Wednesday, January 9, 2013

#42-Jeff Robison (Jeff M. Robinson)




Robison had the misfortune of sharing the same name as Jeff D. Robison who was also pitching at the same time. Jeff M. was drafted by the Tigers out of Azusa Pacific University in the 3rd round of the 1983 draft.  A poor debut at Lakeland in that same year saw him return in 84 when his numbers improved and he was promoted to Birmingham where he would also spend 85. He made his major league debut in 1987 going 9-6 with an bad 5.96 ERA and a WAR of -0.7. 
One year later in 88 he became the ace of the staff with a 13-6 record and a strong 2.98 ERA over what would be a career high 172 innings. A WAR of 3.5 and a WHIP of 1.122 were also career high marks for him. On July 28, 1988 Robinson shut down the Royals to just one hit as the Tigers won 7-1 in Detroit. He lost his shut out when a wild pitch and sacrifice in the 4th allowed the Royals their only run of the game. His season ended in late August with injury and the Tigers lost a chance to repeat as American League East Champions to the Red Sox by one game. Alan Trammell believed it was Robinson's loss that hurt the Tigers the most. "Jeff was  our best pitcher last year. Of all our injuries, his was the biggest." 

Injuries in 89 reduced Robinson to just 16 appearances and the year for this card he would have a 10-9 with a high 5.96 ERA. In spite of his career being in decline Robinson on July 24, 1990 he held the Orioles hitless for the first eight innings until Mike Devereaux hit a homer into the second deck at Tiger Stadium. In spite of losing both the no-hitter and shutout he still won with an 8-2 score. 

Over the winter he was sent to Baltimore for catcher Mickey Tettleton. A bad season with the Orioles' would see him released at the end of the season. In 92 he followed up a bad season with another one this time in Texas  where he was mostly pitching out of the pen but still with little success. The second part of his last season was spent in Pittsburgh where he returned to the rotation but was released in July. While he was signed by the Tigers his time in the majors was over. 

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