Detroit Tigers Top 10 Shortstops in franchise history

Johnny Lipon

Detroit Tigers: 1942, 1946-1952

Johnny Lipon made his big league debut with the Tigers as a fresh-faced 19-year-old in 1942. He hit .191 across 131 at-bats that season. Then, Lipon served in World War II, missing 1943-1945. He returned in 1946 and spent most of the season in the minor leagues, going 6-for-20 in the big leagues.

He spent all of 1947 in the minors, hitting .295 with 11 home runs for the Dallas Rebels.

Lipon was up with the Tigers for good in 1948. From 1948-1951 Lipon played in 524 games with the Tigers. He slashed .276/.366/.350 with an 88 OPS+ and a 6.9 bWAR.

Lipon started the 1952 season with the Tigers, but was dealt on June 3 to Boston. The Tigers shipped Lipon along with Hoot Evers, Dizzy Trout and George Kell to the Red Sox for Walt Dropo, Fred Hatfield, Don Lenhardt, Bill Wight and Johnny Pesky.

“Skids” as he was called spent the last half of 1952 with the Red Sox, hitting .205. He was purchased in 1953 by the Browns, only getting nine more at-bats. He was traded again to the White Sox and finished his career in 1954 with one at-bat for the Reds.

Lipon was purchased by a baseball team in Havana and spent two seasons playing down in Cuba in the 1950’s. He ended up bouncing around the minor leagues for a few more years before retiring in 1963 at age 40.