Trever Miller had his highest innings pitcher per game ratio
as Tiger. He started his major league
career as a Tiger in 1996 as a late season call up. In his first game he relieved Todd Van Poppel
in the 5th inning against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago with two
out. The score was 5-1 when he came in
to face Robin Ventura with a runner on first.
Robin singled as did the next batter, Harold Baines. This scored a run and made the score
6-1. Danny Tartabull K’d to end the
inning. In the Tigers 6th the
bats came alive and scored 4 runs to make it 6-5 Sox. Trever came back in the 6th and
got the side out with no runs. In the
top of the 7th the Tiges scored one more run and tied the game off
of Mark Lewis sac fly. Trever came in to
pitch the 7th and promptly loaded the bases before being taken out
of the game for Joey Eischen. Joey gave
up a single to Harold Baines that scored the go ahead run and tagged Trever
with the loss. Trever would get in four
more games for the Tiges as a starter.
But he did not get a win. Instead
he was 0-4 with a 9.18 ERA. In the 5
games he played as a Tiger Trever pitched 16.2 innings for a 3.24 innings per
game average. After the season Trever
was traded to the Astros by Randy Smith and a catcher was involved. The deal was catcher Brad Ausmus, Jose Lima,
C. J. Nitkowski, Daryle Ward and Trever for Doug Brocail, Brian Hunter, Todd
Jones and Orlando Miller. Trever would
bounce around the majors with the Astros, Phillies, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Devil
Rays, back to the Astros, back to Tampa, St. Louis, back to Toronto and finally
2011, his final year in the majors, with the Red Sox. He appeared in 694 games but only pitched
523.1 innings. That is less than an
inning per game. For the Dodgers he
appeared in 2 games and pitched 2.1 innings.
That was the only other team where he pitched more than an inning per
game. His record for his career was
18-17 in those 694 games. In fact Trever
holds the record for most appearances in a season without a decision at
76. That made up a longer streak of 121
games without a decision. That broke the
previous record of 116 games held by Bobby Seay.
Eric Davis played a couple of seasons as a Tiger. He started his career with the Cincinnati Reds
as an all star outfielder from 1984 through 1991. At the end of the season he was traded to the
Dodgers where he played until he was traded to the Tiges in 1993 for John
DeSilva. He played through the 1994
season with the Tiges but only got in 60 games over that time. He hit only .210 and retired. He had suffered all kinds of injuries as a
player. He lacerated a kidney in the
1990 World Series and also had surgery on a knee that same season. Injuries in Los Angeles and Detroit helped
him to decide to retire. In 1995 he did
not play ball. But in 1996 he staged a
comeback with the Reds. He hit .287 but
was injured again to end his season and won the NL Comeback Player of the year
award. Following the season the Orioles
signed him for 1997. Shortly after he
was diagnosed with colon cancer. He
worked very hard and still played part of the 1997 season. But in 1998 he had the best year of his
career hitting .327 with 28 homers and 89 RBI’s. That would be Eric’s last real year as a
starter. He played with the Cardinals
and Giants before his career as a player ended in 2001. Today he works in the Reds front office.
Fred Holdsworth pitched three years for the Tiges without a
win. He started his major league career
as rightie for the 1972 Tigers squad that won the AL East flag. He made his debut against the Brewers in
Milwaukee County Stadium at the end July.
He pitched 5 innings and had given up 5 runs on 7 hits. He left with the score 5-4 in favor of the
Brewers. But the Tiges came back and Fred
got a ‘no decision’. About a week later
he faced the Brewers again only this time in Detroit. He gave up 5 runs again only this time in 2
innings and got tagged with the loss.
That was the extent of his 1972 season for the Tiges. In 1973 Fred was in 5 games for the Tiges but
posted another 0-1 record. In 1974 Fred
upped his playing time to 8 games. The
results were about the same, 0-3. In the
three seasons Fred was 0-5 with a 5.97 ERA for the Tiges. Early in 1975 Fred was traded to the Orioles
for Bob Reynolds. He pitched for the O’s
in 1976 and part of 1977 getting his first 4 major league wins. But the O’s sent him to the Expos in 1977
where he played through the 1978 season and won 3 more games. A free agent in 1979 the Tiges resigned Fred but
he stayed in the minors at Montgomery and Evansville going 13-10. He was sold to the Brewers for the 1980
season where he was 0-0 in 9 games. His
final major league record was 7-10 with a 4.40 ERA in 7 seasons.
John Baumgartner spent his entire time in the majors as a
Tiger. He was 22 years old in 1953 when
he made the team at the start of the season.
In the season opener he got the start at third but went 0 for 3 in a 10-0
loss to former Tiger Virgil Trucks and the St. Louis Browns. In the second game of the season he got his
first hit with a single off of Mike Garcia of the Indians and in the second and
scored his first run of his career. He
got two more singles that game to go 3 for 5.
John got two more hits two days later against the Browns in a game where
this time Virgil Trucks got the save.
Those would be John’s last hits of his career. John would finish the week as a Tiger but
never get into another major league game.
A couple weeks later the Tiges traded for Ray Boone and Ray would become
the Tiges starting third baseman. John’s
final stats for the week were 5 hits in 27 at bats for a .185 average with 2
RBI’s.
I sent this photo to Mr. Baaumgartner and he signed it for me. I am assuming I have one of the very few 8x10's signed by him.
Jack Lively pitched his entire time in the majors as a
Tiger. Jack was born Henry Everett
Lively and had pitched in the minors starting in 1906. In 1908 he split the year going 20-15 with
the Gulfport-Biloxi Crabs of the Cotton State League. He also played for Montgomery that same year
and went 5-2 for a combined record of 25-17 for the season. In 1909 he was 18-16 with Montgomery before
heading to Oakland of the Pacific Coast League.
There he had his best year ever going 31-15 with a 1.55 ERA for the
Oakland Oaks. The Tigers brought him to
Detroit for the 1911 season hoping the 31 wins would translate to serious wins
for the Tiges. But Jack did not have the
success in Detroit that he had in Oakland.
He was only 7-5 in 18 games with a 4.59 ERA. That would be the extent of Jack’s major
league career. He was back in the minors
after 1911 and was done in baseball after 1915.
Ten years later he had a son, Everett Adrian “Buddy” Lively who would
pitch three seasons with the Cincinnati Reds from 1947 through 1949.
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