June 2 in Tigers and mlb history:
1925 - 21-year-old Lou Gehrig starts a game for the New York Yankees when regular first baseman Wally Pipp is hit in the head during batting practice and complains of a headache - in fact a concussion. Gehrig collects three hits in five at-bats, helping the Yankees to an 8 - 5 victory over the Washington Senators. Gehrig will go on to play in a major league record 2,130 consecutive games, a record since broken by Cal Ripken with a streak of 2,632.
1935: Babe Ruth of the Boston Braves announces his retirement from baseball. Struggling with a .181 batting average at the time, he retires with 714 home runs, by far the most in major league history. Ruth will gain election to the Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class next year.
1941 - Lou Gehrig dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the age of 37 in New York. From that time on, the illness wll be known primarily as "Lou Gehrig's Disease". Gehrig saw his major league record of 2,130 consecutive games played end because of the disease. It was on this day exactly 16 years ago that he broke into the Yankees' starting line-up.
1950: George Kell of the Detroit Tigers hits for the cycle in the 16 - 5 second-game sweep of a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Athletics. The Tigers win the opener, 8 - 2, behind the pitching of Ted Gray and home runs by Vic Wertz and Hoot Evers. Wertz has five runs batted in in the opener, and two more in the second game.
2010 - after retiring the first 26 batters of the game, Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga coaxes Jason Donald of the Indians to hit a groundball to first base. Galarraga takes the throw in time to retire Donald but first base umpire Jim Joyce rules the runner safe. As a result, the Tiger righty loses a perfect game. After the game, Joyce admits his mistake and the next day he and Galarraga meet at home plate in a sign of sportsmanship.
Tigers players and coaches birthdays:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/skizalo01.shtml
Lou Skizas 1958.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jerry_Lumpe
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lumpeje01.shtml?redir
Jerry Lumpe 1964-1967.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/piercja01.shtml
Jack Pierce 1975.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/michage01.shtml
Gene Michael 1975.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/colesda01.shtml
Darnell Coles 1986-1987, 1990, coach 2014.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/perezne01.shtml
Neifi Perez 2006-2007.
from baseball reference
