Fausto Cruz was possibly the replacement for Alan Trammell
when he was a Tiger. Fausto started his
time in pro ball with the Athletics organization in 1991. He was a shortstop and hit well at each level
of the minors after a season of adjustment.
In A ball he first hit .207 then the next year hit .319. When moved up to AA he was still hitting over
.300 and moved up to AAA. He took a year
to adjust. His first year he hit .243
then the second year was hitting .321.
The Athletics thought it was time to bring him up. In 1994 he got into 17 games for the
Athletics but hit only .107. In 1995 he
was brought up again for 8 games but still hit only .217. For the rest of the 1995 season in AAA Fausto
hit .281. but had his greatest home run
total of 11 dingers for the season.
Before the 1996 season started the Tigers traded Phil Plantier whom they
had just signed in December, to the Athletics for Ramon Fermin and Fausto. The Tigers where in the midst of a search for
a shortstop to replace the 38 year old Alan Trammell, who likely to retire
soon. The 1996 season saw four players
play 29 games or more at short to see who would take over. Fausto spent most of the season in AAA Toledo
and his average dropped to .250 while he did hit 12 dingers. Fausto was an average fielding shortstop. The Tigers threw him into the mix as well to
see if he showed promise as a replacement for Tram. But
when in 14 games with the Tigers he only hit .237 the Tigers realized they
needed to look elsewhere for a shortstop.
They signed Deivi Cruz in the off season and Deivi stayed the starting
shortstop for the next five years hitting .271 and twice hitting double digit
homers. Fausto never got back into the
majors and worked a few years in the minors before finally heading to Mexico in
1999. He finally hung up his glove in
2005 at the age of 33. His last season in
Mexico he hit a career high .342.
Phil Hiatt was a AAA phenom power hitter who never quite did
the same in the majors including his brief time with the Tigers. Phil started in the Kansas City Royals
organization as a combo third baseman, outfielder, first baseman. He hit 29 homers in the minors in 1992 while
hitting .244. That meant he got a shot
at the majors to start the 1993 season.
But in 81 games with the Royals he hit .218 and only 7 homers. The free swinging Phil got 52 hits but K’d 82
times. So 1994 saw Phil back in the
minors this time hitting .294 with 18 homers which brought up another shot at
the majors in 1995. But in 52 games for
the Royals in 1995 he hit only .204 with only 4 homers. The .204 average equated to 23 hits. But Phil still had 37 K’s. Towards the end of the 1995 season he was
sent to the Tigers to complete a trade for Juan Samuel. Phil spent most of 1996 in Toledo and hit
.261 with 42 homers for the Mud Hens.
But this did not translate into production with the Tiges. Phil got in 7 games for the Tiges and got
only four hits, three singles and a triple.
No homers and he struck out 11 times.
1997 found Phil in Japan with the
Hanshin Tigers where he played one year before coming back in 1998 to the
states and AAA. Phil would play in the
minors at AAA level with the Indians, Reds, Rockies, Dodgers, Cubs and Astros
with only one more cup of coffee with the Dodgers in 2001. In 12 seasons in AAA Phil hit 257 homers and
hit .271 but K’d 1077 times. After 2004
Phil was done in pro ball at the age of 35.
Dan
Gakeler spent his entire time in the majors with the Tigers. He was originally
drafted by the Bsoton Red Sox and spent four years in their farm system mainly
as a starter. He was traded to the Expos but still never got to the show before
he was granted free agency after the 1990 season. He was then signed by the
Tigers. He was 2-3 with Toledo in 1991 with a 3.50 ERA but now was mainly a
reliever when he was brought up to Detroit. He got into his first game as a
major leaguer on June 9, when he was given the start against the California
Angels. He faced off against Chuck Finley who was 9-2. Dan started his career
with a walk to Louis Polonia on 4 straight pitches. Polonia stole second and
was moved over to third on a ground out by Wally Joyner. Dan then got Dave
Winfield and Dave Parker to pop out and ground out and stranded Polonia on
third. In the second inning Dan gave up another lead off walk and then two
singles to load the bases. A ground out later and the Angels had the lead 1-0.
In the third Dan got Joyner, Winfield and Parker out 1-2-3. But in the fifth it
got ugly for Dan. He gave up five straight singles and the Angels went up 4-0.
Dan got the loss in his debut. About a week later he got another start against the
Seattle Mariners. This time Dan fared much better. He gave up a single in the
second for the only hit until the 8th. At that point he walked
Harold Reynolds. A wild pitch moved Harold to second and then he scored on a
single by Alvin Davis. Dan was then removed for Paul Gibson. Dan got the win
with his line score being 7.2 innings, 1 run, 2 hits, 5 BB’s and 4 K’s. Dan
would start five more games for the Tigers and also get in 24 other games as a
reliever. But he would never win another game in the majors. After the season
Dan was back in the minors and would never get another shot in the majors.
After 12 years in the minors he retired after the 1995 season. Today he works
in the insurance business and teaches the game to middle schoolers in North
Carolina.
Bob Harris started his major league pitching career as a
Tiger. He was the first major leaguer to
come from the state of Wyoming when he broke into the majors as a late season
call up in 1938, This was after four and
a half years in the minors where he had several strong seasons like 1936 when
he won 35 games and also threw a no hitter (5 inning game). He made his debut against the Washington
Senators with a call to the pen to start the 8th inning. The Tiges were down 11-2 when Bob came
in. He pitched the last two innings and
gave up 1 run on 3 hits with 1 K. He got
in one more game before the final day of the season. The last day was a double header against the
Indians. Hank Greenberg had 58 homers
and was going for 60 homers in a season to tie Babe Ruth’s record. In Game 1 Bob Feller struck out 18 yet the
Indians lost 4-1. Hank went 1 for 4 with
a double and K’d twice. In the second
game Bob was given the ball for the start of the last game against the Indians. The Tiger bats spotted Bob to a 5-0 lead in
the first and then added another in the third.
In the fourth the Tiges added 3 more runs to make it a 9-0 game. But the Tribe came back and scored 3 in their
half of the fourth and then added 1 more in the fifth and sixth. In the seventh the Tiges added one more and
then the Indians came back for 3 more.
The score was 10-8 Tigers. The
game was called after the 7th due to darkness. While this gave Bob the complete game
victory, it stopped Hank from continuing his pursuit of Babe’s record. Hank had gong 3 for 3 that last game but all
the hits were singles. Bob’s record for
the season was 1-0 in 3 games pitched.
In 1939 Bob was in 5 games and was 1-1 with 4.00 ERA. On April 26, he was called in from the pen
and pitched the last 3 innings of a game against the St. Louis Browns. Bob gave up only 1 run on 4 hits to earn the
win. The loser was Jim Walkup who had
relieved Bobo Newsom. It was Bob’s only
win for the Tigers. Two weeks later Bob
was sent to the same Browns he had just beat for the same pitchers he had
beat. The trade was future Browns star
Chet Laabs, Mark Christman, George Gill, Vern Kennedy and Roxie Lawson for Bobo
Newsom, Jim Walkup, Red Kress and Beau Bell.
Bob was 3-12 the rest of the season with the Browns. In 1940 Bob was the number three starter for
the Browns behind ace and former Tiger Eldon Auker, and former Tiger Vern
Kennedy who was part of the same trade that took Bob to St. Louis. Bob was 11-15 in 1940 and followed that up
with a 12-14 season in 1941. In 1942 Bob
was 1-5 with the Browns when he was sent to the Philadelphia Athletics. He finished the season 1-5 for the
Athletics. 1943 found Bob in a Navy
uniform. He would serve in the Pacific
for the next three years of WWII. He
returned after the war and played on last season in the minors splitting time
between the Toledo Mud Hens and the Milwaukee Brewers of the American
Association. He was 2-6 before he
finally called it quits with pro ball.
He died in 1989 and is buried in Fort McPherson National Cemetery.
Tom Forster made his major league debut with the Detroit
Wolverines. He started his professional
career with three teams in the Eastern Championship Association. This was short lived minor league that lasted
just one season in 1881. There were six
teams in the league. Tom played for
half. He played for the Washington
Nationals who also moved to Albany. He
also played for the New York New Yorks and the New York Quicksteps. He did not play for the Brooklyn Atlantics,
New York Metropolitans or Philadelphia Athletics. The next season, 1882, Tom found himself
playing ball in Detroit with the Wolverines.
This was their second season in the majors. They finished 42-41 and Tom got in 21 of
those games as a replacement second
baseman. Wolverines starting second
baseman, Dasher Troy, who was fourth on the team among starters with a .243
average, left the team for Providence.
The Wolverine’s needed a replacement.
The Wolverines made do with a combination of using their starting third
baseman Joe Farrell, starting catcher Charlie Bennett and Tom. Tom was not very successful. He hit .092 in the 21 games he played and was
far behind the fielding of Dasher’s with a .830 fielding percentage to Dasher’s
.847. The 1883 Wolverines featured Sam
Trott and Joe Quest at second with Charlie Bennett and Ned Hanlon even, helping
out at second. But Tom was not
there. Tom was back in the minors playing
with the East Saginaw Greys of the Northwestern League. The next year the Greys became the Saginaw
Greys and Tom was still there hitting .307.
That average took Tom back to the majors with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys
of the American Association and then the New York Metropolitans before ending
the season back in the minors with the Milwaukee Brewers of the Western
League. Tom continued to bounce back and
forth between various teams in the majors and minors before his career ended in
1890 after 10 years a professional ball player.
Other teams he played for included the Milwaukee Cream Citys and the
Davenport Onion Weeders. His final team
was Hartford of the Atlantic Association.
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