April 12, 1960 - Forty-eight years ago today, the Tigers acquired Norm Cash from the Cleveland Indians for 3B Steve Demeter. Stormin' Norman was a fixture at first base for the Bengals for the next 14 years, including the World Series year of 1968.The 4-time all-star made himself a household name in his second season wearing the Old English D. In 1961, Cash hit an incredible .361, belting 41 home runs, and driving in 132 runs. Ironically, 1961 would be the only time Cash would ever hit .300 during a season or drive in 100 runs in a season. The year of 1961 would also be the last time a Tiger won the AL batting title until Maggilo Ordonez in 2007. Cash would go on to belt 373 home runs in his 14-year Tiger career.
The trade was quite a steal for the Tigers, as Cash retired from baseball in 1972, and Steve Demeter would finish the 1960 season playing in only 4 games with a .000 batting average. Demeter would not play another season in the big leagues.
April 12, 2003 - Shane Halter would hit a home run to give the Tigers their first win of the season. The Tigers record would stand at 1-9. A bad record yes, but better than 2002 when the Tigers started 0-11. The 2003 Tigers start of 0-9 would set a record of the only team since 1900 to start back to back seasons with a 0-9 record. The rest of 2003 did not get any better for 1st year skipper Alan Trammell, as the Tigers would try to match the futile 1962 Mets lose record of 120 games. The Tigers would win in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season to only finish with 119 losses.
2 comments:
This post brings back memories of my first "favorite Tiger" - Stormin
Norman Cash (he was soon replace by my all-time favorite, Al Kaline). Sort of funny, Cash said the biggest mistake he ever made was hitting .361 in '61. The reason? The fans expected him to hit like that every year!
As I recollect, my first baseball card was a Norm Cash from the back of a Post cereal box. Click Here to view the card.
Norm Cash was quite the character, as he loved to joke around and hit the night spots. He had a very unusual batting stance and hit with better than average power. Cash was an outstanding defensive first baseman. Nice post.
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