Tag: Phil Mankowski

The Wednesday Fungo: May 22

May 22, 1984: Tigers 3 – Angels 1

W: Juan Berenguer (3-2) – L: Mike Witt (4-4) – Save: Aurelio López (6) | Boxscore

Record: 33-5

Highlights

  • The Tigers opened the scoring thanks to a Kirk Gibson first-inning single followed by a stolen base, and then an RBI single by Lance Parrish.
  • Berenguer gave up a solo homer to Rod Carew in the home half of the first and then settled down to allow just two more hits in six innings, striking out nine.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Anaheim Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Derryl Cousins, 1B – Bill Kunkel, 2B – Terry Cooney, 3B – Richard Shulock
  • Time of Game: 2:53
  • Attendance: 41,253

Bob Adams #40

Here are a few things to know about the right-handed hitting first baseman and catcher, Bob Adams.

  • The Tigers drafted him in the third round of the 1973 amateur draft.
  • He appeared in 15 games for the Tigers that year, 12 as a pinch hitter. On Aug. 26, he pinch hit for Tom Veryzer in the eighth-inning, a solo homer off the Angels’ Frank Tanana.
  • His major-league numbers: .250 average, two home runs, two RBI.

Birthdays

Andre Lipcius, Al Levine, Jose Mesa, the late Al Simmons and Al Shaw

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 416 9/9: Rarity: 89

See you tomorrow.

The Tuesday Fungo: April 30

April 30, 1984: An Off Day in Detroit

The Tigers have the day off before starting a three-game series against the Red Sox. So let’s look at a game on April 30 from another year.

April 30, 1978: Mariners 4 – Tigers 3 (11)

W: Enrique Romo (2-0) – L: Steve Foucault (0-1) | Boxscore

Record: 13-5

Highlights

  • Jack Billingham started, pitch seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits.
  • Foucault allowed six hits in two-and-a-third innings, including four in the 11th, and gave up the winning run.
  • Both teams had 12 hits.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Kingdome
  • Umpires: HP – Rich Garcia, 1B – Vic Voltaggio, 2B – Nestor Chylak, 3B – Ron Luciano
  • Time of Game: 3:20
  • Attendance: 7,474

Steve Kemp #33

When the Tigers traded left fielder Steve Kemp to the White Sox for Chet Lemon, it was the quintessential Jim Campbell Winter Meetings Trade™.

Kemp made too much money and former GM Campbell didn’t like players who held out (Rusty Staub) or won in arbitration (Kemp, again).

Campbell also liked to trade players who, like Kemp and Ron LeFlore in 1979, were entering their walk year.

Steve Kemp was terrific during his five years patrolling left field at Tiger Stadium. He produced a .284 average, 89 home runs (lowered a bit with his nine homers in the strike-shortened 1981 season), and averaged 84 RBI and 23 doubles. He also displayed a keen eye at the plate averaging 75 walks — including 97 in 1978.

On Nov. 27, 1981, the Tigers and White Sox swapped outfielders — both who were former top selections in the amateur draft — Lemon by Oakland in 1972, Kemp number-one overall by Detroit in 1976. They were roughly the same age and had put together similar careers to that point.

In his only season in Chicago, Kemp had a career year batting .286 with 19 HR and 98 RBI in 160 games. After the ’82 season Kemp cashed in on a free-agent contract with the Yankees.

In 1983, Kemp hit .241 with just 12 home runs in 109 games. After the ’84 season he was traded with Tim Foli and cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Dale Berra, Alfonso Pulido and Jay Buhner.

An eye injury, suffered when Kemp was hit by a batted ball in batting practice, shortened his career in the mid-1980s. He last played in the majors in 1988 when he played in 16 games for the Texas Rangers, hitting just .222 in 36 at bats. His career batting average in 11 seasons was .278 — five points higher than Lemon’s.

When Campbell pulled the trigger on the Kemp-for-Lemon deal he probably had no idea that Kemp would flame out and that Chet the Jet would play more than 1,100 games in the outfield for Detroit.

Still, he had to like the odds that the trade would work out better than LeFlore for Dan Schatzeder.

Birthdays

Phil Garner and the late Chet Laabs

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 394 9/9: Rarity: 34

Two former Tigers …

See you tomorrow.

The Monday Fungo

Mark Wagner – #5

Infielder Mark Wagner debuted on Aug. 20, 1976, in a 3-2 Tigers win over the Twins at Tiger Stadium. He went 2 for 3 with an RBI, highlighted by a single, off lefty Eddie Bane, in his first major league at bat.

Here are four things to know about the guy nicknamed Peanut:

Random Game: April 26, 1977

White Sox 10 – Tigers 7 (14 innings)

W: Lerrin LaGrow (1-0) – L: Steve Foucault (0-1) | Boxscore

More proof of how baseball has changed over the past 50ish years: A 14-inning game and Ralph Houk used only three pitchers: Dave Rozema started and went 7 innings, John Hiller went 6 in relief, and Steve Foucault pitched the 14th, giving up three runs.

  • This was Rozema’s third career start and appearance.
  • Aurelio Rodriguez and Phil Mankowski teamed up to go 5 for 6 on the day.
  • Fellow St. Clair Shores native Jim Essian hit a paid of doubles in 6 at bats.
  • LaGrow went six innings in relief agains his former team.
  • Ron LeFlore had a rough day at the plate: 1 for 7, but he doubled in a run.

Miscellany

  • Umpires: HP – Don Denkinger, 1B – Larry McCoy, 2B – Durwood Merrill, 3B – Dave Phillips.
  • Time of Game: 3:58.
  • Attendance: 6,396.
  • Start Time Weather: 60° F

Birthdays

Nick Castellanos, Jack Hannahan, Mark Wagner and the late Les Mueller.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 337 8/9 — Rarity: 132

See you tomorrow.

The Wednesday Fungo

Enos Cabell

The Tigers acquired Enos Cabell on March 4, 1982, in trade with the Giants for Champ Summers.

In 2011, Tom Gage wrote a piece in The Detroit News about Cabell (the original link to the article is here, but it’s not active for whatever reason) and I was interested to read why Cabell, who hit .311 for the 1983 Tigers, moved on after that season:

He wanted to stay a Tiger, and they weren’t averse to him staying.

“But they wouldn’t give me a raise,” Cabell said Saturday. “I hit .311, played with a knee brace the last two months of that year, and they wouldn’t give me a penny more.

“So I said bye-bye. I was pretty sure the Astros wanted me back, anyway.”

He filed for free agency on Nov. 7, 1983 and I couldn’t believe they let him walk away, especially after a solid ’83 campaign.

Six weeks later, on Dec. 17, 1983, the Tigers signed left-handed hitting Darrell Evans, a much-bigger power threat than the right-handed Cabell.

Then, of course, in March came the trade that defined the 1984 season: Willie Hernandez and Dave Bergman for Glenn Wilson and John Wockenfuss.

Who knows how that would have come about if they had re-signed Cabell? A few years later this news broke — and on this date in 1986 — and you have to wonder if this played into the Tigers thinking in the fall of ‘83.

Commissioner Peter Ueberroth gives seven players who were admitted drug users a choice of a year’s suspension without pay or heavy fines and career-long drug testing, along with 100 hours of drug-related community service. Joaquín Andújar, Dale Berra, Enos Cabell, Keith Hernandez, Jeffrey Leonard, Dave Parker, and Lonnie Smith will be fined ten percent of their annual salaries to drug abuse programs. The commissioner also doles out lesser penalties to 14 other players for their use of drugs.

Cabell’s career numbers in Detroit: .284 average, 7 homers, 83 RBI, .682 OPS.

Birthdays

Niko Goodrum, Chad Bell and the late Ron Samford and Lil Stoner

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 332 9/9 — Rarity: 9

I’m particularly proud of this one!

See you tomorrow.

The Sunday Fungo: Feb. 18

Happy Birthday, Jerry Morales

On Dec. 4, 1978, outfielder Jerry Morales was acquired, along with Aurelio Lopez, from the Cardinals for Bob Sykes and minor leaguer John Murphy. Not sure if Jim Campbell saw Señor Smoke as the key to the trade but he certainly made the deal worthwhile.

Morales, wearing #27, played in 129 games in 1979, most of them in right field. His hefty combo of a .211 average and .260 OBP helped make his stay in Detroit a short one.

On Oct. 31, 1979, he was traded with Phil Mankowski to the New York Mets for offseason grave digger Richie Hebner.

Random Game: May 19, 1980

Milt Wilcox versus Ron Guidry in a terrific pitching duel.

Milt matched Louisiana Lightnin’ — 6 hits, 3 walks, and a complete-game performance — and only surrendered Graig Nettles’ sac fly for the Yankees’, and the game’s, lone run.

Monday, May 19, 1980
Start Time: 8:00 p.m. Local
Attendance: 27,715
Venue: Tiger Stadium
Game Duration: 2:29

Boxscore

More Birthdays

Isaac Paredes, Nick Maton and the late Leo Marentette, Frank “Pig” House and Herm Wehmeier.

  • Marentette, who died in 2014, was a Lambertville, Mich., native. He appeared in two games for 1965 Tigers: 3 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K.

Today’s Grid

Yikes.

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 322 5/9: Rarity: 466

See you tomorrow.

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”