Current and former Tigers players w/ the same initials for first and last names

[turok]

It seems like the Tigers have had more players in their history than most if not all other MLB teams, who have the same initials for their first and last names. Even the Tigers current GM, Dave Dombrowski as well as his assistant general manager and vice president Al Avila, who as we all know is the father of the Tigers' catcher Alex. The ballclub has also had two managers, being Buddy Bell, and Robert "Red' Rolfe, although "Buddy" was David Bell's nickname.

After reading about ex-Tigers Virgil Vasquez and Jair Jurrjens, I remembered the Tigers former closer and currently convicted murderer Ugueth Urbina. Although it is unlikely that the Tigers have ever had any players with the initials of II, NN, QQ, XX, YY and ZZ, they have have had many of most others in the alphabet. I could remember quite a few, but decided to search Baseball Reference to see how much I could cover the alphabet from A-Z:

Alex Avila, Brennan Boesch, Billy Bruton, Chad Curtis, Darin Downs, Duffy Dyer, Eric Eckenstahler, Ferris Fain, Greg Gohr, "Goose" Goslin, Harry Heilmann, Jair Jurrjens, Kurt Knudsen, Lerrin LaGrow, Mike Maroth, Omar Olivares, Placido Polanco, Rich Rowland, Steve Searcy, Tom Timmerman, Tony Taylor, Ugueth Urbina, and Virgil Vasquez.

I know that there are more, but some used a nickname like "Doc" Daugherty or Harold Ray Daugherty, a former Tiger who had just one AB as a PH for the team back in 1951, or they went by their middle names, like Charles Brandon Inge, but the last time that I did this, I closed out w/o saving them.

 

[kalinecountry]

Neat idea to post a thread of Tigers players with the same first and last initial Doug.
off the top of my head....
Steve Souchock was the outfielders real name, althought he went by Bud.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/souchst01.shtml

Al Alburquerque.
Billy Beane.
Mickey Mahler.
Macay McBride.
Mickey McDermott.
Marty McManus. traded from Tigers to redsox for Muddy Ruel.
Ryan Raburn, aka Mudhen, aka Shinebox lol.
Scott Sanders.
Scott Sizemore.
Steve Sparks. come a long way for starting pitchers.
Tom Timmerman...remember him?

 

[turok]

Thanks KC/Ron, How could I have forgotten Tigers RP Al Alburquerque and UT OF/IF Ryan Raburn??? *facepalm* :shrug:

Coincidentally, Tom Timmerman was the only Tigers player who I have ever received an autograph from (on a piece of scrap paper). I never have been an autograph collector, and didn't go out of my way to try to get them. The only other person who had a connection to the Tigers ballclub whose autograph I really wanted to obtain was the late, great radio announcer Ernie Harwell. I had also "met" (sort of) his former color commentator and middle-innings broadcaster in the late 60s-early 70s, Ray Lane, at a wedding reception that I attended ca. mid-70s. His pretty and much younger date that night seemed to take more than a "casual" interest in me for some reason, and 'ol Ray wasn't too happy about it and gave me dirty looks while she talked to me at a table that my friends and I were seated at..haha!!

I also forgot to include the only WW that I have found (so far) who was a Tiger. This search was the most difficult, b/c of all of the players whose first name was the very common nickname "Bill" and just about all that I clicked never were with the Tigers during any year of their MLB career. While searching I have come across some very strange and funny nicknames as well as real names, and will post some of the best, IMO, in another thread on the MLB General sub-forum page later on.

William "Lefty" Wight: Pitched for the Tigers for <2 seasons (1952-53)

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wightbi01.shtml

 

[kingofdetroit57]

The only other person who had a connection to the Tigers ballclub whose autograph I really wanted to obtain was the late, great radio announcer Ernie Harwell.

I'm not a huge autograph guy like some, but I do have several cool signed things I've bought and collected over the years. I just bought an autographed Ernie Harwell audio scrapbook CD and a glossy picture of the Tiger Stadium sign lit up at night that he signed with his famous "Long Gone!" which I thought was pretty cool. I paid under $20 shipped for the two, and felt like I won the lottery. To me, he's one of the few whose autographs are worth way more than what they cost.

 

[turok]

Tigers' inaugural 1901 AL/MLB team had a bench player whose nickname was "Davey" Crockett, his real name was Daniel Solomon Crockett:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/crockda01.shtml

So he could have been nicknamed Daniel "Boone" too, might as well cover both famous US frontiersmen?

The '01 team's starting lineup was comprised of players who all went by nicknames. OFer "Jimmy" Barrett (James Erigena Barrett) being a more common nickname, and they had no less than 3 who were nicknamed "Kid" being 2B Kid Gleason, (William J. Gleason) SS Kid Eberfeld, (Norman Arthur Elberfeld) and OF Kid Nance, (William Gideon Nance).

All of their pitchers apparently used their real names, and 2 out of their 4 bench players.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DET/1901.shtml

 

[turok]

I'm not a huge autograph guy like some, but I do have several cool signed things I've bought and collected over the years. I just bought an autographed Ernie Harwell audio scrapbook CD and a glossy picture of the Tiger Stadium sign lit up at night that he signed with his famous "Long Gone!" which I thought was pretty cool. I paid under $20 shipped for the two, and felt like I won the lottery. To me, he's one of the few whose autographs are worth way more than what they cost.

My wife spent her teen years-early 20s (80s) living in Sterling Heights, MI., a "whitebread" suburb of Detroit, where she said that Harwell spent the baseball season (for home games) while living with the Blue Jays catcher, and native Detroiter "Ernie" Whitt (Leo Ernest Whitt) on the same city block. Two "Ernies" in the same house (when Whitt was back in Detroit for a road game or ASB). Whoever called there must have asked for one of them by their surnames...lol. She said that she often saw Harwell walking his pet Dachshund around the neighborhood, and he would greet everyone who saw him with a wave and a hello. The neighbors respected his privacy, and didn't bother him much during his walks. I didn't know my wife back then, and didn't meet her until late '94. Ernie and his wife Lulu apparently moved to Farmington Hills soon after.

Harwell tidbits:

"Ernie Harwell called 3,215 straight regular-season games for the Tigers between 1968 and 1989."

I seem to remember listening to my transistor radio in my bedroom one spring night, when Ernie was broadcasting a game back in the 70s, and he mentioned that he had a touch of the flu or a cold, but not certain. That is an absolutely incredible string of games, especially when considering that half were on the road and from coast to coast, where he had to stay in hotel rooms. Harwell certainly was blessed with good health for most of his very long lifetime.

"Ernie and Lulu Harwell have donated so much to the Detroit Public Library over the years that as a public collection, it is second only to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown."

Must be a huge amount of baseball-related memorabilia. I believe that I have been to the the main Detroit Public Library downtown once, but it was so very long ago.

"One of the biggest surprises during Ernie Harwell Day in 2002 when he was honored at Comerica Park was when Ernie learned Cliff Dapper was there. Dapper was the minor league catcher traded by the Brooklyn Dodgers to the Atlanta Crackers for Ernie in 1948. It got Ernie to the majors. They had never met."

"Whenever Hall of Fame outfielder Reggie Jackson would see Ernie around the batting cage, he would call him "Hall of Famer."

http://www.freep.com/article/20100507/SPORTS02/5070376/20-things-you-didn-t-know-about-Ernie-Harwell

I have to believe that if some of the now long-deceased MLB HOFers from the 20th century who made it into Heaven were playing a ballgame, say vs some of the stars of the Negro Leagues, that they would have Ernie Harwell sitting on a "cloud" broadcasting it.