Fresh off their surprise 1972 AL East Divisional Championship the aging Tigers were hoping to pull another rabbit out of skipper Billy Martin's hat and make one final run at a crown. Martin, their firey little genius of a manager, was able to extract every last bit of talent out of a fading club that finished a woeful 79-83 under Mayo Smith in 1971. Martin got them to within 1 game of the World Series as the Tigers took the eventual champion A's to the brink (5 games). Fans in Motown were hoping that future HOF'er Al Kaline and company had one more run left in them. Right out of the gate Martin put his foot down hard on the accelerator and the Tigers were in the thick of it having owned or sharing the divisional lead for about a month. By mid June fatigue, injuries and poor play began to catch up to squad, who's average age was 32. By the end of the month they were 7 games back, but Martin rallied the troops and by August 6th they were back in 1st place for the next week and a half. Detroit fans had reason for hope until a 5-8 road trip saw their game and half lead become a 7 game deficit. With the Tigers fading fast and the O's streaking toward a 97 win season thing turned ugly in Detroit. With the team sitting at 71-63 and 7 1/2 out Martin was fired and former Pilot skipper Joe Shultz was promoted. The man who was heard to say, "Pound that Bud" managed the team to a 14-14 record in September as the Tigers weakly limped to the finish line. What Tiger fans didn't realize at the time was the fact that this would be the last true pennant race the franchise would be involved in for almost a decade. 1973 marked the beginning of the end for a team of stars that had been together since the mid-60's and aged all at once. In just 2 short years they would lose 102 games and hit rock bottom.
Of the regulars, both Willie Horton and Jim Northrup were the only two to hit over 300. Horton hit just 17 homers. 38 year old Norm Cash led the team with 19 roundtrippers with a solid .262 average. Fellow 38 year old veteran and future HOF'er Al Kaline only got into 91 games and hit a career low .255 in his next to last season. Aurelio Rodriguez (25) was the only starter under 30. Ace Mickey Lolich threw an incredible 308.2 innings, but after doing the same thing for 2 previous seasons his numbers were beginning to drop as his ERA began to rise. Joe Coleman (23-15, 3.53) was a 20 game winner. The rest of the rotation was mediocre at best. John Hiller (10-5, 1.44, 38sv) was the anchor in a pen that didn't have many seaworthy ships. Detroit's pitching scared no one. Their philosophy was to hope Lolich & Coleman went the distance, while Hiller would be there to bail out the other starters.
In total I created 19 cards to finish off the set.
Freehan got one of those "horizontal action cards". Great for Topps, bad for APC Baseball managers. At 31 years of age the former 5x gold glover and 11x All-Star catcher was beginning to wear down. Freehan was arguably the best catcher in the AL from the mid 60's through the early 70's. I'm always shocked that he name never comes up in the HOF conversation. After hitting just .234 in 1973 most pundits thought he was through. Freehan fooled them all with a nice bounce back year in 1974. After the '76 season with the team in ruin and his knees worn down 34 year old Bill Freehan decided to hang it up. He finished his 15 year career with a .262 average and an even 200 homers.
As would be the case with most of Martin's managerial stops the team soared early to reach heights not expected only to crash and burn. From 1971-mid '73 the Tigers were soaring. When age, injuries and Martin's reckless personality combined to cause the perfect storm Tiger management had to fire their skipper. By mid '73 Martin was posing for pictures giving photographers the middle finger. He was publicly telling his pitchers to throw illegal pitches. Eventually he got so out of hand AL President Joe Cronin suspended him for 3 days. Tiger management told him not to bother coming back when the suspension ended.
Didier was an up and coming star with the Braves, but injuries conspired to keep him off the field after his finishing 4th in the ROY as a 20 year old rookie in 1969. In very limited action (7 games) he hit .455 for the Tigers in 1973. In 5 games with Boston the following season he hit .071. After 3 straight seasons in AAA for 3 different franchises his career was over. After his playing days were over he spent embarked on an interesting career as a coach manager (minor league and Japan) on both the domestic and international realms. In 751 major league at bats he did not hit a home run.
By 1973 Miller was known as the "ultimate utility pitcher" for his ability to move freely between the rotation and the pen. Thrice in his career (1970, 1971 & 1973) he played for 3 teams in one season. After 18 games with the Padres to start the '73 season he was selected off waivers by the Tigers and went 4-2, 3.43 in 22 relief appearances before having his contract sold to the Mets on September 23rd. Former teammate Roy Hartsfield, who managed the Toronto Blue Jays when Miller was the team's pitching coach, called him "The Christian", a nickname he earned "because he suffers so much", noting that Miller was a part-time reliever with a sore arm, but that "when we came up with some other sore arms on the staff he would come in and suffer a few innings."
Lemanczyk was drafted by the Tigers in the 16th round of the 1972 MLB Draft. He pitched in only one major league game in the 1973 season, making his MLB debut on April 15, allowing three runs in 2.1 innings as the Tigers lost 7-0 to the Cleveland Indians. In 1974, Lemanczyk appeared in 22 games with Detroit, three of them starts, as he had a 2-1 record and a 4.00 ERA. He made his first career start on August 2, earning his first victory in a 4-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers as he allowed one run in seven innings. Lemanczyk struggled in 1975, going 2-7 with a 4.46 ERA in 26 games, six of them starts. He then went 4-6 with a 5.09 ERA in 20 games, ten of them starts in 1976 with the Tigers. On November 5, 1976, the Toronto Blue Jays selected Lemanczyk in the 1976 MLB Expansion Draft with the 43rd pick.
Sharon played in 91 games as a rookie in 1973 as the Tiger's 4th outfielder. He hit .242 with 7 homers and was voted the team's Rookie of the Year, which only accents just how little young talent the team had and why manager Martin was forced to play and overuse his veterans. Sharon hit .217 the following season and after hitting just .194 in 1975 with San Diego he was traded to the Cardinals for Willie Davis. St. Louis traded him to the Angels a month before spring training. The Angels subsequently traded him to Boston on March 3rd making him the focal point of 3 trades in 6 months and having never even played a game for any of the teams involved.
After arriving on June 15th from Cleveland Farmer got into 24 games (45IP) for the Tigers and had a 3-0, 5.00 record. No one in Detroit was impressed, so the Tigers included him in a 3 team trade during spring training the following season. Farmer bounced around for a while until he joined Tony LaRussa White Sox in 1979 and had 2 1/2 excellent seasons including a 30 save campaign in 1980.
Born and raised in Detroit, Holdsworth turned down numerous collegiate scholarships to play both baseball and football to sign with his hometown team. In parts of 3 season with the Tigers he never won a game (0-5, 15g). After being traded to the Orioles where he played 2 seasons he moved on to Montreal for 2 more years. The Expos cut him after the '78 season, so the Tigers invited him to Spring Training in 1979 as a non-roster invitee. When he didn't make the club he was sent to Evansville (AAA), where he had a poor season (10-6, 4.15) and was demoted to Montgomery AA. Knowing that he didn't fit into their plans the Tigers sent him to the Brewers who assigned him to AAA Vancouver where he posted a 5-5, 3.20 record and was called up for 9 games with the big club. After the Brewers released him he signed a minor league contract with Oakland and played 1 final season in AAA Tacoma (8-7, 4.26).
Ignasiak's entire major league career consisted of 3 relief appearances for Detroit in 1973 where he didn't record a decision, but had a 3.86 ERA. His brother Mike, 17 years his junior, played 4 seasons with the Brewers in the early 90's. Ignasiak played in 127 games over 8 seasons, all within the Tigers system. His final two years in professional baseball were spent bouncing between AAA-Evansville and AA-Montgomery. He was never really viewed as a "true prospect", but during the '73 season the Tigers were so desperate for pitching help they were forced to reach down to double A to grab an arm.
The consummate pinch hitter, Brown was a folk hero in Detroit by 1973. He holds the AL record for most career pinch hits. Never a starter due to his poor fielding ability Gates packed a lot of wallop off the bench. Sadly for him the DH role came into being in 1973 and not 1963 when he was a rookie. As a 34 year old full time DH in 1973 he hit only .236 with 12 homers in 377 AB's. After 2 more seasons he would retire as an active player and become the Tigers hitting coach, a job he kept right through the team's 1984 championship season. As a pinch hitter he hit .251 with 16 homers and 73 RBI in 500 Pinch hit opportunities. He also walked 70 times and only struck out 60 times.
Perry was a three-time All-Star and won the 1970 AL Cy Young Award, when he posted a record of 24-12. Jim and Gaylord Perry are the only brothers in Major League history to win Cy Young Awards. He also won 20 games in 1969, and won at least 17 games five times. On July 3, 1973, brothers Gaylord Perry (Indians) and Jim Perry (Tigers) pitched against each other for the only regular season game in their careers. Neither finished the game, but Gaylord was charged with the 5–4 loss. Two Norm Cash home runs helped Detroit. The 37 year old Perry was acquired on March 27 from the Twins, who wanted prospects and cash. Detroit hoped to get a vintage season from him as the #3 guy behind Coleman and Lolich. When he finished just 14-13, 4.03 in 34 starts the Tigers decided to trade him to Cleveland at the end of the season, where he had a great comeback season (17-12, 2.96). That however would prove to be his last hurrah as a poor 1975 split between Cleveland and Oakland would mark the end for the 39 year old who won 215 and lost 174 with a 3.45 ERA.
Signed by Detroit as a non-drafted, amateur free agent in 1970, Staton played for five seasons in the Tiger farm system, batting .301 in 518 career games. He was recalled by the Tigers in September 1972 and got into six games as a pinch runner and late-inning defensive replacement at first base. In 1973, again during a September tryout, he appeared in nine games, starting three, and collected his four Major League hits, all singles. He retired from baseball after the 1974 minor league season.
This former 1966 second round pick by the Dodgers was a rule V Draft pick by the Tigers in 1970. He went hitless in his only 3 major league AB's in 1972. In 1973 he got into 7 games as Billy Martin's designated pinch runner. After Willie Horton returned from the DL Gamble was sent back down to AAA where he tore up his knee and had to undergo season ending knee surgery. After 3 consecutive non-descript seasons in AAA Evansville Gamble was let go by Detroit after the '76 season. Curiously he never even attempted a steal in his 11 pinch running assignments. In fact he only scored one run.
Middle infielder John Knox was in the 2nd of his 4 year major league career with the Tigers. In just 12 games he hit a respectable. 281. He hit .307 and .267 during the next two seasons, but with guys named Whitaker, Trammell, Veryzer and Wagner coming up in the Tiger system there was no room for him in the organization, so his contract was sold to the Reds on April 22, 1976. Getting traded to the defending champion Reds from the basement Tigers must have seemed like a huge lift for Know. Unfortunately for him he was assigned to AAA Indianapolis where he hit just .213, which led to his release.
Lane appeared only briefly on Tigers' roster during the 1971 to 1973 seasons, appearing in no more than eight games in any season, and spending most of his time in the team's minor league organization. In 1974, Lane appeared in 50 games for the Tigers. In July 1974, Lane had four hits, including a triple, in four at bats and scored two runs in an 8-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Billy Martin, who was the manager of the Tigers from 1971 to 1973, attributed his firing to a difference of opinion about Lane with general manager Jim Campbell. Martin later recalled, "Campbell kept touting Ike Blessitt and Marvin Lane. He said they were our outfielders of the future, but to me they couldn't play. ... And these were the so-called great kids Campbell wanted me to stick with. I knew they wouldn't make the grade, and that eventually got me fired. I made the mistake of telling Campbell his star kids were bad, and he didn't like hearing it, so we got into it." Lane compiled a career batting average of .207.[3] He was unconditionally released by the Tigers on March 28, 1977.
Strahler, was an expendable part for the pitching rich Dodgers, who shipped him to the crosstown Angels on November 28, 1972 as part of a big blockbuster deal. Although he received a Topps card as an Angel he never even played a game for the team before being dealt to Detroit on April 19, 1973 for reserve catcher Charlie Sands. In his one and only season in Detroit Strahler was 4-5, 4.37 while as a swingman between the pen and the rotation (22G/11GS). The Tigers didn't see enough from the 26 year old to believe he fit into their future plans, so they shipped him off to Milwaukee who cut him. The Dodgers decided to pick him up and give him another shot, but after going 5-5, 4.41 in AAA they too lost hope and released him Stops in AAA Tucson (OAK) and OKC (CLE) were the end of the road for him in 1975.
The Tigers purchased Reese's contract from the Twins on November 30, 1972 as the request of manager Billy Martin who had him in Minnesota. Since 1971 Reese's numbers were on the decline and by 1973 he was at the end of the line hitting just .137 in 102 at bats for the Tigers. As a courtesy the Twins picked him up after his release from Detroit, but when he hit just .174 he was let go. Reese holds a part of the major league record with 3 pinch hit grand slams. On the negative side he is also remembered for being Nolan Ryan's final strikeout victim (#383) in his record setting 1973 season. His post playing career did not include baseball, but business where he became the CEO of Jim Beam.
The uncle of Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash hit .410 in 390 AB's for the Tigers in '73. That 14 game cup of Joe opened the eyes of the Tiger brass who gave him a repeat shot the following season where he hit just .226. Cash spent the next 3 seasons in AAA Evansville, where he had less than modest results and by the end of the '76 season he was out of baseball.
After two and a half seasons in the minors, he was called up to the majors in 1973 at just twenty years old. Although he remained with the club through the rest of the season, he saw very little playing time with All-Star Ed Brinkman at short. However, in his limited playing time, he batted .300 (6 for 20), and had an RBI single off the Minnesota Twins' Dave Goltz in his first major league at-bat. After Detroit traded Brinkman Veryzer got his shot to start in 1975, where he fielded well and definitely hit better than the light hitting Brinkman (.252-5-48). After dropping to .234 and .197 in the following seasons and with Trammell nipping at his heels he was traded to Cleveland. Veryzer put together a nice 4 year run along Lake Erie before moving to Flushing and Wrigleyville.
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