May 10 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Brayan Villarreal is just like Dan Schlereth to me.  He was one of the four who signed for me from spring training 2011.  He comes from Venezuela and made his debut as a Tiger out of Spring Training in 2011.  By his birthday in 2011 he was 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA.  He finished the season with a 1-1 record and a 6.75 ERA in 16 games and 16 innings pitched.  He looked good in 2009 and 2010 in A and AA ball with West Michigan, Lakeland and Erie.  In 2009 he had a 2.87 ERA and in 10 it was a 3.55.  That seems a quick jump to bring him up to the big club from AA and I think it showed.  Not many folks make a jump from AA to the bigs.  in 2011 I said “I hope he can do it but so far he seems like he is destined for Toledo or Erie by the end of the month.”  Turns out I was right.  He spent most of 2011 at Toledo where he was 3-5 with a 5.05 ERA.  He was up with the Tiges in 2012 and was 0-1 with a 0.00 ERA at his birthday.  How he was able to create an 0-1 record and maintain an ERA of 0.00 was that he came in to pitch the ninth against the Yankees with the game tied 6-6.  He got Yankee catcher Russell Martin to ground out and then walked Jeter and Granderson.  A wild pitch moved Jeter to third and then a passed ball brought home Jeter for the winning run.  Shortly after that he was sent down to Toledo to make room for Doug Fister.  He finished the season at 3-5 with a 2.63 ERA after being brought back up to Detroit.  In 2013 Brayan is 0-2 with a 20.77 ERA in 7 games.  His first loss was when he came in to relieve in the 7th against the Blue Jays in Detroit.  With a runner on he threw a wild pitch and then walked the next three batters before he was pulled.  His next outing was his second loss.  In that game against Oakland he relieved in the 12th inning and struck out his first batter before giving up a homer to end the game.  At this time he is back in Toledo.

Marino Santana spent 70% of his major league career with the Tigers.  He had spent four years in the Seattle Mariners farm system when he was released.   The Tigers signed him as a free agent after the 1996 season.  He was 4-1 as a reliever for the Tigers AA Jacksonville team in 1997 and 6-3 in 1998 at Toledo.  He was a late season call up in 1998.   He got into 7 games for the Tigers but did not get a decision and had an ERA of 3.68.   After the season we sold him to the Red Sox.  He pitched most of the next season in Pawtucket, the Sox AAA team.  But he did get called up in the middle of the season and got in 3 games for the Boston Red Sox.  He did not get a decision with the Sox either.  He was released at the end of the season and never played pro ball again. 

John Cummings ended his major league career as a Tiger.  A USC grad, the lefty pitched for the Mariners for two and a half seasons and posted a 2-10 record with a 6.07 ERA before he returned home to pitch for the Dodgers half way through 1995.  He had his best performance of his career that half season with the Dodgers going 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA.  In 1996 he was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA at the end of July in 1996 when the Dodgers traded John and Joey Eischen to the Tiges for Chad Curtis.  John went 3-3 with the Tiges in 21 relief appearances and posted a 5.12 ERA.  John returned to the Tigers in 1997 and was 2-0 with a 5.47 ERA all in relief.   John was done with the majors after 1997 at the age of 28 and done with pro ball in 1999 after playing 10 years on 17 teams.  Who said the minors were fun?

Tim Hosley played 14 games with the Tigers in 1970 and 1971 as a back up catcher.  In 28 at bats he struck out 7 times and hit .179.  He did have 5 hits and 3 were for homeruns.  Sounds a bit like Rob Deer.  He went on to play for the Cubs and A’s and finished his major league career in 1981 having hit .215 and 12 homers in 9 partial seasons as a back up.

Henry Jones had a major league career of 34 games for the 1884 Wolverines.  He played second, outfield and short.  He hit .220 and drove in 3 runs while scoring 24 times himself.  He played for Grand Rapids of the Northwestern League in 1883 and 1884 as well as 1889 with Chattanooga of the Southern Assoc.  He died in 1955 in Manistee at the age of 98 and is buried there in the Oak Grove Cemetery.