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

December 25 in Tigers and mlb history:

1856: Pitcher James Francis (Pud) Galvin, a future Hall of Fame member, is born in St. Louis, Missouri. Galvin will win 364 games in a 15-year career, including two 46-win seasons.

1862: A crowd of 40,000 watches two teams of imprisoned Union Army soldiers play baseball at Hilton Head, South Carolina. Civil War historians are debating the actual size of the crowd.

1888: At the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, on the Pennsylvania State Fair Buildings and Grounds located at Broad Street & Lehigh Avenue in Philadelphia, the Downtowners beat the Uptowners in the first sanctioned indoor baseball game ever played, 6 - 1, before a crowd of 2,000.

1922: On their tour of the Far East, the Herb Hunter All-Americans, with Casey Stengel and Waite Hoyt among their members, beat a team of U.S. servicemen, 12 - 5, in Manila.
In other games, the All-Americans are the first team of major leaguers to play a Chinese team, in Shanghai, and also play a Korean all-star team in Seoul, whipping them, 21 - 3.
The American all-stars also lost a game in Japan when Zensuke Shimada hit an out-of-the-park home run against Hoyt and the Mita Club defeated the All-Americans, 9 - 3. Michimaro Ono got the win. It is the first loss by a team of touring U.S professionals in Japan.

1927: Nellie Fox, who will lead the American League in hits four times, win three Gold Gloves, play in 12 All-Star Games, and become American League MVP for the 1959 Chicago White Sox, is born in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania. It will not be until 1997, 23 years after his death, that he will finally be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

1957: With the backing of United States Representatives Kenneth Keating and Emanuel Celler, the minor league executives urge that Major League Baseball compensate them for infringement on their territorial rights.

1958: Rickey Henderson is born in Chicago, Illinois. Henderson will break into the major leagues with the Oakland Athletics in 1979, and will go on to become one of the greatest leadoff batters in mlb history before being elected to the Hall of Fame in 2009.






2001: Hideki Matsui signs a one-year, $4.7 million contract to play for the Yomiuri Giants, becoming the highest-paid player in Nippon Pro Baseball history. The outfielder's salary surpasses the $4 million mark the Orix Blue Wave gave Ichiro Suzuki for the 2000 season.

Tigers players and coaches birthdays:

Alex Jones 1903.

Bill Akers 1929-1931.

Ned Garver 1952-1956.

Jack Hamilton 1964-1965.

Gene Lamont 1970-1972, 1974-1975, coach 2006-2017.

Julio Gonzalez 1983.

Erik Hiljus 1999-2000.

Tigers players and managers who passed away:

Karl Olson 1957.

Billy Martin 1958, manager 1971-1973.

Baseball Reference
 
HOLLY HAPPY DAYS!
Totally Tigers
 
December 26 in Tigers and mlb history:

1906: National League umpire Hank O'Day suggests that the batter's box be outlined with white rubber strips rather than chalk, making it impossible for hitters to erase the lines. But the rule will never be implemented.

1919: Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee makes a secret agreement to sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000 (one-fourth cash, plus $25,000 a year at 6 percent) plus guaranteeing a $300,000 loan with Fenway Park as collateral. The transaction will be announced publicly in one week.

1934: Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis denies the Brooklyn Dodgers' claim to the services of teenage pitcher Johnny Vander Meer. In June
of 1938 pitching for the Reds, Vander Meer will pitch no-hitters in consecutive starts, the only pitcher in MLB history to do so.

1947: Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk born this day in Bellows Falls, Town of Rockingham, VT.

1950: With a large portion going to the players' pension fund, outgoing Commissioner Happy Chandler announces the Gillette Razor Company has purchased the television rights to the All-Star Game for six years for six million dollars.

1954: Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, born this day in Mobile, AL.

1974: The Little League is officially open to girls as U.S. President Gerald Ford signs legislation amending the charter of the organization. Little League had sought changes in their charter after a series of lawsuits challenged its boys-only rule.

1994: The Detroit Tigers signed Mike Christopher as a free agent.

1995: The Associated Press selects Cal Ripken, Jr.'s consecutive game streak as the top sports story of the year, followed by the death of Mickey Mantle.

2005: The Associated Press reports that baseball took a lot of shots in 2005 from politicians, commentators and players themselves as the sport struggled with steroids.
MLB went from no drug policy in 2002, to anonymous testing in 2003, to counseling for positive tests in 2004, to a dozen 10-day suspensions this year.
Starting next year, an initial positive test will result in a 50-game suspension, and players will be tested for amphetamines for the first time, with penalties for a second positive result.

2008: 44-year-old Randy Johnson, a five-time Cy Young Award winner, signs with his hometown San Francisco Giants for $8 million (with $5 million in incentives) for one season. Johnson is five wins shy of 300 for his career.

2012: The Detroit Tigers signed Gregory Soto as an amateur free agent.

2020: Hall of Famer and 300-game winner Phil Niekro passes away from cancer at age 81. He is best known for having one of the best knuckleballs of all-time, and for sharing with his brother Joe the record for most wins by a pair of brothers, with 539.

Tigers players birthdays:

Pug Cavet 1911, 1914-1915.

Herman Pillette 1922-1924.

Storm Davis 1993-1994.

Omar Infante 2002-2007, 2012-2013.

Darin Downs 2012-2013.

Tigers players who passed away:

Doc Gessler 1903.

Josh Billings 1927-1929.

Frank Reiber 1933-1936.

Chris Brown 1989.

Baseball Reference
 
December 27 in Tigers and mlb history:

1874: The first documented baseball game in Cuba takes place in a field known as Palmar de Junco, in the province of Matanzas. In the match, called after seven innings due to darkness, the Habana team defeated that of Matanzas with the unbalanced score of 51 to 9 runs.

1919: One day after secretly working out a deal to sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee says his team will deal any player except Harry Hooper. But Hooper will be sent to the Chicago White Sox after the 1920 season.

1941: The Boston Braves mascot, Chief Nokahoma, adopted today, is considered by many as an aberration of a Natchez Native American and misrepresented in Plains Indians headdress.

1953: the Lions beat the Browns 17-16 at Briggs (Tiger) Stadium to win their second straight NFL championship.

1967: Boston Red Sox pitching star Jim Lonborg undergoes surgery on his left knee, four days after a skiing accident. Lonborg, who won a career-high 22 games for the Red Sox during their "Impossible Dream" season, will struggle to regain his pitching form.

1972: Roberto Clemente's final home run comes on his final swing during a batting demonstration in front of "300 admiring kids during a baseball clinic at the town of Aguadilla," reports United Press International, according to whom Clemente hits "the fifth pitch about 350 feet out of left field at the local park."
Clemente's fellow Pirate and fellow Puerto Rican Fernando Gonzalez is on hand and his recollections will later be recorded by Clemente biographer Kal Wagenheim: "That day in Aguadilla, he spent the whole afternoon under the sun ? giving a clinic for the kids. At one point he was giving batting pointers, and there was a kid ? about eighteen years old ? pitching to him. The people in the stands kept yelling, 'Roberto, bet you can't hit a homer!' Finally, on the last pitch, he smacked the ball right out of the stadium. He gave the kid the bat as a souvenir, and somebody else got the ball. Afterward, they erected a small monument to mark the spot where the ball fell. I think that was the last time Roberto swung a bat, and he hit a home run."

1992: The Detroit Tigers signed Juan Encarnacion as an amateur free agent.

1995: Hall of Fame umpire Al Barlick dies at the age of 80 in Springfield, Illinois. Known for his decisiveness and hustle, Barlick worked National League games from 1940 to 1972, and gained election to the Hall in 1989.

2001: After 21 years being heard on WABC, the New York Yankees will broadcast their spring training, regular-season and postseason games on all-news station WCBS-AM which is owned by Infinity Broadcasting. The five-year deal with the Yankees' YES Network, created earlier this year, is worth approximately $50 million.

2012: OF Hideki Matsui announces his retirement at a press conference in New York, NY. He had hit .304 with 332 home runs as a three-time MVP during his prime in Japan, then added 175 homers, a World Series MVP award and a .282 average winding down his career in the US.

2020: Stories circulate that the Rays have traded former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to the Padres in return for four prospects. Snell was at the center of the most controversial play of the most recent postseason when Rays manager Kevin Cash took him out of a dominating start against the Dodgers in Game 6 of the World Series, only to see his bullpen cough up the lead and the game in short order, giving the Dodgers the title.

2020: Hall of Famer and 300-game winner Phil Niekro passes away from cancer at age 81. He is best known for having one of the best knuckleballs of all-time, and for sharing with his brother Joe the record for most wins by a pair of brothers, with 539.

2022: The Rangers sign free agent P Nathan Eovaldi for two years at $34 million, adding him to a revamped starting rotation that also includes another off-season signee in Jacob deGrom.

2022: The Detroit Tigers signed Aneurys Zabala as a free agent.

Tigers players birthdays:

Charlie Carr 1903-1904.

Jackie Tavener 1921, 1925-1928.

Red Lynn 1939.

Jim Tobin 1945.

Dean Palmer 1999-2003.

Rick Porcello 2009-2014.

Tigers players who passed away:

Fritz Buelow 1901-1904.

Marv Peasley 1910.

Baseball Reference
 
FIVE FOR FRIDAY.
Totally Tigers



As the Detroit Tigers continue to prepare for the 2025 season, what do they need to do in order to have another season that is equal to or better than 2024?
I’ve got the 5 most important factors they either need to maintain or improve upon next year.
 
The Detroit Tigers have signed Gleyber Torres to a 1-yr. contract. A RHB which is what Scott Harris said they need. But here's where it gets interesting...
Torres will play 2B, Colt Keith's position. But the Tigers started having Keith play 1B over the winter. It appears Keith will move to 1B and that Spencer Torkelson may be the odd man out.

Harris: “My message to Tork was if you have a big offseason and a big spring training there’s a role for you on this team. This team needs more right-handed power and we’ve seen Tork do that in the past.”
Scott Harris said Gleyber Torres will play second base and Colt Keith is moving to first. He said Keith is fired up about the move. As for Spencer Torkelson, Harris said there is a role for him (DH, backup first base) if he can produce.
 
Scott Harris said the Tigers submitted all their materials and presentation to Joel Wolfe, the agent for top Japanese pitcher Rōki Sasaki, and are now waiting to hear back if they'll be one of the teams to get a post-holiday meeting to make their pitch.
 
The Detroit Tigers have signed two-time All-Star infielder Gleyber Torres to a one-year, $15,000,000 contract for the 2025 season. The contract includes a one-time assignment bonus of $500,000.Torres joins the Tigers after seven successful years with the New York Yankees, including a 2024 campaign in which he slashed .257/.330/.378 with 15 home runs, 63 RBI, and 26 doubles. The second half of his season was particularly strong, ranking highly among the 71 qualified American League hitters in batting average (.292, 12th), on-base percentage (.361, 14th), and walk-to-strikeout ratio (1.72, 16th). Following the All-Star break, he posted a 124 wRC+ over 61 games played.Over the course of his career, Torres has slashed .265/.334/.441 with 138 home runs and 441 RBI. He has four seasons with at least 2.9 bWAR, including the highest mark of his career in 2022 (4.0 bWAR) when he had a .761 OPS with 24 homers and 76 RBI over 140 games. Another noteworthy season came in 2019, when he belted a career-high 38 homers and 90 RBI, finishing 17th in MVP voting.Though an everyday player throughout his career, Torres has had particular success against lefthanded pitching. Out of 374 qualified American League hitters since Torres’ 2018 debut season, he ranks 30th in home run rate (5.5%) and 41st in OPS (.854) against southpaws. Another standout attribute of Torres, who just turned 28 years-old, is his durability – ranking 26th in games played (888) and plate appearances (3,673) among all Major Leaguers since the start of 2018.During his time with the Yankees, Torres has gained significant postseason experience – missing the playoffs just one time. Over 198 plate appearances in those six years of postseason play, he’s posted a .795 OPS with seven home runs and 25 RBI. Torres has been one of the best at controlling the strike zone throughout his playoff experience, ranking fifth in strikeout rate (16.2%) and eighth in walk rate (12.6%) since the start of 2018 among Major League players with at least 150 postseason plate appearances.Torres, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, was originally signed in 2013 by the Chicago Cubs.
 
Glayber Torres’s numbers at Comerica: 15-for-53 (.283/.377/.673) with 5 home runs. Outside of Camden Yards, that’s the most home runs he has hit on the road (tied with Toronto).
 
In a corresponding move for the signing of INF Gleyber Torres, LHP Bailey Horn has been designated for assignment.Our 40-man roster is now at 40.
 
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