[Terry D]

The Detroit Tigers should have dominated the AL East in the 80s and they would have if the front office had been aggressive enough and if Sparky hadn't made some bad personnel decisions, like overvaluing Tom Brookens and grossly undervaluing Howard Johnson. The Tigers won a divisional title in '87, but the signs of incipient collapse were already evident from some of the guys showing up that year in spring training. Here are five rare Tigers of varying ability snapped in 87 ST, courtesy of ebay's estimable Dr. J. C-OF Brian Harper was neglected for years by the Angels, Pirates, Cards, and Tigers (who gave him only a few AB in 1986), but he actually could hit and late in his career he showed it with the Twins. Terry Harper was a godawful slow OF with the Braves whose best asset was a little bit of power. Morris Madden was a very marginal LHP who spent many years in the minors before getting a quick peek with the Tigers and a somewhat longer peek from the Pirates back when Jim Leyland was rebuilding and looking at everybody. The other two guys never played a regular season game with Detroit. German Rivera was supposed to be Ron Cey's replacement at 3B when the Penguin went to Chicago, but he never hit consistently and the normally patient Dodgers gave up on him quickly. Rey Palacios was a nominal catcher who was more competent at 1B. He could hit a little and got some part time work with the Royals in the late 80s.