Matt Perisho was a lefty pitcher for the Tigers. He was 18 when he started playing in the
Angels farm system in 1993 after being a third round draft pick. He was a lefty starter in the Angels system
with his most wins coming in 1994 when he was 12-9 in A level Cedar
Rapids. He continued to be moved up
until in 1997 he made his debut for the Angels as the starter against the
Tigers at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers were
a losing ball club but they made Matt look nervous.. In his first inning he got Brian Hunter to
pop out. The he hit Damian Easley. He balked Easley to second. Travis Fryman walked before a wild pitch
moved Easley to third. He struck out
Tony Clark then walked Phil Nevin before getting Melvin Nieves to K and end the
inning. Matt lasted 5 innings and gave
up 5 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks. He did
strike out 6 but had the hit batter and balk as well and ended up with the
loss. He got in 11games for the Angels
that first year but did not get a win.
At the end of the season he was traded to the Texas Rangers. He lasted two years with the Rangers and was
2-7 with a 7.78 ERA. The Rangers traded
him to the Tigers at the end of the 2000 season for minor leaguer Kevin Mobley
and Brandon Villafuerte. Matt has his
best year of his career in the majors in 2001 when he was used mainly out of
the bull pen. He had two wins for the
Tigers both against his old teams, the Rangers and the Angels. Both were in relief. His final record for the year was 2-3 with a
5-72 ERA. In 2002 Matt was used in only
5 games and was 0-0 with an 8.71 ERA. He
was 4-4 with a 2.45 ERA in Toledo but he was released at the end of the
season. Over the next four years Matt
was signed and released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks,
Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Baltimore
Orioles and St. Louis Cardinals. He made
it to the majors with the Marlins and Red Sox in 2004 and 2005 going 7-3 in 91
games as a reliever. Matt then went
looking for work in the independent leagues and the Mexican League before his
career as professional ball player ended in 2010.
Dave
Mlicki pitched ten years as a starter in the majors and three of those were
with the Tigers. He started his career in the majors in 1992 with Cleveland as
a September call up. He did well in his debut pitching 6 innings for the Tribe
against the White Sox and giving up only 2 earned runs on 4 hits and 5 walks
while getting 3 K’s. However, he got a no decision. He made 3 other starts with
similar results so that he was 0-2 with a 4.98 ERA. He still did not get a win
his next year with Cleveland when he was 0-0 in 3 starts. He spent the next
season in the minors before being traded to the Mets. In 3 and a half seasons
with the Mets he was 24-30 with a 4.15 ERA including a 6-0 complete game
victory over the Yankees in the first ever regular season game between the
Yankees and Mets. But the Mets thought they could do better with Hideo Nomo so
Dave was sent to the Dodgers half way through the 1998 season. Nomo went 4-5
with the Mets and Dave went 7-3 for the Dodgers including an 8-5 Dodger victory
that featured Mlicki against Nomo, and anther complete game 4-2 victory over
his former Met teammates. But in 1991 the Dodgers thought they could do better
and traded Dave to the Tigers with Mel Rojas for a couple of minor leaguers and
Robinson Checo. Checo went 2-2 with a 10.34 ERA and was done in the majors
after the season. Dave went 14-12 with 2 complete games and was the number 2
man in the Tigers rotation. He returned
to the Tiger rotation in 2000 and was now joined with Hideo Nomo who had been
acquired as a free agent by the Tiges in the off season. Dave was 6-11 with a 5.58 ERA for a losing
Tiger team at the age of 32. He returned
for the 2001 season but was 4-8 with a 7.33 ERA when he was traded to the
Houston Astros for Jose Lima in June of 2001.
Dave showed the Astros he still had some gas left in his tank by going
7-3 and dropping his ERA to 5.09. In
2002 he dropped to 4-10 with a 5.34 ERA.
He tried to make the Milwaukee Brewers as a free agent in 2003 but was
cut before the season started and retired from baseball. His older brother Doug also played pro ball
for 8 seasons mainly in the Astros farm system.
Kevin Ritz started his career as a starting pitcher in the
majors as a Tiger. He made his debut in
1989 for the Tiges and started 12 games.
He was 4-6 with a 4.38 ERA but was the fifth starter behind Frank
Tanana, Jack Morris, Doyle Alexander and Jeff Robinson. He lost his debut when he was hammered by the
Seattle Mariners for 5 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks in 4 innings. But he came back and two weeks later got his
first win against the Minnesota Twins when he pitched 6 innings and allowed
only 2 runs on 4 hits. His next start he
had his best outing when he pitched a 6-4 complete game victory over the
Rangers. Kevin would split time with
between the Tigers and Toledo the next two years and not record a win in
Detroit. In 1992 he returned and spent
the entire season with the Tiges but split time between starting and the
bullpen. He was 2-5 with a 5.60
ERA. At the end of the season Kevin was
drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the expansion draft. He was injured in 1993 and did not play. The Rockies then released him after a season
not playing. He did resign with the
Rockies a few months later as a free agent.
He was a starter for the Rockies and played for the next five years and
was 39-38 with a 11-11 season and helped the Rockies to their first playoff
appearance in 1995. He returned with
another solid year in 1996 when he won a franchise record 17 games with 11 losses
and a 5.28 ERA in a hitter friendly Coors Field ball park in Denver. But after 1998 Kevin did not pitch again due
to injuries which would end his career.
His totals as a Tiger was a 6-18 record in 4 years and a 45-56 record
for his career with a 5.20 ERA.
Joe Grzenda started his career in the majors with the
Tigers. The lefty signed with the Tigers
out of high school in 1955 and moved up the ranks of the Tigers farm
system. In 1958 he was 16-7 with a 3.19
ERA for the AA Birmingham Barons. He was
brought to spring training in 1961 and was up with the club in April. He made his debut coming out of the bull pen
to face the mighty New York Yankees in the 7th inning of a game the
Yanks led 8-6. Joe faced Elston Howard
who singled to left. Then Roger Maris
popped up to short and Deron Johnson then hit in to a double play to end the inning. The Tigers came back in their half of the
inning and scored 5 runs off of hits by Norm Cash and Chico Fernandez and a
walk to Charlie Maxwell to take the lead 11-8 and put Joe in line for the
win. Joe got a single in his appearance
at the plate but did not score. Joe came
out in the top of the 8th to face Yogi Berra and got him to fly out
to right. Then Bobby Richardson got a
single and Tony Kubek doubled and Joe was replaced by Jim Donohue. Jim gave up a wild pitch that scored
Richardson and Mickey Mantle then homered to bring in Kubek and tie the
game. The Tiges would lose on another
Mantle homer in the 10th 13-11.
About a week and half later Joe was brought in to face the White Sox in
the 6th with the score 6-2 in favor of the Sox who had just taken
the lead on a Roy Sievers grand slam and then put a runner on first. Joe got the next three batters out to stop
the bleeding and end the inning. The
Tiges then came back and scored 5 runs thanks to Jake Wood, Bill Bruton, Rocky
Colavito and Norm Cash to take the lead 7-6.
The Tiges added a run in the 8th and won the game 8-6 to give
Joe his first and only win as a Tiger.
Joe only got into 2 other games for the Tiges before he was back in the
minors. In 1963 he was 1-4 with a 4.78
ERA at the Tigers AAA team in Syracuse when he was released. Joe was signed and bounced around in the
minors before getting back to the majors with the Kansas City Athletics in
1964. Joe would continue to bounce
around the leagues both major and minor through 1974. He played in the majors through 1972 with the
Athletics, New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Washington Senators and St. Louis
Cardinals and posted a 14-13 career record with a 4.00 ERA as a lefty
reliever.
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