June 7 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Virgil Vasquez made his major league debut as a starting pitcher for the Tigers.  In 2007 Jeremy Bonderman got a blister on his finger and the Tiges called up Virgil from Toledo.  He made his debut when he got the nod against the Twins as the starting pitcher.  He gave up 6 runs on 9 hits with 2 walks.  Not bad for your first outing.  The only problem was that was in 2.2 innings.  He also hit a batter.   He managed to find his way into four more games for the Tigers before going back down to Toledo.   In his five games with Detroit he was 0-1 with a 8.64 ERA.  He pitched in 16.2 innings giving up 27 hits and 5 walks.  That is a WHIP of almost 2.  However, In Toledo he was 12-5 in Toledo with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.1 WHIP.  In 2008 he was 12-12 with a 4.81 ERA and the Tigers waived him after the season.    He did manage to get back to the majors in 2009 where he managed to win 2 games against 5 losses with a 5.84 ERA.  Today Virgil is in the independent Atlantic League with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.  He is 3-1 with a 4.30 ERA.

Eddie Wells made his major league debut as a pitcher in Fenway Park in 1923 for the Tigers.  He gave up 1 run on 2 hits.  That was in one inning of relief in a Tiger loss to the Red Sox.  Eddie made it into 6 more games with the Tigers that season posting no decisions and 5.40 ERA.  Eddie would stick around for the Tiges for 4 more seasons and go 24-28 with a 4.90 ERA.  Remember, the 1920’s had a lot of runs scored on high batting averages.  After spending 1928 in at Birmingham of the Southern Association where Eddie went 25-7 with a 2.78 ERA, Eddie made it back to the majors in 1929 with the Yankees.   He lasted in the majors through 1934 were he wound up his big league career with the St. Louis Browns.  He played a few more years in the Pacific Coast League with the Hollywood Stars, San Diego Padres and Seattle Indians before finishing his career with the New Orleans Pelicans in 1937.