Today’s Tiger: Tito Fuentes

Tito Fuentes

Born: January 4, 1944 in Havana, Cuba.
Acquired: Signed as a free agent on Feb. 23, 1977
Height: 5′ 11″ Weight: 175 lb.
Seasons in Detroit: 1 (1977)
Uniform Number: 3, 44
Stats: .309 avg., 5 HR, 51 RBI, .745 OPS

When the Tigers sought a player to oversee second base until Lou Whitaker was ready, they could have done a lot worse than Rigoberto “Tito” Fuentes.

Offensively, that is.

TitoFuentes The switch-hitting 33 year old trailed only Ron LeFlore‘s team-leading .325 average that season but was brutal in the field. He led all American League second baseman with 26 errors, and posted a .970 fielding percentage.

Fans that remember Fuentes’ brief stop in Detroit are more likely to recall his signature bat flip when he approached the plate, tapping the bat handle on the plate, flip it up and catch the handle. This was a move widely imitated during Wiffle Ball games in my neighborhood, and probably others around Detroit, too.

After his one season with the Tigers, his contract was purchased by the Expos, who promptly released him in Spring Training in 1978.

The Tigers were ready to hand second base to Whitaker but picked up infielder Steve Dillard just in case.

Upon Fuentes’ departure, Jim Campbell had some interesting things to say in the Associated Press story:

“I’m not going to knock Tito,” said Tigers General Manager Jim Campbell. “He did a good job for us, especially offensively.

(snip)

“Dillard does some things better than Tito,” Campbell said. “He’s a better fielding second baseman than Tito, he covers more ground. And he runs better than Tito did.”

Good thing Campbell didn’t want to knock him.

Of course, the truth about Fuentes’ brief tenure in Detroit is probably somewhere in this paragraph from the AP story:

There also had been reports that he was haggling with Campbell over a new contract. Fuentes’ salary demands were reported to be in the $200,000 range.

And there you go.

Just ask Rusty Staub or Steve Kemp how receptive Campbell was to salary “demands.”

Fuentes spent the 1978 season, his last in the majors, with the A’s.

Oh, and if you were curious whether Dillard’s range and fielding were better: they weren’t. His fielding percentage of .958 was 12 points worse. But at least he was a better runner.

Same Time, Next Year for Me, Morris and the Hall of Fame

It’s early January which means I have to write a post about how I’ll hold out hope that Jack Morris will be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Gobs of articles have been written in the past couple of weeks, the majority of which put The Cat squarely in the “great but not Hall-of-Fame great” category.

Sadly, many of them, such as this one by Joe Posnanski, make terrific arguments against Morris’ chances. Even sadder, I’m starting to believe them. As a result I’m resigned to the fact he won’t be elected this year, if ever.

But wait! I have some anecdotes of my own:

In the summer of 2008 I attended the SABR Convention in Cleveland and asked former Indians outfielder Rick Manning if he thought Morris belonged in Cooperstown. He hemmed and hawed and eventually said, “That’s a tough call.” I took it as a “no”.

Then, last spring — thanks to a twist of fate — I had coffee with former major leaguer Ken Phelps and I asked him if he thought Morris belonged in the Hall and he responded without hesitation: “Absolutely.” I told him that many writers disagree and he replied, “Well, they didn’t face him.”

Touche.

I think today I realized why I so badly want to see Morris in the Hall of Fame. It’s because Tigers fans that grew up with the players that formed the core of the 1984 team expected so much from them. Didn’t we honestly think the Tigers would win again and again in the 1980s — not just one other division title in 1987?

For crying out loud, there was Morris, Dan Petry, Lance Parrish, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, Kirk Gibson — the best collection of Tigers players in a generation! And all we got was a single World Series championship?

Granted, I wouldn’t trade the summer of ’84 for anything, I just expected it to be the beginning of something great, not a one-time trip to the baseball summit. Didn’t you?

That’s why I want to see Morris or Trammell in the Hall. They deserve — and I think they’ve earned — a lasting baseball legacy. One that includes more than the magic they displayed in October 1984.

Today’s Tiger: Richie Hebner

Richie Hebner

Born: Nov. 26, 1947 in Boston
Acquired: Traded by the Mets to the Tigers for Phil Mankowski and Jerry Morales on Oct. 31, 1979.
Seasons in Detroit: Parts of three seasons (1980-82)
Uniform Number: 2
Stats: .267 avg., 25 HR, 128 RBI, .769 OPS

Richie Hebner didn’t swing at the baseball as much as he chopped at it. That hacker’s cut was, the Tigers thought, an ideal fit for Tiger Stadium’s right field porch. It also served him well in the offseason when he dug graves in the Boston area.

According to the Associated Press story on the trade that brought Hebner to Detroit in October 1979, the Detroit acquired him for his punch:

“We’re really pleased to get somebody like Richie,” a Tigers spokesman said. “He’ll give us some power hitting we need.”

Power? Richie Hebner?

He came from the Mets where in 1979, his only season in New York, he hit just 10 homers. Keep in mind, no matter what Hebner did offensively in 1980, he’d be an upgrade over the featherweight hitting of Aurelio Rodriguez who hit only five homers in ’79. But by June of the 1980 season, Hebner was playing mostly at first base, replacing a true power hitter, Jason Thompson who was inexplicably traded to the Angels in May.

Continue reading “Today’s Tiger: Richie Hebner” →

Today’s Tiger: Mickey Stanley

Mickey Stanley

Born: July 20, 1942 in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Acquired: Signed by the Tigers as an amateur free agent in 1961
Seasons in Detroit: 15 (1964-78)
Uniform Numbers: 49, 24
Stats: .248 avg., 117 HR, 500 RBI, .675 OPS
Awards: 4 Gold Gloves (1968-70, 1973)

For many fans, Mickey Stanley’s defining moment with the Tigers came in the 1968 World Series when manager Mayo Smith shifted him from the outfield to shortstop — a position he’d played only in nine major-league games.

The move was made specifically to keep Al Kaline in the lineup while adding some pop to the ’68 team’s woeful production at shortstop. Ray Oyler played most at short that year (111 games) but hit just .135, while backups Tom Matchick and Dick Tracewski combined hit an anemic .180.

In his terrific bio on Stanley, which appears in the 2008 book Sock It to ‘Em Tigers, Jerry Nechal sums up the new shortstop’s performance in the Series against the Cardinals:

Obviously a quick learner, Stanley went on to amaze the baseball world in the Series. In the first inning of Game 1 he was tested by a leadoff ground ball off the bat of the speedy Lou Brock. Brock was out on a close play and Mickey’s fielding at shortstop became a nonfactor. He successfully handled 30 of 32 chances, making two inconsequential errors.

Mickey Stanley broke in with the Tigers on September 13, 1964, singling in his first at bat off Claude Osteen, and appeared in just four games that season. He played in 30 games the following season before making the big club out of Spring Training in 1966, and soon became a fixture in centerfield for the Tigers until a speedy rookie Ron LeFlore took over in the mid-’70s.

My greatest memory of Stanley comes from Aug. 10, 1977, the first Tigers game I ever attended. The starting pitcher for the Tigers was rookie Jack Morris who would pitch 7.2 innings on the way to his first major-league win, but he wouldn’t have gotten the win that night without a dazzling play by Mickey Stanley with two out in the ninth inning.

With Von Joshua at first, Cecil Cooper stood at the plate as the potential tying run. He launched a pitch from Steve Foucault deep to right field and from my lower deck seats on the first base side, it looked like it would indeed tie the game. Instead, Stanley timed his jump and took away a home run, securing a 5-3 win for the Tigers — and Morris.

And it took no time for me to decide who my favorite Tigers were.

Mickey Stanley retired after the 1978 season, his 15th, after playing in 1,516 games — all with the Tigers. According to Nechal’s biography, today Stanley lives in the Brighton, Mich., area.

A New Project for 2011: “Today’s Tiger”

Today I’m launching a project that I’ve wanted to explore since I started The Daily Fungo in March 2006. I’m calling it Today’s Tiger, a daily look at a Tigers player from the past, posted each day of 2011. Some installments will be brief, others more in-depth but hopefully you’ll learn a little bit about Tigers history and the players that’ve worn Olde English D.

Let me know what you think — and feel free to suggest players you’d like me to highlight.

So, with that, here’s the first installment.

Lynn Jones

Born: Jan. 1, 1953 in Meadville, PA
Acquired: Drafted from the Reds in the 1978 rule 5 draft, Dec. 4, 1978.
Seasons in Detroit: 5 (1979-83)
Uniform number: 35
Stats: .264 avg., 6 HR, 71 RBI, .658 OPS

The Tigers selected Lynn Jones from the Reds in the December 1978 Rule 5 Draft and, as they were required to do, kept him on the 25-man roster the entire 1979 season. In 95 games that year Jones batted .296 with four home runs, seeing time mostly in the outfield but also as a pinch-hitter.

Jones was a role player and pinch hitter for Sparky Anderson’s earliest Detroit teams, posting a decent on-base percentage in his first three seasons. The 1982 and ’83 seasons, though, saw his production slip and as a result his playing time was limited to 64 at bats in ’83.

That offseason the Tigers made him a free agent and he promptly signed with the Royals. In 1984, Jones hit a career-high .301 in a similar role to what he played in Detroit. He faced his former team in the American League Championship Series, going just 1 for 5.

The next season Jones appeared in 110 games for Dick Howser‘s Royals — a career high — but saw his average plummet 90 points. It wasn’t a total downer though, he won a World Series ring that year and had two extra-base hits in the Series against the Cardinals.

1986 would be his final big-league season — and his worst statistically. He hit .128 in 67 games with a single RBI and after that season he became a free agent but didn’t sign with another team.

Jones was the Royals’ first base coach in 1991 and 1992 before managing in the Marlins system. In 2001, he was the Marlins’ first-base coach. He earned his second World Series ring in 2004 as a member of Terry Francona‘s coaching staff in Boston. Today he’s the Braves’ baserunning coordinator.

2010: The Year in Lists

A year ago, we were still stinging from Game 163 and not certain how the Tigers would respond to a crushing end to the 2009 season. Would they regress to 2008’s disappointment or regroup to erase the memory of the ’09 collapse?

The answer was: they’d be relevant. And that, ladies in gentlemen, is the extent of the analysis in this post. Instead of a deep dive into 2010, let’s look at the year in the form of randomly selected lists:

2010 At A Glance*

Record: 81-81, 3rd in American League Central, 13 games back of Minnesota
Days in First: 13, the last on July 10
Biggest Lead: 1, last on July 7
Farthest Behind: 15.5 on Sept. 15
Most Games over .500: 11, last on July 10
Most Games under .500: 5, last on Aug. 19
Longest Winning Streak: 7, June 11-18
Longest Losing Streak: 7, July 11-20
Most Runs Allowed: 15, June 9
Most Runs Scored: 13, Aug. 15
Longest Game (innings): 14, July 19
Times Shutout by Opponent: 10
Times Opponent Shutout: 5

Continue reading “2010: The Year in Lists” →

No-Brainer: Ordonez Returns

Magglio Ordonez’s reported one-year, $10 million deal to return to the Tigers is surprising in that it’s both shorter and less-expensive than many anticipated. Once the Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford contracts were signed, everyone following the free-agent market expected Ordonez’s asking price to skyrocket.

On the other hand, it shouldn’t be surprising at all. My sense was that he had a deep sense of loyalty to the Tigers and owner Mike Ilitch, and not only because they paid him handsomely in 2005 when most other clubs were afraid to risk big money on his balky knee. And, by all accounts, Ilitch treated Ordonez with special care during the 2009 season when the slugger’s wife was seriously ill.

In the end, his contract was essentially a hometown discount. And that has got to drive Scott Boras insane.

Martinez Official, But More to Come … Right?

Despite what some national guys are saying about the Victor Martinez signing, I think it’s outstanding.

Is it Jayson Werth or Adam Dunn? No. But signing Martinez to hit behind — or maybe in front of — Miguel Cabrera makes the Tigers’ lineup more formidable — especially when Martinez is in the lineup in place of Alex Avila.

As Jayson Stark writes this morning, the prevailing wisdom is that Dave Dombrowski isn’t done.

So even after making four significant signings, the Tigers clearly aren’t done.

They’re not finished with their bullpen. And they’re still prowling for a big right-handed, corner-outfield bat. They could be players for Jayson Werth. They could bring back Magglio Ordonez. They could have a surprise in store. But they have the dollars to make almost anything possible.

But is that it? It’s certainly impressive the amount of business the Tigers have accomplished. Yet even with all the activity the Tigers have had this month, I still think it will make the Winter Meetings next month even more intriguing — and worth watching.

There has to be a trade of some sort in the offing, right? If they miss out on Werth, do they make a deal for a slugger? Do they go after Hanley Ramirez and shift Jhonny Peralta to second? Purely speculation, of course, but I just can’t see the Tigers going to the Winter Meetings and not be open for some degree of business.

What do you think?

Here’s the Boston Globe’s story on Martinez’s conference call today announcing the deal.

In unrelated news, Happy 63rd Birthday to one of my favorite all-time Tigers, Richie Hebner. Today’s also the birthday of Mike Moore, brilliant with the A’s, dreadful for the Tigers from 1993-95. He’s 51.

Have a great weekend.