June 27 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Oscar Salazar

The above is a signed faux 1984 card of Nelson Simmons from my collection.  Nelson was not in the 1984 set.  But faux 1984 cards are popular among collectors in Detroit.

Nelson Simmons

Dick Marlowe

Gus Zernial

Lou Kretlow

Charlie Wheatley spent his entire time in the majors as a Tiger.  He started pro ball in 1910 with the Abilene Reds of the Central Kansas League at the age of 17.  It is not known what position he played.  He moved to Auburn of the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas League in 1911 where he started pitching and went 6-2.  In 1912 he jumped up to class A St. Joseph of the Western League.  It was too far of a jump as he went 0-2 and soon moved back down to class B ball at Springfield (IL) of the Central League.  He was 14-8 and moved up to the majors in Detroit as a late season call up.  He made his debut on September 6 of 1912 at the age of 19 in a losing effort.  The Tigers lost the game to the St. Louis Browns 4-2.  Charlie got the loss.   Charlie got into a total of 5 games with the Tiges and went 1-4 with a 6.17 ERA.  The team ERA was 3.77.  Charlie started every game he played.  One month after his debut Charlie took another loss at the hands of the Chicago White Sox.  The final score was 4-9.  The Tigers finished in 6^th with a 69-84 record and Charlie finished his major league career at 1-4.  He went back to the minors for the next six seasons before his pro career ended in 1918 at the age of 25 with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association.  His final known minor league record was 45-48 with a .209 batting average.  Charlie lived to almost 90 years old, dying in 1982 at 89.