June 19 in Tigers and mlb history:
1903 - Lou Gehrig is born in New York City. Gehrig will make his major league debut with the New York Yankees in 1923. He will become the Yankees' everyday first baseman, replacing Wally Pipp and set a record for the longest consecutive games played streak while combining with Babe Ruth to form one of the greatest run-producing tandems of all time.
1953 Al Kaline signs with the Tigers and scout Ed Katalinas. In less than a week Kaline has his first major league at bat, and the rest is a great HOF career in baseball history.
1955: Ted Williams, held hitless for three straight games, blasts a pair of towering home runs as the Red Sox overpower Cleveland, 11 - 8. The Associated Press reports: "Williams leaned into a fastball by rookie fireballer Herb Score for a 450-foot drive into the dead centerfield bleachers in the 5th inning to end a hitless string at ten official times at bat. In the 8th inning, he connected again for a 430-foot drive into the right field stands off the veteran Bob Feller."
1963 - Gates Brown of the Detroit Tigers becomes the eleventh player in American League history to hit a home run in his first at-bat in a loss to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
1972: The United States Supreme Court rules against former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood, who had sued Major League Baseball over the reserve clause after being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. The ruling upholds baseball's antitrust exemption, which was originally granted in 1922.
1994 - The Detroit Tigers hit at least one home run in their 25th consecutive game when Mickey Tettleton goes deep against the Toronto Blue Jays.
2009: Marcus Thames hits a pair of two-run home runs as Detroit beats Milwaukee, 10 - 4, in a rain-shortened game that ends with one out in the bottom of the 7th, after being delayed for more than two hours in the 4th. Zach Miner picks up the win in relief in the wild game in which video replay reviews deprive Dusty Ryan of an apparent home run in the 1st but grant one to Miguel Cabrera two innings later.
Tigers players birthdays:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Eddie_Cicotte
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cicoted01.shtml?redir
Ed Cicotte 1905.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/slatoji01.shtml
Jim Slaton 1978, 1986.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/slatoji01.shtml
Willis Roberts 1999.
from baseball reference
