Tag: Rusty Kuntz

Oct. 14, 1984: World Series Champions

Game 5: Tigers 8 – Padres 4

W: Aurelio López – L: Andy Hawkins – S: Willie Hernández | Boxscore

Tigers win series, 4-1

Highlights

  • I was going to write about Game 5, but why waste your time when you can relive it down here 👇🏻. If you want the short version from Ernie, try this one.
  • Poor Dan Petry finished the postseason with a 0-1 record and an ERA of 6.00!

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Paul Runge, 1B – Mike Reilly, 2B – Doug Harvey, 3B – Larry Barnett, LF – Bruce Froemming, RF – Rich Garcia
  • Time of Game: 2:55
  • Attendance: 51,901

Postscript

Was there a downside to the Tigers winning this game? For me, yes.

Weeks before the postseason began, I was asked to be on clean-up duty at a small wedding reception for the aunt of my then-girlfriend. I didn’t even think to look at the postseason calendar — I was 16! As luck would have it, I missed the entire game.

Using a phone on the wall at the reception hall, I was left to listen to Ernie and Paul through a phone my sister placed next to the radio at home.

So, the next World Series the Tigers win, will be the first one I ever see.

Birthdays

Miguel Del Pozo, Erik Sabel and the late Vincent Maney

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 561 9/9 — Rarity: 16

See you tomorrow.

Sept. 2, 1984: Tigers 6 – A’s 3

W: Dan Petry (16-8) – L: Tim Conroy (1-4) – S: Willie Hernández (27) | Boxscore

Record: 88-49 — 8.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Peaches had to grind it out. He gave up 11 hits in 51/3 innings; meanwhile, three Oakland pitchers allowed 10 hits in seven inning.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
  • Umpires: HP – Dave Phillips, 1B – Steve Palermo, 2B – Rick Reed, 3B – Jerry Neudecker
  • Time of Game: 3:01
  • Attendance: 20,393

Birthdays

Dusty Ryan, Johnny Paredes, Nate Snell and Luke Walker

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 519 9/9 — Rarity: 19

See you tomorrow.

Sept. 1, 1984: A’s 7 – Tigers 5

W: Curt Young (7-3) – L: Juan Berenguer (7-9) – S: Chuck Rainey (1) | Boxscore

Record: 87-49 — 8.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

1984 Bair_Doug.
  • Berenguer didn’t make it out of the first inning. He allowed six runs on three hits and three walks. The dagger was a two-out, three-run homer by Mike Davis. Doug Bair got the final out of the first and pitched 32/3 of scoreless relief.

  • The Tigers cut the deficit in half with three runs in the second, and drew to within 6-5 in the sixth. Dwayne Murphy‘s two-out homer in the Oakland sixth provided an insurance run which held up.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
  • Umpires: HP – Jerry Neudecker, 1B – Dave Phillips, 2B – Steve Palermo, 3B – Rick Reed
  • Time of Game: 2:37
  • Attendance: 25,021

Birthdays

Dave Rucker, Gary Ignasiak and the late Paul Campbell, Fred Nicholson and Jimmy Wiggs

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 518 9/9 — Rarity: 17

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 29, 1984: Mariners 5 – Tigers 1

W: Mark Langston (13-9) – L: Dan Petry (15-8) | Boxscore

Record: 87-46 — 11.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Surprise, surprise: Langston shut down the Tigers again. The rookie allowed just two hits, four walks and struck out 12.
  • The Tigers had to feel good about themselves, taking a 1-0 lead in the second. Seattle tied it in the bottom half and then scored four more runs of Petry in the fifth.
  • Peaches’ final line: 41/3, 10 hits, five earned, one strikeout. He allowed a three-run homer to Ken Phelps in that fifth inning before giving way to Dave Rozema and Aurelio López. They gave up just one hit combined, and each struck out one.

Miscellany

  • Venue: The Kingdome
  • Umpires: HP – Marty Springstead, 1B – Durwood Merrill, 2B – Dan Morrison, 3B – Tim Welke
  • Time of Game: 2:11
  • Attendance: 10,863

Birthdays

Wayne McLeland, Buck Marrow and Jack Warner; and Frank Cox of the Detroit Wolverines

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 515: 9/9 — Rarity: 28

See you tomorrow.

July 27, 1984: Doubleheader vs. Boston

Game 1: Tigers 9 – Red Sox 1

W: Dan Petry (14-4) – L: Bruce Hurst (10-6) | Boxscore

Record: 69-30 — 12.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • The Tigers scored two in the first on a Chet Lemon homer and a — wait for it — Lance Parrish steal of home. They tacked on two more in the sixth then blew it open with five in the seventh.
  • Petry threw a complete game, allowing just the one run on a Rich Gedman solo homer with one out in the ninth.
  • This is another one of those “I was there” doubleheaders, sitting in the upper deck bleachers. When the Tigers won, my friends and I were reveling in the thought of, if Detroit swept, they would be 70-30 after 100 games. Alas …

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Mike Reilly, 1B – Tim McClelland, 2B – Don Denkinger, 3B – Al Clark
  • Time of Game: 2:30

Game 2: Red Sox 4 – Tigers 0

W: Bob Ojeda (9-7) – L: Glenn Abbott (3-3) | Boxscore

Record: 69-31 — 12 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Ojeda shutout the Tigers for the second time in 1984 — the first was 1-0 on May 3 when he allowed six hits and struck out 10 — and this time he was even better. The lefty allowed just three hits in this complete game domination.
  • On the other side, Glenn Abbott was not good: 31/3 innings, 10 hits, a walk and four earned runs.
  • Rusty Kuntz led off the bottom of the first with a single and the Tigers would not get another hit until the seventh.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Tim McClelland, 1B – Don Denkinger, 2B – Al Clark, 3B – Mike Reilly
  • Time of Game: 2:22
  • Attendance: 49,607

Birthdays

Max Scherzer and the late Ray Boone, Charley Hall and Harry Kane (born Harry Cohen)

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 82 6/9 — Rarity: 345

See you tomorrow.

The Sunday Fungo: May 26

May 26, 1984: Mariners 9 – Tigers 5

W: Mike Moore – L: Juan Berenguer | Boxscore

Record: 35-7

Highlights

  • Kirk Gibson hit a first-inning homer to put the Tigers up 1-0 … and then the Mariners took control, scoring four off Berenguer in the home half.
  • Berenguer retired only one batter: Seattle’s leadoff hitter, Jack Perconte. The following hitters walked, singled, singled, singled, then a wild pitch, and two more singles. Mariners 4, Tigers 1.
  • The Tigers scored three in the ninth and out-hit the Mariners, 13 to 11.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Seattle Kingdome
  • Umpires: HP – Mike Reilly, 1B – Al Clark, 2B – Don Denkinger, 3B – Rich Garcia
  • Time of Game: 2:51
  • Attendance: 41,342

Bob Sykes #27

The Tigers drafted lefty Bob Sykes in the 19th round of the 1974 MLB June Amateur Draft from Miami Dade College.

  • After three seasons in the minors, he made his debut on April 9, 1977, at age 22, pitching four-and-two-thirds in a Royals 16-2 rout — but he managed to blank K.C., allowing just two hits and a walk.
  • Sykes appeared in 32 games that season, 20 of them starts, and finished with a record of 5-7 and a 4.41 ERA.
  • In 1978, appeared in 22 games, starting 10 and throwing a pair of shutouts. His record was 6-6 with a 3.94 ERA; he also earned two saves.
  • That offseason, Dec. 4, 1978, he was traded to the Cardinals, with minor leaguer John Murphy, in a deal that worked out well for the Tigers, who received Aurelio López and Jerry Morales in return.
  • Sykes’ final numbers in Detroit: 11-13, 4.22 ERA and two saves. He pitched three seasons in St. Louis before being traded to the Yankees for a young outfielder named Willie McGee.

Birthdays

Darrell Evans and the late Jack Cronin

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 420 8/9: Rarity: 154

See you tomorrow.

The Tuesday Fungo: May 14

May 14, 1984: Tigers 7 – Mariners 5

W: Aurelio López (4-0) – L: Ed Vande Berg (2-2) | Boxscore

Record: 27-5

Highlights

  • Homers for Tram, his fourth, off Ed Vande Berg, in the first inning; and Rusty, his first, also off Vande Berg, in the fourth.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Bill Kunkel, 1B – Terry Cooney, 2B – Richard Shulock, 3B – Derryl Cousins
  • Time of Game: 3:05
  • Attendance: 18,830

Les Moss #28

In 1979, John Lester Moss took over for the retired Ralph Houk as Tigers manager. The Tigers finished Houk’s final season at 86-76, and the club seemed ready to make a move in an albeit stacked* American League East.

*Six of the seven teams finished over .500, and three had 90+ wins.

Moss had been in the Tigers farm system managing the Triple-A Evansville Triplets in the American Association and presumably his familiarity with the Tigers’ young core made him a logical choice.

Moss managed the Tigers for just 53 games in ’79. Detroit sat at a 27-26, on the morning of June 14 and before the day over, he was out of a job and Sparky Anderson was the Tigers’ new manager.

As a player, Moss had a 13-year career as a catcher, making his debut in 1946 as a 21-year-old with the St. Louis Browns. He played in just a dozen games that year but finished a .371 average.

Though he didn’t hang around Detroit for very long, Les Moss is another player in the Tigers’ rich history.

Birthdays

Efren Navarro and the late Les Moss

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 408 8/9: Rarity: 124

See you tomorrow.