Saturday, October 17, 2015

June 5 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Duke Sims had a career largely as a back up catcher including a couple seasons as a Tiger.  He debuted with the Cleveland Indians in 1964 as a late season call up.  He was a pinch hitter in his first game with the Indians down 8-1 in the 9th and 2 out Duke came up and grounded out the Yankees shortstop to end the game.   About two weeks later on the last day of the season he got his first start behind the plate.  In the one game (also against the Yanks) he caught Luis Tiant, Tommy John, Sonny Siebert and Sam McDowell.  Nobody stole on him and he made no errors but he also got no hits, going 0-5.  But Duke stayed with the Tribe through 1970 and was the starter in 1969.  But 1970 brought Ray Fosse behind the plate as the main backstop.  So Duke and his .236 average were expendable.  He was sent the Dodgers.  He was the Dodgers starting catcher in 1971 hitting .274.  But 1972 found Duke’s average dropped to .192 so the Dodgers waived him in August.  The Tiges were in a pennant race and in need of a back up catcher.  Bill Freehan, starter for years was now 30 and Jim Price had retired the year before.  The Tiges had picked up aging Tom Haller in the off season but he was older than Freehan and was only hitting .207.  So the Tiges claimed Duke in August to finish the pennant race.  It was a good signing.  Duke hit .316 in the 38 games he played down the stretch and the Tiges won the pennant by half a game.  Duke would end up being the main catcher for the playoffs against the Athletics of Oakland.  But while his average dropped to .214 in the series only Jim Northrup, Al Kaline, Norm Cash and Dick McAuliffe had more hits than Duke.  In 1973 Duke was back as the back up behind the aging Freehan and hit .242.  But by the end of the season the Tiges knew they had to make a move at catcher.  Freehan was getting too old and Duke was a solid back up but the Tiges wanted a younger backstop so shortly before the end of the season Duke was waived and picked up by the Yankees.  Duke played one more season in the majors and was finally done in the majors after 1974 with a career .239 average over 11 seasons.   His OBP was a solid 100 points above his batting average at .340. 

Herb Hall pitched in the minors for five years before making the Tigers.  The right hander won 20 games twice in those five seasons.  In 1917 he was 23-16 with the Joplin Minors in the Western League with a 2.34 ERA.  He must have caught the eye of the Tigers because he was with the Tiges on April 25 of 1918 when he got in his first game in the majors in Detroit against the Cleveland Indians.  He relieved Happy Finneran who had pitched the first 5 innings and had allowed 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks.  Herb came in and pitched 2 innings allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks.  He was then taken out of the game for Rudy Kalio.  The Indians won 8-4 and Herb got a no decision.  In St. Louis 4 days later he was brought into the game in the 5th replacing Willie Mitchell who had given up 4 runs on 3 hits and 5 walks.  Herb pitched one inning but walked 3 and gave up a hit to allow 3 more Brown’s runs before he was relieved by Happy Finneran.  Four days later Herb was brought in to relieve Bill James in the third against the White Sox at Navin Field in Detroit.  The Sox were already up 6-1.  Herb had his worst outing.  He lasted 3 innings but gave up 8 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks before he was relieved.  He never got into another major league game.  In the 3 games he played he was 0-0 and the Tiges lost all 3.  His ERA was 15.00 and at the plate he made on plate appearance but K’d.  Herb went back to the minors and played through 1928 mainly with the Denver Bears of the Western League where he was 110-100 over the last 7 years of his career including 1926 when he was 29-15.


Frank Huelsman confused me with his time as a Tiger. He first appears in pro ball in 1897 with the St. Louis Browns of the National League. He got in 2 games and then disappears until 1899 when he shows up again in the minor with Dubuque/Quincy of the Western Association. He bounced around in the minors until his next year in the majors which was 1904. That year I see stats that show him playing 3 games for the White Sox as an outfielder before the Tigers purchase his contract. He got in 4 games for the Tiges and in 18 at bats he got 6 hits for a .333 average and 4 RBI’s and 5 put outs in the outfield without an error. Then the confusion started. His stats show that he plays a game back with the White Sox where he gets 1 at bat without a hit. This would be understandable if it were not for the record showing that his contract was sold by the Tigers not to the White Sox but to the St. Louis Browns of the American League. However, I have since talked to the folks at baseballreference.com and they have conceded this was incorrect. Franks contract was purchased by Detroit but he was then returned to the White Sox. The White Sox then sold him to the Browns, NOT the Tigers selling him to the Browns. Frank played 20 games for the Browns before heading to the Washington Senators to end the season. So he was with 4 teams, one of them twice in the same season. He returned to the Senators in 1905 to end his major league career as a .258 hitter in 3 seasons. He played another 11 seasons in the minors before ending his time a professional ball player at the age of 42 in 1916. By the way, the 2 St. Louis Browns teams he played for are not the same teams. The St. Louis Browns of the National League became the Perfectos in 1899 before changing their name the following year, 1900, to the Cardinals as we know them today. The St. Louis Browns of the American League were the Milwaukee Brewers, one of the original American League teams of 1901. In 1902 the Brewers moved to St. Louis and became took the long traditional St. Louis name, the Browns. These Browns would largely be inept until they finally moved from St. Louis in 1954 to become today’s Baltimore Orioles.

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