Travis Fryman was going to replace Alan Trammell at one
point as a Tiger. He was a first round
pick of the Tigers in the 1987 draft out of high school and moved up the Tigers
farm system to join the Tiges in 1990 at the age of 21. In 66 games that first season he hit
.297. His natural position was
shortstop. But the Tiges had a standout
in Alan Trammell already at the job. So
while spelling Tram for 17 games he was used mainly as a third baseman for 48
games that season. Since 1987 the Tigers
had been trying to find a regular third baseman so Travis was thrown into the
mix. The next year, 1991, the job was
his. He quickly became an all-star in
1992 and returned to the all-star squad three more times for the Tiges. All the while playing a solid third while
hitting .274 over 8 years for the Tiges.
His problem was his penchant for K’s.
Every season he K’d more than walked, sometimes by a large margin. For instance in 1992 he K’d 144 times while
walking only 45 times. I recall I had
tickets behind the plate at the September 18 game at Tiger Stadium when Roger
Clemons K’s 20 Tigers at the plate.
Travis was the leader with 4. I
recall one at bat when Roger came outside and Travis went for it and missed. The next pitch was again outside but a couple
inches further. Travis went for it for
strike 2. The third pitch was inside at
Travis wrists and jammed him for strike 3.
Ironically Travis was playing short that game as Tram was playing second
as Lou Whitaker had retired the year before.
But Travis was a fan favorite and rightfully so. He was always a quiet player who went out and
did his job. We traded Travis to the
Arizona Diamondbacks for the second coming of Cy Young or so you would have
thought if you listened to former Tiger GM Randy Smith. Trivia question, who did the Tigers trade
both Cecil Fielder and Travis Fryman for?
Matt Drews. In 1996 the Tiges
traded Cecil to the Yankees for Ruben Sierra and Matt Drews. But according to Randy Smith the key was Matt
Drews. In 1997 the Diamondbacks were
drafting as an expansion team. The
Tigers left Matt Drew unprotected and the Diamondbacks drafted him. So the Randy Smith traded Travis to the
Diamondbacks for the key, Matt Drews and Gabe Alvarez and Joe Randa. The Diamondbacks immediately traded Travis
back into the AL Central to Cleveland for Matt Williams. Travis went on to play third for the Indians
for 5 more years as an all-star and a Gold Glove winner. Matt Drews would never pitch in the majors.
Scott Sanders ended his MLB career in a non game against the
Tigers. He came out of Nicholls State
University in Louisiana. He was drafted
by the San Diego Padres in 1990 and worked his way up to the Padres in 1993 as
an August call up and went 3-3 as a starter.
He was a starter again in 1994 but his ERA climbed half a run to 4.78
and he was 4-8 for the Padres. He was still a starter in 1995 and doing well at
5-5 with a 4.30 ERA when he had an elbow injury that ended his season. When he came back in 1996 he was effective in
the bullpen with a 3.27 ERA and K’ing 11 batters per 9 innings. He became a regular in the starting rotation
again and ended the season with his best record at 9-5 and a 3.38 ERA. Then his career blew up. He was traded to the Seattle Mariners for
1997 and as the number two starter that season he gave up 8 homers in less than
20 innings pitched. He was sent to the
bull pen and was better but not enough and in July of 1997 the Mariners traded
Scott to the Tigers with minor leaguer Carlos Villalobos and Dean Crow for
Felipe Lira and Omar Olivares. Scott
lost 6 of his first 7 decisions and was 3-8 for the Tiges with a 5.33 ERA. He was with the Tigers again in 1998 but
things got worse for Scott. He was the
number 4 starter and in his first start of the season in Baltimore he lasted
only 4.2 innings and gave up 8 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks for the loss. About
week later he got the start against the Rangers in Texas. He was less than effective from the start
giving up 3 runs on 5 hits and walk in the first. In some sort of sadism not normally seen in
major league managers, Buddy Bell left Scott in for 4 full innings. By the time Doug Bochtler came in the game in
the 5th inning Scott had a line score of 11 runs on 16 hits and 3
walks for an ERA of 19.73 for the two games he had appeared and two
losses. Scott was sent to the bull pen
and got the call to finish game the Tiges trailed the Yanks 8-3 at Tiger
Stadium. Scott held the Yanks scoreless
for the inning. But that was the last of
his outings as a Tiger. The Tigers sent
him back to the Padres in May for a player to be named later (Rod
Lindsey). Scott went to the bull pen for
the Padres and gave up his change up and relied only on his fastball and
slider. He was 3-1 in relief for the
Padres with a 4.11 ERA. Maybe his
confidence was restored from what must have been a devastating start to the
season in Detroit. He played on more
year in the majors for the Cubs in 1999 before he was officially done in the
majors. The Indians signed him and he
started a game on May 18 against the Tigers and started the game by giving up
back to back homers. He lasted 1.2
innings and gave up 4 runs on 6 hits.
But mercifully, rain came and the game was called before 5 innings and
so the stats and records of the game were wiped out and Scott was designated
for assignment and would never pitch in the majors again. Scott still hung around until 2004 in the
minors. His final record as a Tiger was
3-10 with a 6.75 ERA.
Alan Koch had his number retired by the Tigers. He came out of Auburn University and was
signed by the Tigers in 1960. He had a
stand out 1961 season in 1961 when he was 15-10 at Birmingham, the Tigers AA
farm team. In 1963 he was 11-2 at
Syracuse, the Tigers AAA farm team when he was called up by the Tiges and made
his major league debut as bull pen call in the 8th inning of a game
against the Senators in Tiger Stadium with the Nats (Nationals or Senators)
ahead 3-1. Alan walked his first batter,
Don Blasingame and then got Jim King to fly out to center. At that point, Tiger skipper, Charlie Dressen
brought in Fred Gladding. Alan got his
first win as a Tiger on August 8th when he faced the Red Sox in the
top of the 10th of a 5-5 ball game.
He gave up a single to Carl Yastrzemski before getting three outs in a
row to end the inning. In the bottom of
the 10th the Tiges got a run on a Rocky Colavito single that brought
in Billy Bruton to win the game for Alan.
Alan would finish the season at 1-1 with a 10.80 ERA after making only 7
appearances in a Tiger uniform. He was with the Tiges early in 1964 and was in
3 games earning $7,500 before he was sold to the Washington Senators in early
May. The Senators were the same team he
made his debut against. He was a number
5 starter and came out of the bull pen for Senators manager, Gil Hodges, and
was 3-10 with a 4.89 ERA before the season ended. That would be his last season in pro
ball. His final stats as a major leaguer
are a 4-11 record and a 5.41 ERA. His
stats as a Tiger were 1-1 with a 9.64 ERA.
As for his number being retired, he wore 42 which was retired across the
majors for Jackie Robinson.
Martin Powell was the first starting first baseman in
Detroit history. He was from
Massachusetts and played a couple years in minor league ball in Lowell and
Holyoke and even Washington DC before joining the inaugural Detroit Wolverines
of 1881. That was the same year Billy
the Kid was killed. Actually, the
Wolverines were using Lew Brown at first for the first part of the season. But Lew was hitting .241 and when a Martin
came on the scene on June 18 he took over first for the rest of the season and
the majority of the season as the season had only started on May 2. Martin would lead the team with a .338
average and a .380 OBP both second in the National League that season. His
second year in the majors in 1882 showed a large drop in production. He was still the Wolverines starting first
sacker but hit only .240. His K’s also
increased dramatically from 9 to 27. He
was still with the Wolverines in 1883 and he did bounce back hitting .273 and
his K’s dropped a bit to 23 while his walks rose. But that was the last season for Martin in
Detroit. He played one more season in the majors with
the Cincinnati Outlaws of the Union Association and was done after that 1884
season. Also in 1884, the Washington
Monument was completed, the Statue of Liberty was presented to the US while
still in France, Grover Cleveland Alexander was elected president for his first
term and Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first black to play in the major
leagues. Martin did not live past
Cleveland’s first term. He died of
“consumption” or TB in February, 1888 at the age of 31.
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