Tag: Hideo Nomo

Aug. 31, 1984: A’s 7 – Tigers 6 (13)

W: Keith Atherton (7-5) – L: Dave Rozema (7-5) | Boxscore

Record: 87-48 — 9.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Sparky had a short leash on Milt Wilcox, with good reason, pulling him after 32/3 innings in which he gave up five runs on four hits and five walks. Aurelio López  and Willie Hernández pitched the next eight and a third, allowing just three hits and combining for eight strikeouts.
  • The Tigers let four leads slip away, including in the ninth when they took a 6-5 lead. Rozema’s wild pitch with two out in the 13th allowed Mike Davis to score from third with the winning run.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
  • Umpires: HP – Rick Reed, 1B – Jerry Neudecker, 2B – Dave Phillips, 3B – Steve Palermo
  • Time of Game: 4:19
  • Attendance: 15,836

Birthdays

John Hicks, Ramon Santiago, Shane Loux, Hideo Nomo, Morris Madden, Bill Nahorodny, former Tigers coach Boots Day, and the late Jack Burns and Norman Glaser.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 517 7/9 — Rarity: 276

See you tomorrow.

The Friday Fungo

Tigers 23s

On this 23rd of February, let’s look back at the players who wore #23 for the Tigers during the period of 1977 through 1994:

  • Willie Horton – 1964-1977, number retired.
  • Kirk Gibson – 1979-87, 1993-95
  • Torey Lovullo – 1988-89
  • Mark Leiter – 1991-1992
  • Dan Petry – 1990. When Peaches returned to the Tigers after his time with the Angels, his original number 46 was being worn by Mike Schwabe. Presumably, he went with 23 because it is half of 46. In 1991, Petry was back in his original 46 for the 17 games he appeared in before being dealt to the Braves for Víctor Rosario.

If you’re wondering, the last players to wear 23 before it was retired were Gabe Kapler (1999) and Hideo Nomo (2000).

Birthdays

Rondell White, John Shelby and the late Roy Johnson.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 327 9/9 — Rarity: 44

Two former Tigers, including one of my all-time favorites, and one guy who I always wanted the Tigers to get.

See you tomorrow.

Friday Night Morsels

breadcrumbs.jpgThis week is the big Barrett-Jackson classic car auction here in Scottsdale and while I’m not, by any stretch of the imagination, a car guy, I find myself riveted to the coverage. Every year I watch and ask the same questions about the buyers: Who are these people and where do they get their money?

But anyway …

  • On this date in 1993, Tigers Hall of Fame second baseman Charlie Gehringer died at the age of 89 in Bloomfield Hills, one month after suffering a stroke. During a 19-year career in Detroit, the Mechanical Man posted a .320 batting average with 184 home runs and 1427 RBI. In 1937, he led the American League with a .371 average. Check out Gehringer’s Hall of Fame page here.

  • On this date in 2000, the Tigers signed free agent pitcher Hideo Nomo to a one-year contract. Nomo’s agent had declined a multi-year contract with the Brewers, expecting more on the open market. Shrewd.

  • Yesterday former Tigers outfielder Gus Zernial passed away at age 87. Jay Jaffe at FutilityInfielder.com shares this tidbit about the man nicknamed “Ozark Ike”:

    For a long time Zernial held the distinction of hitting the most homers for a player whose last name ends in the letter Z with 237, but Todd Zeile passed him in 2003 while playing for the Yankees, hitting a homer off the Red Sox Bruce Chen. In 1951, Zernial and Al Zarilla did team up to form the first outfield with two players with the last name starting with Z, so there’s still that.

    Also, he’s one of six players in Tigers history with a last name beginning with Z.

Finally, Happy 30th Birthday to Wil Ledezma, the winning pitcher of the 2006 pennant-clinching game. Here’s a little nugget that I uncovered today about Ledezma:

[He] holds one very obscure all-time record: the most consecutive starts of six innings or fewer: … At the end of the 2006 season, he had made 31 straight starts with six or fewer innings. The previous record had been 28, by Scott Elarton.

Who knew?

Enjoy your weekend.