June 23 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Tom Haller finished his major league career as a back up catcher on the 1972 Tigers who won the AL East.  He previously played for the unlikely pair of teams, the Giants and the Dodgers.  He was starting catcher for the Giants from 1962 until 1967 or close to it.  One year he only started 79 of the games.  He was traded to Dodgers to take over for Johnny Roseboro who had been traded to the Twins.  When Jim Price retired after the 1971 season, we picked him up from the Dodgers for cash and a minor leaguer after the Dodgers realized they had another catcher in Duke Sims.  For Detroit in 1972 Tom hit .267 with 35 RBI’s and 5 homers.  Like any good catcher Tom did not steal a base for the Tigers in 1972.  In the 72 playoffs he had one at bat and grounded out to first unassisted.  His major league career was over.

Bubba Floyd is the stereotypical World War II baseball player as a Tiger.  He was born Leslie Roe Floyd in Dallas TX.  He started his pro career in 1936 as a 19 year old shortstop with Kilgore of the East Texas League.  He played there and was going to Southern Methodist University.  The Kilgore Braves (Not the Trout’s.) played close to Bubba’s home town of Dallas.  He hit .274 for class C Kilgore in 137 games.  He was up at Oklahoma City of the Texas League before the end of the season.  This was a big jump going from C ball to A1 ball.  The next year, 1937, Bubba was again at Oklahoma City and hit only .127 in 24 games before he went to the Davenport Blue Sox of the Western League where he hit .242.  He would bounce around between levels in the minors and do very well in class C but as he moved up his average always dropped.  Finally in 1944 he was playing for the Tigers AA ball club, the Buffalo Bisons.  In Detroit the Tigers had Joe Hoover playing short.  Joe was never vying for a batting title but in May of 1944 he went on a slide for the last of May where he got 6 hits in 57 at bats.  The Tigers needed to find a shortstop if they were going to complete for the pennant.  So Joe was out as shortstop and the Tiges tried others at the spot.  One of the others the Tiges intended to try was Bubba who was called up from Buffalo.  In a game at Briggs Stadium, ten days after the Normandy landings, the third place Tiges faced the first place Browns.  Hoover started the game at short but was 0-2 with a K.  So Tiger skipper Steve O’Neil pulled Hoover for Bubba.   Bubba went 2-2.  The next day Hoover led off the game with an out.  He was pulled again and Bubba went 2-3.  The next day Bubba started the game at short and batting leadoff.  He went 0-4 but scored a run on a walk.  The next day O’Neil used Joe Orengo at short.    Bubba’s major league career was over.  For his career he went 4-9 with a walk.  That is a career on base percentage of .500.  Bubba also has the distinction of being the first player in the majors called “Bubba”.

Aaron Robinson was the starting catcher for the Tigers in 1949 and 1950.  He also played part of the 1951 season with the Tigers before being traded to the Red Sox.  Aaron had been the starting catcher for the Yankees until they started using Gus Niarhos and Yogi Berra.  Aaron spent some time with the White Sox, which is where we picked him up for Billy Pierce and cash.  Aaron hit .244 for Detroit with 102 RBI’s and  22 homers.   Aaron Robinson is still known today because his autograph is a tough one.  He died young at the age of 50 in 1966.

Al Clauss  pitched five games for the Tigers in 1913.  He started one game and came in from the pen the other four.  He pitched a total of 13.1 innings and gave up an ERA of 4.73.  With his 11 hits and 12 walks his WHIP was 1.725.  A tad high.  The Tigers had picked him up from the Jackson Saginaw team of the Southern Michigan League.  After his time in Detroit he went out to Lincoln of the Western League.  After 1914, Al was done with pro ball.

June 22 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Esteban Yan pitched for one season for the Tigers.  He started his major league career in 1996 as a reliever in 1996.  He only appeared in 4 games that first season and did not record a decision.  His second year of 1997 was similar except he made 2 starts in 3 appearances and recorded his first decision, a loss to the Kansas City Royals where he gave up 8 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks in 4.1 innings.  At the end of the season he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the expansion draft.  He was with the Devil Rays for 5 seasons as a reliever except for 2000 when he started the season in the starting rotation.  He tied a major league record that year when in his first major league at bat he hit a home run.  But in July he was back in the bull pen.  In his 5 seasons he was 26-30 with 42 saves and a 5.01 ERA with his last two years serving as the Devil Rays closer.  At the end of 2002 the Devil Rays gave Esteban his free agency.  He was the last of the original Devil Rays to play for the team.   He signed with the Texas Rangers.  He lasted until May when the Ranger traded him to the Cardinals for a minor leaguer.  He made it to August when the Cardinals released him.  The Tigers signed him in January of 2004 for $650,000.  But he was cut before the start of the season on March 31.  However, less than 2 weeks later the Tigers re-signed him and he was in the Tigers bull pen.  He appeared in 69 games for the Tigers and was 3-6 with a 3.83 ERA.  He also had 7 saves.  At the end of the season the Tiges gave Esteban his free agency again and he signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  He was traded in May of 2006 to the Cincinnati Reds who released him in July.  He continued to bounce around with various other teams minor league teams but never got back to the majors.  He ended his career in 2012 after pitching with  Saltillo of the Mexican League where he was 7-5 with a 4.64 ERA and the Venezuelan Winter League as a 37 year old starter.

Jake Wood has had his number retired from the Tigers.  He started his career as a rookie second baseman for the 1961 Tigers.  He was in 162 games as a rookie and hit .258.  His speed helped him lead the league in triples his rookie year with 14 and put him third in the league with stolen bases at 30.  His eye helped him set a major league record in strike outs with 141.  But his walks still brought up his OBP to .320.  All together he was a standout rookie and finished 6^th in Rookie of the Year voting.  He was back as the starting second baseman in 1962 but his average dropped to .226.  His triples dropped to 5 and his stolen bases dropped also to 24.  However, his games also dropped to 111.  He did control his K’s and dropped them to 59.  In 1963 he was the main second baseman but only got in half the games.  The Tiges were trying out other second basemen like George Smith, Don Wert and Dick McAuliffe.  Dick was also the starting shortstop and hit only 9 points below Jake while doubling his RBI output.  In 1964 Jake was no longer the starting second baseman.  The Tigers had picked up Jerry Lumpe and Jerry hit .252 as compared to Jake’s .232.  Jake was used a utility infielder and only got in 65 games.  His playing time continued to dwindle in 1965 but he saw a boost in 1966 but still was only in 98 games as a back up second basemen to Dick McAuliffe.  He lasted only 14 games for the Tiges in 1967 when in June he was sold to the Cincinnati Reds.  He played 16 games with the Reds before his career was over as a major leaguer.  He totals were 35 homers, 26 triples, 79 stolen bases and a .250 batting average.  He continued to play in the minors and played with Gene Lamont and Jim Leyland in Montgomery.  His brother also played in the NFL as a linebacker with the Jets and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1975 through 1984.  And Jake’s number which was retired by the Tiges, well, he wore 2 as did Charlie Gerhinger who was also second baseman for the Tiges.  The number 2 was retired in 1983.

Walt Masterson ended his major league career with the Tigers.  He had started his career in 1939 as a fast ball pitcher with the Washington Senators as a reliever.  He moved into the starting rotation in 1940 and remained a starter with Washington into 1949.  He did take time off in World War II to serve in the Navy but returned and would end up starting the 1948 All Star game.  He went 3 innings and gave up 2 runs on 1 hit, a homer by Stan Musial.  Tiger Hoot Evers had also hit a homer off of Ralph Branca and another run in the 3^rd had created a tie through 3 so Walt did not get a decision in the game.  In June of 1949 Walt was traded to the Boston Red Sox for Mickey Harris and Sam Mele.  He stayed in Boston until 1952 when he was traded back to the Senators for Sid Hudson.  He pitched through 1953 with the Senators and at that time had a career record of 77-99 with 20 saves.  He was out of baseball for two years before the Tiges signed him as a 36 year old free agent for 1956.  He appeared in 35 games for the Tiges coming out of the bull pen.  He did get a win for the Tigers in September when he came in to pitch the 8^th and 9^th against the Red Sox of a game the Tiges trailed 4-2.  The Tiges rallied for 3 runs with the final run coming off of a Harvey Kuenn single to score Frank Bolling.  That would be Walt’s last decision.  He made his last appearance about a week later.  His final record with the Tigers was 1-1 with a 4.17 ERA.    

June 21 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jeff Baker spent most of August 2012 as a Tiger.  He was born in Germany in 1981, right after I graduated high school, and he was on the 1999 World Junior Championship team in 1999 and outperformed Joe Mauer.  He was drafted by the Colorado Rockies and made it to the majors in 2005.  He has been a pinch hitter, second baseman and outfielder for most of his career and never has been a starter.  After 5 years as a back up in Colorado he was sent to the Cubs in 2009 in a deal for future Tiger teammate Al Albuquerque.  In 2012 he was brought to Detroit from the Cubs for minor leaguer Marcelo Carreno and cash on August 5.  He got in 15 games as a Tiger and hit .200 as a back up right fielder and third baseman.  He got 7 hits as a Tiger in 35 at bats.   On August 31 of the 2012 he was sent to Atlanta for minor leaguer Greg Ross.  This year he is with the Texas Rangers who signed him as free agent and he is having his best year yet at the age of 32 where in 37 games he is hitting .317 with 9 homers and 16 RBI’s mainly as a left fielder but also with some games at third, first, DH, and even a game at second.

Sean Runyan played his entire career with the Tigers.  He was originally with the Houston Astros farm system but was traded to the Padres before the 1997 minor league season.  The Tigers then drafted him in the Rule 5 draft of 1997.  The rule 5 draft is held in the winter meetings in December.  If a team does not have a full 40 man roster they can draft other teams players that are not on their 40 man roster.  This prevents teams from stockpiling players in the minors who could be playing in the majors on other teams.  One of the rules is that the player can not be designated for assignment to the minors the following season.  So this meant that Sean would spend the entire season on the Tigers roster for 1998.  He did and led the league in games as a pitcher.  The lefty appeared in 88 games for the Tiges and was 1-4 with a 3.58 ERA and 1 save.  Those 88 games accounted for only 50.1 innings pitched.  His win came against the Minnesota Twins when he game into the game in the 7^th with the Tiges down 9-7.  He sent the Twinkies down 1-2-3 with 2 K’s.  Then in the 8^th the Tiges scored 4 runs and took the lead and gave Sean his first major league win.  It would also be his only major league win.  Sean was the Tiges in 1999 and 2000 but only in 12 and then 3 games.  His final record in the majors and as a Tiger was 1-5 with 1 save in 103 games and 64 innings pitched for a 3.66 ERA.  He was done in baseball in 2002 playing his last season in the Orioles farm system.

Gene Pentz started his major league experience as a Tiger.  The rightie pitcher was signed out of high school in Pennsylvania in 1971.  He started in Bristol in 1971 at 18 which was rookie ball.  He then went to A level Lakeland for two seasons in 1972 and 73.  Each year he dropped his ERA from 5.96 to 3.86 to 2.66.  He missed 1974 but I can not find out why.  I have looked in all my media guides, farm directories and all the web sights I can think of but can find nothing.  One website, cardboardgods.net, has an entry for Gene.  The entry also says they have no idea why he did not play in 1974.  However, in 1975 Gene played and played well.  He had been a starter prior to 1975.  But in 1975 he was used entirely out of the bull pen.  He started the season in AA Montgomery and was 4-2 with a 1.64 ERA and 7 saves.  He was moved up to AA Evansville and was 2-3 with a 3.00 ERA and 4 saves.  In July he was up with the Tigers as they made a trip east to play the Yankees at Shea Stadium (Yankee Stadium was being renovated for the 1974 and 1975 seasons to the Yanks played home games at Shea.)  and with the score 4-2 in favor of the Yanks Ralph Houk made the call to the pen for Gene.  Gene face Fred Stanley and K’d him.  Then he got Sandy Alomar out on a grounder to second.  He then ended the inning with another K of Bobby Bonds.  He went on to pitch 3 innings of hitless ball with only 2 walks while striking out two more batters including Thurman Munson.  Gene went on to pitch in 12 more games and while his record was 0-4 his ERA was a decent 3.20.  But at the end of the season Gene was traded with Terry Humphrey, Mark Lemongello, and Leon Roberts to the Houston Astros for Jim Crawford, Milt May and Dave Roberts.   He played the next three seasons with the Astros and every year his ERA went up.  From 2.97 to 3.83 to 6.00.  In September of 1978 he was released by the Astros and signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates but never got back to the majors.  He was one with baseball after 1981.

Tom Jones

June 20 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Bobby Seay may have ended his career as a Tiger.  Bobby was drafted by the Chicago White Sox but was released at the age of 19 in 1996.  He then signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and worked his way up the Devil Rays farm system until in 2001when he debuted with the Devil Rays.  It was in Yankee Stadium and he gave up a single to Tino Martinez who then was erased by a Jorge Posada double play ball.  He then got David Justice to fly out before he was done.  Bobby was 1-1 that season but bounced back and forth between eh majors and minors for the Devil Rays until 2005 when they traded him to the Colorado Rockies.   After the 2005 season the Rockies granted Bobby free agency and he signed with the Tigers.  In 2006 Bobby got into 14 games for the Tiges and did not record a decision.  His ERA was 6.46 but in 2007 things looked good for Bobby.  The lefty came out of the bull pen 58 times and posted a 2.33 ERA and won 3 games.  He followed that with a 1-2 record and a 4.47 ERA in 2008.  In 2009 Bobby was looking stronger with a 6-3 record and a 4.25 ERA but he tore his rotator cuff and ended the season on the DL.  He sat out 2010 hoping it would heal without surgery.  But at the end 2010 he finally got the surgery but was also granted free agency by the Tiges and did not sign with any team. 

Paul Bako started his career as a back up catcher with the Tigers.  He was in the Cincinnati Reds fram system when he was traded to the Tiges at the end of 1997 with Donne Wall for Melvin Nieves.  He was the starter for the Tiges in 1998 as a 26 year old rookie.  He was a decent fielding catcher but only average for throwing out runners.  He hit .272 for the Tiges with a .319 OBP.  I don’t ever recall being amazed by how slow somebody could be until I saw Paul run to first base.  I swear I could have beat him down to first as a fan!  Somehow he did manage to steal a base for the Tigers.  I suspect a fellow catcher was caught off guard or was laughing too hard to make the play.  Before the 1999 season, Paul was traded by Randy Smith to…..wait for it……the Astros.  The deal also involved another catcher.  Paul and sent to Houston with Dean Crow, Brian Powell and two minor leaguers for catcher Brad Ausmus and CJ Nitkowski.  Paul went on to make a 12 year career as a back up catcher.  He played with the Florida Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds and finally the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009.  He was a career .230 hitter.  My guess is he could have hit 20 points higher if he could have run a bit faster. 

Charlie “Bugs” Grover spent his entire time in the majors with the Tigers. He was first in professional baseball in 1911 with the Maysville Rivermen of Maysville, KY in the Bluegrass League. He was 1-2 as a right-handed pitcher. He was there again in 1912 but no records of his pitching stats exist. It is also not known where he was to start the 1913 season. But it is known that on September 9, 1913 he made his major league debut as a Tiger pitcher. The Tigers were in sixth place and facing the Boston Red Sox in Boston who were in fourth place. It is not clear if Charlie got he start or not. But he did not figure in the decision which was a 3-2 Red Sox victory. Three days later Charlie was in the game again facing the same Red Sox still in Boston. Again, Charlie did not figure in the decision but this time the Sox won 18-5. What is known is that Charlie pitched 10.2 innings and started one of the two games and that he only gave up 4 of the 21 Red Sox runs on 9 hits and 7 walks. He also K’d 2. At the plate Charlie made 5 plate appearances and went 0-3 with a walk and a sac hit. It is also known that Charlie never played in the majors again.   Providence bought him about a week after his last game against the Red Sox.  He returned to the minors and bounced around winning 20 games twice in his career, once with Topeka and the other with Sioux City of the Western League. He was done in baseball after 1924.

 

Jim Delahanty was the only Delehanty brother who played for the Tigers.  There were 5 Delahanty in the majors in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  There was Jim, Frank, Joe, and Hall of Famer Ed who was the oldest brother.  Ed died in a rather mysteries way when he supposedly fell of a train while passing over the Niagara River.   Jim, the fourth brother, started his major league career in 1901 with the Chicago Cubs but did not fare well.  He only was in 17 games and hit just .190.  The next year he was given another shot at the majors with the New York Giants.  But after hitting only .231 in 7 games and breaking a knee cap and catching malaria he was let go.  In 1904 he finally stuck with the Boston Beanaters (later to become the Boston Braves) of the National League.  He led the Boston team with a .285 average while playing third.  He stayed in Boston 2 seasons before heading to Cincinnati in 1906 in a trade for Al Bridwell.  At the end of the season the Reds sold him to the St. Louis Browns who kept him only in to June 1907 before selling him to the Washington Senators for $2,000.  He stayed in Washington until the Tigers traded Germany Schaefer and Red Killefer for Jim in August of 1909.  Jim became the starting second baseman and hit .253 for the Tiges.  The Tiges won the AL flag that year, their third in a row, and faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.  Jim led the Tigers with a .346 average and a .538 slugging percentage.  Only Tommy Leach of the Pirates hit for a higher average and Jim led both teams with 5 doubles.  But despite Jim’s play, the Tigers lost in 7 games.  Jim stuck around into the 1912 before being released by the Tigers.   The rumor was that the Tigers front office was not happy with Jim being one of the leaders of the players strike when Ty Cobb was suspended for going into the stands after the fan in New York.  In the 4 years he was in Detroit he hit .306 with 200 RBI’s.  He later played in the Federal League with the Brooklyn Tip-Tops in 1914 and 1915.  

Below is a Mecca Triple Folder of Delhanty from my collection.  He is the portrait on the left as well as the batter in the middle photo.  The catcher is Ira Thomas of the Philadelphia Athletics.

Win Mercer pitched his last season with the Tigers.  He had started his time in the majors with the Washington Senators of the National League where at the age of 20 he was the youngest pitcher and the ace of the staff going 17-23 for a team that won only 45 games in the season finished 11^th in the 12 team National League.   He stayed with Washington through 1899 when Washington finished 11^th again.  It would be Washington’s last year in the National League.  In 1900 they would leave the league for the American Association.  His best year had been 1896 when he won 25 games for the Senators who only won 58 all year.  Win had always been a fan favorite of the ladies and was often started on Tuesday’s and Fridays which were known as “Ladies Days”.  On one Ladies Day game he was ejected which started a riot.  The “ladies” charged the field and attacked the umpire.  In 1900 he was purchased by the New York Giants and went 13-17.  But at the end of the season he jumped and resigned with the Washington Senators who stayed in the American Association when they became the American League.  1901 would be his last season in Washington.  Since 1897 Win was also used as a utility infielder and outfielder when he wasn’t pitching and hit a career .285.  After the 1901 season the Senators sold Win to Detroit.  Win was 15-18 as a pitcher and at the end of the 1902 season Win was named the Tigers player manager for 1903.  But while out in San Francisco barnstorming in January, he committed suicide by gas in a hotel room.  The reason was never clear.  There were two versions, one was it was a woman who refused him that drove him to it, another was that he had gambled away money meant for the other players and had no way to pay it back.  Neither story has every been corroborated.  

June 19 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Willis Roberts started his major league career as a Tiger.  He signed with Tigers out of high school in the Dominican Republic in 1992.  He slowly worked his way up through the Tiger farm system until 1999 when he was called up to the Tiges.  On July 2, the two worst teams in the American League Central squared off in Minnesota when the twinkies who were 21 games back played the Tiges who were 19 games back of the first place Cleveland Indians.  The twinkies scored 5 runs in the second off of Tiger starter Jeff Weaver.   By the 6^th it was 7-4 twinkies when Willis got the call from the bull pen with two outs and a runner on first.  Willis faced pinch hitter Chad Allen.  He threw a ball and then picked off the runner on first to end the inning.  In the 7^th Allen was back to start the at bat again.  He ripped the first pitch from Willis for a single up the middle.  Willis hit Marty Cordova with his next pitch.  He then gave up a line drive single to Corey Koskie to score Allen on his next pitch.  Brent Gates came up and Willis got a strike on him before Brent hit a ball to the first base side of the mound.  Willis fielded it and then threw wild for an error and loaded the bases.  So far in the inning he had thrown 5 pitches and allowed one run and loaded the bases.  He worked Doug Mientkiewicz to a 2-2 count before Doug hit a line drive to center to score another run and keep the bases loaded.  Javier Valentin then hit into a fielders choice for the first out of the inning on his first pitch to score another run and put runners at the corners.  Christian Guzman then hit a sac fly to center to score another run before Jacque Jones finally ended the inning grounding out to second to end the inning.  Willis did not return to the mound in the 8^th or even ever again as Tiger.  His final line was giving up 4 runs on 3 hits, 1 hit batter, 1 error in 1.1 innings pitched for a 13.50 ERA.  All this in 25 pitches.  Willis was released before the next season.  He did make it back to the majors for 3 seasons with the Orioles and his final season with the Pirates in 2004.  He was 17-15 overall in his major league career with a 4.64 ERA mainly as a reliever. 

The above is a signed Burger King card of Jim Slaton from my collection.  Slaton was with the Brewers in the Topps 1978 set.  But when Topps made the Burger King set they made a new card for Slaton as a Tiger.

Jim Slaton taught everyone what to look for in the era of free agency when he was a Tiger.  He got his start in the majors in Milwaukee with the Brewers in 1971 as a right handed starting pitcher.  He was 10-8 his first season and went on to be the Brewers ace of the staff.  He won 72 games from 1971 through 1977 when at the end of the season the Tigers traded Ben Oglive to the Brewers for Jim Slaton and Rich Folkers as a throw in.  Ben had hit 21 homers and hit .262 his last season in Detroit and only got better in Milwaukee where he hit .277 over the next 9 seasons as the Brewers starting left fielder.  Jim came to Detroit and was successful winning a career high 17 games with a 4.12 ERA.  Free agency started after the 1976 season.  So it was new to baseball management when the trade was made.  What the Jim Slaton deal taught everyone was that you need to look at how many years remain on the contract of a player you are trading for.  The issue was that Jim only had one year left of his contract.  At the end of the season 1978 season Jim was free agent and re-signed with his original team, the Brewers.  So Detroit gave up an all star outfielder so they could “rent” Jim for a year.  The following year Jim won 15 games for the Brewers.  He stayed in Milwaukee through 1983.  After that he pitched a couple years for the California Angels and was 151-158 when at the end of June 1986 he was released by the Angels and signed with the Tigers two weeks later.  He did not start a game for the Tigers the second time around but he did get in 22 games as a reliever.  He was 0-0 with 2 saves and a 4.05 ERA on his second hitch with the Tigers.  At the end of the season he was released.  Today he is the Dodgers interim bull pen coach.

Eddie Cicotte is possibly the most infamous pitcher in baseball history and he started out as a Tiger.  He was born in Springwells, MI and started his career in pro ball with the Augusta Tourists of the South Atlantic League.  He was 15-9 with the Tourists and this caught the attention of the Tigers.  They brought Eddie to Detroit in September and he got into 3 games.  He relieved in 2 games and also started 1 game where he went the distance.  He posted a 1-1 record with a 3.50 ERA.  But the Tigers did not retain him and in 1906 he was back in the minors where he would stay for another year before coming back to the majors with the Boston Red Sox.  He immediately started paying off winning 11 games in 1908.  He was the ace of the staff by 1910 when he was 15-11.  In the Red Sox championship of 1912 Eddie was 1-3 in July so the Sox sold them to the other Sox in Chicago.  There Eddie would gain his greatest notoriety.  He was the White Sox ace in 1917 when they won the World Series over the New York Giants in 6 games.  Eddie was the league leader in wins at 28-12 that season with a league leading 1.53 ERA and 1-1 in the World Series.  He won game 1 by a score of 2-1 and lost game 3 when he only allowed 2 runs but his fellow Sox did not score at all.  Both games Eddie pitched complete games.  In 1919 Eddie won 29 games for the Sox and was the starting pitcher for game 1 of the series against the Cincinnati Reds.  It was there that Eddie took $10,000, more than his annual salary from Charles Comiskey, to throw the World Series.  Eddie was 1-2 in the series and the White Sox became known as the Black Sox.  Eddie played in 1920 with the Sox but that would be his last in the majors.  The scandal broke and he was out of baseball in 1921.  All this is portrayed in the Elliot Asinoff book and movie “Eight Men Out”.   While Comiskey was cheap it should be noted that the story that Eddie was benched the last couple of weeks of the season so as to be prevented from earning a bonus for winning 30 games in not true.  Eddie continued his starts right up to the last day of the season when he started against the Tigers and got a no decision in a Tigers 10-9 win. 

June 18 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Charlie Ganzel was on the 1887 Champion Detroit team.  He was born in Wisconsin during the Civil War and started in pro ball in 1884 with the St. Paul Apostles in the Northwestern League.  He stayed with the team when they left the collapsing Northwestern League and joined Union Association and changed their name to the White Caps for the rest of the 1884 season.  He left the turmoil that was the Union Association and joined the Philadelphia Quakers of the National League in 1885.  He was a catcher by trade but also played a little outfield.  He was not very successful in Philly hitting only .164 and partway through the 1886 season he left Philly for National League Detroit Wolverines.   The 1886 Wolverines finished second in the league led by a great catcher, Charlie Bennett.  If you recall the names of Tiger Stadium you may recall that going backwards it was called Tiger Stadium, Briggs Stadium for owner Walter Briggs, Navin Field for owner Frank Navin and Bennett Park for fan favorite Charlie Bennett.  Today there are no parks in the majors named for a fan favorite player.  While Charlie Bennett was a much better defensive catcher than Charlie Ganzel, Ganzel outhit Bennett .272 to .243.  But Ganzel had a penchant for K’s in his early career and could not walk to save his life.  He had a typical 7 walks to 22 K’s in 1886 to raise his OBP from the .272 batting average to only .295 OBP.  On the other hand Bennett was patient at the plate and walked 48 times to 29 K’s for a .371 OBP.  But something happened to Ganzel in 1887.  He hit .260 but his K’s dropped significantly to 2!  He only walked 8 times but his drop in K’s allowed him to be the Wolverines main catcher for the 1887 season.  Ganzel caught 51 games to Bennett’s 45.  Bennett was still the much better defensive catcher and matched or beat Ganzel in every other major hitting stat.  The same pattern applied to the World Series where the Wolverines beat the St. Louis Browns 10 games to 5.  That would be the only time the Wolverines won the World Series and the only time that Ganzel was the starter ahead of Bennett.  Bennett was again firmly in place behind the plate in 1888 and Ganzel started trying other positions and actually played more games at second than catching and also played a bit of third and short.  The 1888 Wolverines dropped to 5^th in the National League and at the end of the season the Wolverines sold their best players, Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers, Hardy Richardson, Deacon White and catchers Bennett and Ganzel to the Boston Beaneaters for the outrageous sum of $30,000.  In 1889 Bennett was the Beaneaters catcher and Ganzel was the number one utility player for the Beaneaters.  It largely stayed this way (with a brief exception when King Kelly took the starting duties briefly in 1892.) until in 1894 Bennett lost his legs in a train accident.  At that time Ganzell took over until the last two years of his career in 1896 and 1897.  He was done after 1897 and the following year his brother John started his time in the majors.  Charlie’s final stats were a .259 batting average as a career and a nearly identical .258 average during his three years in Detroit.  Charlie Ganzel had two sons that played in the minors and a third son, Foster Pirie “Babe” Ganzel, played in the majors in 1927 and 1928.  But Charlie never saw that as he had died 13 years earlier.  The 43 year gap between the two starting dates between father and son is still the largest gap for any father and son combo in the majors.

June 17 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

David Pauley was a tale of two pitchers in his single season as a Tiger.  He had been an arm that had been used by a few clubs.  He first was drafted by the Padres and moved to the Red Sox where he made his major league debut in 2006 as a starter.  He was with them again in 2008 but as both a starter and a reliever.  In his two seasons with the Sox he was 0-3 with a 9.53 ERA.   The Sox sent him to the Orioles in 2009 but he never made the big club before he was granted free agency and signed by the Seattle Mariners for the 2010 season.  His performance certainly improved in 2010 when he was 4-9 and posted a 4.07 ERA as a starter.  He was 5-4 in 2011 with the Mariners and reduced his ERA to 2.15 and the Tigers eyed him and made a trade of minor leaguers Francisco Martinez (who is back with the Tigers in Lakeland this year) ,  Charlie Furbush and Casper Wells for David and Pauley and Doug Fister.  Doug jumped into the Tigers starting rotation.  David played in 14 games for the Tiges out of the bullpen and his 2.15 ERA with Seattle jumped to 5.95 for the Tiges and he had two decisions both for losses.   His WHIP climbed from .994 to 1.627.  The signs were there for the Tigers that David was not in their future and before the 2012 season started the Tigers released him.  He was signed by the Angels for 2012 but was waived in June.  The Toronto Blue Jays signed him but granted free agency less than a month later.  The Mariners, his fourth team of the season signed him in July and released him in November.   He remained unsigned until last Monday when he was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks.   He has played in two games since last Monday and is 0-1 with a 10.12 ERA in 2.2 innings pitched in the D-Backs AAA team in Reno.   It appears that the deal will be Doug Fister for some minor leaguers and David Pauley who didn’t quite make it in the majors.

Matt Kinzer had a very brief career as a Tiger.  He was originally a St. Louis Cardinal in 1989 where he was 0-2 as mainly a reliever in 8 games for the Cards with a 12.83 ERA.  He was obtained by the Tigers after the 1989 season in a less than block buster deal of minor leaguers Bill Henderson, Marcos Betances and Pat Austin for Jim Lindeman and Matt.  He made his debut as a Tiger on May 26, 1990, when he was called in to relieve in the 8^th inning in a game with the White Sox leading the Tigers 6-4 in Tiger Stadium.   Matt walked the first batter he faced as a Tiger.  He got a line out before a run scoring double, another walk and two more run scoring singles.  He got the last out with the Sox now leading 10-4.  He pitched the ninth and did much better only giving up a lead off walk before getting the next batters out 1-2-3.  But the Tiges has seen enough and Matt was sent to Toledo for the rest of his season.  He was 0-3 with the Mud Hens with a 2.50 ERA.  But the Tiges released him in July and while he signed with the Orioles they released him 11 days later without him ever throwing a pitch even in the minors.  He never pitched again in pro ball.  He has stayed in baseball and was a scout for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and was an assistant coach for the Taylor University team that had his son on the squad.  His son played in the minors from 2009 through 2011.  Matt holds a unique place in Detroit sports lore as he also played for the Lions as a punter in the 1987 players strike. 

Claude Rossman was the Tigers starting first baseman for the 1907, 1908 and 1909 AL Champion Tigers.  Those were his only years as a Tiger and in the three seasons he hit .280 with 2 homers and 179 RBI’s.  He K’s at a rate of almost 2 to 1 vs walk which drove his OBP to .318.  He did better in the post season where he was a .342 hitter.  In fact in 1907 he led the Tigers position players with a .474 average and a ,476 OBP and .579 slugging.  He moved on to his best major league performance in 1908 with a .294 average where the first baseman was an excellent bunter.  Something you will not here of today’s first basemen.  He would often bunt Ty Cobb from first to third.  He was not nearly as productive in the 1908 World Series where he hit only .210.  He was hitting .261 in 1909 for the Tigers when he was sent to the St. Louis Browns for Tom Jones in August.  He got in only 2 games for the Browns and recorded only one hit.  Claude dropped to the minors in 1910 and stayed there through 1914.  He was done in baseball after that and he disappears from most of societies records after that until he appears as a clerk for a shipping company briefly in 1918 until his death in an insane asylum ten years later at the age of 46.  He had been in the asylum for at least three years prior to his death.  To this day no one knows where he is buried including his family.    While we remember him today as a Tiger pennant winner no one else seemed to remember much about Claude, including his family.

The below is a 1907 Dietsche postcard of Rossman from my collection.