And Speaking of Birthdays…

Happy 59th to Enos Cabell.

The Tigers picked him up at the end of Spring Training 1982 from the Giants for Champ Summers. In two years with Detroit he hit .286 — .261 in ‘82 and .311 in ‘83.

I remember being surprised that the Tigers cut him loose after the ‘83 season but then we heard rumblings that Old E liked the nose candy — and who among major leaguers didn’t in those days? A quick check of the always-reliable-if-not-accurate Wikipedia reports:

On February 28, 1986, Cabell and six others were suspended for the entire season for admitting during the Pittsburgh drug trials that they were involved in cocaine abuse. The suspensions for all seven were avoided after agreeing to large anti-drug donations and community service.

I’m guessing Sparky didn’t care for Cabell’s extracurriculars and thus was shown the highway component of Anderson’s “my way/highway” mantra.

Today, Cabell’s a special assistant to Astros GM Ed Wade. What’s more, he lives in Missouri City, Texas, the Houston suburb I once called home.

(Did you know that he’s a cousin of Dick Davis and Ken Landreaux? True.)