October 7 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Milt Cuyler was one of Sparky Anderson’s hot new Tigers.   Milt was a number 2 draft pick by the Tigers in 1986.  At the age of 17 he found himself playing Rookie ball for the Bristol Tigers.  He hit .230 but stole 12 bases while being caught only 4 times.  However, 4 teammates hit for a higher average and stole as many if not more bases than Milt.  Milt moved up to A ball in 1987 and 1988 and his hitting improved to .292 and .296 and his steals increased to 27 and then 50 which finally led a ball club.  And his .296 was second on the team.  So at 19 he was doing well in A ball.  That meant a move up to AA ball in 1989 and his average dropped to .262.  This was compounded by his K’s to BB’s which were 101 to 55.  But the Tiges moved him up to AAA Toledo before the season was over.  In 24 games he hit only .169 and this was where 27 of his K’s came from, 24 games.  But 1990 looked better for Milt.  He seemed to be catching up to the AAA pitching at Toledo.  He was hitting .258 and had 52 steals and was only caught 14 times when he got the call to join the Tigers as a late season call up with expansion of the rosters.  In a unique situation, his major league debut did not happen.  He was brought in to a game at Tiger Stadium in the 6^th inning to replace John Shelby in right.  But rain came and the game was called.  As the inning was  not completed, the game was considered official after the 5^th inning and the 6^th inning appearance by Milt was struck from the records.   However, the next day Milt was the starter in center field for the Tigers in Milwaukee County Stadium against the Brewers.  In the 7^th with the Brewers leading 6-3 Milt got his first major league hit off of Teddy Higuera.  He scored along with Rich Rowland on a double by Travis Fryman to make the score 6-5 Brewers.  In the 9^th with 2 outs and the score still 6-5, Milt grounded out to end the game.  It is tough to be hero in your first game.  Milt got in 19 games for the Tigers and hit .255.  He stole one base but was caught twice.  But he was one of Sparky’s up and coming new stars.  Sparky would often laud the minor league phenom that he had a hunch was to be the next Mickey Mantle.  Milt was fast and was a switch hitter so Sparky treated Milt like Chris Pittaro.  Chris was the next Mickey Mantle in 1985.  You may not remember Chris’s 28 game career as a Tiger but he was all Sparky was talking about coming out of spring training in 1985 as the Tigers defended their 1984 World Series title.  In 1991 Chris was the starting center fielder and hit .257.  He did lead the team with 41 stolen bases.  But this was a team of power hitters like Cecil Fielder, Mickey Tettleton, Pete Incaviglia and Rob Deer.  Those 4 starters combined for 5 stolen bases for the season!  This was not a fast team.  But Milt never had as productive season again.  He was the starter again in 1992.  But hit .241.  This was even lower than Rob Deer’s .247.  His 62 K’s fit in with the rest of the teams K’s, Fielder 151, Fryman 144, Tettleton 137, Deer 131, Phillips 93.  But those guys did it in some cases twice the games and all had way more walks than Milt’s 10.  The others were walking 122 times, 114, 73, 51 and 45.  In 1993 Milt was again the starter in center but the Tigers filled center by a committee of players.  Milt had more time in center than any other Tiger but he was less than half the innings in center for season and nine players were in center for the Tigers that season.  Plus most of them had a higher fielding percentage than Milt as well.  Couple the below average fielding with a .213 average and Milt’s days as a starter were over.   He played two more seasons with the Tigers with a third of his appearances coming off the bench.  After the 1995 season Sparky retired and so ended the time for the next Mickey Mantle in Detroit as with Sparky’s retirement the Tigers then released Milt.  Milt played 1996 for the Red Sox but hit only .200.  He bounced around in the minors and was purchased by the Texas Rangers at the end of 1998 but after 7 games was released.  Today Milt is a hitting coach in the Minnesota Twins farm system and at Tigers Fantasy camp.

Joe Presko was a pitcher for the Tigers in 1957 and 1958 going 1-1 in 14 games.  

Moses Fleetwood Walker was never a Tiger.  But he did play for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884 and at University of Michigan in 1882.   Toledo played in the American Association which was considered a Major League in 1884.  This made Walker the last black to play in the majors until Jackie Robinson in 1947.   

October 6 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Joel Hanrahan is the Tiger who will likely never play a game as a Tiger.  He started his major league career as a right handed starter for the Washington Nationals in 2007.  He was 5-3 with a 6.00 ERA.  The following season the Nationals moved him to the bull pen where he remained.  It was a good move for Joel who improved to 6-3 with 9 saves and a 3.95 ERA.  The following year he struggled for the Nats with 5 saves and a whopping 7.71 ERA and was dealt to the Pirates before the season ended.  He tamed his ERA and in four seasons with the Pirates was 10-8 with 82 saves and a 2.59 ERA and two All Star game rosters.  At the end of the 2012 season Joel was sent to the Boston Red Sox.  He pitched only 9 games and while he had 5 saves his ERA climbed to 9.82 and he was shut down in May for Tommy John surgery.  He was granted free agency at the end of the season but no one signed him.  Finally in May of 2014 the Tigers signed him for $1M and $2M of incentives while he recovered.  But in July of  2014 his rehab went south.  He was shutdown after a bull pen session in Lakeland.  Dave Dombrowski has said he will not likely pitch for the Tigers.  

Freddy Garcia

Jeff Farnsworth

Ruben Sierra

Bruce Fields

Roger Weaver

Paul Calvert

Dutch Meyer

Harry Baumgartner

Carl Zamloch pitched in the majors only for the Tigers.  He born in California in 1889.  His father was Anton the Great, a very popular magician in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  He started his professional career in the Pacific Coast League with Sacramento in 1909.  He played in minors for San Francisco, Missoula and Providence until getting a call from the Tigers in 1913.  He made his debut as a Tiger pitcher against the New York Yankees in Detroit at what would have been Bennett Park.  The Tigers lost.  I can not tell how Carl did as the box score is incomplete.  Carl pitched well that season posting a 2.45 ERA on a team that averaged 3.38 earned runs per games. He pitched 3 complete games in 5 starts and also made 12 appearances form the bull pen.  But he was 1-6 and was done in Detroit in July almost 2 months to the day of his debut.  He went back to the west coast played ball in various leagues, teams and positions.  He coached UC Berkley in 1916 thru 1929 with the exception of 1918.  He became a player manager in the minors and last played and managed in 1932 for the Oakland Oaks of the PCL when he was also part owner.   Carl also scouted and would hook a player with some slight of hand tricks to get their attention that he learned from his father.  After baseball Carl even earned a living as a magician.  

October 5 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Randy Bockus ended his time in the majors on the mound with the Tigers.  Randy played outfield for Kent State University and was drafted after college the San Francisco Giants in 1982.  He became a pitcher with the Giants farm system and worked his way up having his best season in 1985 when he went 14-11 with a 2.73 ERA with the AA Shreveport Captains of the Texas League.  He followed that with a 11-6 record in AAA Phoenix in 1986 and that earned him an invite to the big leagues as late season call up.  He got in 5 games that September with a 2.57 ERA coming out of the bullpen.  But he did not record a decision.  Interestingly he did get back into the outfield in one game when he pinch hit in the 14^th inning and stayed in the game for an inning.  But then he was pulled from the game for a pinch hitter who was, ironically, Mike Krukow, a pitcher pinch hit for him.  To add further insult to injury, another pitcher, Jeff Robinson (Not the former Tiger.) took over for him in the outfield.   He was back in the minors in 1987 but again got a call up at the end of the season.  This time he got his first win.  It took extra innings, but in the last inning of the last game he was called in from the pen.  He pitched the 10^th inning and did not walk anyone nor allow a hit against the Atlanta Braves.  In the bottom of the tenth leadoff batter Bob Brenly hit a home run and Randy got his first major league win.  Randy got his second major league win the following year again against the Braves.  This time he pitched the 6^th and 7^th innings and Kevin Mitchell hits the homer to win it with Brett Butler driving in an additional run.  At the end of the season, despite these 2 wins in 2 years, the Giants released Randy.  About a month and a half later, the Tigers signed him as a free agent.  On May 22, 1989, Randy made his Tiger debut coming to relieve Jack Morris in the third inning of a game against the Cleveland Indians in Detroit with the Tiges trailing 6-0 and runner on second.  Randy gave up a quick triple to end the line on Jack Morris with 7 earned runs in 2.2 innings.  But Randy stayed in the game and only gaveup two more hits in a total of 4.2 innings pitched and did not allow a run.  Five days later, on May 27, Randy came into a game against the Royals in KC with the Tiges down 2-1 in the 5th.  With runners on first and second Randy got Danny Tartabull to ground out and end the inning.  He came back to start the 6^th.  He gave up two lead off singles to put runners on first and second.  He then got a fly ball out before Jim Eisenreich hit a double to drive in a run and put runners on first and third.  After an intentional walk he gave up line drive single to Kevin Seitzer before he was pulled.  Randy never played another game in the majors. 

Rod Allen spent most of his time in the majors with the Detroit Tigers.  He was originally drafted and signed by the Chicago White Sox in 1977.  After a few years in the minors the Sox traded him to the Seattle Mariners in 1983 with Todd Cruz and Jim Essian for Tom Paciorek.  That would prove good for Rod as it allowed him to make his major league debut for the Mariners in April 1983.  Rod got in 11 games with the Mariners and started 2 of them.  He got a total of 12 at bats and got 2 hits for a .167 average.  He also scored a run.  At the end of the season rod became a free agent and signed with the Tigers.  Rod had his break out year in 1984.  He got into 15 games with 31 plate appearances.  He walked 2 times, was hit by a pitch and hit a sacrifice.  This dropped his at bats to 27 in which he got 8 hits including a double, and drove in 3 runs.  He was perfect in his fielding, never committing an error in 7 chances for his entire career.  Rod returned to the Tigers for spring training in 1985 but was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in April for Luis Rosada.  Rod never did get up to the majors with Baltimore but did get back to the majors with the Cleveland Indians in 1988.  There he got in 5 more games and collected 1 more hit for his career.  His total stats for his career were 11 hits, 2 doubles, 3 RBI’s and a .220 batting average.  After his playing days Rod became a broadcaster and covers the Tigers today.

Frank Doljack

Davey Crockett

October 4 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Mike Walker ended his time in the majors as a Tiger pitcher. He was originally brought to professional baseball by the Cleveland Indian organization who drafted him in 1986. He was used as a starter in the minors going 14-7 and 15-7 in the Cleveland farm system in 1987 and 1988. He was a late season call in 1988 and debuted against the Red Sox in Fenway Park as a reliever. He went 2.1 innings and did not allow a hit or a run. He got in 2 more games and even started one game which he lost to the Blue Jays. Mike spent the next year in the minors before returning to the Indians in 1990 and was again a starter making 11 starts but going 2-6 with a 4.88 ERA.  In 1991 he returned to the Tribe and was converted to a reliever.  He appeared in 5 games and did not record a decision but had a 2.08 ERA.  At the end of the season the Indians released him.  He signed with the Tigers but he spent 1992 with Toledo and was 2-8 with 4 saves and a 5.83 ERA.  At the end of the season the Tigers released Mike.  He resigned with Cleveland but stayed in the minors.  He was released again and signed this time by the Cubs.  He spent some time in the Cubs farm system until 1995 when he made it back to the show with the Cubs and went 1-3 with 1 save and a 3.22 ERA.  At the end of the season the Cubs released him.  He signed with the Phillies and spent spring training in 1996 with the Phils before they released him.  He then signed with the Tigers in April.  For Detroit he was strictly a reliever.  He appeared in 20 games and did not record a decision but did get one save.   It was against the Kansas City Royals in KC.  He pitched the last 1.1 innings and allowed only one base runner on a double by Joe Randa.  Mike posted a 8.46 ERA.  At e end of the season the Tigers release him.  He spent the next three years in the minors with Cincy and finally back with the Indians AA team in Buffalo before his professional baseball career was over.

John Kiely spent his entire time in the majors on the mound for the Tigers.  He was signed as a amateur free agent in 1987 by the Tigers at the age of 22.  He worked his way up the minors rapidly dropping his ERA at every level until he made AAA Toledo in 1991.  But he was still 4-2 with a 2.12 ERA that year and 6 saves being used exclusively as a reliever.  1991 also saw John make his major league debut in July against the Texas Rangers in Texas.  He came in to start the 7^th and Juan Gonzalez.  On a 1-0 count Juan ripped a line drive down the left field line for a double.  John was taken out of the game after that for Paul Gibson.  Juan would come around to score giving John and infinite ERA.  John appeared in 6 more games and did manage to get his ERA down to 14.85 for the season and posted and 0-1 record with no saves.  1992 was much better for John.  He was 4-2 with the Tiges with a 2.13 ERA in 39 games.  His first win came against the Red Sox at Tiger Stadium when he pitched 3.2 innings of relief and gave up only one run.  His other wins came against Seattle, Cleveland and Toronto.  IN 1993 John was 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA.  He remained under contract with the Tigers through 1995 but never again pitched in the majors.

Joe Boever

Lary Sorensen

Don Lenhardt

Jim Halpin

October 3 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Matt Young

Eric Munson

Tim Hyers

Junior Felix

Steve Foucault pitched relief for the Tigers. He started his career in 1970 with the Washington Senators minors as a third baseman and was being converted to a catcher when he hurt his knee in spring training. With his strong arm he was switched to pitcher. He finally made the parent club in 1973. However, the Senators had moved to Texas and became the Rangers and Steve found himself in Texas . He became the Rangers closer in 1974 and pitched very well with a team leading ERA of 2.24 and recording all the saves for the Rangers with 12. He remained the closer for the Rangers until the second week of the 1977 season when he was traded by the Rangers to the Tigers for Willie Horton. He became the Tigers closer for 1977 and recorded 13 saves and posted a 7-7 record with a 3.15 ERA. But in 1978 he was replaced as the closer by John Hiller. Steve was the oldest relief pitcher the Tigers had at 28 and was 2-4 with a 3.13 ERA and 4 saves when he was waived by the Tigers. The Kansas City Royals then signed him. He appeared in 3 games for the Royals before his major league career came to an end. He played one more year in professional baseball in the Houston Astros farm system in 1979 before his playing days ended. In 2009 Steve was still in the game coaching for the Evansville team in the Frontier League.

Chuck Scrivener played his entire career as a Tiger.  His dad John, played in the Washington Senators minor league system.  Chuck was drafted and signed with the Tigers for the 1968 minor league campaign.  He played in Lakeland in 1968 and started working his way up the minor league farm system.  He first reached AAA Toledo in 1971.  He stayed in AAA hitting about .240 as a shortstop.  In 1975 he made his major league debut as a late season call up.  In his debut he got the start and was the lead off batter playing short in a game against the Indians at Tiger Stadium.  In his first plate appearance he faced Jim Bibby and K’d looking.  Chuck would go 0 for 4 but make one put out and one assist.  He got in three more games and got 4 hits without another K and he was perfect fielding.  In 1976 he was a back up infielder splitting time between second and short behind Pedro Garcia and Tom Veryzer.  He proved to be an average fielder and hit .221.  In 1977 he had his first baseball card.  He was again a back up but while he did get a couple games at second and now third, he was mainly a shortstop.  Playing 50 games at short he showed he was actually a strong fielding shortstop fielding a .981 clip compared to a league average of .963.  But his batting suffered.  He hit .083 getting only 6 hits in 72 at bats.  He had his second baseball card made in 1978 but Chuck never played in the majors in 1978.  Instead he played the entire season in the Tigers AAA farm team at Evansville.  He hit .262 playing mainly short but a few games at second.  But in 1978 the Tigers started a couple of rookie infielders by the names of Trammell and Whitaker.  Chuck was expendable and at the end of the year, the Tigers released Chuck.  He signed with the two year old Toronto Blue Jays but did not leave spring training with the team nor an assignment to the minors and Chuck’s professional baseball career was over. 

Joe Wood was a war time infielder for the Tigers.  He started in pro ball in 1940, just before the war, at class C ball in Henderson of the East Texas League.  This was after his one year at Rice University in 1939.  He hit .345 that 1940 season and moved up to Beaumont of the Texas League in 1941 which was A1 level.  His average dropped to .295 which is to be expected for jump like that in level.  But 1942 found him still in Beaumont and he did not improve a whole lot to a .296 average.  But 1943 was a big draw on baseball players in order to supply men to the military for the war effort.  Because of this depletion of players, Joe Wood was called up to the Tigers in 1943.  At the age of 23 he hit .323 in 60 games as a second and third baseman.   His fielding was ok but as you will hear in any movie or cartoon of the time “there is a war going on, ya’ know”.   Joe dropped out of pro ball in 1944 and 1945.  I have to assume he was called to service.  He came back to the Tigers in 1946 and with all the other major leaguers coming back, Joe found he was released by the Tiges.  He was picked up by the Chicago White Sox but after 1947 was out of baseball altogether.  Joe’s career is one that you have to say “the war giveth and the war taketh away.”  Joe died in 1985 in a house fire at the age of 65 in his hometown of Houston, TX. 

Fred House spent his entire time in the majors in Detroit.  He came out of Cabool, MO and signed with the Kewanee Boilermakers of the Central Association in 1912 as a right handed pitcher.  (Kewanee is in IL.) It was D level ball.  He was 14-11 that season and apparently it was enough that the Tigers under Hughie Jennings were interested enough to bring him on the Tiger squad in 1913.  He made his major league debut against the White Sox in April but it is unclear from the records if he got the win.  It is clear that he got in 19 games for the Tiges that season and was 1-2 with a 5.20 ERA.  This was when the team had a collective ERA of 3.38.  Obviously Fred was not long for the big leagues if he could not bring his ER down.  Sure enough he split time with his old Boilermakers and was 17-17 back with Kewanee in 1913.  But he was brought back to Detroit and finished the season with the Tiges.  He pitched his last game in October in a Tiger loss to the Indians.  The score was 8-1 Tribe and Fred was basically done with baseball as best can be told.  He died ten years later at the age of 33 in 1923 and is buried in Independence, MO.

October 2 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Victor Santos started his major league career as a Tiger.  He was born in the Dominican Republic and was signed by the Tigers as a amateur free agent in 1995.  He worked his way up to the Tiges in 2001 when he was called up by the big club five days into the season on April 7.   He debuted against the Minnesota Twins in relief two days later and gave up 3 runs, all unearned, in 2.1 innings of relief.  He then went on a tear and  did not allow a earned run in his first 27.1 innings pitched in the majors.  This was the longest streak to begin a career by a rookie since Fernando Valenzuela.  He was given his first start on May 12, and pitched a no-hitter into the 6^th before he was pulled after allowing one hit.  Victor got his first win 6 days later against Tampa Bay.  He had a rough end of May and June and was sent back Toledo for about a month before coming back to the majors.  He then went back to his old form and ended the season the season at 2-2 with a 3.30 ERA.  He had a 1.34 ERA in relief with a .189 batting average against.  He was also named Tiger Rookie of the Year by the Detroit press.  In spring training of 2002 he was traded to the Colorado Rockies with minor leaguer Ronnie Merrill for Jose Paniagua.  Victor bounced around the majors for the next five years spending time with Texas, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Baltimore before his time in the majors ended in 2007.  His career record was 23-48 and a 5.21 ERA.

Matt Walbeck had two stints with the Tigers.  He started his time in the majors in 1993 with the Chicago Cubs.  He was a back up catcher who only got in 11 games.  He then went to Minnesota in 1994 and spent the next three years there and started two of the three seasons.  The Tiges got Matt from the Twins at the end of the 1996 season minor leaguer Brent Stentz.  Matt was the back up catcher behind Raul Casanova and in 47 games hit .277 with 3 homers and 10 RBI’s.  At the end of the season Randy Smith traded Matt and Phil Nevin to the Anaheim Angels for minor leaguer Nick Skuse who never played a day in the majors.  Matt spent the next three seasons with the Angels and hit .240 and was the starting back stop for two of the three seasons.  At the end of the 2000 season he became a free agent and bounced around from the Reds to the Phillies to the Padres where Randy Smith made a trade to bring Matt back to the Tigers.  Matt spent two more years as a Tiger back up back stop and hit 1 more homer and 9 more RBI’s in 86 games.  He ended his career as a .233 hitter and hit .228 while with Detroit.

Dave Beard

Earl Wilson won most of the games in his career as a Tiger.

Mike Dorgan

October 1 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jon Warden spent his entire career as a Tiger.  The lefty was drafted out of high school in Ohio in 1966 by the Tigers.  Jon and other young pitchers Les Cain and Daryl Patterson looked very good in spring training in 1968.  This prompted the Tiges to trade Hank Aguirre which opened up a spot on the roster for the trip north.  Jon got it.  In the second game of the season Jon was called in from the bull pen of a 3-3 tie with the Red Sox at Tiger Stadium.  He loaded the bases in the 8^th but did not allow a run.  He then put the Red Sox down 1-2-3 in the 9^th ending it with a K of Carl Yastrzemski.  In the Tiger half of the 9^th Gates Brown pinch hit for Jon and hit a homerun to win the game for Jon.  It was the Tigers first win of the 1968 season.    Less than a week later he came in to pitch against the Indians and Sam McDowell in the top of the tenth with 1 out of a 3-2 game with the Tigers behind.  Jose Cardenal was caught stealing and then Jon got Jose Vidal to fly out to center to end the inning.  In the Tiger half of the 10^th Willie Horton hit a walk off homerun with Al Kaline on first to give Jon his second win.  Four days later in Chicago Jon was called in to pitch in the bottom of the 9^th with 1 out and the bases loaded but the Tiges led 1-0.  Jon walked Wayne Causey to score a run and tie the game at 1-1.  He then got Ken Boyer to hit into a double play to end the inning.  In the Tigers top of the 10^th they scored 2 runs on RBI’s by Dick McAuliffe and Norm Cash.  Jon had been pinch hit for so was out of the game.  But the Tiges held on and won the game.  Only 8 games into the season Jon already led the league with 3 wins!  Jon was replaced in the roster in July when he was called by Uncle Sam to serve in the Army Reserve.  He was a clarinet player in the unit’s band.  He finished the season with a 4-1 record and a 3.62 ERA and 3 saves.  He made the Tigers World Series roster but did not pitch in any of the games.  He had not pitched since August.  This was a calculated move by GM Jim Campbell.  MLB was expanding in 1969 and Campbell hoped that Jon sitting on the bench might make the expansion teams of the Seattle Pilots and Kansas City Royals.  But it did not work.  Jon was drafted by the Royals.  Due to injuries and other circumstances, he would never pitch in the majors again.  Today Jon is a regular at the Detroit Tiger Fantasy camps where he is a camper favorite especially as the kangaroo court judge.

Hal Naragon started his career in the majors against the Tigers.  He was a late call up in 1951 with the Cleveland Indians and got a single in his first at bat as a pinch hitter in the 9^th off of the Tigers Virgil Trucks.  He replaced Lou Brissie.  Hal would get in two more games before the season ended he went into the Marine Corps for the Korean War.  Hal continued as a catcher with Cleveland after returning from the Marines and played with the Indians, Senators and Twins before his playing days were over in 1962.  His career stats were a .266 batting average with 6 homers and 87 RBI’s in 424 games.  When he stopped he playing he started coaching and was named bull pen coach for the Twins.  In 1965 he started working with Johnny Sain (famed for his time with the Boston Braves when the cry was “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain”.) who was the pitching coach.  The two were there when the Twins went to the World Series in 1965 and the two signed with the Tigers as coaches when they both were fired after the Twins 1966 season.  The firing was called “the Great Mistake” by Twins pitcher Jim Kaat.  Hal and Sain helped the Tigers create the pitching staff they had in 1968 when the won the World Series.  Mickey Lolich and other Tiger pitchers always spoke highly of the pair.  At the end of the 1969 season the Tiges were not quite as successful as they had been in 1968 and Hal retired from baseball.