Tony Phillips

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 5^1/3 innings; meanwhile, three Oakland pitchers allowed 10 hits in seven inning.

Lance Parrish, B á rbaro Garbey and Rusty Kuntz each had two hits, and Garbey homered in the fourth.

This game was filled with former and future Tigers: Dwayne Murphy, Dan Meyer, Mike Heath and Tony Phillips. (Plus Detroit natives Jim Essian and Lary Sorensen.)

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.

The Thursday Fungo: April 25

1984 Game 16: Tigers 9 – Rangers 4

W: Milt Wilcox (2-0) – L: Dave Stewart (0-5) – Save: Willie Hernández (2) | Boxscore

Record: 15-1

Highlights

Wilcox went six innings, allowing six hits and two runs.

Johnny Grubb, Howard Johnson and Lance Parrish all took Stewart deep, and a five-run seventh inning helped put this one away.

Lou Whitaker went 3 for 3, and Bárbaro Garbey went 2 for 2.

Miscellany

Venue: Arlington Stadium
Umpires: HP – Al Clark, 1B – Don Denkinger, 2B – Dan Morrison, 3B – Mike Reilly
Time of Game: 2:38
Attendance: 25,883

Bill Krueger #30

Here are a few things to know about lefty Bill Krueger:

Bill Krueger, not displaying his tremendous high leg kick.

The Tigers signed Krueger on Dec. 11, 1992. He spent the ’92 season with the Twins and Expos.

He made his Tigers debut on April 7, 1993 against his original club, the A’s, in a 12-7 Tigers loss. His line: 3.1 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.

Krueger finished the year at 6-4, 3.40 ERA in 32 games.

The 1994 Tigers were not good and Krueger’s year aligned with his team’s. He had appeared in 16 games — his last a June 2 start against the Orioles in Baltimore — before the Tigers released him on June 4, with an 0-2 record and a 9.61 ERA.

Bill Krueger’s final line in Detroit: 6-6 with a 4.60 ERA.

Birthdays

Daniel Norris, Jacque Jones, Larry Pashnick and the late Tony Phillips, Woody Davis and Fred Haney

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 389 7/9 – Rarity: 219

My misses: Bruce Bochy in the middle square, and Tommy Henrich bottom left.

See you tomorrow.

The Saturday Fungo

Larry Sheets – #9

After the misery of the 1989 season, Bill Lajoie got to work in the offseason adding hitters to a lousy roster.

Cecil Fielder, Tony Phillips and Lloyd Moseby were the headliners, but an under-the-radar guy was lefthanded-hitting outfielder Larry Sheets.

After six years in Baltimore, Sheets was dealt to Detroit for infielder Mike Brumley.

Here are five things to know about Sheets’ time with the Tigers:

He made his Tigers debut on April 10, 1990 against the Red Sox. Starting in left, he batted seventh and went three for four with a double and a run scored.

On May 1, he hit his first homer as a Tiger, a solo shot off the Twins’ Kevin Tapani.

Final line: 131 games, .261 average, 10 HR, 52 RBI, .710 OPS

All of his home runs came off right handers, and all but one of his RBI came of righties.

His final game with the Tigers was Oct. 3, 1990 against the Yankees. This was the game Cecil Fielder hit his 50th and 51st home runs. Sheets went hitless in two at bats, replacing Gary Ward in left.

Bonus item: He’s the father of White Sox outfielder/first baseman Gavin Sheets.

Birthdays

Jack Lazorko and the late Ed Gremminger

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 363 9/9 — Rarity: 7

An all-Tiger, lowest-rarity Grid today!

See you tomorrow.

The Saturday Fungo

My Top-5 Tigers

Lately I’ve been giving a lot of thought to who my all-time favorite Tigers are and who would make a tidy list.

Putting together my top 10 would be easy. Narrowing it to just five would be tough but I wanted to give it a shot.

What’s the criteria for this list?

I decided that this was my purely subjective list based on players I enjoyed watching play for the Tigers.

For example, Mark Fidrych doesn’t make the list simply because I never saw him play live — and I decided ESPN Classic and MLB Network reruns don’t count.

The legend of The Bird and his place in Tigers lore is secure for me.

Here’s my list* — not in order of favorite-ness, but in order of how they came to mind — which has been revised right up to the moment I clicked “Publish” on this post.