March 31 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Tracy Jones played with the Tigers for part of two seasons in 1989 and 1990 as an outfielder.  He was acquired from the Giants in the trade that sent Pat Sheridan to San Fran.  He hit .246 for the Tiges with a .308 OBP in 96 games.  On June 18 on 1990 he was sent to Seattle for Darnell Coles.  It was one year and two days to the day he joined the Tigers. 

Bill Denehy played 31 games in 1971 for the Tigers when he went 0-3.  Yet he is the catalyst for the 1969 Mets.   Bill Joined the Tigers with Dean Chance in the deal that sent Jerry Robertson to the Mets.  The Mets originally had Bill back in 1965 when they dinged him as a free agent.  The Mets had picked him up in December of 1969, after the season from the Indians.  He never played a game for Tribe nor did he play for the Mets after they acquired him after the 1969 season.  The Indians had acquired Bill from the Senators in a trade for Lee Maye.  And that is how Bill Denehy was the catalyst for the 1969 Mets.  Washington sent the Mets Gil Hodges, the new manager who turned around the Mets in two seasons from chumps to champs for Bill Denehy. 

Marv Grissom was a Tiger in 1949 when he went 2-4 in 27 games.  The Tigers picked him up from Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League.  In 1948.  He had been sent there by the New York Giants in 1948.  He originally signed with the Giants in 1941 but did not make it to the majors until after the war in 1946 when he was 0-2 with the Giants. Before the 1951 season Detroit sent Marv back to the PCL but this time to Seattle.  Marv would go on to play for the White Sox, Red Sox but eventually rejoin the Giants and play a total of 7 seasons for the Giants in New York and San Fran.  In that time he would become their closer and save a total of 58 games for them through 1958.  He was also known as a tough autograph.

Johnny Couch started his major league career in 1917 with the Tigers.  He appeared in three games and did not record a decision.  After his three games with Detroit he dropped out of baseball until after WWI.  I can only guess he was in the service as he was not in the minors.  In 1919 he went back to pro ball and played in the minors until 1922 when he was pitching in the majors again for the Cincy Reds and he had his best year in the majors going 16-9 as the number two starter behind Hall of Famer Eppa Rixey.  Johnny played in the bigs through 1925 but never had a year like he did in 1922. In fact he won a total of only 13 more games and lost 23 in the rest of his major league career.