The Monday Fungo: Feb. 12

On TV: Tigers vs. Red Sox – June 25, 1985

Jack Morris vs. Bob Ojeda — and what a great lineup. Here’s the boxscore.

Birthdays

Gary Knotts, Chet Lemon, Pat Dobson, Andy Harrington, Harry Arndt.

Weekend Leftovers

Saturday

Happy 75th birthday to Ben Oglivie who, after the Tigers inexplicably traded him for Jim Slaton and Rich Folkers, went on to hit 176 home runs for the Brewers over nine years. He retired after the 1986 season with a lifetime average of .273 and 235 career homers.

The late Tom Veryzer was born on Feb. 11, 1953. He played five years in Detroit (1973-77) before being dealt to Cleveland for Charlie Spikes. His last year in the bigs was 1984 when he was a bench rider for the Cubs. Had Leon Durham fielded a grounder more cleanly in the NLCS that year, perhaps Veryzer could’ve ended his career where it started, at Tiger Stadium. His final career numbers: .241 average, 14 homers, 231 RBI, .966 fielding percentage.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 316 9/9: Rarity: 30

Two former Tigers managers today.

See you tomorrow.

The Friday Fungo: Feb. 9

On TV: Pat Underwood’s Debut, May 31, 1979

Today is Pat Underwood‘s 67th birthday. He was one of my favorite players during the early years of my Tigers fandom. Here’s a rebroadcast of his major-league debut, against his brother Tom, on May 31, 1979.

Check out this excellent bio of Underwood written by Todd McDorman as part of the SABR Bio Project.

Birthdays

John Young, Vic Wertz, Don Hankins

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 313 9/9: Rarity: 13

I also almost went with Lance Parrish instead of Scott Rolen but I wasn’t 100% confident Lance appeared in a game for the Jays. So, after completing the one below, I started a new grid and swapped out Lance for Rolen — 5% for Rolen v.s. 0.4% for Lance. I put in all the other picks from below and it dropped my Rarity from 13 to 9! Should have gone with my instincts.

Have a great weekend. See you tomorrow.

The Thursday Fungo: Feb. 8

This Week in Baseball: July 10, 1985

A nice feature on Gibby (roughly the 10-minute mark) and cameos of once and future Tigers Howard Johnson, Sweet Lou, Tram, Lance Parrish and Terry Harper.

Birthdays

Steve Dillard, Hoot Evers and Don Heffner.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 312 9/9: Rarity: 10

I’m pretty pleased with myself on this one. A single former Tiger in this grid.

See you tomorrow.

The Wednesday Fungo: Feb. 7

On the Radio: Tigers vs. Angels – May 24, 1977

John Hiller makes the start against Nolan Ryan. Here’s the boxscore.

Enjoy Paul Carey’s bottom-of-the-first update from Evansville.

Birthdays

Dave Borkowski, Earl Whitehill

On this Date

2005: The Tigers signed Magglio Ordóñez for a reported five years, $75 million.
1994: The Tigers signed free agent pitcher Tim Belcher.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 311 6/9: Rarity: 368

One former Tiger today.

See you tomorrow.

The Tuesday Fungo: Feb. 6

Today I spent some time dodging raindrops at the practice day of the WM Phoenix Open in Scottsdale. I’m not a golf fan by any stretch, but the people watching is legendary. The tournament is always the week of the Super Bowl and about 10 days before spring training begins in Phoenix. Good times.

A Random Tigers Game: June 24, 1978

Tigers 4 – Yankees 3

W: Jim Slaton (7-4) • L: Dick Tidrow (3-5)

Start Time: 8 p.m.
Attendance: 37,681
Venue: Tiger Stadium
Game Duration: 2:01

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 310 8/9: Rarity: 144

Two former Tigers today: one player, one manager.

See you tomorrow.

The Monday Fungo: Feb. 5

Jim Campbell, the late Tigers GM and President was born 100 years ago today. Wikipedia has a solid entry about him.

Birthdays

Mike Heath and former top pick Kenny Baugh.

Today’s Grid

Immaculate Grid 309 9/9: Rarity: 102

No Tigers today, but Ed Whitson sure took a beating from them in Game 2 of the ‘84 World Series: 5 hits and 3 runs in two-thirds of an inning — the first inning. Whitson got pulled and the Padres came back to win their only game of the series, 5-3.

Have a good week, and we’ll see you tomorrow.

The Sunday Fungo: Feb. 4

Happy Birthday, Stan Papi.

Today is Stan Papi‘s 73rd birthday, so let’s take a look back on his brief time in Detroit:

On May 29, 1980, the Tigers purchased Papi’s contract from the Phillies and the infielder made an immediate splash in Detroit.

The next day, Papi, wearing number 9, started at second base and batted ninth — behind the number-eight hitter, Kirk Gibson — against the Angels.

He struck out against Frank Tanana in the bottom of the second but in the fourth hit a two-run home run off Tanana to give the Tigers and Milt Wilcox a 4-1 lead.
He singled in his next at bat and then tripled in the sixth off Jim Barr. The Tigers won the game 12-1.

Papi finished the 1980 campaign with a .237 average, three homers and 17 RBI in 46 games. He hung around for 40 games in the strike-shortened 1981 season, hitting just .204.

His last appearance in a big-league game came on Oct. 1, against the Orioles at Tiger Stadium. Sparky inserted him as a pinch hitter for Rick Leach in the seventh; Papi struck out against Tippy Martinez to end the inning.

Other Birthdays

Doug Fister, Germany Schaefer, Joe Sparma, Rusty Kuntz and Chris Bando.

Today’s Grid

Immaculate Grid 308: 9/9 — Rarity: 37

Three former Tigers and one Detroit native today.

See you tomorrow.

The Saturday Fungo: Feb. 3

Happy Birthday, Trixie

Happy 89th Birthday to former Tigers infielder and long-time first base coach Dick Tracewski.

He was a player on the 1968 World Series champs, a coach on the ‘84 team and, officially, once an interim Tigers manager: filling in between the fired Les Moss and the hired Sparky Anderson in 1979.

Ten years later Sparky took a short leave of absence due to the abysmal ‘89 team’s losing and Tracewski took over for a few games, but Baseball-Reference only lists the ‘79 games in his official managerial record.

He was also a World Series winner with the 1963 and ’65 Dodgers.

Other birthdays: Fred Lynn, Joe Coleman and the late Wayne Comer.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 307 8/9 — Rarity: 145

Two former Tigers in today’s grid.

I hope you’re having a great weekend.

See you tomorrow.

The Friday Fungo: Feb. 2

I found this recording of the Tigers and Orioles on WJR from September 1983.

I listened to this live after school that day and thought there was still a chance the Tigers could overtake the Orioles and win the A.L. East.

Final Score: Tigers 14 – Orioles 1

Enjoy this one.

Today’s Random Nuggets

Game of the Day: July 7, 1982. White Sox 7 – Tigers 0 W: Dennis Lamp L: Jerry Ujdur

Birthdays: Matthew Boyd, Adam Everett and Zeb Eaton. Zeb pitched for the Tigers in 1944 and ‘45.

Today’s Immaculate Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 306 8/9 — Rarity: 138

**Two former Tigers today. Can you name them?**

Have a great weekend. See you tomorrow.

The Thursday Fungo: Feb. 1

Last night I watched the Netflix documentary about the about the recording of “We Are the World.” What an amazing trip down memory lane. Go for the music, stay for the Al Jarreau situation.

Nelson Simmons

The Tigers’ second pick in the 1981 draft, Simmons wore number 37 and, after debuting on Sept. 4, 1984, hit 10 homers for the ’85 Tigers. He was a highly touted prospect and I was excited about him being part of the long-term mix. On April 29, 1986, Detroit released him.

A few weeks later he signed with the Orioles but he played in only 16 games for Baltimore during the ’87 season, then got traded to the Mariners in August of that year. He never played for Seattle.

Birthdays

Austin Jackson (still just a kid at 37!), Rich Becker, Ron Woods, Bob Smith, Dave Madison and Billy Sullivan, who appeared in one game as catcher for the 1916 Tigers, with no at bats.

Today’s Immaculate Grid

Two former Tigers today. Rarity: 136

See you tomorrow.