Adam Pettyjohn was a lefty who started his major league
career as a Tiger. He was in the Tigers
farm system starting in 1998 and worked his way up to AAA Toledo in 2000. He was 0-4 with the Mud Hens with a 6.69 ERA
as a starter. He started the 2001 season
in Toledo and was 5-8 in 17 starts with a 3.44 ERA. This improvement was enough for the Tigers to
call him up in 2001. The Tigers in 2001
were a struggling team. They finished
4-5 to end the season and avoided a 100 loss season. Adam made his debut as the starter against
the Cincinnati Reds on July 16 in Cincy.
He lasted 5.1 innings and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits, 3 for homers. He also K’d 3. His first K was Ken Griffey Jr in the first
inning. Adam had to also bat as the game
was in Cincy and at the plate Adam K’s twice.
The Tiges lost and Adam took the loss.
Adam lost 5 more starts before he faced the Red Sox in Boston. In Boston he was no longer a starter and was
brought into the game in the 6th inning with the score tied
2-2. Adam got the Sox out 1-2-3 in the 6th. In the Tigers 7th Shane Halter hit
a homer over the monster to give the Tiges a 3-2 lead. Adam came back in the 7th and got
2 out before walking the next 2 batters.
He was then pulled for Luis Pineda who walked Manny Rameriz. Luis was pulled for Matt Miller who got Calvin
Pickering to K. The Tiges scored one
more run and held on to win 4-3 to give Adam his first win as a Tiger. After a couple more games from the pen Adam
was given one more start against the Minnesota Twins in Detroit. He went 7 innings and only allowed 3 runs on
6 hits with 2 BB and 5 K’s. The Tiges
scored 4 in their half of the 7th thanks to a 3 run shot by Shane
Halter (again) and Adam was pulled while he was the pitcher of record. But in the 9th Matt Anderson gave
up 2 runs and the game to the Twins by a final score of 5-4. Adam never played again for the Tigers. He could not play in 2002 with a colonectomy. After a 1-4 season in AA Erie in 2003 Adam
was released by the Tigers. He dropped
all the way down to Independent ball in the Golden Baseball League with the
Long Beach Armada before working his way back to the majors in 2008 with the
Cincinnati Reds, the team he debuted against.
He only got in 3 games for the Reds and was 0-1 with a 20.25 ERA. Adam played 2 more years in the minors before
his baseball career was over after 2010.
John Doherty got all his major league wins as a Tiger. He started in the Tigers farm system in 1989
after finishing up at Concordia College in Bronxville, NY. He worked his way up the Tiges chain until in
1992 he made the Tigers squad coming out of spring training. He debuted in the third game of the season
coming out of the pen in the 5th inning of a game the Tigers were
already down 6-1 at Tiger Stadium. The
Jays had runners on first and third when he came in with 2 outs. He gave up a double to Devon White which
scored the runner on third before getting Robby Alomar out on a drive to left
to end the inning. John got Joe Carter,
Dave Winfield and Kelly Gruber out 1-2-3 in the next inning before giving up a
run in the following inning off a Pat Borders homer. The Tiges lost 10-9 but John was a major
leaguer. About a month later John came
in a game against the Angels in Detroit with the game 1-1 in the 8th. He pitched perfect ball for two innings. In the Tigers 9th Mickey Tettleton
led off with homer to left to win the game and give John his first career
win. John eventually go into the
starting rotation by the end of the year and was 7-4 with a 3.88 ERA. He was back in 1993 and was the number 2
starter behind Mike Moore and ahead of David Wells and Bill Gullickson. He was 14-11 with a 4.44 ERA. He had a complete game gem against the Texas
Rangers where he gave up only 3 hits and no walks while notching 4 K’s. He pitched another gem against the Mariners
in Detroit about a month later. Again,
he only gave up 3 hits with another 4 K’s.
But this time he walked 4 to allow 1 run in 4-1 complete game
victory. In 1994 John was again in the
starting rotation but went on the DL in July and finished the season
there. He was 6-7 with a 6.48 ERA with 2
more complete game victories. John was
control pitcher and in 1994 he had only 26 walks in 101.1 innings pitched. This was on par with his 1993 season when he
had 48 walks in 184.2 innings. In 1995
he had 2 losses in his only two starts and then was moved to the bullpen. He was 5-7 coming out of the pen in 46 games
with 6 saves. He came into a game
against the Red Sox in Fenway on September 25, 1995, with the Tiges up 7-2. John pitched the last 3 innings and gave up
only 1 run on 2 hits. He earned the save
and never played in a Tiger uniform again.
The Tigers waived him in spring of 1996 and the same Red Sox who he last
faced picked him up. He only got in 3
games for the Sox in early April and did not record a decision. He finished the season in AAA Pawtucket and
was done in baseball after that. His
final record as a Tiger was 32-31 with a 4.86 ERA and 9 saves.
Archie Yelle spent his entire time in the majors with the
Tigers. He was born in Saginaw Michigan
and made his professional debut with the Boyne City Boosters in 1911 as a
catcher and finished the season with his home town Saginaw Krazy Cats. He continued to bounce around the Midwest and
Canada in the minors through 1916. Then
in 1917 he made the majors with the Tigers as a back up catcher. He was the third catcher behind Oscar Stanage
and Tubby Spencer. He got in 25 games
and hit .137. He came back in 1918 and
was equally shared the catching duties with Tubby and Oscar as there was not a
clear starter for the team. He was the
worst of the 3 fielding but had the best caught stealing percentage of the
3. He nailed 49% of the potential base
stealers which was head and shoulders above Tubby and Oscar. While Archie improved his hitting in 1918 he
still only hit .174 while Oscar hit .253 and Tubby hit .219. The Tiges finished 55-71 and in 1919 brought
in Eddie Ainsmith to be the starting catcher.
Eddie took over the role shard by the three the year before and the
Tiges need for a back up was limited.
Oscar was the main back up but only got in 36 games and Archie was the
only other catcher and got in only 6 games.
He did not get a hit. He was done
in the majors and was out in the Pacific Coast League in 1920 and shared
catching duties with former major leaguer Sam Agnew for the next 7
seasons. Sam and Archie would become
good friends and when Sam died in 1951 Archie was a pall bearer.
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