https://www.detroitathletic.com/blog/2016/05/05/zimmermann-tanana-completely-different-pitchers/
Zimmermann and Tanana were completely different pitchers.
Detroit Athletic
When I think of Jordan Zimmermann, I certainly don?t think of Detroit native Frank Tanana. Zimmermann throws right-handed; Tanana was a left-hander. Zimmermann is essentially a power pitcher, one who can throw in the low nineties. Tanana, at least by the time that he joined the Detroit Tigers, was a soft-tossing junkballer who defied the critics proclaiming him done because of a sore arm.
In spite of their differences, the two accomplished pitchers now have something in common: they are the last two Tigers pitchers to win five games in the month of April. The American League?s Pitcher of the Month for April, Zimmermann accomplished the feat over the weekend, while Tanana did the same for the Tigers back in 1988.
By the time Tanana joined the Tigers, he was closer to end of of a long and productive career than he was to the beginning. He was one of the few pitchers who was able to remake himself. The consummate power pitcher in his early days with the California Angels, he and Nolan Ryan formed a devastating lefty-righty combination. Ryan threw a little bit harder, but Tanana consistently reached the mid-nineties with his fastball and also had a devastating curveball. He was every bit as good as Ryan in those days; in fact, some scouts felt that Tanana had the better chance of reaching the Hall of Fame than ?The Express.?
In 1975, Tanana (not Ryan) led the American League in strikeouts. That season also marked the start of three consecutive years in which Tanana finished in the top ten in the Cy Young Award balloting. Tanana was never better than he was in 1977, when he led all of the league?s pitchers in both ERA (2.54) and shutouts (seven).
Tanana?s run of dominance did not come without a price. Tanana?s heavy workload started to take a toll by the end of the 1977 season. Unable to finish the season on the active roster, Tanana hit the disabled list with an inflamed tendon in his elbow. He bounced back to win 18 games in 1978, but with severely diminished velocity on his fastball, causing his strikeout rate to fall off considerably. He then spent three months of the 1979 season on the disabled list. Limited to only 17 starts, his ERA rose to 3.89, the highest of his career.
Tanana managed a full season in 1980, but again with lowered velocity and effectiveness. After the season, the Angels gave him up as part of a package sent to the Boston Red Sox for star outfielder Fred Lynn. After a subpar year with the Red Sox, he became a free agent and signed with the Texas Rangers. Over the next three years, Tanana made an amazing transition from power pitcher to finesse hurler, developing an array of breaking pitches and change-ups. Unlike so many other power pitchers who had suffered arm problems or simply lost velocity with age, Tanana made the necessary adjustments to extend his effectiveness?and his career.
Off the field, Tanana underwent a transformation, too. As a young pitcher, he had gained a reputation as a swinging bachelor and a free spirit. He was also brash and boastful. That all started to change in 1978, when his Angels teammate, Lyman Bostock, was killed in a drive-by shooting. Tanana began to alter his behavior, reining in his fun-loving ways and becoming more devoutly religious. He also took a more serious approach to his pitching, which may have helped him in making the difficult switch to a style that featured finesse and guile on the mound.
Frank Tanana is congratulated by teammate Lou Whitaker after Tanana won the final game of the 1987 season for the Detroit Tigers to clinch the division title.
Frank Tanana is congratulated by teammate Lou Whitaker after Tanana won the final game of the 1987 season at Tiger Stadium to clinch the division title for the Detroit Tigers.
Tanana?s revival in Texas lasted until the beginning of the 1985 season, when a slow start resulted in a panic trade by the Rangers. Texas sent Tanana to the Tigers for a minor league pitcher named Duane James. It was another classic swindle by general manager Bill Lajoie. James would never make the major leagues, while Tanana would flourish in Detroit, the same city where he had been born in 1953. Benefiting from a change of scenery, Tanana made 20 starts for the Tigers, won 10 of 17 decisions, and put up an ERA of 3.34. He joined Jack Morris, Dan Petry and Walt Terrell to form a rock-solid rotation.
Tanana remained consistent over the next four seasons. While his ERA hovered near 4.00, he logged a ton of innings, averaging more than 200 per season, and won an average of 13 games per year. His pitching was particularly helpful to the 1987 Tigers; Tanana won 15 games for the Eastern Division champions, including the division-clinching game against the Toronto Blue Jays on the final day of the regular season. Tanana won that decisive game, 1-0, avoiding what would have been a heart-wrenching one-game tiebreaker.
And then came Tanana?s 1988 season, when he won those five games in April on his way to 14 wins and 203 innings pitched. ?I am having fun out there right now,? Tanana told Joe LaPointe of the New York Times. ?This is a wonderful way to make a living. I feel terrific.? The Tigers felt the same about Tanana. Throughout his run in Detroit, he gave the Tigers some left-handed balance to their rotation, a perfect complement to right-handed bellweathers like Morris, Petry, Terrell, and Doyle Alexander.
While with the Tigers, Tanana became a favorite of legendary Detroit broadcaster Ernie Harwell, who often referred to the crafty left-hander as ?Tantalizing Tanana.? The name fit; Tanana?s repertoire of slow pitches teased opposing hitters, who sometimes tied themselves into knots trying to time his change-up and curve ball. With the Tigers, Tanana rarely threw much harder than 87 or 88 miles per hour. But his fastball seemed harder when it followed one of his molasses-like change-ups. In a way, he was the poor man?s version of Tom Glavine, a pitching artist who was delightful to watch.
Defying age and time, Tanana drew rave reviews from Sparky Anderson. ?You won?t find a better professional. They don?t exist,? Anderson told Tom Gage of The Sporting News. ?Tanana keeps himself in such good shape. I don?t see why he can?t pitch several more years.?
It was not until 1990 that Tanana began to show any real slippage. It marked the only season in which he failed to win in double figures for Detroit. His ERA rose to 5.31, by far the worst of his long career.
Still, Anderson remained loyal to Tanana. He kept the veteran left-hander in the rotation for two more seasons, watching him pile up 26 more wins. With Tanana pitching well, the Tigers could have brought him back on a one-year contract, but instead opted for youth that winter, allowing the 38-year-old Tanana to leave via free agency and sign with the New York Mets. He pitched most of 1993 with the Mets, before a late-season trade put him in Yankee pinstripes for three games to finish out his career. He won 240 games in his career, a figure topped by few pitchers in the history of the game, and he struck out more than 2,700 batters, some with his blazing fastball in his younger years, and many with a tantalizing slow curve ball in his later years.
Long since retired from the game, Tanana continues to live in Michigan. A resident of Farmington Hills, he is still married to Kathy, whom he wed in 1978.
There?s a tendency to forget about Tanana, in part because he chose not to remain in baseball after his playing days. Given his long-term success with the Tigers, that?s unfortunate. Thanks to the first-month efforts of Tigers newcomer Jordan Zimmermann, the name of Frank Tanana has become fashionable once again.
