May 8 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Alfredo Simon is a pleasant surprise for the Tigers.  Here in Detroit most people have not heard of him until this year.  But he started his MLB career in 2008 with the Baltimore Orioles.  However, he was 27 at that time and had spent 8 years in the minors with the Phillies, Giants and his first MLB team, the Orioles.  For the Orioles he was a starter and a closer before they off loaded him to Cincy in 2012.  After two years in the bullpen for  the Reds they moved him to the starting rotation in 2014 and he blossomed going 15-10 with a 3.44 ERA and a berth on the all star squad.  In December of 2014 the Tiges traded minor leaguer Jonathan Crawford and shortstop Eugenio Suarez for Alfredo.  In 2016 Alfredo has done great for the Tiges.  He has 6 starts and was the first in the league to 4 wins for a 4-1 record and a 3.13 ERA.  Felix Hernandez has since passed him and has 5 wins as Alfredo got a no-decision yesterday.   I saw him beat the Indians on April 25 and among his pitching repertoire he has an eephus pitch.  This is a very slow balloon ball that when thrown as Alfredo throws, with the same arm speed as his fast ball, throws off the batters and they can not hit it.  Provided he gets it over the plate he gets a strike.  It is fun to watch.

John Skopec ended his time in the majors with the Tigers.  He started his professional career in 1900 at the age of 20 with the Wheeling Stogies of the Interstate League.   He played couple games in the outfield and at second but was mainly a pitcher.  He was 21-15 that first year and showed such promise that he was with the Chicago White Sox in 1901.  He started the second game of the season and beat the Cleveland Blues (today’s Indians) 7-3 in his major league debut.  It was the first year that the American League was in existence as a major league.  So 1901 was a year of American League firsts.  Among them was that John gave up the first home run in American League history to Erve Beck of Cleveland.   It was an era of complete games.  Of the 137 games the White Sox played that season 110 were complete games.  John played very well going 6-3 with a 3.16 ERA with 6 complete games out of 8 that he played in and started.  Yet John was released by the eventual American League Champs White Sox in July.  In 1903 The Tigers picked up John from St. Paul.  For Detroit John was 2-2 with a 3.43 ERA.  But Ed Barrow, the Tigers manager soured on John.  They had a dispute about the berth on a train for an east coast road trip and John refused to go.  His major league career was over.  He would play 3 more years in the minors where he had the reputation of being a great talent but with little work ethic.  John was dead 6 years after his playing days were over in 1912 at the age of 32. 

Dan Brouthers almost did not play his Hall of Fame baseball career with the Detroit Wolverines of the National League or anyone else.  In 1877 at the age of 19 he collided with the catcher while trying to score the game winning run.  The catcher never regained consciousness and died a few days later.  Dan vowed never to play again.  No one blamed Dan for the death and he would eventually start playing in the major leagues in 1879 with the Troy Trojans and was third in the league in homers with 4.  This was an inkling of what was coming.  IN 1881 he was with a new team, the Buffalo Bisons and at the age of 23 he led the league in homers with 8 and a slugging percentage of .541.  This was his first of 6 seasons in a row that Dan led the league in slugging percentage.   The next year he led the league in hits, average, OBP and slugging.  Then he would lead the league in hits, triples, RBI’s, average, OBP and slugging.  This was the type of career Dan had as a first baseman.   He played with the Wolverines starting in 1886 and was on the team when they won the National League pennant and the World Series in the classic 1887 contest between Detroit and the St. Louis Browns.  In 1887 he hit 12 homers and became the major league career home run leader with 65.  He would play one more year in Detroit in 1888 leading the league in doubles all three years.   In Dan’s 19 year career in the majors he won the batting title 5 times, home runs 2 times, RBI’s 2 times, along with the other times described above which helped him lead the league in extra base hits 5 times.  After Detroit Dan went to Boston with the Boston Beaneaters.  He was there one year before jumping to the ill fated Players League with the Boston Reds in 1890.  After the collapse of the Players League Dan stayed in Boston with the now American Association Boston Reds.  The Reds would eventually become the Red Sox of the American League.  He also played with the Brooklyn Bride Grooms,  Baltimore Orioles, Louisville Colonels, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Giants.  Dan would end his career in 1904 with the one lone game at the age of 46 with the New York Giants.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945. 

Dasher Troy started his major league career with the Detroit Wolverines.  He started in the minors in 1877 with the Alaskas, New York team of the League Alliance at the age of 21.  4 years later he was starting his time in the majors with the Detroit Wolverines.  Dasher (John Joseph as his birth name) was a utility infielder and got in 11 games.  He hit .341 for the Wolverines and started the 1882 campaign with Detroit.  This time he got into 40 games as the starting second baseman and hit .243.  He left Detroit before the end of the season and played the final four games with the Providence Greys.  Dasher would play three more seasons in the majors with the New York Gothams and Metropolitans before being released in 1885.  He would play three more seasons in the minors and in his last season playing pro ball Dasher Troy would finally get to play with the Troy Trojans.