former major league pitcher Tom Timmerman He died last week at the age of 85, according to multiple reports. The right-hander spent parts of six seasons in the major leagues.
Timmerman was signed by the Tigers and made his professional league debut in 1960 at the age of 20. He then spent nearly a decade in the minor leagues as a starter and reliever before finally making his major league debut in Detroit on June 18, 1969. He threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings in his debut, starting a strong season for the rookie bullpen. Year.
Timmerman made his first career MLB start in Detroit’s penultimate game of the season after pitching to a 2.70 ERA in 46 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. He pitched a complete game and gave up three runs to the Orioles, but earned the win after striking out the future Hall of Famer frank robinson and teammates Boog Powell They ended a stellar campaign and finished in the top three in American League MVP voting that year.
Even after an impressive 1969 season, Timmerman failed to immediately break into the Tigers’ rotation. He spent most of the 1970 and 1971 seasons in the bullpen, pitching about average in 169 1/3 innings, although he managed 31 saves along the way. In 1970, he set a team record for appearances with 61 games and was named Tiger of the Year by the Detroit Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
In 1972, Timmerman finally got the chance to start in a major championship. Then in his age-32 season, Timmerman started 25 of the 34 games that year and pitched a respectable 2.89 ERA in 149 2/3 innings. It was a solid enough performance, but not enough to earn the right-hander another appearance in the rotation for the 1973 season. The Tigers returned him to the bullpen, although Timmerman’s chance to start later came at the cost of his roster spot in Detroit. On June 15, nearly four years after his major league debut, Timmerman was traded to Cleveland in exchange for the future All-Star Ed Farmer.
Timmerman’s move to a club in Cleveland that ended up with 90 losses gave Timmerman a chance to start, but he underperformed in the change of scenery. The right-hander appeared in 33 games for the team in 1973 and ’74 and had a 4.96 ERA. The final game of his major league career came on April 26, 1974, when he pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings in a victory over an Angels team that happened to include Robinson. Timmerman finished his season pitching at the Triple-A level for the Toledo Mud Hens and Oklahoma City 89ers, calling it a career after the 1974 season.
All told, Timmerman posted a 3.78 ERA in 548 innings at the major league level in six seasons in the MLB. During his major league career, he compiled a 35-35 record with 35 saves and struck out 315 batters. Although it wasn’t known until long after his major league career was over, Timmerman was also the biological father of a former major leaguer Phil Leftwich. Leftwich was born a month before Timmerman made his MLB debut but was adopted as an infant, and the connection wasn’t discovered until Leftwich, who pitched for parts of three seasons with the Angels from 1993 to 1996, was on the cusp of his major league debut.
MLB Trade Rumors joins the rest of the baseball community in expressing condolences to Timmerman’s family, friends and loved ones.
