2015 trade package #15: All Tigers Bait All the Time from ATBAtT!

A week or two ago I received my first trade package from Stealing Home who runs All Trade Bait All the Time.  He'd contacted me to let me know a PWE was on my way (pending getting my address), and a few days later I was happy to find the following in my mailbox:

Hey, Tigers--I collect those!  Aside from Dirks (who at least gets a fantastic photo on his insert) this is a top-notch group of Tigers.  I was especially happy to see cards of a couple PC guys in Gibby and Verlander alongside favorites like Miggy, Cobb, Morris, and Magglio.  Also, I may not have liked Prince much after his Tigers tenure but he's back to being a beast at the plate, on and off the field I'm sure.

So those were plenty interesting, but then I pulled out these four:

The first three are from the ubiquitous Conlon sets of the early 90s while the fourth hails from 1975 SSPC.  Here's some quick notes about each subject:

• Bridges pitched his entire career for the Tigers from 1930-46 (with a year off for military service in '44).  He won nearly 200 games in that span and was on Detroit's first two World Series winners in '35 and '45; he won games 2 and 6, the clincher in 1935.
• Fothergill was an OF for Detroit for the first nine of his 12 seasons (1922-1933) before playing for both Sox.  There doesn't seem to be too much about him that's terribly interesting to someone like me, but his high (for the time) weight led to the nickname "fats" and he was a pretty good PH that finished with a nice career average of .325.
• Walker (whose first name was Gerald) also played OF for Detroit, in his case for the first seven years of his 15-year career (1931-45).  That means he was part of Bridges' squad that won the Tigers' first ring in '35.  While in Detroit he hit at a nice clip and was pretty good at stealing bases.  Later he made stops with the White Sox, Sens, Indians, and Reds.
• Ralph Houk is the unnamed person on the SSPC card.  He appeared in 91 career games as a catcher in eight seasons for the Yankees (1947-54).  Houk managed the Bombers from 1961-63 and won the pennant all three years and rings the first two.  He then moved up to the GM position when Yogi Berra took the reins in '64.  Berra was fired after one season, as was his replacement, Johnny Keane, and Houk returned to the dugout for eight uninteresting seasons (1966-73).  His next stop the following year was with the Tigers, whom he managed for five seasons through 1978 before "retiring" (since he returned for four more campaigns with the Red Sox, 1981-84).

It was fun looking up each of these guys and learning more about them!

There was also a hit among the other cards:

Out of 1996 Leaf Signature (Bronze) came an autograph of OF Curtis Pride, who spent 1996 and part of '97 in Detroit.  Known for making it to the big leagues despite being deaf, Pride managed to appear in parts of 11 seasons, which was pretty impressive.  He has a great signature here on one of the hobby's most well-known autographed sets!

Oh yeah, there was one more card in the package as well:

And it just so happened to be a RC of HOFer and Michigan Man Barry Larkin!  A very nice choice to close out the package indeed.

Thanks a ton for a fun PWE, Mr. Stealing Home, and I'll try to respond in kind with some Dodgers and/or vintage soon!