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Detroit Tigers Team Notes Over 3 Million Views!!! Thankyou!

January 4 in Tigers and mlb history:

1901: The Baltimore American League club incorporates, with John McGraw as manager and part owner.

1902: Pitcher Bill Dineen, winner of 36 games for the Boston Beaneaters over the past two years, signs with the cross-town rival Boston Americans, for whom he will win 20 or more for the next three years.

1904: The New York Highlanders announce plans to play on Sundays at Ridgewood Park in Queens, NY, but the Brooklyn Superbas object. Sunday games are legal in Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati.

1915: Alex Main jumped from the Detroit Tigers to the Kansas City Packers.

1928: The New York Yankees buy shortstop Lyn Lary and infielder Jimmie Reese from the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League for a reported $150,000.

1932: The Great Depression deepens, and American League costs are cut by dropping an umpire from the AL staff of 11.

1936: As the second part of the December 10 deal for Jimmie Foxx, the Boston Red Sox get Doc Cramer and Eric McNair from the Philadelphia Athletics for Hank Johnson, Al Niemiec, and $75,000.
Even with the free spending, and the presence of 20-game winners Wes Ferrell and Lefty Grove, Boston will finish 6th in 1936. However, in six-plus seasons with the Sox, Foxx will hit 222 home runs, bats .300 five times, and be an All-Star six times.

1942: Rogers Hornsby becomes the 14th player selected to the Hall of Fame, getting 78 percent of the vote, while both Frank Chance (58%) and Rube Waddell (54%) miss out. Hornsby's offensive numbers rival those of any player before or since. He and Ted Williams are the only players to win the Triple Crown twice, and Hornsby's .424 mark in 1924 is the highest National League batting average in the 20th century.

1957: The Brooklyn Dodgers buy a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000, which they will use to transport the club during the season. The Dodgers are the first major league team to own their own plane.

1969: Attorney Jack Reynolds, administrator of the new umpires union, says an economic agreement has been worked out between the American League and umpires that will avert a strike this year.

1995 - Five bills aimed at ending the Major League Baseball strike are introduced in the United States Congress.

2005: Wade Boggs, a five-time batting champion, and Ryne Sandberg, a nine-time Gold Glove Award winner at second base, are elected to the Hall of Fame. Boggs becomes the 41st player elected to Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility, while receiving 474 of the record number of 516 votes cast (92%). Sandberg receives 393 votes, six more then the needed number.
Relief pitchers Bruce Sutter (66.7%) and Goose Gossage (55%), and outfielders Jim Rice (59.5%) and Andre Dawson (52%), are the only other players to be named on at least half of the ballots cast. All four will be voted in over the next five years.

2006: The minimum salary for players in the major leagues rises $9,000 this year to $327,000.

2006: The Detroit Tigers signed Hector Mercado as a free agent.
2006: The Detroit Tigers signed Ramon Santiago as a free agent.

2012: The Detroit Tigers signed Eric Patterson as a free agent.

2016: The Detroit Tigers signed Rafael Lopez as a free agent.

2017: The Detroit Tigers signed Edward Mujica as a free agent.
2017: The Detroit Tigers signed Efren Navarro as a free agent.

Tigers players birthdays:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ossie_Vitt
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vittos01.shtml
Ossie Vitt 1912-1918.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Don_McMahon
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcmahdo02.shtml
Don McMahon 1968-1969.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/saundde01.shtml
Dennis Saunders 1970.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fuentti01.shtml
Tito Fuentes 1977.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Paul_Gibson
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gibsopa01.shtml
Paul Gibson 1988-1991.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wickake01.shtml
Kevin Wickander 1995.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Scott_Sizemore
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sizemsc01.shtml
Scott Sizemore 2010-2011.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stumpda01.shtml
Daniel Stumpf 2017-2019.

Tigers players who passed away:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rensato01.shtml
Tony Rensa 1930.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Billy_Sullivan_(sullibi04)
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sullibi04.shtml
Billy Sullivan 1940-1941.

from Baseball Reference
 
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The Tigers are no-doubt ready to deal Nick Castellanos, but they?re not ready to give him away GM Al "Clown Shoes" Avila faced a similar quandary last offseason in trying to find a match for veteran Ian Kinsler. He settled on returning a pair of lower-tier prospects from the Angels only.
One of whom registers on their list of top-30 prospects from MLB.com (Troy Montgomery at #29). Kinsler?s situation was complicated by a partial no-trade list, but the Tigers still ended up with a package not much different from what the Angels received when they moved him to Boston mid-season.
The Tigers don?t appear ready to settle this time around, even if it means getting a lesser prospect mid-season or letting him walk at year?s end. The crux of the issue is that the Tigers view Castellanos as a robust offensive producer on a one-year deal coming off a career season and entering his prime. Trade partners, meanwhile, can paint Castellanos as an $11MM defensive liability.
Of potential trade partners, the division rival Indians are still the most logical fit, and they?ve partnered even recently on the Leonys Martin deal last season. Still, finding middle ground on appropriate compensation for a player with such evaluative extremes is proving difficult. Avila and the Tigers, however, will not be cowed by the challenge, nor will they give in to it ? at least for now.
MLBTR
 
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Last year Dave Mesrey uncovered some long lost photos of Negro Leagues legend Turkey Stearnes. Special thanks to Joel Apointe and John Collier of freepsports and Stearnes's daughters Joyce and Roz for sharing such poignant memories of their famous father.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwGIVEcWsAEd3Ay.jpg

https://hamtramckstadium.blogspot.c...gaK7xd6YrP65GHU0natgQsCBmv0DtqIED1oDvZ0TFSAo8
New photos of Negro Leagues legend Turkey Stearnes discovered nearly 40 years after his death.
HamtramckStadium

Hamtramck’s efforts to revive its signature public space are getting a big boost from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, including a vision for reviving historic Hamtramck Stadium, home of the Negro League #Detroit Stars of the 1930s.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwCsNIQX0AU6urZ.jpg
 
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January 5 in Tigers and mlb history:

1915: The Federal League sues organized baseball, claiming it to be an illegal trust and asking that it be dissolved and all contracts voided. The case is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, before Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. He will stall his decision, and peace is declared at the end of the year, but another suit, brought by the owners of the Baltimore Terrapins franchise, will result in baseball receiving an exemption from antitrust laws.
In the meantime, the FL shifts players to strengthen teams in key cities. Benny Kauff, the league's answer to Ty Cobb, is moved from the Indianapolis Hoosiers to the Brooklyn Tip-Tops.

1915: Thirteen years after a U.S. District Court decision for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia effectively banned him from playing for the Philadelphia Athletics, Nap Lajoie rejoins the team. With Lajoie leaving the Cleveland Naps. Cleveland's owner will ask several newspapermen for nickname suggestions to replace the "Naps".
He'll pick the name "Indians". A popular myth will be that a newspaper contest resulted in the winning nickname, after the late Lou Sockalexis, a Penobscot Native American who was a popular Cleveland player in the late 1890s. The team doesn't correct the myth until 2000.

1920: Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee defends selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees for cash by calling his former player "one of the most selfish and inconsiderate men ever to put on a baseball uniform".

1927: Judge Landis begins a three-day public hearing to investigate the allegation the Detroit Tigers threw a four-game series to the Chicago White Sox in 1917. The White Sox, Swede Risberg contends, returned the favor for two games in 1919. Near the end of the 1917 season, some Chicago players contributed about $45 each to reward Detroit pitchers for winning their last series against the Boston Red Sox, helping Chicago clinch the pennant. No witnesses confirm any part of the story, although Tigers pitcher Bill James denies ever receiving any money, and the others named deny all charges. A week after the hearing opens, Landis clears all the accused, ruling lack of evidence of anything except the practice of players paying another team for winning.

1943: Teams agree to start the season later than usual and prepare to train in northern areas because of World War II. Resorts, armories, and university facilities are chosen for training sites. The Boston Red Sox go to Tufts University; the Brooklyn Dodgers will train at Bear Mountain, NY, and the New York Yankees try Atlantic City, NJ. In Chicago, the Cubs and White Sox agree to start the season later than usual and prepare to train in areas north of the so-called Eastman-Landis Line, named after Joseph Bartlett Eastman, head of the United States Department of Transportation, and Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis - an area East of the Mississippi river and North of the Ohio and Potomac rivers. Meanwhile, the St. Louis teams, the Browns and Cardinals are excluded, though they will train in Cape Girardeau, MO.

1946: The Detroit Tigers released Chuck Hostetler.
1946: The Detroit Tigers released Hub Walker.

1957: Jackie Robinson retires rather than move across New York City from the Brooklyn Dodgers to the New York Giants, voiding last December's deal between the two teams.

1963: Hall of Fame member Rogers Hornsby dies at age 66 of a heart ailment. His .358 career batting average is the second highest in major league history.

1989: Three weeks after signing a record four-year, $1.1 billion network television contract with CBS, Major League Baseball signs a $400 million contract with ESPN. The deal will put 175 games per year on cable television beginning in 1990.

1995: According to players' union chief Donald Fehr, all 835 unsigned major league players are free agents since the owners unilaterally changed the uniform contract.

1998: Don Sutton gets into the Hall of Fame on his fifth try. With 324 wins, Sutton had the most victories of any eligible pitcher not in the Hall. He reached the postseason with three different clubs (the Dodgers, Brewers and Angels), and struck out 3,574 batters in 23 seasons.
Sutton receives 386 votes of the record 473 ballots cast for 81.6 percent. Tony Perez falls short with 355 votes, and Ron Santo, on the ballot for the 15th and final time, gains 204 votes.

1999: In their first year of eligibility, George Brett, Nolan Ryan and Robin Yount are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America. It is the only time since the first inductees were selected in 1939 that more than two first-timers have made it into Cooperstown in the same year.

1999: Yogi Berra receives an apology from New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner about his dismissal as Yankees manager in 1985 after only 16 games. Berra says he will end his self-exile from Yankee Stadium and the organization. He is expected to participate in future Opening Day and old timers ceremonies.

2001: Outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who has won seven batting titles in the Pacific League, is signed by the Seattle Mariners to a $14,088,000, three-year contract.

2005: The Detroit Tigers signed Ramon Martinez as a free agent.
2005: The New York Mets traded Vance Wilson to the Detroit Tigers for Anderson Hernandez.

2010: Randy Johnson, who won his 300th game with the San Francisco Giants last season, announces his retirement, ending a 22-year career that began with the Montreal Expos in 1988. The 6'10" lefthander amassed 4875 strikeouts, the second-most in major league history after Nolan Ryan, and pitched both a no-hitter and a perfect game while winning five Cy Young Awards.

2011: Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven are voted into the Hall of Fame when the results of the 2011 Hall of Fame Election are announced. Alomar, twice a World Champion with the Toronto Blue Jays and a perennial Gold Glove winner at second base, makes it in his second year on the ballot. For workhorse pitcher Blyleven, it's been harder. He started out at 17.5% in his first year of eligibility, and finally crossed the 75% threshold in his 14th year after a dedicated campaign on his behalf conducted through the internet. Once again, voters express their disgust with avowed steroid users, as Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro, both members of the 500 home run club, finish well down on the ballot.

Tigers players birthdays:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/laxtobi01.shtml
Bill Laxton 1976.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Mark_Redman
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/redmama01.shtml
Mark Redman 2001-2002.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wittke01.shtml
Kevin Witt 2003.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/José_Iglesias
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/i/iglesjo01.shtml
Jose Iglesias 2013-2018.

Baseball Reference
 
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January 6 in Tigers and mlb history:

1914: The National Commission grants some demands of the Players' union: players are to be notified in writing of their transfer or release and to receive a copy of their contract; players with 10 years in the Major Leagues are eligible to become free agents; clubs will pay traveling expenses to spring training and furnish all uniforms, and outfield fences in major league ballparks should be painted green to provide a better hitting background for batters.

1920: Future Hall of Fame pitcher Early Wynn is born in Hartford, AL. Wynn will make his major league debut in 1939 and will go on to win 300 games during a career with the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox.

1942: Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller reports to Norfolk, Virginia for duty in the United States Navy. Feller, who led the American League in victories in three previous seasons, will miss this season, as well as the 1943 and 1944 seasons before returning for nine games in 1945. Despite missing the time due to the World War II effort, Feller will lead the league in wins in 1946, 1947 and 1951, amassing 266 victories during an 18-year major league career.

1956: A Federal Court bars former Little League Commissioner Carl Stotz from forming a rival group. Stotz initiated the suit because he felt the league had grown too big, and that increasing team rosters to 15 players was preventing less able players from getting any real playing time.

1958: Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants signs a contract worth $65,000. It's the largest deal ever signed by a member of the Giants.

1969: Umpires Al Salerno and Bill Valentine file a grievance against the American League and its president, Joe Cronin, over their dismissal last year. The grievance is filed by the new umpires union with the National Labor Relations Board.

1997: Former Atlanta Braves knuckleballer Phil Niekro is elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America, becoming the 227th member of the Hall. He receives 80.34% of the vote, as former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton falls nine votes short of election. Niekro is only the 87th player to be elected by the BBWAA.

1999: Nolan Ryan is the first passenger to board the Nolan Ryan Express, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737. Ryan autographs both sides of the aircraft's nose on two specially designed decals each featuring a baseball with airplane wings and a Southwest colored tail. In July, Ryan will again board the NLE to fly to the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York.

2000: Gene Budig resigns as American League president and is appointed a senior adviser to Commissioner Bud Selig. The American and National Leagues will be disbanded as legal entities later this month, with their functions consolidated in the commissioner's office.

2004: The Detroit Tigers signed Brent Abernathy as a free agent.
2004: The Detroit Tigers signed Brandon Harper as a free agent.

2005: The Detroit Tigers signed Andrew Good as a free agent.
2005: The Detroit Tigers signed Mike Rivera as a free agent.

2008: Roger Clemens files a defamation lawsuit against trainer Brian McNamee for statements McNamee made in the Mitchell Report. McNamee had said he injected Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs.

2010: Andre Dawson, "The Hawk", is elected to the Hall of Fame getting 77.9% of the votes cast by the BBWAA. P Bert Blyleven and 2B Roberto Alomar fall agonizingly short of election, missing the honor by 5 and 8 votes respectively. Dawson, the 1987 National League MVP, played 21 seasons in the majors, principally with the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs, hitting .279 with 438 home runs, 1591 RBI and 314 stolen bases.

2015: The Detroit Tigers signed Tom Gorzelanny as a free agent.

2015: The BBWAA elects four players to the Hall of Fame, one of the largest classes ever. Three dominant pitchers all make it on their first try - Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz - while 2B Craig Biggio makes the grade on his third attempt.

2016: Ken Griffey, Jr. is elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA with the highest percentage of votes ever - 99.3%. Joining him in this year's class is Mike Piazza, who makes it on his fourth attempt. Griffey is the first #1 overall draft pick to make the Hall, while Piazza is the lowest pick (62nd round).

Tigers players and coaches birthdays:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Joe_Lake
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lakejo01.shtml
Joe Lake 1912-1913.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/purtebi01.shtml?redir
Billy Purtell 1914.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ralph_Branca
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brancra01.shtml
Ralph Branca 1953-1954.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Tom_Ferrick
Tom Ferrick coach, 1960-1963.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Lenny_Green
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/greenle01.shtml
Lenny Green 1967-1968.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/adamsbo04.shtml?redir
Bob Adams 1977.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fossuca01.shtml?redir
Casey Fossum 2008.

Tigers players who passed away:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Charley_O'Leary
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/o'leach01.shtml
Charlie O'Leary 1904-1912.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Dick_Donovan
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/donovdi01.shtml
Dick Donovan 1954.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Lenny_Green
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/greenle01.shtml
Lenny Green 1967-1968.

Baseball Reference
 
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David Stearns and Ron Gardenhire Differ On The Shift.
Would MLB actually go so far as to ban the shift? Asked about that conjecture, David Stearns made it clear that he?s no fan of the idea. Not because he?s against change, but rather because change is already a big part of baseball. More specifically ? yes, there have been exceptions to the rule ? organic charge is already a big part of baseball.

?Teams have evolved,? the Brewers GM said during the Winter Meetings. ?Strategies have evolved. Players adjust, and they will on this one as well. If shifts become completely deflating to certain profiles of players, we will value them accordingly. Things will balance themselves out. Look, we?ve been moving fielders around for decades. I would not be in favor of a ban on shifts.?

Ron Gardenhire feels otherwise. He favors an inorganic fix to the perceived (and arguably nonexistent) problem.

?I like two guys on each side,? the Detroit manager stated in equally-stern terms. ?I?ve always said that. Or at least keep them all in the dirt rather than in the grass. Ask Victor Martinez. He might have hit .300 this year if they just had them on the infield. Yeah, I am old school in that respect.?

The veteran skipper elaborated on his viewpoint in a manner suggestive of? an organic substance? Going pure Gardy, he name-checked the man erroneously credited with inventing the game, another sport, and a comedy duo from a bygone era.

?I think Abner (Doubleday) when he set this game up a long time ago, he set it up the right way,? said Gardenhire. ?Boom, boom, boom. You know? I don?t think you can, in football, put the whole line on one side? Can you put everybody on the left side of the field from the center? Would that be legal?? I?m just saying, let?s try to keep it normal here? I was a shortstop. If you stuck me on the other side, then I became a second baseman. I played shortstop as a second baseman. That?s confusing. That?s Laurel and Hardy stuff.?

Despite his comedic reference, Gardenhire wasn?t averse to prudent positioning this past season. The Tigers shifted 1,019 times in 2018, the 14th-highest total in MLB. Houston (2,191) and the Angels (205) bookended the StatCast leaderboard. Stearns? Brewers ranked 8th, with 1,393 shifts.

Fangraphs
 
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