May 28 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Lester Oliveros was another Venezuelan pitcher for the Tigers.   He was signed as a 17 year old and in 2006 was in the Tigers farm system as an 18 year old kid.  He was working his way up the farm system ladder as a reliever and in 2010 was the Tigers minor league leader in saves with 23 between A Lakeland and AA Erie.  That helped earn him a call up in 2011 when in July he made his major league debut against the Giants.  It was a game in which Brad Penny had not pitched poorly and the Giants were leading 1-0 in the 8^th.  Lester started the 8^th and struck out the first two batters he faced.  He then gave up a single and a walk before getting the third out on a ground out to himself.   He was replaced in the 9^th but he has showed he was competitive in his debut.  However, it was not the same for the rest of his time as a Tiger.  He got in 8 more game and pitched 7 more innings but gave up 5 runs for a 5.63 ERA.  But the Tigers needed to close out the deal for Delmon Young and on August 16 they sent Lester to Minnesota with minor leaguer Cole Nelson to finish the deal and Lester’s career as a Tiger was over.  His final line was 8 innings pitched in 9 games for no decisions and 4 K’s with a 5.63 ERA.  He pitched for the Twins in 2011 and 2012 and almost tripled his time in the majors with an additional 15 innings pitched.  But still but in 2013 he was out of the majors and in rookie ball for all of 6 games while trying to come back from Tommy John surgery.   In 2014 he is in AA New Britain for the Twins and is 1-1 with a 0.95 ERA where he is their closer with 6 saves.  He may be up with the Twins yet this year as reliever. 

Jhonny Peralta

Mike Difelice had been in the majors for 8 years by 2004 when the Tiger picked him up.  He had made his major league debut as a St. Louis Cardinal in 1996 with only 4 games as a late season call up.  In 1997 he was the Cards starter but in 1998 he was a back up where he would stay for the rest of his career.   He played with Tampa Bay, Arizona, back with St. Louis and finally Kansas City in 2003 when at the end of the season the Royals released him.  He had been a .241 hitter up to that point but was ok behind the plate.  The Tiges signed him at the end of 2003 as a free agent but release him before the season started.  No one else picked him up so the Tiges resigned him 10 days later.  He would get in 12 games for the Tigers in 2004 as the third string catcher behind Pudge Rodriguez and Brandon Inge.  He got 3 hits and was traded to the Cubs in August.  His batting average as a Tiger was .136 with 2 RBI’s and a triple.  He played in the majors through 2008 with the Cubs, Mets and Tampa Bay before he was done as a player at the age of 39.  He was managing in the minors in 2009 and 2010 but I am not sure what he is doing today.

Kirk Gibson

Jim Middleton

I also noticed it is Willard Hershberger’s birthday today.  He never played with the Tigers but he has a connection to the Tigers.  He is a very tragic figure in baseball as the only player to commit suicide during a season.  He was on the Cincinnati Reds and on August 3, 1940 during a double header in Boston against the Braves he stayed at the team hotel and stripped to his boxers, laid newspaper around the tub so as not to make a mess, leaned over the tub and slit his own throat with a razor.  He was clearly troubled.  As a kid he came home one day from school and found his Dad had committed suicide in their home.  A troubled mind was created right then and there.  He was a great athlete and made it to the majors as a back up catcher and fine one.  He would have been the starting catcher for most teams in the majors.  But he was in Cincy behind Hall of Fame catcher Ernie Lombardi.  In 1940 Ernie was injured and Willard was called into full time duty.  But he struggled with the fact that no player is perfect.  A good batter fails 70% of the time.  But I don’t think he ever realized this.  He was hitting over .300 but he blamed himself for some Reds losses.  The Reds were obviously shocked and stunned after his death.  But they went on to win the pennant and faced the Tigers in the 1940 World Series.  However, they had no catcher.  Ernie was injured, Willard was gone and that left rookie Bill Baker who hit almost 100 points less than Willard.  So the Reds brought in their coach, Jimmie Wilson, to play in the World Series against the Tiges as backstop.  The 1940 Tiges won the AL pennant by cheating.  They had a coach in the outfield bleachers stealing signs with binoculars.  Hank Greenberg and Rudy York teed off on opposing pitchers and took the Tiges to face the Reds in the post season.  But they were scared to put a coach in the outfield in Cincy for fear he would be found out.  But low, Jimmie Wilson was holding his hands so low that they could see the signs anyway!  Unfortunately, the Reds pitchers were so good that the Tigers still could not hit them.  Certainly had Willard lived the Reds would have still won the Series and maybe they would have done it in less than seven games.