January 2011

Today’s Tiger: Dave Stegman

Dave Stegman

Born: Jan. 30, 1954 in Inglewood, Calif.
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Height: 5′ 11″ Weight: 190
Acquired: Drafted by the Tigers in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1976 amateur draft.
Seasons in Detroit: 3 (1978-80)
Uniform Number: 22
Stats: .189 avg., 6 HR, 17 RBI, .589 OPS

Dave Stegman debuted with the Tigers on Sept. 4, 1978. As a youngster, Stegman clearly was a stud player. According to Baseball Reference.com:

Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 10th round of the 1972 amateur draft, but did not sign.
Drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 9th round of the 1975 amateur draft, but did not sign.
Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 2nd round of the 1976 amateur draft (Secondary Phase), but did not sign.

The University of Arizona alum was drafted by Detroit in the first round — second pick overall — of the 1976 amateur draft.

He played in eight games in 1978 — all in the outfield — and batted .286 in 14 at bats. In 1979 he played in 12 games and batted .194 (but with one homer!).

The 1980 season was his last with the Tigers. That year he appeared in 65 games and hit .177 in 130 at bats.

Detroit shipped him to the San Diego Padres for Dennis Kinney in December 1980.

He never played for the Padres and was spun-off to the Yankees as a player to be named later in April 1981. He didn’t see any major-league action during that strike-shortened year.

The same could almost be said about 1982. He appeared in two games for the Yankees but had zero plate appearances. That had to be a bummer.

On Jan. 26, 1983, Stegman signed a free agent contract with the White Sox. After two unremarkable seasons with Chicago, he was out of baseball.

His final line: 172 games, 320 at bats, 66 hits, 8 HR, 32 RBI, and a .206 average.

Whether or not you remember Dave Stegman, wish him a happy birthday, won’t you?

Galarraga Arrives a Hero in Arizona

Armando Galarraga, according to this headline, appears to be a popular Diamondbacks player already, which is relative, of course.

In this city, fans are more likely to know the Suns’ 12th man than the Dbacks’ fifth starter. But columnist Dan Bickley says Galarraga’s reaction to the blown call and the aftermath could make him “the most popular losing pitcher in baseball history.”

Here’s a sampling of Bickley’s column in yesterday’s Arizona Republic:

Though he’s only 23-26 as a starter, Galarraga enjoys a lofty reputation among baseball fans. He is viewed as a professional athlete with a heart, a player who can step out of his world and walk in someone else’s shoes. He credits his parents for teaching him to step back and cool off “when something is going wrong, when something makes you want to scream.”

(snip)

Question is, will we love Galarraga in the coming months? That’s hard to say. He will compete for a spot in the starting rotation, and many baseball observers aren’t convinced he’ll ever morph into an impact starter. Still, if his command is as good as his self-control, he has a fighting chance. And he’s very happy for a fresh start, for the chance to throw a perfect game in the National League.

“I’m very excited. I can’t wait to hit. I really like Arizona. That’s a great stadium for pitching,” Galarraga said.

Of course, he’s dead wrong about Chase Field, which is notoriously friendly to hitters. That’s OK. We’ll forgive him. It’s the least we can do.

I’m still not convinced that Dbacks’ manager Kirk Gibson won’t be infuriated by Galarraga’s lack of aggressiveness. I guess we’ll see.

Happy 37th Birthday, Magglio

It never gets old.

Tigers’ Treatment of Sparky Descends from Sour Grapes to Bush League

I suppose it was inevitable that the Tigers would retire Sparky Anderson’s number 11. The only question, at least in my mind, was whether it would happen before or after owner Mike Ilitch moved on to the next life.

Two months after Sparky’s death, todaythe Tigers announced they’ll retire his number 11 and wear a patch with the number all season.

I understand his passing happened after the season and there wasn’t much they could do, but couldn’t the Tigers have chosen another time — any other time — to honor (or at least announce their intention to honor) their winningest manager?

Here are just a few opportunities they wasted:

1994: The 10th anniversary of the 1984 World Series championship
2000: His induction in to the Baseball Hall of Fame
2004: The 20th anniversary of the ’84 championship
2005: Comerica Park All-Star Game festivities
2006: Any time during the postseason
2009: The 25th reunion event for the ’84 club, when it was clear that Sparky’s health was declining.

Yes, the fact the Tigers are honoring Sparky is a good thing — and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Dave Dombrowski that finally convinced Ilitch that the Great Sparky Schism needed to end.

But still, two months after his death? 18 months after the last, best opportunity?

Sorry.

“Better late than never” just doesn’t work for me in this instance.

Friday Night Morsels

This week is the big Barrett-Jackson classic car auction here in Scottsdale and while I’m not, by any stretch of the imagination, a car guy, I find myself riveted to the coverage. Every year I watch and ask the same questions about the buyers: Who are these people and where do they get their money?

But anyway …

On this date in 1993, Tigers Hall of Fame second baseman Charlie Gehringer died at the age of 89 in Bloomfield Hills, one month after suffering a stroke. During a 19-year career in Detroit, the Mechanical Man posted a .320 batting average with 184 home runs and 1427 RBI. In 1937, he led the American League with a .371 average. Check out Gehringer’s Hall of Fame page here.
On this date in 2000, the Tigers signed free agent pitcher Hideo Nomo to a one-year contract. Nomo’s agent had declined a multi-year contract with the Brewers, expecting more on the open market. Shrewd.
Yesterday former Tigers outfielder Gus Zernial passed away at age 87. Jay Jaffe at FutilityInfielder.com shares this tidbit about the man nicknamed “Ozark Ike”:

For a long time Zernial held the distinction of hitting the most homers for a player whose last name ends in the letter Z with 237, but Todd Zeile passed him in 2003 while playing for the Yankees, hitting a homer off the Red Sox Bruce Chen. In 1951, Zernial and Al Zarilla did team up to form the first outfield with two players with the last name starting with Z, so there’s still that.

Also, he’s one of six players in Tigers history with a last name beginning with Z.

Finally, Happy 30th Birthday to Wil Ledezma, the winning pitcher of the 2006 pennant-clinching game. Here’s a little nugget that I uncovered today about Ledezma:

[He] holds one very obscure all-time record: the most consecutive starts of six innings or fewer: … At the end of the 2006 season, he had made 31 straight starts with six or fewer innings. The previous record had been 28, by Scott Elarton.

Who knew?

Enjoy your weekend.

Today’s Tiger: Hank Aguirre

Hank Aguirre

Born: Jan. 31, 1931 in Azusa, Calif.
Died: Sept. 5, 1994 in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Throws: Left Bats: Right
Height: 6′ 4″ Weight: 205 lb.
Acquired: Traded by the Indians with Jim Hegan to the Tigers for Jay Porter and Hal Woodeshick on Feb. 18, 1958.
Seasons in Detroit: 10 (1958-67)
Uniform Number: 30, 37, 21
Stats: 64-64, 3.29 ERA, 138 Starts, 41 Complete Games, 27 Saves
Awards: All-Star (1962)

Hank Aguirre pitched 10 seasons for the Tigers, posting a 64 and 64 record from 1958 through 1967, but he wasn’t able to enjoy the joyride of the 1968 World Series team. Aguirre was traded on April 3, 1968, a week before Opening Day, to the Dodgers for a player to be named later.

When he arrived in Detroit for the ’58 season, Aguirre was predominantly a reliever and would be until 1962 when he was moved into the rotation.

For the next five years he averaged 26 starts a season and 41 appearances. Only in 1965 did Aguirre have a defined role: 32 appearances, 32 starts.

His finest campaign was in 1962 when he was named to the All Star team thanks to a 16-8 record and a league-leading 2.21 ERA.

One thing Aguirre wasn’t, though, was a hitter. Not even close. In 427 career plate appearances he mustered just a .085 average and over the course of his career he averaged two hits per season.

According to his obituary in The New York Times, after his career ended with the Cubs in 1970, he served as the club’s pitching coach and later coached in the minors.

In 1979, he established Mexican Industries in southwestern Detroit. The auto parts manufacturer began with eight workers and a contract to supply components to Volkswagen. It now has about 900 employees.

When Aguirre and Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer broke ground on a new building for Mexican Industries in November, Archer said Aguirre’s name “is like magic and gold wherever I go and wherever I’ve been.”

All told, Aguirre was 75-72 with a 3.25 earned run average in his 16 big-league seasons.

Robert Fick: Ultimate Friend and Teammate

Former Tigers catcher Robert Fick earned his reputation as a bad seed thanks to some poor on-field decisions and in-flight activities.

If you followed the Tigers during his five years (and five uniform numbers) in Detroit, you won’t be surprised by this Fick-related anecdote from former-Tigers flamethrower Matt Anderson:

First Anderson drove from Louisville to Atlanta to say goodbye to the kids. Then he headed west to California to see his friend and former Tigers teammate, Robert Fick, who had possession of the two game gloves — a Mizuno and a Rawlings — that Anderson used during his last stint in pro ball.

After continually badgering Fick to send him the gloves, to no avail, Anderson figured it would be easier to just pass through California on his way to Phoenix and pick them up in person.

“For Robert to muster up what it took to go to the packing store, find my address and all that stuff, I didn’t think that was going to happen,” Anderson said.

I, for one, am hoping that Anderson’s comeback is successful. The fact he’s back on the radar, however temporarily, makes me wonder what an Anderson-Zumaya-Perry bullpen might look like.

As for Fick, well, never mind.