Doug Brocail will always be a cool Tiger to me. He started his major league career with the
San Diego Padres in 1993. He was a late
season call up who started 3 starts but did not get a decision. In 1993 he was the number 3 man in the
rotation but posted a disappointing 4-13 record for a 4.56 ERA. 1994 found him splitting time with the minors
and the majors for the Padres. In 1995
Randy Smith, who was then Padres GM, traded Doug to the Houston Astros. Doug played two seasons in Houston as a spot
starter and reliever. At the end of the
1996 season Doug hit the trifecta with Randy Smith when Randy traded for him to
come to the Tigers. He would now have
played for the Padres, Astros and Tigers.
He earned bonus points as a catcher was included in the trade to the Tigers. The deal was the Tigers sent catcher Brad
Ausmus, Jose Lima, Trever Miller, C. J. Nitkowski and Daryle Ward for Brian
Hunter, Todd Jones, Orlando Miller, cash and Doug. Doug played 4 seasons with the Tigers from
1997 through 2000. He was a reliever for
us who posted a 17-14 record as a Tiger with a very good 3.06 ERA. He was buddies with Todd Jones and Brian Moehler. The
three of them spent the night before the final game at Tiger Stadium sleeping
in the ball park. It was also that year
that I was in the club house with my son who was four years old at the
time. When he saw my son he shook his
hand and then reached behind him and pulled a ball out of his locker and gave
it to my son. He signed it for him as
well. Interestingly enough it turned out
to be a ball from the KBO, Korean Baseball Organization, which was fitting with
Charlie being half Korean! After the
2000 season Doug was traded by Randy Smith back to the Astros with catcher Brad
Ausmus and the Tigers got catcher Mitch Meluskey in the deal for good
measure. After all, what was a Randy
Smith trade without a catcher or two. He was in the minors in 2001 and injured in
2002. In 2003 he was out of baseball but
made a comeback in 2004 with the Texas Rangers.
He would pitch another 5 seasons with the Rangers, Padres again and
Astros again before his major league playing career ended. He was working as special assistant to the GM
for Astros until 2011 when he took over as pitching coach. He lasted until 2013. The Astros has lost 100
games or more each of the last 3 seasons. So for 2014 the Astros fired
most of the coaching staff including Doug.
Jack Morris belongs in the Hall of Fame as a Tiger. He started with the Tigers in 1977 played
with the Tiges for the next 14 seasons. He posted a 198-150 record for the Tiges and a
3.73 ERA. He was the ace of the Tigers
staff during the 1980’s and was the winningest pitcher of the 80’s. He finished in the top 5 for Cy Young voting
5 times, was a 5 time all-star and everywhere he went he won. In 1984 pitched a no hitter against the White
Sox on the Game of the Week. Then in the
post season he was 2-0 in the World Series with 2 complete games and a 2.00
ERA. He had a devastating split finger
fast ball taught to him by Tiger pitching coach, Roger Craig. After leaving Detroit during the whole
collusion mess of the late 1980’s he went to Minnesota. He was 18-12 with the Twins his one year back
home was 2-0 in the World Series including his spectacular 10 inning complete
game shutout of the Atlanta Braves in game 7.
He went to the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992 and the Blue Jays won their
first World Series title behind Jack’s 21 wins.
He finished his pitching career in 1994 with the Cleveland Indians with
a 10-6 record. For his career Jack was
254-186. His career ERA was 3.90. If there was a must win game being pitched I
would want Jack pitching it.
Bob Bruce started his major league career as a Tiger. He was born in Detroit and went to high
school at Highland Park High School and signed with the Tiges after one year of
college ball at Alma College in 1952.
His first year in pro ball was 1953 in Class D Wausau of the Wisconsin
State League. He was 18-8 with a 3.20
ERA. He worked his way up in the Detroit
farm system until 1959 when he made his major league debut as a late season
call up. In his first game he came in to
pitch in the 8th inning of a game at Washington’s Griffith Stadium
against the Senators. The Tigers were
down 5-0. He gave up a lead off walk to
pitcher Tex Celvenger. Johnny Schaive
then laid down a sacrifice bunt on the first base side to advance the
runner. He then walked Dan Dobbek to put
runners on first and second with Harmon Killebrew up. Harmon hit a line shot to Steve Demeter at
third who started a double play to end the inning. Bob
got no decision in his one inning on the mound.
His next game was his first start in major leagues. He took the mound for the Tiges who were 18
games behind the AL pennant winning Chicago White Sox against the Sox in
Detroit. The Sox tagged Bob for 5 runs
on 1 walk and 2 hits with errors by Steve Demeter and Ted Lepcio to help the
Sox and drive Bob out of the game after only 1 inning. His first season in the majors was over. It got better for Bob in 1960. He was 4-7 for the Tiges as a spot starter
and reliever with an ERA of 3.74. This
was followed by a 1961 where Bob split time between AAA Denver and Detroit. He was 2-0 in Denver and 1-2 in Detroit with
a 4.43 ERA. After the Houston Colt .45’s
made their expansion draft following the 1961 season, the Tigers traded Manny
Montejo and Bob to the Colts for Sam Jones.
Bob played the next five years with the Astros mainly as a starter. He had his best season in the majors in 1964. He started the season hot. In his season debut he came in to face the
Cardinals with the Cards up 6-1 in the 8th. Bob faced future League President Bill White
and struck him out on 3 pitches. He then
caught Charlie James looking and struck him out on 3 pitches. Then a K’s Ken Boyer on three pitches to end
the inning. 9 pitches, 3 K’s, 1
inning. He had a career high of 15 wins
that season and a career low ERA of 2.76. His final win of the season was the
last win and last game at Houston’s Colt Stadium where he blanked the Dodgers
on 5 hits for 1-0 win. The following
year Bob got the nod as the starter for the first game ever at the Houston
Astrodome. Bob went 7 innings and only
gave up 2 runs. But his teammates did
not score any and Bob lost 2-0 to the Phillies.
After the 1966 season Bob was sent to Atlanta with Dave Nicholson for
future Tiger Eddie Matthews, Arnold Umbach and a player to be named later,
Sandy Alomar. Bob finished his career in
1967 with the one season with the Braves going 2-3 as a spot starter and
reliever.
Billy Martin played and managed for the Tigers. He was the first to do it since Del Baker and
last to do is before Dick Tracewski.
Billy was always known as being combative or a fiery competitor. He played most of his career as a New York
Yankee all star second baseman. His
Yankee teammates loved him. When Billy
was traded to the Kansas City Athletics it was said it was because he was a bad
influence after he and several other Yankees were in a brawl at the Copacabana
night club in 1957. Yogi Berra said of
him, “some bad influence. When he roomed
with me, I won the MVP. When he roomed
with Mickey (Mantle) Mickey won the MVP and when he roomed with Phil (Rizzuto)
Phil won the MVP. Some bad
influence.” After the 1957 season Billy
was traded to the Tigers in a large multi player deal of Mickey McDermott, Tom
Morgan, Lou Skizas, Tim Thompson, Gus Zernial and Billy and later Jim McManus
for Frank House, Duke Maas, Jim Small, John Tsitouris, Bill Tuttle and later
Kent Hadley. Billy played the one year
as the Tiger shortstop in 1958 hitting .255 with 7 homers and 42 RBI’s. After the season Billy was traded to the
Indians with Al Cicotte for Ossie Alvarez, Don Mossi and Ray Narleski. After brief stints in Cincy, Milwaukee and
Minnesota Billy was done as a player.
For his 11 year career he hit .257.
His next career that brought him back to Detroit was as a skipper. His first managerial role in the majors was
in 1969 when he led the led the Minnesota Twins to the first American League
West championship. They los t in the
first American League Playoffs to the Baltimore Orioles. But
getting into a fist fight with one of his pitchers did not sit well with the
Twins front office and Billy was fired.
He next appeared a manager for the Tigers in 1971. With the Tigers he took them to 1972 AL
Pennant but lost in the playoffs to the Oakland A’s. That same year Billy made baseball card
history before Billy Ripken by flipping off the camera man. If you look on Ebay for a “1972 Topps Billy
Martin” you will find two cards. The
regular card is of Billy behind a batting cage and leaning on a bat. His hand is placed so that he is giving the
bird to the camera. The second card is
his “In Action” card. Topps made cards
of various stars of the day with game action shots instead of poses. This was a somewhat new type of photo for
baseball cards. The players would have
their regular card and their “In Action” card.
Billy was the only manager with an “In Action”. It is of him arguing with an ump. Billy was fired before the end of the 1973
season for telling his pitchers to throw spits balls and then telling the press
he told them to do so. Billy went on to
manage the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics and most famously the New York
Yankees where he was hired and fired 5 times.
Dave Philley was a well traveled player who spent part of
his 18 year career with the Tigers. He
started his time in the majors in 1941 with the Chicago White Sox. He played part of 1942 in the minors before
serving in the Army for the duration of WWII.
He came back to play for the White Sox in 1946 and played the next five
plus years for the Sox. Dave then
started his travels around baseball and back again. He went from the Sox to the Philadelphia
Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, back to the White Sox who then
traded him to the Tigers for Earl Torgeson in June of 1957. Dave got in 65 games for the Tigers as first
baseman, outfielder and pinch hitter mainly, and hit .283 with 2 homers and 16
RBI’s. After the season Dave was sold to
the Philadelphia Phillies for the 1958 season.
He had 18 pinch hits that season including the last 8 pinch hits of the
season. He then started the 1959 season
with a successful pinch hit as well for a major league record 9 pinch hits in a
row. That record still stands. After his stint in Philly Dave went on to the
San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles and finally the Boston Red Sox. Dave was known as a solid defensive outfielder. He was also a great clutch hitter as shown in
his pinch hitting skills. As a pinch
hitter he had a .306 average in 294 at bats with 2 homers and 46 RBI’s. This was more than 30 points higher than his
regular career average of .270. Dave
died two months ago yesterday at the age of 91.
Stubby Overmire was the second best lefty pitcher for the
Tigers 1945 World Series champs. The
diminutive 170 pound 5’7” Frank W Overmire had short “stubby” fingers that he
used to throw his curve and change up and a cut fast ball. He started his professional career with the
Tigers after spending 4 years at Western State Teachers College with the Hilltoppers. Today they are known as the Western Michigan
University Broncos. He was in the minors
for two years before getting the call up to the war depleted 1943 Tigers. He was 7-6 that first year as a 24 year old
starter. He had possibly his best year
in 1944 when he was 11-11 with a 3.07 ERA.
In 1945 he was 9-9 with the Tiges with a 3.88 ERA. The top lefty was Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser
who was 25-9. Stubby was pulled from the
rotation down the stretch as he had been in the failed 1944 Tiger pennant drive. But he was used in effectively as a middle
reliever. For the World Series Stubby
was brought back into the rotation and started game 3 of the series against the
Cubs. He pitched 6 innings giving up 2
runs on 4 hits. But Claude Passeau of
the Cubs pitched a complete game 1 hitter to beat the Tiges. Stubby stayed with the Tigers through 1949
going 47-45 in his 7 seasons as a Tiger with a 3.96 ERA. After the 1949 season Stubby was sent to the
Browns of St. Louis after they claimed him off the waiver wire. He played for a season and a half with the
Browns before heading to the Yankees for the second half of 1951. He did not get in the World Series that year
for the Yanks and was sent back to the Browns after again being picked up off
the waiver wire. After the 1952 season
Stubby was done as a player. After his
time as player Stubby went into managing in the minors and was with the Tigers
minor league operations from 1954 until 1975, his last season as a manager in
the minors. In 1976 he was a scout for
the Tigers. In spring of 1977 Stubby
died in Lakeland Florida. His daughter
still lives in Rockford, MI.
John O’Connell spent half his major league career as a
Tiger. He was born in Ireland in 1872
and started his professional career in 1891 with Lynn (Massachusetts) of the
New England League. His next team was
the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association (a major league at the time)
where he got into 8 games as second baseman, shortstop and outfielder. In those 8 games he got 5 this and drove in 7
runs for a .172 average. He went into
the minors for the next ten years bouncing around from team to team and coast
to coast playing for such cities as Milwaukee, Topeka, Seattle, Boise
Vancouver, New Orleans, Fort Wayne and even Corporal “Radar” O’Reily’s
hometown, Ottumwa Iowa’s Giants of the Western Association among other
teams. Finally in 1902 he was brought
back to the majors in Detroit and appeared in another 8 major league games. 6 were as a second baseman and 2 were played
at first. He got 4 hits for a .182
average but no runs driven in. After
that, his time in the majors was over.
He continued to play in the minors for two more years until he was
33. He died in 1908, two days short of
his 36th birthday.
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