Fifty-two Detroit Tigers have worn number 20, and it’s currently worn by Spencer Torkelson. But the first player I remember wearing number 20 was Mark Fidrych from 1976 to 1980.
Howard Johnson, 1983-1984. HoJo originally wore number 5, but it was retired during the ‘83 season (along with number 2*) to honor Hank Greenberg and Charlie Gehringer, respectively.
Jim Slaton, 1986. Slaton first pitched for the Tigers in 1977 and he wore number 21. When he returned in ‘86, he wore 20 and then changed to number 40.
From 1977 to 1992, only two players wore number 14 for the Tigers, both of them (mostly) played first base and were fan favorites:
John Wockenfuss, wore it from 1977-1983, resurrecting the number after a three-year layoff following Bill Slayback’s two-season tenure, 1973 and ‘74. In his 10 seasons in Detroit, Johnny B played in 677 games and hit .261 with 80 home runs and 284 RBI.
Dave Bergman put on number 14 within days after being traded for Wockenfuss in March 1984. From then until he retired in 1992, he wore it in 871 games, batting .259 with 39 homers and 219 RBI.
In 124 seasons, only 15 players have worn number 13* for the Tigers. For me, it will always be Lance Parrish‘s number, which he wore for 10 seasons, 1977 through 1986.
Here’s something: Before The Big Wheel put on number 13 in 1977, the number sat unworn for 13 years after Bill Faul hung it up after two seasons, 1963 and ’64.
With the exception of Alex Avila, who first wore it in 2010, no player of consequence has worn it since Lance … with apologies to Rico Brogna (1992) and Mark Leiter (1993).
*Gio Urshela was the most recent player to wear it, in 2024.
According to Baseball Reference, 54 players have worn the number 12 in Tigers franchise history. Casey Mize currently wears it. Let’s look at a few Tigers that wore number 12 during the Fungo’s focus, 1977 through 1994:
There are many candidates for this distinction, but I think Mike Moore was the quintessential Dave Duncan reclamation project in the late 1980s.
He went from a so-so starter in Seattle to a 19-game winner in Oakland.
By the time he signed a three-year, $10 million contract with the Tigers in 1993, most of that Duncan magic had vanished … much like the benefit of the spacious foul territory in the Oakland-Alameda County Stadium.
But we wouldn’t find out right away. Soon, but not right away.
As it seems to often happen in baseball, if not all sports, Moore made his Tigers debut on Opening Day 1993, April 5, against his former team in Oakland. It was a start to forget and a sign of things to come — again, we didn’t know it yet! — 42/3 innings, six hits, three walks and four earned runs. The Tigers lost 9-4.
Four days later, he started against the Angels in Anaheim and got only four outs. In 11/3 innings, he gave up six hits and five runs.
To recap: In his first two Tigers starts, he pitched six innings and allowed nine runs on 12 hits.
Although Moore’s ERA dipped below five once all year — 4.99, after his two-hit shutout of the White Sox on Sept. 10 — he did have a couple of incredible starts:
Moore was certainly durable* in his first season in Detroit: 36 starts and 223 innings. His final line: 13-9, 5.91 ERA, with three shutouts.
*In nine of his 14 seasons, he finished with more than 200 innings pitched — and in 1990 he threw 1991/3.
Well, 1994 and 1995 went about as well for Moore as it did for his Tigers teams. Still, the man did take the ball every fifth day (maybe fourth day back then?), pitching 25 starts both years.
In 1994, he could’ve reached 30+ starts again if not for the player’s strike, but anyway …
The third and final year of his Tigers contract, 1995, was a disaster: 25 starts, 5-15 and a 7.53 ERA.
Looking back 30 years, it wasn’t fair to expect Mike Moore, at 33, to be a top-of-the-rotation starter. After the mirage of 1993, the Tigers were not good in 1994 and ’95, so it wasn’t going to make a difference whether Moore was the staff’s ace, the fifth starter or a long reliever.
Oh and just looping back to the benefits of pitching home games in Oakland versus Detroit: Tiger Stadium’s cozy dimensions not only hurt him in the no-foul-territory fashion but also in surrendering the long ball: He made 86 starts and gave up 86 homers. Not all of them at The Corner, of course, but enough of them.
I asked my Dad if I could skip the afternoon portion of that junior-year school day. It was a hard no.
I was on the yearbook staff and we decided it the 1984-85 edition of Spectus would not be complete without some on-the-ground photos and coverage of the Tigers World Series Parade.
So, yeah, I went.
My Dad seemed to be — at best — okay with my going downtown during a school day in the service of my, ahem, studies.
It was a blast for me and about a half dozen of my friends, some of whom were on the school newspaper staff and, yes, they needed fresh copy too.
The only person I think that did not enjoy themselves was the poor soul who parked their brown Chevy Nova-like car on Michigan Avenue. So many people — maybe us too? — stood or sat on it that the roof was caved in.
The 1996 season is two years beyond the usual scope of The Daily Fungo, but what they hay; let’s take a look at Eddie Williams‘ career in Detroit.
The Tigers signed Williams to a one-year contract on Jan. 2, 1996, one of the first of many Padres-related transactions made by new Tigers GM Randy Smith, formerly of the Padres.
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