Tag: Ruppert Jones

The Thursday Fungo – April 4

April 4, 1984: Off Day in Minneapolis

The Tigers and Twins had an off day between Opening Day and the final two games of the series.

It makes as little sense now as it did back then — why a day off when the Twins played indoors?

Today’s Random Game: Aug. 16, 1981

Tigers 5 – Yankees 4

W: Aurelio Lopez – L: Ron Davis | Boxscore

Highlights

  • Then with one out in the bottom of the ninth …

Miscellany

  • Umpires: HP – Ken Kaiser, 1B – Mark Johnson, 2B – Bill Haller, 3B – Dan Morrison
  • Time of Game: 2:54
  • Attendance: 21,077
  • Start Time Weather: 68° F, Cloudy, No Precipitation

Birthdays

Cameron Maybin and Louis Coleman

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 368 9/9 – Rarity: 15

See you tomorrow.

Ruppert Jones, Part 2

I think we take for granted, if we think about it at all, how MLB.com and ESPN can use Photoshop to instantly change a traded player’s uniform from old team to new.

This certainly was not the case in the 1980s.

If you need proof, here is Ruppert Jones’s entry in the 1984 Tigers Yearbook.

I don’t remember ever seeing a player wearing a different team’s uniform in a yearbook — and much less not even his most-recent team!

Here is Jones in a Mariners uniform, though his previous team had been the Padres.

The Tuesday Fungo

Ruppert Jones – #32

The 1984 season was an embarrassment of riches on so many levels. And when the Tigers signed Ruppert Jones to a minor-league deal on April 10, 1984, it was almost too much to comprehend.

Jones started the year in Evansville for what amounted to an extended spring training. That didn’t stop my friends and me from wondering:

When will he get called up?

Where will he play? 

When will he play?

  • The answer to the first question was early June, after lighting up the American Association, batting .313, 9 HR, 45 RBI and a .986 OPS in his 45 games with the Triplets.
  • The answer to the second question was left field and centerfield, with spot DH duty.
  • As for question three: 79 games. He finished the year with a .284 average, 12 HR, 37 RBI and a .862 OPS. 

In the postseason, Jones played in just four games — ALCS games one and two, and World Series games two and four — and notched only a walk and a run scored in nine plate appearances.

After the ’84 season, the Tigers let him walk — not a popular move in my eyes at the time (or now!). In January 1985, Jones signed with the Angels and played for them until his final big-league game, Oct. 4, 1987.

Check out this full bio on Jones by Adam Ulrey as part of SABR’s Bio Project.

Birthdays

Zach Miner, Craig Dingman, Ruppert Jones, Larry Rothschild and the late Eulogio “Frankie” De La Cruz and George Maisel

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 345 9/9 — Rarity: 11

If I had put Jack Morris in the top-right square, I could have had a Tigers bottom-right-to-top-left-diagonal Hollywood Squares win situation.

See you tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, John Pacella

I’ll admit that while I remember John Pacella‘s cup of coffee with the Tigers in 1986 (11 innings pitched), I didn’t know much about him. But today I learned a lot about him, including:

  1. Today is Pacella’s 52nd birthday.
  2. The Brooklyn-born right-hander made his major-league debut on this date in 1977 — his 21st birthday — for his hometown Mets against the Phillies at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

Pacella entered the game in the bottom of the seventh, relieving Rick Baldwin, and got the first hitter, Greg Luzinski, to line out to center. Next, Richie Hebner popped out to third. Garry Maddox doubled to right before Bob Boone popped out to Mets catcher John Stearns.

In his two innings of work, Pacella allowed a pair each of hits, walks and unearned runs. The loss went to Mets starter Craig Swan who allowed five walks in one inning of work.

All told, he pitched just four innings in 1977, didn’t pitch for the Mets in ’78, but returned in ’79 for 16 innings. In 1980, Pacella appeared in 32 games, 15 of them starts, and earned a 3-4 record.

Continue reading “Happy Birthday, John Pacella”