Neifi Perez ended his career as a Tiger. But I don’t think he ended it on his
terms. Neifi was from the Dominican
Republic and started his major league career in 1996 with the Colorado
Rockies. He was soon their starting
shortstop hitting .282 in 6 years before he started to bounce around. He went the Royals, Giants, and Cubs before
finally coming to Detroit in the 2006 pennant race. The Tigers sent Chris Robinson to the Cubs
for Neifi. Neifi was a utility infielder
for the Tiges in 2006 and hit .200 in 21 games.
In the post season he was 0-4 in the ALCS playing short for game 2 of
the series against Oakland. He was on
the World Series roster and while he appeared in 2 games, he did not make a
plate appearance. In 2007 Neifi was
again with the Tiges and was hitting a lowly .172 when he was suspended for 25
games for the use of performance enhancing drugs. Before the suspension was over he was caught
again and suspended for an additional 80 days.
At the end of the 2007 Neifi was granted free agency by the Tigers. He never played baseball again. There was some talk that the Rockies might
sign him but the Mitchell report came out in December of 2007. Ironically Neifi was not listed in the
report. However, former Tigers Phil
Hiatt, Rondell White, Fernando Vina and Nook Logan all were named. Vina, White and Logan all were said to have
been using while with the Tigers in 2004.
The Mitchell report upset the public who was not supportive of someone
like Neifi. The talk of the Rockies died
off due to the Rockies looking for more “youth”. Also
on the Tiger team in 2007 was $10M free agent Gary Sheffield. Unlike Neifi, he was named in the Mitchell
report and receipts between him and Balco were cited in the Federal search
warrant for Balco. But while Neifi found
that hitting only 1 homer in two seasons and a .172 average will not ingratiate
you to the fans, Gary found that hitting 25 homers will get your indiscretions
overlooked.
Darnell Coles
Jack Pierce
Gene Michael
Jerry Lumpe
Lou Skizas
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