November 11 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jason Grilli followed his Dad, Steve Grilli, to Detroit to become a member of the bull pen for the Tigers.   Jason was born in Royal Oak while his Dad pitched in Detroit.  He was signed out of Seton Hall by the San Francisco Giants.  The Giants traded him as a minor leaguer to the Florida Marlins with Nate Bump for Livan Hernandez.  He got into the majors for the Marlins in 2000 and 2001 as a starter.   But he was only 3-2 with a 5.94 ERA.  The Chicago White Sox then picked him up as a Rule 5 draftee.  He was 2-3 in Chicago again as a starter and his ERA went higher to 7.40.  At the end of the season the Sox granted him free agency and the Tigers signed him.   He wore his Dad’s number 49 while in Detroit.  The Tigers tried him as a starter and he was 1-1 but his ERA dropped to a respectable 3.38, however, it was only 3 games.  The following year was the great 2006 season in Detroit and Jason was a part of that.   He was used more against right handed batters and was more effective at home than on the road with an ERA that was almost a full half run lower at home.  He had a great August and won 2 games while posting a 1.46 ERA in 11 games.  But that was followed by a terrible September and October where he was 0-1 with a 6.43 ERA.  He was used in the postseason and his record looks better than it really was.  He put up an ERA of 0.00 in the post season but that does not show that he walked 4 in three innings and gave up a hit while only getting one K.  Most of the damage was done in game 5 of the ALCS when he came in to pitch the 8^th in a 3-3 tie game.  He gave up a lead off single which was erased on a double play.  The he proceeded to throw 12 straight balls without a strike and load the bases before he was pulled for Wil Ledezma.  Jason was again in the Tiger bull pen in 2007 and was 5-3 with a 4.74 ERA.  He started 2008 with the Tigers but after going 0-1 with a 3.29 ERA he was traded to the Colorado Rockies for minor leaguer Zach Simons.   He bounced around for a few years putting up records similar to what he had in Detroit or worse before finding a home in Pittsburgh.  He became a new pitcher in Pittsburgh where he was an all-star in 2013 and was their closer with 33 saves and a 2.70 ERA.  He ended up in California in 2014 trying to shore up the Angels bull pen.

Damion Easley

Ownie Carroll

Bill Steen

Jack Ness

November 10 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Terry Pearson must have had a bitter sweet time with the Tigers.  Terry pitched at the University of West Alabama in Livingston, AL.  After college it appears Terry worked on his own to continue in the game.  In 1995 at the age of 23 he started his pro career with Zanesville of the independent Frontier League.  He pitched well with a 6-2 record (the league leader had 9 wins) and posted very good 3.23 ERA in 14 starts.  In 1996 he clearly found some control and was moved to the bull pen and became the Zanesville closer.  I say he found some control because he had 43 K’s and only 8 BB’s in 31 games and an outstanding league leading ERA of 0.50!  He also had a 4-1 record and league leading 20 saves.  He then moved to the Northern League for 1997 also an independent league and was 2-3 with a4.16 ERA.  He struck out 46 but walked 30.  It would appear most baseball people felt Terry was not a major league player and he was out of organized baseball altogether in 1998 and 1999.  But Terry kept at it and in 2000 was back pitching in the Northern League.  He found some more control and had 32 K’s to 11 walks.  This got some attention finally from the big leagues and the Tigers signed Terry.  Terry was the closer at Erie in 2001 with 23 saves, second in the league and 62 K’s to only 16 walks!  This was impressive for the Tigers enough to take him seriously in spring training, 2002 and Terry was with the Tiges at the beginning of the season.  In the third game of the season the Tiges were facing the Devil Rays in Tampa.  Jose Lima had started the game and had given up 3 runs and it was still the third and no outs.  Terry got the call from the pen with runners on first and second.  Terry got the first batter he faced, Toby Hall, to ground into a double play.  The runner moved to third.  He then gave up a run scoring single but then ended the inning with a K.  The next inning Terry allowed a homer but got the other three batters he faced to ground out weakly.  In the fifth Terry got two outs with the bases loaded before he was pulled.  Unfortunately Matt Miller came in to relieve Terry and promptly gave up a homer on his first pitch and Terry’s ERA climbed up to 13.50.   Three days later Terry faced the Indians.  He pitched one inning in a Tiger loss.  Terry gave up a triple to Jim Thome for the only run Terry allowed.  Two days later Terry faced the Chicago White Sox and gave up a 2 run homer to Frank Thomas.  But Terry did get the Sox 1-2-3 in the 9^th.   Four days later Terry was called in to face Denny Hocking of the Twins in the 8^th with 2 outs and the runners on first and third and Twins leading 4-3.  On a passed ball the runner on third scored and the runner on first ended up on second.  Terry stayed in and got Hocking out.  But the Twins won.  That was the end of the Terry’s major league career.  He was sent down to Toledo.   He had never pitched in a game the Tiges won.  After all, it was 2002 and the Tiges were 55-106 for the season.  The 30 year old would pitch 2 more years in pro ball.  Today he runs a baseball school in his home town of Northport, Alabama.

 

Kenny Rogers

 

Shawn Holman

 

Larry Parrish

 

Norm Cash

 

Chick King

 

Johnny Lipon

 

Russ Kerns

 

Birdie Tebbetts was the starting catcher for the 1940 Tigers.  A couple of my favorite Birdie stories.  One was when he was managing the minors in the 1960's bus leagues.  They were driving around Virginia and looking for a place to eat.  The bus stopped at a burger type restaruant and were unloading to go in.  The owner came out and said they could order there and the whites could eat there but the blacks on team would have to eat on the bus.  So Birdie said ok and asked how long it would take to get about 30 burgers and fries and drinks ready.  The owner said about an hour or something.  Birdie said that would be fine.  He wanted to go get his team checked in at the hotel befroe the game and said they would be back in an hour.  So the team loaded back up on the bus and drove on their way to the next town to get something to eat as their game was not in that town!  My other favorite Birdie story was when he was catching in 1940.  The season came down to last series of the season between Dteroit and Cleveland.  The first game was a wild affair where the Indians put their ace, Hall of Famer Bob Feller and the Tiges put up Floydd Geibel who would end his career with 3 wins.  It was a crazy game.  The begining of the game saw the Indians fans throw a hail storm of produce out on the field on the first fly ball to Hank Greenberg in left field.  One player said there was so much fruit and garbage thrown that he was surprised Hank caught the ball and not an orange.  The ump had to get on the PA and threaten an forefiet if the fans did not calm down.  Birdie was given the day off and was in the bull pen.  A tribe fan in the upper deck got a peach basket full of empty beer bottles and garbage and tried to drop it on Schoolboy Rowes head in the bull pen from the upper deck.  He missed and it hit Birdie knocking him unconcious.  Birdie was taken into the training room while the police tracked down the fan.  They brought the fan into the training room for the players and Birdie to identify.  Then the police gave Birdie a few minutes to "discuss" the game with the fan.  After the beating, err, discussion, the fan sued Birdie but lost.  Birdie has a fun book on his life called "Birdie; Confessiions of a Baseball Nomad".

 

Jimmy Dykes

 

Slicker Parks

 

Del Gainer

 

Billy Lush

November 9 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Joel Zumaya

Beiker Graterol spent an afternoon as s Tiger.  Beiker was born and raised in Venezuela.  He was a right handed starter in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system starting in 1992 and looked very good in the minors.  In 1998 he was tied with teammate Roy Halladay in wins for his minor league team.  After the season the Tigers traded Eric Ludwick for him.  On opening day at Yankee Stadium in 1999 Beiker got the start for the Tigers against David Cone.  Beiker got through the first inning with only a walk to Paul O’Neil.  In the second things did not go as well.  He gave up a lead off homer to Tino Martinez and then put Chad Curtis on before giving up another homer to Scott Brosius.  He got out of the inning with the Yanks up 3-0.  In the third gave up a lead off walk to Derek Jeter.  Then he walked Paul O’Neil and after a ground out by Bernie Williams advanced Jeter and O’Neil to second and third he intentionally walked Tino “Homerun” Martinez.  Chile Davis came up and drove a 2-1 pitch out to the stands for a grand slam.  The score was now 7-0 in favor of the Yanks.  Beiker would get out of the inning without any more damage.  And he returned in the 4^th and sent the Yankees down 1-2-3.  But the damage was done and Beiker got the loss.  He would never pitch in the majors again.  His career totals were 4 innings pitched, 7 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks while striking out 2.  His career ERA was 15.75.  After going 3-9 in Toledo in 1999 he was released by the Tigers.  He played south of the border with the Mexico City Tigers in 2000 where he was 5-3 with a 7.13 ERA.  He was out of baseball after that.

Al Greene

Whitey Herzog, yes he was a Tiger.

Bill Bruton

Jerry Priddy

Benny McCoy was part of a great exodus from the Tigers.  Benny was signed by the Tigers out of high school in the Grand Rapids area in 1934.  He toiled in the minors as a second baseman and outfielder.  By 1938 and 1939 he was hitting over .300 in Toledo and was also getting some time with the Tigers.  In 1938 he got in 7 games with the Tiges and another 55 in 1939.  He hit .302 with the Tiges in 1939 and was a very hot prospect.  In the winter meetings of December 1939 Benny was traded with Slick Coffman to Connie Mack’s Athletics for Wally Moses a speedy right fielder.  The Tiger outfield needed some work if the Tiges were to compete for the 1940 pennant.  However, the Commissioner of Baseball was one Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis.  The Judge did not like the farm system.  He believed that the farm system keeps major league talent in the minor leagues.  Since one team may have 2 or 3 top notch second baseman, like the Tigers with Charley Gerhinger and Benny McCoy, that the best 16 second basemen were not always the 16 second baseman playing in the majors for the 16 major league teams.  In 1938 the Judge had granted 100 minor leaguers free agency from the Cardinals organization and forbid the Cards from resigning any of them.  He also granted free agency to individuals like Tommy Henrich from the Indians in 1937at which time he promptly signed with the Yankees and became a all star and future Hall of Famer.  In January of 1940 it was the Tigers turn.  The Judge voided the trade of McCoy and Coffman for Moses and granted McCoy free agency.  Not only that, but Landis ruled that five “major leaguers” from the Tigers and 88 minor leaguers in the Tigers organization were free agents.  McCoy, Roy Cullenbine, Paul “Dizzy” Trout, Lloyd “Dutch” Dietz and Steve Rachunok were all given free agency.  Dietz and Rachunok had not played in the majors but were expected to.  For the Tigers, this was a major blow.  Trout won 9 games for the Tigers and was the number four starter in 1939.  McCoy was being looked at as the possible successor to Charlie Gerhinger.  Cullenbine played 75 games for Tigers.  Not only did the Tigers not get Wally Moses, but their bench got a bit shorter.  As for the minor league talent, estimates were that it was worth more than $500,000.  Several teams had already been talking to McCoy before he was granted free agency as they smelled what Landis was going to do.  But Connie Mack made the deal that Benny could not refuse.  He gave him $100,000 to Benny for him to sign a contract with the Athletics for $10,000.  Later, Landis would send Trout back to the Tigers.  But this was a gutting of the Tigers farm system.  This was over half the minor leaguers being granted free agency.  Benny hit .257 for the Athletics in 1940 and then improved to .271 with a .384 OBP when you add his 95 walks.  He showed good speed with 7 triples and also hit 8 homers.  But that would be the end of his career.  At the end of 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  Benny enlisted in the Navy and was gone for the duration.  When he returned from the war he did not return to baseball.  Last year Benny died on his birthday (See Bucky Harris from yesterday) at the age of 96.  As for the results of the loss of the Tigers minor leagues, as the war was on all the teams lost many of their minor leaguers and most of their major leaguers to the service.  So there was no long term impact on the Tigers.  In fact, the Tigers made a famous internal move of putting Hank Greenberg in the Tiger outfield and moved back up catcher Rudy York to first.  Hank would win the MVP and the Tigers would win the pennant in 1940.

Jim McGarr played in the Ty Cobb strike game of 1912 when he was 24. In 1912 Ty Cobb was suspended for going into the stands and beating up a fan. He was suspended by the league. But his teammates felt he was justified and so on May 18, the rest of the Tigers refused to take the field in a game in Philadelphia against the Athletics. The Tigers hastily put a squad together of amateurs. The team lost the contest 24-2. Jim had four plate appearances in that game and K’d all four times. He played second base and made one put out and three assists but also committed and error.   After the game the regular Tigers reported back as Ty had asked them to. All of the players from the 24-2 game disappeared from professional baseball when the regulars returned.

Tom Kearns was a Detroit Wolverine.

George Wood was a Detroit Wolverine.

November 8 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Shane Halter was the Tigers great utility man for many years.  Shane had come up with the Kansas City Royals in 1997 and was a utility infielder and shortstop for two years in KC.  The Royals sent him on to the New York Mets for 1999.  He got in only 7 games for the Mets and spent most of the season in Norfolk, their AAA team.  There he played one game at catcher, plus spent a lot of time at in right, center and left field as well as second, short and third.  It was a sign of things to come.  In March of 2000 the Tigers picked up Shane off of waivers from the Mets and with the Tigers in 2000 Shane played in more games than he had at any other time in the majors.  Dean Palmer was the starting third sacker but Shane was the normal fill in for the aging Palmer at 55 games.  Shane was also used elsewhere.  In fact his utility was so vast that on October first Shane played all 9 positions as a Tiger.  It was the last game of the season and made for a very messy scorecard.  Shane played first, third, right, center, left, short, catcher, pitcher and finally second.  He did not commit an error but Dean Palmer committed 2.  He went 4 for 5 at the plate while scoring 2 runs and driving in 3.  He walked the only batter he faced as a pitcher.  But the batter was taken off the base paths in a double play.  He was a one man wrecking crew as the Tigers beat the Twins 12-11 in 9 innings.   This was only the fourth time in MLB history that a player played every position in a game including pitched.  In 2001 Shane was again with the Tiges and hit .284 as he split duty at third with Jose Macias who was the new third baseman and he played 62 games at short.  In 2002 he was the official starting shortstop with 81 games but also played 30 games at short and a few in the outfield, second, first etc.  Same thing in 2003.  While for most of his time as Tiger he did not have a position to call his own Shane was always there.  He was a .251 hitter with a .309 OBP as a Tiger.  Regardless of his utility, at the end of the season the Tigers granted him free agency and he ended his career with one last hurrah in the majors with the California Angels in 2004. 

Mike Roarke was a back up catcher for the Tigers.  He was born in Rhode Island and went to college at Boston College with former Boston Red Sox manager Joe Morgan (Not of the Big Red Machine.).  Mike was signed by the Boston Braves in 1952 as a 21 year old.  However, he did not play a full season as he was off to the Korean War for much of 1952 and all of 1953.  Upon returning from service in 1954 he was now with the Milwaukee Braves organization.  He was in their farm system for the next couple of years until being traded to the Tiges with Don Kaiser and Casey Wise for Charlie Lau and Don Lee.  But he still was in the minors until 1961 when he finally broke in to the majors as a 30 year old rookie.  In his debut he came in to catch as Tiger starting catcher Dick Brown had been taken out for a pinch runner in the top of 7^th in a game against the Cleveland Indians in which the Tiges trailed 2-1.  Mike singled in the top of the 8^th as the Tigers rallied to score 4 runs and eventually win the game 5-2.  Mike would have his busiest season in 1961 getting into 86 games as the Tiger back up and hitting .223 with 2 homers and 22 RBI’s.  He was still Dick Brown’s back up in 1962 but was in only 56 games while hitting .213.  However he doubled his power numbers with 4 homers.  In 1963 Dick Brown was gone having been traded in the off season for Whitey Herzog and new catcher Gus Triandos.  Mike backed up Gus and hit a career high .318 but was only in 23 games.  In 1964 Mike played his last year in the majors behind new Tiger catcher Bill Freehan.   Again he was a back up and again his average was in the low .200’s at .232.  He was only in 29 games and at the end of the season the Tiges released him.  Mike continued a life in baseball  as a bull pen coach for the Tigers and Angels and returned to the Tiges in 1970 as the pitching coach replacing Johnny Sain.  He went on to coach in the majors and minors and manage in the minors.  He even coached under Whitey Herzog, whom he had been traded for, and under his old college team mate Joe Morgan. 

Tony Cuccinello was a coach for the 1968 Tigers.

Bucky Harris ended his playing career as a Tiger.  He dropped out of school at the age of 13 to start working in a coal mine and play baseball in his spare time.  At age 19 he was playing in the minors and he started his major league career as a second baseman for the 1919 Washington Senators at the age of 22.  He played there for 5 seasons as a good second baseman hitting just under .300.  He was soon regarded as the Senators Boy Wonder as he took over the reins as manager in 1924 as well as playing second at the age of only 27.  He led the Senators to their one and only World Series title that season as they beat the New York Giants in 7 games.  He took the Senators back to the World Series the following year but they would lose to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 7 games.  Bucky continued as player manager through 1928.  The following year the Tigers traded Jack Warner for Bucky and Bucky became the Tiges player manager in 1929.  But Bucky was not the starting second baseman for the Tiges as they had Hall of Famer Charlie Gerhinger playing second.  So Bucky only got into 7 games for the Tiges in 1929 as a player and got exactly 1 hit in 11 at bats.  Bucky continued as the Tiges manager and played 4 more games in 1931 when he got his second hit as a Tiger in 8 at bats.  Bucky did not fair much better as skipper.  He managed the Tiges for 5 seasons, always finishing in the second division and only in 1932 did he have a winning record when he was 76-75.  In 1934 the Tigers signed a new manager by the name of Mickey Cochrane.  Mickey would take the Tigers to the World Series in 1934 and win it all in 1935.  Bucky was off to the Boston Red Sox who finished 76=76 under Bucky.  Bucky was back in Washington in 1935 and skippered there through 1942 while only once did he have a winning season.   Finally in 1947 Bucky got a prime job as the New York Yankees manager.  He took them to the World Series where they won against the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He managed the Yanks in 1948 before getting fired for not being serious enough for Yankee management.  He was back skippering the Senators from 1950 through 1954 after which he rejoined the Tigers.  He managed the Tigers for two years to end his managerial career in 1955 and 1956 and had a winning record both seasons going 79-75 and 82-72.  His totals as a skipper were 4,410 games managed.  He had 2,158 wins and 2,219 losses with 2 World Series titles.  He continued in baseball as a GM and scout and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.  Two years later, on his birthday, Bucky died of Parkinson’s disease.  He was 81.

November 7 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Andy Tomberlin ended his career as a Detroit Tiger.  He was drafted out of high school by the Atlanta Braves as a pitcher.  But he was soon splitting time between the mound and the outfield.   He should good power and was able to hit for average in the minors while still posting a winning record on the mound and showing a good ERA and decent control.  However, after seven years in the minors the Braves granted him free agency and he signed with the Pirates.  He made his debut in the majors with the Pirates at the age of 26 ironically as the pinch hitter for the Pirates starting pitcher, the role that Andy had been drafted for out of high school.  He hit a foul pop up to short right field for an out.  At the end of the season Andy was a .286 hitter with a homer, a triple and 5 RBI’s in 42 at bats.  However, in 27 games only 7 were as a position player in the outfield.  The rest were as a pinch hitter.   He became a free agent at the end of the season and signed with the Boston Red Sox.  He was only a .194 hitter for the Sox but he did pitch in one game for two innings and only allowed one hit in the two innings pitched.  He was again a free agent at the end of the season and signed with the Oakland Athletics for 1995 and then spent two more years with the New York Mets in 1996 and 1997.  Finally, after the 1997 season he was signed by the Tigers as a free agent.  For the Tiges he got into 32 games and had 75 plate appearances as a 31 year old pinch hitter and outfielder.  He hit only .217 but did hit 2 homers and drove in 12 runs while scoring 8 himself.  But he never did pitch for the Tigers.  Unfortunately in June the Tigers released Andy.  While he would never play in the majors again, Andy has continued to make his living in baseball as a minor league coach.  In 2014 he was coaching with the Charlotte Knights who are the AAA team for the White Sox. 

 

Orlando Mercado spent a very short time of his career as a Tiger.  He started his pro career at 16 in 1978 with the Seattle organization.  He was a good defensive catcher who would learn how to hit pro pitching.  He worked his way up to a .280 hitter in 1982 with AAA Salt Lake City and was a late season call up for Seattle.  He got in 9 games that first season and hit .118.  He would be a back up catcher for the next two seasons and hit a high of .218 with Seattle in 1984.  The Mariners sent him to Texas where he hit .235 as a back up catcher.  In spring training of 1987 the Tiges were unsure of what they had at the catcher position.  Lance Parrish was gone to the Angles.  1986 backup catcher Mike Heath was still in Detroit but was he a starter?  Matt Nokes had hit .285 in AAA in 1986 but no one knew if he would pan out in the majors.  So the Tiges traded minor leaguer Dario Guzman for Orlando at the end of March, 1987.  Orlando was the starting catcher on opening day hitting 9th.  Mike Heath was in right field hitting 8th.  Orlando went 1-3 that first game as a Tiger catcher.  He got a single in the 8^th and was pulled for pinch runner Pat Sheridan.  Young Matt Nokes was brought in as the defensive replacement.  Mike Heath had gone 0-2 but had drawn 2 walks.  Orlando was the starter for 7 games that month of April and his .333 average on opening day was his peak.  He dropped down to .158 by the end of the month and his fielding was only average.  In the mean time, Matt Nokes was hitting .310 and Mike Heath was hitting .350.  The trial was complete. Nokes and Heath would be the catchers for 1987.  Orlando got one more game as Tiger on May 2.  He went 0-3 and his average dropped to .136.  Three days later he was traded to the Dodgers for Balvino Galvez.  Orlando stuck around in the majors for three more seasons with the Dodgers, Athletics, Twins, Mets and Expos.  He was a career .199 hitter with an above average glove and an average arm.  He was done as a player in the minors four years later.  He then went in to coaching.  He was a coach in the Angels organization until 2013.  In 2014 he joined the Yankees organization and was a coach in their minors.  His son, Orlando Jr. played in the minors for 10 years ending in 2012.

 

Tom Walker spent one season as a Tiger.  I always will remember Tom as he sent me a response to my request to former players for stories about Mark Fidrych.  Tom sent a note back about how he and Mark were both pitchers in spring training in 1975 with Fidrych and Fidrych tried taking the mound with a chaw in his mouth.  He took a line shot and swallowed the chaw and was sick as a dog.  But he never did chew after that!  Tom also sent me a photo of himself as a Montreal Expo which was really cool for me as I am an Expos fan as well.  He was an Expo for three years from 1972 through 1974.  He was mainly a reliever for the Expos with a decent ERA of 3.57.  He was brought to the Tigers with Terry Humphrey for Woodie Fryman.  For the 1975 season in Detroit Tom split time as a starter and reliever.  He was 3-8 with a 4.45 ERA.  O fhis three wins as a Tiger, one was in relief against the Orioles, one was as a starter against the Athletics and one was a complete game gem where he out dueled Jim Kaat of the White Sox and allowed only 1 run.  At the end of the season Tom was sold to the St. Louis Cardinals.  He would play one more year in the majors, 1977, when he split time between his first team, the Expos, and the California Angels.  For his career Tom was 18-23 with a 3.87 ERA and 11 saves.  He still has an influence in baseball today as his son Neil Walker plays with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a good fielding second baseman with career .280 average and 38 homers in the last three seasons.  Tom included a photo of his son in his response as the proud father of a major leaguer. 

 

Joe Niekro, before he developed his knuckle ball like his brother, was a Tiger.  Joe started his major league career in 1967 with the Chicago Cubs and had a pretty good rookie season going 10-7.  He followed that up with a starting role on opening day of 1968 for the Cubs and went 14-10 for the season before being traded to the new expansion team, the San Diego Padres early in 1969.  After the 1969 season the Pads traded Joe to the Tigers for Pat Dobson and Dave Campbell.  In 1970 Joe stepped into the Tiger starting rotation under manager Mayo Smith and at the number 2 spot was the first Tiger hurler of the season to win 10 games when he posted a 12-13 record with a 4.06 ERA.  He had a no-hitter going into the 9^th against the Yankees in July and with one out gave up his only hit to Horace Clark.  1971 found a new skipper for the Tigers in Billy Martin and Joe did not quite fit into Billy’s starting rotation as Billy kept changing the rotation.  Only three pitchers under Billy actually were used as starters in over half their appearances.  The rest, like Joe, kept having their roles change from starter to reliever.  Joe pitched in 31 games and 15 were as a starter.  He was 6-7 and his ERA climbed a bit to 4.49.  In 1972 Joe’s role as Tiger continued to diminish.  He was only in 18 games and only 7 starts.  In between he was sent down to Toledo.  He was not happy with the demotion and in his first start in Toledo he pitched a perfect shortened 7 inning game.  He was called back up and spent about a month on the DL.  At the end of the season the Tigers won the AL East title and headed into the playoffs against the Oakland A’s.  Joe did not make an appearance.  1973 found Joe in the minors for the whole season while under contract for the Tigers.  The Tiges then waived him and in August the Atlanta Braves claimed him.  He joined his brother, Phil, in Atlanta and there he learned the knuckle ball that his Dad had taught him and his brother had perfected.  Joe would pitch for another 15 years in the majors making his big as a knuckle baller in Houston in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s winning 20 games twice with Astros.  It was also there that he showed his brilliance in the post season.  In the 1980 NLCS between Houston and Philadelphia he pitched 10 innings of shut out ball before finally being pulled in the 11^th.  At that time the Astros decided to score a run to give the win not to Joe but to his replacement on the mound, Dave Smith.  The following season in the NLDS against the Dodgers Joe pitched 8 innings of shut out ball to be replaced in the 9^th.  Again, the Astros scored after Joe was pulled so Joe did not get the win.   Joe ended his career in Minnesota as a Twins starter where he had his moment that anyone who saw it remembers.  He was caught defacing a ball.  This youtube clip will show you all you need to see.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXLmh1dG5fY 

 

 

 

November 6 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Deivi Cruz

Bubba Trammell

Chad Curtis

Frank Carswell earned his cup of coffee as a Tiger.   He came out of Jefferson Davis High School in Houston, TX in 1937.  After high school he went to Rice University to play ball.  His minor league record is kind of sketchy.  He was sent from Texarkana to the Tigers prior to the 1941 season.  The problem is there is no record that I can find of him at Texarkana.  He spent the 1941 season under contract to the Tigers at Jamestown of the PONY (Pennsylvania, Ontario, New York League) league which was class D ball.  He hit .338.  He then missed the next four years as he was serving in the US Marine Corps during World War II.  He came out of the war and went back to the minors.  He continued to hit over .300 every year after 1946, when he was no longer under contract to the Tigers, and in 1949 he led the “Big State League” with when he hit 145 RBI’s and had 229 hits.  In 1950 he hit .400 while he was again at…..Texarkana .  My suspicion is that the attribution of Frank playing at Texarkana PRIOR to 1941 is a mistake and is a confusion of his time at Texarkana in 1949 and 1950. He came back under a Tiger contract in 1951 after he left Texarkana and joins Buffalo.  He would spend the majority of the next four years at Buffalo.  Finally, in 1953, Frank got a chance and was with Detroit in early April as a 33 year old rookie.  Frank’s debut was rather inconspicuous.  In the bottom of the 9^th inning of a game between the Indians and the Tiges the Detroiters trailed 5-4.  Johnny Pesky led off with a walk.  Matt Batts then hit a triple to score Pesky to tie the game.  With a runner on third and no outs and the game tied, Fred Hatfield was called into run for Matt Batts and lefty hitting Pat Mullin was called on to pinch hit for righty hitting Dave Madison.  However, with this change the Indians pulled righty pitcher Bob Feller and replaced him with lefty pitcher Lou Brissie.  This made the Tigers pull lefty hitting Pat Mullin for righty hitting Frank Carswell.  If you understand all this great.  If you don’t, don’t worry.  It was all for naught as Frank was given an intentional walk as was Harvey Kuenn behind him.  Owen Friend then hit a fly ball to center to score Hatfield and the game was over.  Frank had received an intentional walk in his major league debut.  The next day Frank got in his second game.  He was brought in as a pinch hitter and given an intentional walk and promptly replaced for a pinch runner.  It was a double header so Frank got a second chance in the second game against the Browns.  He was called in again in the 9^th to pinch hit and got his first major league hit.  It was a single off of former Tiger Bob Cain (pitched to midget Eddie Gadel).  Frank was promptly replaced for a pinch runner.  This was Frank’s lot as a 33 year old rookie.  He was used strictly as pinch hitter for his first 10 games.  Finally he was allowed to remain in the game against Boston after first pinch hitting.  He would end up in only 16 games.  He never got a start.  In those 16 games he had only 18 plate appearances with 3 walks.  He got 4 hits and 2 RBI’s for a .267 batting average and a .389 OBP.  But by the end of May he was done in the majors.  He went back to the minors and was traded off to the Cardinals.  Frank spent the next five years in the minors until he was 38.  At this time he was a player manager in the minors.  He did that for the Tigers until 1970 when he had reached the top of the Tiger farm system, Toledo.  He never got a chance to manage in the majors.  He spent over 30 years in baseball and his time in the majors was only 16 games as a pinch hitter.

November 5 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Johnny Damon played one season as a Tiger. He started his career in Kansas City in 1995 and played six seasons with the Royals and was a .292 hitter for them but was never an all-star for KC. In 2001 he was part of a three team trade between KC, Oakland and Tampa Bay then landed Johnny in Oakland . He had made $4M his last season in KC and was up to $7.1M his first year in Oakland . With Oakland you would have thought his stock dropped as he went from a .327 hitter his last season at KC to a .256 hitter in Oakland . His stolen bases also dropped from a league leading 46 to 27 and his power dropped from 16 homers to 9. At the end of the season he became a free agent and signed with the Boston Red Sox. But it was for a raise to $7.25M. He played 4 seasons in Boston and was there when they brought the first title to Boston since Babe Ruth. He even had a role in the Jimmy Fallon/Drew Barrymore movie “Fever Pitch” that was set with the Red Sox championship drive as a back drop. With Boston he showed he was what he was in KC and was again a .295 hitter with speed and some power as an outfielder. He was also a fan favorite with his long hair and beard and moustache earning him the nickname “Caveman”. But the Boston faithful were disappointed when he signed with the Yankees as a free agent. Of course, the Yanks paid him $13M a year for four years. While his average dropped from a .295 hitter to .285 hitter for the Yanks his power jumped up. He was hitting 5 more homers per year in New York . But after 2009 the Yanks decided not to resign him and the Tigers did sign him for $8M for a single season contract. He was considered a leader in the clubhouse in Detroit according to the press, but hit .271 with his lowest homerun total, 8, since hit third year in KC. And his RBI total was only 51 which was his lowest since Oakland . He was always a decent centerfielder most of his career but in Detroit he was mainly used as a DH and in left field. At 37 years old the Tiges did not resign him as a free agent at the end of the season but rather let him sign with Tampa Bay for 2011. His power was back up in Tampa but his average continued to drop to .261. 2012 he was signed to his last one year deal with Cleveland and hit his career low .222 average and only 4 homers.

Glenn Dishman ended his pitching career as a lefty for the Tigers. Glenn was brought into the majors by the San Diego Padres in 1995 and was 4-8 with a 5.01 ERA as a 24 year old starter. He started 1996 with the Padres but only got into 3 games with Padres as a reliever and spent most of the season in the minors where he was 6-8 with a 5.57 ERA with the Padres AAA team in Las Vegas . In September he was waived and the Philadelphia Phillies claimed him. He ended the season with the Phils and was 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA. The Phils waived Glenn and the Tigers claimed him after the season. He was 1-2 with the Tiges with a 5.28 ERA. He started four games with the Tiges and also came in from the pen on another 3. His one win was a game in which he started against the Kansas City Royals and went 7 innings giving up only 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 8. A young Johnny Damon did not get a hit off of Glenn. That was the end of his major league career. In 1998 he was not on a major league roster as he was injured. He spent four more years in the low minors until 2002. At that point he started coaching and has been coaching in the minors ever since. From 2010 through 2013 he was with the Albuquerque Isotopes as their pitching coach.

Lloyd Moseby was a power hitting outfielder who ended his playing career with the Tigers.  He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1978 out of high school.  He spent only two years in the minors before making it as a starter in the outfield for Toronto.  He was in right field for the Jays for only two years before his speed moved him over to center.  He was in the Jays outfield for ten years averaging .333 with an average 15 homers and 25 stolen bases to go with 65 average RBI’s per year.  But he never showed Detroit any problems.  His lowest batting average against any team was a .208 average against the Tiges and his lowest homer total was also against the Tiges with only 5 where as every other team gave up double digits to him in homers.  At the end of the 1989 season Lloyd became a free agent and signed with the Tigers in a case of “if you cant beat them, join them”.  He was the Tiges starting center fielder in 1990 hitting .248 with 14 homers and 17 RBI’s.  He was brought back in 1991 but shared time in left with the committee of Pete Incaviglia, Tony Phillips and John Shelby.  Lloyd hit .262 with only 6 homers, 35 RBI’s and only 8 stolen bases.  He was granted free agency at the end of the season but went over to Japan rather than stay in MLB.  He returned to the Jays as a coach in the late 1990’s.

Carl Fischer was a member of the great 1934-35 Tiger teams.  Unfortunately he was traded before the Tiges won the World Series in 1935.   Carl was originally a Washington Senator.  He was 9-11 for the Newark Bears in 1930 when the Senators called him up.   He made his debut for manager Walter Johnson, as a 24 year old rookie in July of 1930 facing the Cleveland Indians.  He did not pitch bad, going 6 innings while giving up 4 runs.  But Wes Ferrell was on the mound for the tribe and Wes gave up only 2 runs in a complete game victory.  Carl got his first win as a big leaguer on the second to last day of the season.  He got the start and pitched a 8-3 complete game victory over the Boston Red Sox.  Carl stayed with the Senators until June of 1932 when he was traded to the St. Louis Browns for Dick Coffman.  Carl was 3-7 for the Browns with a 5.57 ERA while Dick was 1-6 with a 4.83 ERA.  About 6 months later the two teams traded back and Coffman went back to St. Louis while Carl came back to Washington.  But it was short lived.  The next day the Senators traded Carl to the Tigers for the 1933 season.  Carl would miss out on the Senators winning the American League pennant in 1933.  Carl had arguably his best season in the majors in 1933 when he went 11-15 with his lowest season ERA of 3.55 as the number 4 man in the rotation.  Carl slipped in the rotation in 1934 into the number 6 spot and the lefty did not make it into a World Series game for the Tigers.  In 1935 Carl was 0-1 when in May he was sold to the Chicago White Sox.  Carl would miss out on the Tigers winning the World Series.  Carl went 5-5 for the Sox in 1935 and that would be his best year of his remaining time in the majors.  He would get one more season in the majors in 1937 when he started with the Cleveland Indians and was waived.  The team that picked him up was his first team, the Washington Senators.  Carl would stay in pro ball, but in the minors, through 1947 when he finally ended his baseball career as a player manager for the Pensacola Fliers at the age of 41.