August 7 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Edgar Renteria

Steve Kemp

Rocky Bridges

Art Houtteman was one game shy of being a 20 game winner for the Tigers.  He was signed by the Tigers 16 days after turning 17.  This is significant in that his dad, being a sandlot ballplayer of Detroit had stated the day he was born that he would be a major leaguer by the time he was 17.  Half a dozen clubs were vying for the Detroit Catholic Central High School player when he signed for the Tigers for $20,000 in 1944.   At 17 he was too young for the war time draft and went to spring training in 1945 with the Tigers and another 17 year old, Billy Pierce.  He was brought up to the Tigers at the age of 17 and pitched in 13 games for the Tigers who would win the World Series against the Cubs that year.  He was 0-2in 13 games.  In 1946 he was considered a phenome going 19-13 at AAA Buffalo of the International League.  He also led the league in K’s with 147.   Mid way though 1947 he was called up to the Tigers to stay and went 7-2 and was praised highly as a solid major leaguer who also hit .300.  In 1948 the right hander was considered the closer before they had closers when he recorded 10 saves in 43 games.  In one game he showed off his batting skills when he drove in the winning run himself as he beat the Senators in relief. In spring training of 1949 Art was in a car accident and suffered a fractured skull.  He went home to recuperate.  But the year saw him move up to the starting rotation and Art went 15-10.  In that his survival after the car crash was not a certainly he was voted Most Courageous Athlete in some circles.   In 1950 he won 19 games and pitched 3 innings in the All Star game.  He failed to get his 20^th win two times in September and the Tigers finished second to the Yankees.  He married an Olympic swimmer at the end of the season but two days after returning from their honeymoon Art was drafted into the Army.  He missed the entire 1951 season to the military.  When he returned in 1952 but on the way home from spring training he wife had car accident and the Houtteman’s 7 month old daughter was killed.  Art was part of the starting rotation again but was 8-20 yet had a decent 4.36 ERA.  By this time he had the nick name “Hard Luck” Houtteman, not just for his hard luck in life but also for his pitching hard luck.  An example was in 1952 when he was 1 out away from a no hitter against the mighty Indians.  He shook off his catcher Joe Ginsberg for the first time the whole game with two out and the batter singled to left to end his no hit bid.  4 of his losses were when the Tigers were shut out and another 4 came when the Tigers scored only 1 or 2 runs.  He was 2-6 with the Tiges in 1953 when he was traded to the Indians with Joe Ginsberg and Owen Friend and Bill Wight.  The Tiges got Ray Boone, Steve Gromek, Al Aber and Dick Weik.  He was 15-10 for the Tribe in 1954 when they went to the World Series.  But that was his last season in the starting rotation.  He was 10-6 in 1955 and traded in 1957 to Baltimore.  He was released by the O’s and signed a minor league contract with the Tigers in 1958 but was gone from baseball entirely after spring of 1959.  In 8 years as a Tiger he was 53-69 with 16 saves and an All Star appearance. 

Les Fleming

Clyde Hatter spent his entire troubled time in the majors with the Tigers.  He was in the minors starting in 1929 and while his won/loss record was never very good he had a decent ERA that continued to drop.  By the end of 1934 the Tigers decided he could be of great help to them as they tried to repeat as American League champs and possibly win their first World Series.  Clyde had a good fastball as well as several different curves and was known for a great change of pace.  But Clyde also had a substance abuse problem.  He also was thought to be a discipline problem.  He developed the nickname “Mad” Hatter.  He pitched in three games in relief in April until he pitched a game in Cleveland where he went 4.1 innings allowing no runs on only 1 hit.  He got a start next and did well pitching 6.2 innings and allowing 3 runs on 5 hits.  But he also walked 9.  He got one more start against the Red Sox but did poorly going only 3.1 innings and giving up 7 runs (4 earned) on 4 hits and 3 walks.  Two of the hits were homers.  He got one more chance as a Tiger in 1935 but was hammered.  He was brought in as a reliever and left in.  He lasted 6.1 innings but gave up 11 earned runs on 19 hits and 5 walks.  He spent the rest of the season in the Minors with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association.  He was still there in 1936 when he was 16-6 which was his best season ever in terms of won loss.  The Tigers gave him a second chance in 1937. Clyde pitched in 3 game that season all in relief.  He even got a win in the majors.  He pitched 5.1 innings of relief and actually gave up 5 runs on 11 hits and 4 walks.  But the Tiges scored 12 and he got the win 12-9.  But he was having problems.  According to Marv Owen, Tiger third baseman, Clyde had missed a few games nad he went to check on him in his room.  He stated he had been sick so Marv went and got the team doctor.  He diagnosed Clyde as drunk and found two glasses of whiskey in his dresser.  Clyde was sent down to Toledo and continued having problems.  He was suspended for 30 days for an undisclosed reason.  He then was taken to hospital in July when he was found unconscious in a taxi due to an overdose of sleeping pills.  He was home in the off season when he got his dad to take him into Danville, KY to send out some telegrams.  On the way back he climbed into the back seat to take a nap.  When they got home his dad could not wake him as Clyde was dead.  The coroner reported “died suddenly before I was called – Probably heart disease”.  Others felt it was the substance abuse or alcohol.  Clyde was 29.

August 6 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Duane Singleton played with the Tigers after the Sparky Anderson era.  He was a product of Milwaukee Brewers who drafted him from high school on Staten Island, NY, in the 1990.  This was one year after I left Staten Island.  He had his break out year in 1994 when he moved from A ball to AA, then to AAA and finally made his major league debut 2 days before his 22^nd birthday.  He entered the game as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the 9^th of a game the Brewers were leading 5-3.  The Orioles were batting and Duane made one play.  He was playing center and fielded a Brady Anderson line drive and held him to a single.  Brady would not score and the Brewers won 5-3.  4 days later Duane got into one more game against the Tiges  as a defensive replacement in the 7^th .  With the Brewers up 12-3, Duane was again in center field.  Again, Duane did not get a plate appearance but this time he did make a put out of a Chad Krueter fly ball to center.  That was the extent of Duane’s first year in the majors.  The next season Duane got in 13 games for the Brewers and collected his first major league hit and his first stolen base.  Unfortunately he only got 2 hits in 31 at bats and one walk for an .065 average.  Before the 1996 training camp started Duane was traded to the Tigers for minor leaguer Henry Santos.  For Detroit Duane had his best season in the majors.  He was in 18 games as the Tigers played the their first season since 1978 without Sparky Anderson.  Buddy Bell took over a Tiger team that was clearly rebuilding from the ground up.  Duane played 18 games for the Tigers as they tried to find a team to field.  For the season in the three outfield spots only one player would start half the games in one of the three spots.  That was Melvin Nievis who started 83 games, just barely half of the 162, as the starting right fielder.  In Duane’s 18 games, most were in center and while his fielding was good, (Duane never made an error in the majors.) his bat was poor.  He was 9 for 56 with 4 walks for a .161 batting average and a .230 OBP.  He was caught stealing twice but did drive in 3 runs.  At the end of the season Duane was release by the Tigers.  Duane never played in the majors again.

Herb Moford had his winningest season in the majors with the Tigers.  He started his career in pro ball in 1947 in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system.  He worked in the minors for years before finally getting to the majors in 1955.  He was in 14 games that first season and only started 1.  He was 1-1 with a 7.88 ERA.  He was back in the minors in 1956 and again in 1957.  But finally the Cardinals gave up on Herb and sent him to the Tigers half way through the 1957 season for AA outfielder, Bob Thorpe.  Herb as traded on July 14 and the Tigers wasted no time and threw him into the game that day as the starter.  He went the distance that day against the Baltimore Orioles and only gave up 2 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks.  But the Tiges only scored one run and Herb was tagged with the loss.  About 2 weeks later Herb got his first win as a Tiger when he allowed the Senators only 1 run in 9 innings while striking out 7.  At the plate Herb was 1 for 4 for his first hit as a Tiger.  It was a single to second that drove in what would be the winning run.   He went on to 11 starts and 14 relief appearances for the Tigers.  Later he got revenge on the Orioles for his first Tiger appearance defeat by going the distance and beating the O’s 3-1 on 5 hits while K’ing 4.  Herb also beat the Cleveland Indians in a game where he went the full 9 and allowed only 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks.  He beat Hoyt Wilhelm that day.  Hoyt lasted only 6 innings and then the Indians brought in future Tiger outfielder, Rocky Colavito to finish the game. Herb would end the season at 4-9 with a 3.61 ERA.  He struck out 58 while walking only 42.  But the Tiges traded him in the off season to the Boston Red Sox for catcher Lou Berberet.  Herb would never get another win in the majors.  He went 0-2 with the Sox in 1959 and played only one more season in 1962 with the expansion Mets.  Herb was 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA.  Herb did manage his second major league hit with the Mets but did not drive in a run nor score.  After his playing days Herb would manage Jim Bunning’s run for governor of Kentucky.  1983.  Bunning lost the election but would later serve in the US house and Senate without the help of Herb.

Clem Labine was most famous for being a Brooklyn Dodger but he also spent some time as a Tiger.  Clem started his professional career in the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system at age 17 in 1944.  He was 2-4 as a rightie but at age 18 found himself in the military in 1945.  He returned to the Dodgers in 1946 and made it to the majors in 1950.  He became the Dodgers top bullpen man and in 1955 lead the league in appearances with 60.  That was also his first year as an all star.  He led the league in saves in 1956 and again in 1957.  He made the move to Los Angeles with the Dodgers in 1958 but in 1959 he was no longer the ace of the bull pen.  Larry Sherry had replaced him but Clem was still effective.  In the World Series that season he appeared in the first game and pitched one inning and was perfect for the one inning.  But Larry Sherry won 2 games in relief and saved the other two Dodger wins.  Clearly Clem’s days with the Dodgers were numbered.  He started the 1960 season with the Dodgers but in June he was traded to the Tigers reliever for Ray Semproch and some cash.  Clem got in only 14 games for the Tiges and pitched only 19.1 innings.  He was 0-3 with a 5.12 ERA.  The Tiges were not going anywhere in 1960 and so exactly 2 months after the Tigers acquired Clem they released him.  He was picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates and went on to the 1960 World Series with the Pirates as they beat the Yankees in 7 games.  Clem did not do well in the series.  He made 3 appearances and pitched 4 innings but gave up 11 runs on 13 hits, 1 BB and 1 wild pitch.  To his credit, only 6 of the 11 runs were earned.  But his 1.48 ERA for the Pirates during the season meant he was coming back in 1961.  In 1961 he was in 56 games and was 4-1 with 8 saves and a 3.69 ERA.  At the end of the season the Pirates released him and he went back to the City of New York but rather than playing in Brooklyn, he was playing in Manhattan and the Polo Grounds with the New York Mets and Herb Moford.  1962 would be his last year in pro ball.  At the end of the season he called it quits.  He was 77-56 overall with a 3.63 ERA and 96 saves for his career but only 0-3 with a 5.12 ERA and 2 saves as a Tiger.

Van Fletcher was a 30 year old Tiger rookie.  He started his professional career in 1949 as a 24 year old with the Tyler Trojans of the East Texas League (Class C) and moved down to the Class D Elkin Blanketeers of the Blue Ridge League.  He did turn his career around and while in Vancouver at Class A level he pitched a no hitter.  He was with the Seattle Rainers in 1954 and had a record of 4-6 but a good ERA of 2.77 when the Tigers traded for Earl Harrist and cash for him.  He made his major league debut on opening day for h Tigers in Kansas City against the Athletics.  He came in to pitch the 7^th inning replacing Ned Garver in a game the Tiges trailed 5-2.  He sent the Athletics down 1-2-3 in the 7^th and came back in the 8^th.  The lead off hitter, center fielder Bill Wilson hit a homer to make the score 6-2.  Ban gave up a single to the next batter but got the side out without any more runs.  The game ended 6-2 Athletics but Van was a major leaguer.  His next game was three day later and he came in to end a game against the Indians that the Tiges trailed 7-3.  He put the tribe down 1-2-3 but the Tiges still lost.  His next game was against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium.  The Tiges were down 9-1 in the 9^th when Van replaced Ned Garver again.  Pitcher Bob Turley reached on an error by shortstop Harvey Kuenn.  Hank Bauer then got second life on an error by catcher Frank House.  In his second chance Hank reached first on an error by third baseman Ray Boone.  Andy Carey then hit a grounder to Ray Boone who started a double play but second baseman Fred Hatfield then committed an error and failed to get the runner at first and Bob Turley scored.   Next up were the two best Yankee hitters of the 1950’s, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra.  Van got Mantle to fly to center without scoring a run and then Berra grounded out to first to mercifully end the inning.  Van ended up getting in a total of 9 games for the Tigers but did not get a decision.  He pitched 12 innings and had an ERA of 3.00.  At the plate he made one appearance and got a walk.  He was done in the majors after May and was done in the minors after 1957. 

Tom Hughes spent his entire cup of coffee with the Tigers.  Tom played college ball at the University of Texas in 1928 and 1929.  Then he signed contract in the minors and finished the 1929 season with the Des Moines Demons of the Western League and hit .281.  he continued with Des Moines in 1930 hitting .333 with 16 triples and 6 homers when he got a contract with the Tigers to finish the season.  He debuted as a September call up and appears to have come into the game as a catcher to finish a game against the Philadelphia Athletics in Detroit.  The Tigers lost 3-1 and Tom never got to the plate.  The next day Tom got the start as the centerfielder for the Tiges again against the Athletics.  He went 0 for 3 but did not make an error playing the entire game in center.  The following day Tom again got the start in center but now it was against the Yankees.  This time he got a hit and a walk going 1-3 but he did make an error in the field.  He may have had his best day the following day when he went 3 for 5 against the Yanks and scored 2 runs in a 11-10 Tiger victory.  He followed that up with a 2 for 3 day against the Yanks as the Tiges won again 9-4.  Tiger skipper Bucky Harris knew Tom was hot and kept him in center.  He went 2-4 the following day even though the Tiges lost 10-3.  The Tiges had one more game against the Yankees and Tom again got the start and again Tom did not disappoint going 3 for 4 driving in a run a scoring a run.  Tom had gone 11 for 19 in the five game series against the Yankees.  Tom got in a total of 12 other games with the Tiges that season outside of the 5 with the Yanks and was 10 for 40 the rest of those games. His combined average for the season was a .373 average.  Tom was done in the majors after that season and never again hit above .282 in the minors.  But Tom may have been the first “Yankee Killer”.

Chad Kimsey ended his major league career with the Tigers.  He had started it in 1929 with the St. Louis Browns.  He was 3-6 that first season with a 5.04 ERA being used mainly as a reliever.  He followed up that season with the first of three seasons where he led the league in games finished with 30, 35b and 29 games finished.  He was basically todays closer, yet he only recorded 13 saves in those three years.  In 1932 he was again with the Browns and finished 22 games when he was sold to the Chicago White Sox.  He played out the 1932 season and played the 1933 season for the Southsiders.  He was traded to the Montreal Royals in the minor International League.  He was 16-7 with a 3.14 ERA when the Tigers gave him another call to the majors for 1936.  He got into 22 games all in relief as a Tiger and was 2-3 with a 4.85 ERA.  He did not finish the season in Detroit but rather back in Montreal where he was 5-1.  He played two more seasons in the minors his last season he was able to play closer to home in Oklahoma when he split time with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League and the Tulsa Oilers of the Texas League.  He was done with pro ball at the age of 31.  His career stats were a 24-29 record with a 5.07 ERA and 17 saves.  Five years after he was done playing ball at the age of 36 he was driving a truck of gravel when he crashed into a bridge near Pryor, OK and was killed.    

August 5 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Dave Rozema pitched for the Tigers in the 1970’s and 80’s.  He debuted in 1977, the year after the Bird.  He went 15-7 his rookie year and It appeared the Tigers were on their way to a great pitching staff with a one two punch of Fidrych and Rozema.  But after June of 1977 Fidrych would only win four more games in his career and Rozie would never win double digits in a season again.  In 1982 he suffered a serious knee injury when he tried out his martial arts skills in a bench clearing brawl with the Twinkies.  His skills were a bit lacking as the only damage he created was to his own knee.  Dave stayed on the staff through the 1984 season when he signed with the Rangers as a free agent.  Rozie is also the brother in law of Kirk Gibson.  The two married twin exotic dancers.  I have his shoes from when he was a Ranger.  A friend of mine knew him and emailed him to confirm that they were his shoes and he replied, yes they were, but he could not understand why anyone would want those stinky things.   For the record, they do not give off any odor.

Vic Frazier was a Tiger pitcher who seems to have has his name spelled FraSier and FraZier.   He was born in Louisiana in 1904.  He started his pro baseball career in 1928 with the Dallas Steers and in his second year, 1929, he went 16-8 and led the team with a 2.68 ERA.  This drew the attention of the Chicago White Sox who purchased Vic for $10,000.  It took a while for him to pay off for Chicago.  He left training camp and refused to return.  He complained of a sore know while others said it was in a spat with Sox manager and former Tiger Donie Bush who had made a disparaging comment of a new suit Vic was wearing.  Commissioner Judge Landis stepped in and suspended Vic for a year for jumping his contract.  Vic came back in 1931 and immediately paid off for the Sox as he was the Ace of the staff his rookie year going 13-15 with a 4.46 ERA for a last place Sox team under skipper Bush.  In 1932 Vic returned but skipper Bush did not.  He was replaced by player manager Lew Fonseca.  But while Donie Bush was gone Vic would only win 10 more games in his major league career.  Vic had a very poor season in 1932 going 3-13 with a ballooning ERA of 6.23.  I have found one report that says this was due to case of malaria.  In 1933 he was 1-1 while still supposedly suffering from malaria when he was traded to Detroit from the White Sox in a deal that sent Whit Wyatt to Chicago.  He won 5 of those 10 remaining wins for Detroit in the rest of 1933.  Than in 1934 he split the season between the Tigers, where he was 1-3 and Beaumont of the Texas League where he was 6-3.   At the end of the season he was sold to Montreal of the International League.  However, he did not play a game anywhere in 1935.  In 1936 he was back with the Sox in their farm system.  He was sold to the Boston Bee’s in 1936.  The Boston Braves (later they would become the Milwaukee Braves and eventually the Atlanta Braves.)  were a very bad team and had been for years.  They had one episode where they painted the stadium seats before opening day but the paint did not dry and the team had a large cleaning bill for suites of fans.  They decided to change their name to the Bee’s hoping that the change would improve their fortune.  It did not.  The Bee’s used Vic in three games and he did not record a decision.  They returned him to the Sox where he was 0-1 in 1939, hid final year in the majors.   I have a 1934 Tiger yearbook that has been signed by all the players except Vic Fraizer.  My thought was that maybe Vic had been sent down to the Tigers Texas League farm team in Beaumont and therefore did not sign it.  But now my thought is that it actually belonged to Vic as I found another guy who had the same yearbook I had signed by all the players except Jo-Jo White.  The guy who had it stated he got it from the Jo-Jo White estate sale and it had Jo-Jo’s name and address printed on the front.  This made sense to me as you probably are not going to sign your own memento.   But I doubt I will ever be able to verify it.

Sam Gibson pitched for the Tigers from 1926 through 1928.  While his rookie was his best also at 12-9, he did manage to win 11 games his sophomore season.  But he only managed 9 more for the rest of his career.  He went on to play a couple seasons with the New York Giants and Yankees but was done in the majors after 1932.  But Sam was not done with baseball.  Sam went on to play for years in the minors.  He won a total of 307 games in the minors, most in the Pacific Coast League with the San Francisco Seals.  One of those years, 1941, he was back under contract with the Tigers.  His last four years he was a player manager.  I do not have Sam’s shoes nor his autograph.

August 4 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

John Farrell finished his career with the Tigers in 1996.  He was in two games for the Tiges and lost both.   His first game was a brief 1.1 inning affair with him giving up 5 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk to the White Sox.  His last game in the majors lasted 5 innings for him.  He gave up 5 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks to the Royals.   

Terry Humphrey was a backup catcher for the Tigers.  He was drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1969.  He signed because he wanted a summer job.  He really didn’t think he would go anywhere in baseball.   He was an all star in rookie ball in 1969 and again when he was in AA in 1970.  In 1971 he was already in AAA Winnipeg as was named team MVP.  That same year he made his major league debut.  He was a late season call up for the Expos and got into 9 games.  In his debut he pinch hit for Ron Fairly and while facing Ramon Hernandez of the Pirates, he K’d.   He caught the 9^th inning and was solid.  Defensively, Terry was always considered solid.  He was so good that in his last two years at Montreal in 1973 and 1974 he was a backup catcher and committed only 1 error in the two seasons.  He also was solid throwing out base runners.  The problem for Terry in Montreal was that the Expos had recently picked up a young catcher by the name of Gary Carter.  Terry was expendable.  He came to the Tigers from Montreal with Tom Walker in the deal that sent Woodie Fryman to Montreal.  Terry appeared in 18 games for the Tiges hitting .244 with one RBI as back up catcher. However, he missed the last three months of the season with a separated shoulder from a collision with George Brett at the plate. It was in KC and Terry knew it was dislocated when it happened.  The team Doc told him it was just a bad bruise and kept him in the game.  The reason was the Tigers starting catcher, Bill Freehan was on the DL.  So they Tiges had no choice but to keep Terry in the game.  He could not swing the bat when he came up to bat 2 innings later so he bunted and got a single!  Two days later he had surgery to put a pin in his shoulder that he has to this day.  He then went to the Angels by way of Houston in the Leon Roberts, Mark Lemongello and Gene Pentz deal that brought Milt May, Jim Crawford and Dave Roberts to Detroit.  Terry was in California for four seasons.  Terry was the starting catcher for the Angels in 1977.  In those four seasons he hit .227.  This brought his career batting average to .211.  This clearly was Terry’s weakness.  While a solid defensive catcher, he was weak at the plate.  But he still played 9 years in the majors.  Not bad for a “summer time job”.

John Grubb ended his major league career with the Tigers as one the guys who was on both the 1984 and 1987 Tiger teams.  He started his major league career with the San Diego Padres.  He had come out of Florida State University.  He was an all-star as a Padre and was a starting outfielder hitting .286 over five seasons in San Diego.  He was traded to Cleveland which he was happy with as he was able to play under manager Frank Robinson.  But that came to an end in 1978 when he was traded to the Rangers.  He knew a trade was coming as the traded deadline was approaching and Cleveland was not going anywhere.  He did well in Texas hitting .272 over 5 seasons but again he knew he was going to be traded.  He was called into the office.  “Doug Rader called me into his office and he told me that they had made a trade. He said, ‘Grubsteaks, you’re going to like where you’re going.’ I said, ‘Where’s that?’ And he said ‘Detroit.’ And, of course, I looked at him and kind of said ‘Yup. That would be a good team to go to.’ We knew they were strong and getting better each year and right on the verge of being a real, real good ballclub. So I was happy to go there.”  (From SABR bio by Mike McClary)  He was a back up outfielder.   But in the post season he was great going 6 for 14 in the three series he played in.  Again from Mike McClary “With one out in the top of the 11th, and with Ruppert Jones on first and Darrell Evans at second, Grubb faced Dan Quisenberry, who led the American League with 44 saves that season. The left-handed-hitting Grubb was 0-for-1 against Quisenberry during the regular season and had just two hits in 12 career at-bats against him. Grubb waited as the submariner and his batterymate, John Wathan, discussed their pitching strategy. “He got two strikes on me and Wathan went out to the mound. I was watching them when they were out there talking. I thought I could read their lips and I thought I saw them saying ‘fastball.’ And I thought, well, I can’t trust that, but I’m going to be ready for it.” Hitless in his previous three at-bats in the game, Grubb was looking to change his luck and power his team to a 2-0 series lead.  As Wathan got into his crouch, Grubb dug in. On the next pitch, he ripped a two-run double to right-center to put the Tigers up 5-3 in the game and leave them one win away from the World Series. “He threw a fastball, and I’m sure [Royals center fielder] Willie Wilson was cheating-in a little bit on me with two strikes. But I happened to get a hold of one and drove it over his head. So I’m glad I came through to help out. That was my turn, I guess, to do something to help the team.” The Tigers clinched the pennant two days later, defeating the Royals 1-0 in Game Three.  John played for the Tigers for 5 seasons and hit .269 as a Tiger in the regular season.  In the post season John hit .429.  John’s last at bat in pro ball was a hit in the 1987 ALCS of form Tiger Juan Berenguer who was pitching for the Twins in 1987.  John is still happy of his time with the Tigers and participates in Tiger Fantasy Camp.  He gave another nice quote for Mike McClary ““Early in the season in spring training,” Grubb said, “I remember vividly one statement Sparky made here in Detroit. He said, ‘Look, guys, if you go out there and give them your heart and soul, they’ll do the same thing. But if you dog it on them one time, they won’t ever forget it.’ And he was right. Those fans in Detroit – that was one of my best memories, and still is the way the fans treated me and the players. You could tell they were diehard fans. It wasn’t like that at the other places that I played. Detroit is a special town. They loved their sports and loved their Tigers.”

Kevin Collins finished his major league career with the Tigers in 1970 and 1971.  He was pinch hitter in 1970 with 25 plate appearances in 25 games.  He hit a wopping .208 in 1970.  He was a utility player in 1971 and improved his hitting to .268.  But he was still done in the majors after 1971. 

Ray Oyler was the Tigers shortstop in 1967 and 1968 for the regular season.  But in the World Series he was taken out for Mickey Stanley.  That was so the Tigers could get Al Kalines bat in the line up.  I always felt bad for Ray as he only got in 4 of the 7 1968 World Series games and only got one plate appearance in the whole series.  He did not get a hit.  But it was that bat that kept him out.  In his career Ray was a .175 hitter.  And in 1968 he hit only .135.  He was drafted by the Seattle Pilots (they became the Milwaukee Brewers one year later.)  in the 1968 expansion draft and was gone from Detroit after the 1968 World Series.

Frank Kostro made his major league debut as a Tiger in 1962 as a September call up.  He came in as a pinch hitter and struck out.  After that auspicious beginning he went on to hit .268 in 16 games as a back up third sacker.  He stuck around in 1963 and was used as a utility player but hit only .225 and was dealt to the Angels with Paul Foytack for George Thomas.  Frank continued to play in the majors through 1969 with the Angels and Twins.

Don Kolloway was the starting first baseman for the Tigers in 1950.  This was after his 1949 season as a utility player for the Tigers.  In four years with the tigers he hit .279.  He had come to the Tigers form the white Sox in a deal for Earl Rapp.  Before the 1953 season we traded him to the Philadelphia Athletics for Billy Hitchcock.  He was released by the Athletics in May of that year and was done in the majors.  He did go on to play for the Portland Beavers in the PCL as his final team.  A team that is no more.

Tuck Stainback was on the 1940 Tigers that won the AL pennant. However, Tuck did not get to play in the series.  In the season he had only played in 15 games as a late call up so he was not eligible for the post season.  In 1941 he got in 94 games with the Tiges as an outfielder.  After the 1941 season Tuck was traded to the Yankees for the same Billy Hitchcock that Don Kolloway was traded for.

George Caster was a member of the 1945 World Champion Tigers.  He was picked up off of waivers from the St. Louis Browns in August of 1945 and pitched in 22 games for the Tigers all in relief.  He went 5-1 with a 3.86 ERA.  He got into game six of the 1945 series replacing Virgil Trucks in the 5^th and pitched 2 thirds of an inning getting Andy Pafko to pop up and then striking out Bill “Swish” Nicholson.  George came back for one more year with the Tigers in 1946 and went 2-1 before his major league career was over. 

Chick Galloway finished his 10 year career with one season as a Tiger in 1928.  He had played 9 years for the Philadelphia Athletics before coming to Detroit by way of the St. Louis Browns and Milwaukee Brewers.  The Athletics traded him to the Brewers (American Association, not todays Brewers) for Ossie Orwoll on December 2 1927.  Then on December 24 the Brewers sent him to the Browns for Spencer Adams and Otto Miller.  That same day the Browns sent him to the Tigers with Harry Rice and Elam Van Gilder for Lu Blue and Heinie Manush.  In his one year for Detroit Chick hit .264 as a utility player.

August 3 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Matthew Joyce played the outfield for the Tigers in 2008.  He was born in 1984, the year of the Tigers.  The Tigers drafted him out of Florida Southern College in 2005.  He worked his way up the Tigers farm system from Oneonta to West Michigan to Erie to Toledo.  Every step of the way he helped lead his team to a division title until 2008 when he split time with the Mud Hens and Detroit.  He hit .252 for the Tigers in 2008 and in 92 games drove in 33 RBI’s with 12 homers.   But in the off season the Tigers traded Matt to Tampa Bay.  The leftie blossomed as a power hitting outfielder.  He was an all-star in 2011 and played 6 seasons for the Rays.  He was .250 hitter but averaged 15 homers a season.  But his K’s are still kinda high often K’ing over 100 times a season.  In 2015 Matthew is with the Angels hitting .178 with 3 homers as their starting left fielder making $4.75M.  He is a free agent at the end of the season and I would expect that he will be on the free agent market after season like this.

Wendall Magee ended his major league career as a Tiger from 2000 to 2002.  He was a back up outfielder every year until his last season, 2002, when he was the starting center fielder.  He hit .255 for the Tiges without a lot of power.   In his last game he went 2 for 4 against Mark Buehrle.   In his career he got over 1000 at bats but only hit 24 homers.  He finished up his professional career in the minors in 2005.

Dan Meyer was a utility player for the Tigers in the mid 1970’s.  He played the outfield and first hitting .240 and hitting 13 homers in over 800 at bats.  Not a lot of power there for a first baseman.  In 1977 he was drafted by the Mariners in the expansion draft becoming the 9^th Seattle Mariner.  He made a wopping $30,000 that year and hit .273 with 22 homers.  9 more than he hit with the Tigers in three years and with over 200 fewer at bats.  He continued to perform at that level for the Mariners until they traded him to the A’s for Rick Bordi after the 1981 season.   He was the A’s starting first baseman in 1982 but was not very effective hitting .240 and only hitting 8 homers.  The only guys who hit fewer were Mike Heath at catcher and Fred Stanley at short.  Dan was no longer a starter after that and was done in the majors in May 1985.

Jim Hegan was a catcher for the Tigers for part of the 1958 season.  The Tigers picked him up from the Indians with Hank Aguirre in a trade that sent Jay Porter and Hal Woodeshick to the Tribe.  Mike had been the Tribes starting catcher for over ten years before coming to Detroit.   Never a great hitter, he did catch some great pitchers while with Cleveland and was a solid back stop making the all star game 5 times.  But with Detroit he hit .192.  So the Tigers traded him to the Phillies for John Turk.  He was done as a major leaguer in 1960 after bouncing a around for a couple of teams as a back up.  Jim is also known for being the father of Mike Hegan who played in the majors starting in 1964.  Only  4 years after his dad was done.  Mike played until 1977 with the Yankees, A’s and Pilots/Brewers.  He owed my cousin $2 for his paper route.  He skipped town without paying when he was traded by the Brewers.    

Harry Heilmann is in the Hall of Fame as a Tiger. He won the batting title every other year starting in 1921 and ending in 1927 with averages of .394, .403, .393 and .398.  He started his career as kinda a utility player playing first and second but mainly in the outfield.  In 1919 he because the Tigers staring first baseman but in 1921 when the Tigers picked up Lu Blue, Harry moved back to the outfield with Ty Cobb and Bobby Veach.   Cobb hit .389 and Veach hit .338 to go with Harry League leading .394.  Not a bad outfield!  That year Harry made $7,500.  At the end of the 1929 season Harry was sold the Cincinnati Reds.  He played there until the end of his playing career in 1932.  Starting in 1942 Harry became the voice of the Tigers broadcasting their games over the radio until his death in 1951 at the age of 56.  He is buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield.

Below is Neilson's Chocolate card of Harry from my collection.

For a non Tiger but with Ties to the Tigers August 3 is the date Willard Hershberger died in 1940.  Willard was a back up catcher for the Cincinnati Reds.  He was a troubled soul having found the body of his dad one day after coming home from school.  He had committed suicide.  Willard would have been a starter on any other team in the league.  But the Reds had HOF’er Ernie Lombardi as their starting catcher.  Ernie was injured and Willard stepped in as catcher.  He was doing great hitting .309 and the Reds were on their way to their second NL pennant in row.  But the Reds dropped a couple of games and Willard blamed himself.  He had some conversations with his skipper and was given the day off.  But the skipper asked him to come to the game.  Willard said he would.  But instead he went up to his room of his hotel in Boston where the team was staying as they played the Braves.  He laid paper on the floor of the bathroom, leaned over the tub and slit his own throat.  The Reds went on to win the NL flag and faced the Tigers.  The Reds had to bring in a former catcher now coach to fill in behind the plate.  The Reds went on to win the series in 7 over the Tigers.  

August 2 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Colby Lewis played for the Tigers in 2006.  He had been picked up from the Rangers off of waivers in 2004.  He pitched three innings for the Tigers in 2006 giving up 1 run, a home run, on 8 hits and a walk.  He also struck out 5 but did not record a decision and at the end of the season was granted free agency.  He signed with the Washington Nationals at the end of the season.  But in spring of 2007 they released him.  He then signed with Oakland for 2007 but was waived in November.  The Kansas City Royals then signed him in November of 2007 and released him in December of 2007 with him never even making it to training camp!  Finally in 2010 he resigned with the Rangers.  He started a new life in baseball with the Rangers.  In 2010 he was 12-13 and he was 14-10 as the number 2 starter on the two time AL Champions in 2011.  But 2012 was a bust for Colby.  He set a major league mark giving homers to the first three batters of the game against the Orioles.  Then in June he was on the DL and while he made a brief two appearance comeback, his season was done with Tommy John surgery in July.  He did not play in 2013 but in 2014 he is 7-8 with the Texas Rangers as their number 2 starter.

Matt Miller pitched for the Tigers in 2001 and 2002.  He pitched a total of 10.1 innings.  He did not record a win, a loss or a save.  He did record a 7.84 ERA.  On April 4, 2002 he came in in the 5^th against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  He gave up a homer to Greg Vaughn then got two more outs before walking a batter and giving a Major League Baseball rule double to Steve Cox.  He was replaced by Jeff Farnsworth and never pitched pro ball again. 

Art James was up and down with the Tigers for four months in 1975.  He went to Macomb Community College.  He made it into 11 games with the Tigers and got 9 hits in 40 at bats as a major leaguer for a .225 average.  He did not get that career tater but he did get an RBI for his career.   He was a good base stealer even though he only stole one base for the Tigers and was caught stealing twice.   He went back to the minors and even played his last three season in Mexico before his pro baseball career was over in 1982.  But the Tigers retired his number as did all major league baseball.  Art wore 42 which was Jackie Robinson’s number and has been retired in all baseball.  Today, the only player still wearing it is Mariano Rivera who was grandfathered in.  When Mariano retires Art James 42 will no longer appear in the majors.

Kid Nance finished his major league career with the Tigers in 1901 at the age of 24.  100 years before Matt Miller played for the Tigers.  Kid had spent a couple years with the Louisville Colonels in 1897 and 1898 as a substitute outfielder as his previous major league experience.  He came to the Tigers in 1901 after a brief stint with the Grand Rapids Furniture Makers of the Western Association.  With the Tigers he was a starting outfielder with a not very unique nickname.  He was one of three players called “Kid” on the Tigers that year.  Kid Gleason, Kid Elberfeld and our Kid Nance.  They also had a Pop Dillon, Doc Casey, Ducky Holmes and Fritz Buelow.  Those were the starters along with a no nicknamed Jimmy Barrett.  Their main back up was Sport McAllister.  Kid Nance was sure of hand in the outfield but not fleet of foot.  He hit .280 and had average power.  After the 1901 season he was done in the majors.  But he went on to play in the minors until 1915.  He also managed in the minors up through 1923.

August 1 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Kevin Jarvis played part of one season with the Tigers in 1997.  It was a busy season for him.  Kevin started his major league career with the Reds in 1994.  He started the 1997 season with the Reds, however, the Tigers picked him up off waivers on May 2.  One week later on May 9, the Twins selected him off waivers from the Tigers without having pitched a game for the Tigers.   About a month later, on June 17, the Tigers selected him off of waivers back from the Twins.  He had made six appearances without a decision with the Twins and had racked up a 12.46 ERA.  With Detroit he went 0-3 in 17 appearances and had a 5.40 ERA.  At the end of the season he was released by the Tigers and signed on with Chunichi Dragons of the Japan Central League to play in 1998.  However, before the season was over, he had signed back with his original team, the Reds.    He went on to further travels with Oakland, San Diego, Seattle, Colorado, St. Louis, Arizona and Boston.

Brian Bohanon pitched one season with the Tigers in 1995.  He was signed as a free agent by the Tigers after he had played five seasons with the Rangers and posted a record of 11-13 for the five seasons.  He made a career high number of appearences with 52 in Detroit.  However, he only won 1 game.  It was August 15 against the Blue Jays.  He pitched 1.1 innings of relief and got the win.  At the end of the season he was granted free agency by the Tigers and he signed with the same Blue Jays for 1996.  Brian did not record a win with the Blue Jays.  Brian was done with his major league career in 2001 after having played with Mets, Dodgers, and Rockies.

Gregg Jefferies finished his career with the Tigers in 1999 and 2000.  He had been fairly well traveled prior to signing as a free agent with the Tigers for $1.375M.  He was a DH for the Tiges and hit .200 with six homers and 18 RBI’s.  The next season he was rewarded with a $3.125M pay day.  But at the end of the season Randy Smith gave Gregg his free agent status back and only had to pay an additional $375K for the buyout of his contract.  Gregg had a total of 80 hits for the Tigers.  This equates to about $61,000 per hit. 

Milt May was a catcher for the Tigers from 1976 through 1979.  In those four years he hit .251 with 22 homers and 87 RBI’s.  He came to Detroit in the deal with the Astros that brought Jim Crawford and Dave Roberts to the Tiges for Terry Humphrey, Mark Lemongello, Gene Pentz and Leon Roberts.  I first saw Milt play as a catcher for the Columbus Jets of the International League when they played the Winnipeg Whips in 1970.  Milt was part of the Pirates organization at the time and the Whips were part of the new Expos team.   I became an Expos fan because of these games.  Milt was a 19 year old kid at the time and in his third year in pro ball.  He had started his pro career as a 17 year old playing for Bradenton Pirates in the Gulf Coast League.

Slim Love ended his major league career with the Tigers in 1919 and 1920.  He was born in Love, Mississippi of all places.  He made his major league debut with the Washington Senators in 1913 and went 1-0 with the Senators in five games.  1914 and 1915 found him out with the Los Angeles Angels of the PCL.  His last season there he went 23-15 for the Angels.   That caught the attention of the Yankees who signed him for 1916.  Slim played three seasons with the Yankees before being traded to the Red Sox.  At the end of the 1918 season.  Less than a month later Slim was traded to the Tigers without ever having pitched for the Red Sox.  Slim went 6-4 for the Tigers in 1919 and posted a 3.01 ERA.   In 1920 Slim pitched one game for the Tigers.  He came in in relief of Doc Ayers against the Indians and pitched 4.1 innings.  He gave up 4 runs on six hits and 4 walks.  The Tigers were already behind 7-1 so Slim did not get the loss.  In fact, Slim never had a losing season in the majors.  But Slim never did pitch in the majors again.  After retiring from baseball he was a steamfitter in a Navy shipyard, but in 1942 he died at the age of 52 when he was hit by a car.

Ed Gastfield played for the Detroit Wolverines in 1884 and 1885.  In 1884 he was the youngest player in the National League at 18.  He played mainly catcher as a back up to Charlie Bennett.  Ed hit .073 that season with 2 RBI’s and scored 6 runs.  The .073 equates to 6 hits as well.  In 1885 Ed started the Wolverines and played one game before going to the Chicago White Stockings of the National League.   He played one game Chicago as well.  For both his teams in 1885 he went 0-3 each.  This gave him a career .068 batting average.