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:
‘Twas the final day of the 1984 All-Star Break and the Tigers prepared to start the second half with a four-game series against the Twins at the Metrodome.
So, let’s look at a game from this date in another season: 1977.
Record: 38-46 — 6th place, 10.5 games behind Boston
Highlights
The Blue Jays tagged Tigers starter Dave Roberts with five runs in the top of the first. Detroit answered with a run of their own in the first, and another four in the second to make it 5-5 heading to the third.
Rusty Staub led the Tigers’s 10-hit attack, with a two-for-three night — including a second-inning three-run homer — and four RBI.
Sept. 22: He entered the game against Boston with bases load and two out in the bottom of the ninth, and got Dwight Evans to hit into a 1-3 ground out. Noles earned the save.
Sept. 25: Facing the Blue Jays, he pitched 11/3 innings, allowing a hit, a walk and a run. The Tigers lost 3-2.
Sept. 27: Noles’ final Tigers appearance came in a huge, season-saving Tigers win. Doyle Alexander pitched the first 102/3 innings, and four relievers covered the final 21/3. Noles was the fourth; he entered with two out in the bottom of the 13th and they tying run on first. He got Barfield to hit it to shortstop for a force out at second. Tigers won 3-2 and that was it for Noles in Detroit.
On Oct. 23, 1987, he was returned to the Cubs. That’s a 32-day Tigers career. But given the mayhem of those final 10 days of the 1987 season, those were pretty good days to be with Detroit.
Umpires: HP – Dave Phillips, 1B – Jerry Neudecker, 2B – John Hirschbeck, 3B – Steve Palermo
Time of Game: 3:51
Attendance: 43,972
Jim Morrison – IF #9 and #17
The Tigers picked up Jim Morrison from the Pirates on Aug. 7, 1987 for a player to be named later* and Darnell Coles.
*Five days later, they sent Morris Madden to Pittsburgh to complete the trade.
Morrison was expected to be another veteran presence for a Tigers team that was, after a dreadful start, in the thick of the American League East race.
On Aug. 7 against the Yankees**, he made his Tigers debut (a game I attended) at third based and batting sixth. He led off the bottom of the sixth with a homer off New York starter Rick Rhoden.
**The Tigers won 8-0 and sat in third place, just a game behind second-place New York and a game and half behind Toronto.
When the Tigers got him, he was hitting .264 with the Pirates with nine home runs and a .726 OPS. Although Morrison became Sparky’s everyday third baseman for the rest of the year, that performance didn’t carry over to Detroit. He hit just .205 — which was still 20+ points higher than what Coles was hitting at the time of the trade.
Dan Dickerson was quick to point out that Justin Verlander’s shutout on Thursday was the first by a Tigers pitcher at Fenway Park since Doyle Alexander blanked the Red Sox in 1987. (Thanks to a tip from Fungo contributor Doug Hill, we went scrambling for the details.)
The Tigers were a half-game out of first place on Sept. 23, 1987, for the finale of a three-game series against Boston.
Alexander, who blanked the Red Sox a week earlier, 3-0 at Tiger Stadium, faced off with lefty Bruce Hurst and was untouchable.
He allowed singles to the first two batters he faced, Ellis Burks and Marty Barrett, and a two-out walk to Spike Owen in the second and that was it.
Alexander got two runs in the second and one each in the fifth and sixth. Tom Brookens drove in a pair and Alan Trammell knocked home one in the win. (The fourth run was scored on an error.) The Tigers moved on to Toronto for a grueling four-game series for ages against the Blue Jays.
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