Cy Slapnicka.  He was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and is forever tied to Iowa baseball.  His career started in 1906 in the Iowa League of Professional Ballplayers.  He played two seasons in the bigs starting with the Cubs in 1911 where he went 0-2 for the northsiders.  However, in 1912 he was back in the minors pitching for Milwaukee and stayed there until 1918.  1918 was also the second and final year of his big league career.  He played for the Pirates that year and got his only big league win as he went 1-4 with the Bucs.  He went back to the minors for a couple more seasons finishing a minor league career of 15 years and racking up 167 wins against 134 losses.  And then his fame started.  In 1935 he was GM for the Indians.  Coming from Iowa he knew the Iowa players.  So he signed quite a few Iowa farm boys who made good.  For instance, Earl Whitehill, who was married to the original Sun Maid Raison girl and became a Tiger.  He also signed Bob Lemon who gained fame in the 40’s and 50’s as a pitcher, Hal Troskey who was the Indians star first basemen in the 1930’s and 1940’s, Herb Score founder of Herb’s Score Book and Hall of Famer Bob Feller.  Not a bad haul of talen