Detroit Tigers: 4 hometown players in franchise history

Leo Cristante was born December 10, 1926, and spent one year playing for the Detroit Tigers. He was a career minor league player, spending 13 seasons in the minors.

Cristante’s lone season playing for the Olde English D came in 1955 where he posted a 3.19 ERA through 20 games. In 36.2 innings of work, Cristante posted a 0.2 WAR, just below his career WAR of 0.3.

Following his stint with the Tigers, Cristante spent the rest of his career in Dodgers farm system, including when they were called the Brooklyn Dodgers. Leo is buried at Our Lady of the Hope Cemetary just north of Woodhaven. Our Lady of the Hope has had many notable people attend its church throughout the years alongside Cristante. Most notably, Jack Castignola, who coached Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler at Miami of Ohio.

So far, we have listed off lesser-known ballplayers for the club. It seems wrong though not to list the great Hal Newhouser. After, all he is a Tigers legend who was considered to be the most dominant pitcher of the World War II baseball era. If you were to ask someone who the top five Tigers are of all-time, almost everyone would include Newhouser on their list.

He was inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame and notably quit after as a baseball scout after the Astros ignored his recommendation to draft Derek Jeter.