On This Date In…

1926 – Ty Cobb resigned as Tigers manager after leading the team to a 79-75 record and a sixth-place finish. And how’s this for odd? Umpire and former Tigers infielder George Moriarty replaced Cobb. Moriarty is the first man to hold baseball’s four principal jobs: player, umpire, scout and manager. Cobb signed with the Philadelphia Athletics and will bat .357 during the 1927 season.

And in 1953, Larry Darnell Herndon was born in Sunflower, Miss.

Herndon, who came to Detroit in a 1982 trade with the Giants, had a role in two clinching games for the Tigers. Most remember him catching the final out of the World Series in 1984. Three years later, his solo homer was enough for the Tigers to defeat the Blue Jays on the final day of the season and will the American League East title.

He was a member of the 1976 Topps All-Star Rookie Team along with Jason Thompson, Mark Fidrych, Chet Lemon, Garry Templeton and Willie Randolph.

Happy 55th, Hondo.