Archive for the 'Tigers Birthdays' Category

Happy Birthday to a broad spectrum of Tigers pitchers — from legendary to forgettable, in that order:

Mickey Lolich, 68
Mark Thurmond, 52
Masao Kida, 40

We salute your 58th birthday and stand virtually alone in supporting the trade that brought you to Detroit.

Today’s birthdays of current and former Tigers include:

Ramon Santiago, 29
Gabe Kapler, 33
Hideo Nomo, 40
Former Tigers coach Boots Day, 61

…and Happy 50th Birthday to a non-Tiger but one of my favorite big-league players: Von Hayes.

Don’t feel bad if you don’t remember Morris Madden’s mini-career with the Tigers. He pitched just twice for Detroit during the 1987 season and one look at his stats tells you why.

On June 11 versus Milwaukee at Tiger Stadium, he came in during the sixth inning to relieve Eric King (who had relieved starter Jeff [...]

…and Happy 38th Birthday, Bobby Higginson.

Don’t remember him?
The Tigers signed Rafael Urbano (Colina) Lugo as a free agent on April 8, 1990, and became a free agent on Oct. 15 that year.
In between, he appeared in 12 games for Detroit (one start) he posted a 2-0 record and a plump 7.03 ERA.
When you look closer at his stats, it’s astounding [...]

August 9 is a popular date on the birthday calendar of one-time Tigers peeps. Today we salute, from oldest to youngest:

Ralph Houk, 89
Jack Tighe, died on Aug. 2002 at 89
Jerry Moses, 62 (born in Yazoo City, Miss., don’t you know.)
Bill Campbell, 60
Kevin Saucier, 52
John Moses, 51
Troy Percival, 39
Dusty Allen, 36

Between Bill Freehan and Lance Parrish, the Tigers’ backstop bridge to the future was ol’ Milt May.
The Tigers picked up May in a Dec. 6, 1975 trade with the Astros. He came to Detroit with Jim Crawford and Dave Roberts for Leon Roberts, Terry Humphrey, Gene Pentz and Mark Lemongello.
May’s first season as a [...]

Today is Yorman Bazardo’s 24th birthday.
Appropriately enough, his ERA in three games with the Tigers this season was 24.00.

The last we saw of Frank Tanana (in this 1987/Frank’s-birthday-mini-mini-series, at least), he pitched brilliantly against the Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium only to watch the bullpen blow the game and put the Tigers farther behind Toronto in the A.L. East race.
Tanana faced the Jays 10 days later, this time at Tiger Stadium, and with [...]