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.
All told: Gibby had six hits and six RBI in the two games‚ while Tram and Johnson each had five hits. Lou scored five runs in the first game.
Miscellany
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Umpires: HP – Greg Kosc, 1B – Ted Hendry, 2B – Drew Coble, 3B – Jim Evans
Time of Game: 2:44
Attendance: 51,764
Then, After the Doubleheader …
George Kell informed us that “the Tigers just announced they have acquired the rights to left-handed pitcher … (and it seemed like an eternity before revealing it was …) Sid Monge.”
Cue that tired expression: “They should have saved some for today.” The Orioles bounced back from the previous night’s drubbing and tagged Morris for five runs in six innings.
This was a blast from the get-go. My friends and I sat in the upper-deck bleachers, taunting Orioles catcher Rick Dempsey during batting practice with a “Dempsey sucks” chant. He was a good sport, egging us on and even turning to face the bleachers and act as a conductor while we rained vitriol upon him.
As for the game, it was nothing short of bedlam. The Tiger scored six in the second highlighted by an Alan Trammell homer, and then three in the third and again in the fourth.
Chet Lemon and Lance Parrish also homered, as the Tigers built up a 13-0 lead in the fifth inning.
Tram had a three-hit game, and Lance, Chet and Larry Herndon each had two hits.
Petry threw six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits.
Miscellany
Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Al Clark, 1B – Don Denkinger, 2B – Rich Garcia, 3B – Mike Reilly
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