Mike Schwabe

Mike Schwabe pitched for the Detroit Tigers in 1989 and 1990.

Michael Scott Schwabe was born July 12, 1964, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. His family moved to Tustin, California, in Orange County; at Tustin High School one of Mike’s baseball and basketball teammates was Mark Grace. In his senior year, 1983, he was named one of the pitchers on the Century League All-League team. In 1984 he pitched for Santa Ana College, which in 1985 changed its name to Rancho Santiago College. He was named to the South Coast Conference first team and the All-Southern California second team, somehow still being called a freshman, with a 12-5 record. In 1986 he went 13-2 and was said to have broken the school record for career wins with 25—still it’s as if 1984 had never happened. He made all-South Coast Conference again, and got a scholarship to Arizona State.

Mike went 12-7 for ASU in 1987 and in June got drafted in the 21^st round by the Tigers (he had been drafted by the Twins in 1986 but had elected not to sign). The Tigers started him at Bristol in the Rookie class Appalachian League, then moved him to Lakeland in the Florida State League and Fayetteville in the Sally League. Between the three teams he had a 5-3 record with four saves and a 3.08 ERA in 52 2/3 innings in 20 games, three of them starts, walking just 13.

Mike returned to Lakeland in 1988, where he went 9-0 with eight saves, with a 1.61 ERA in 111 2/3 innings in 40 games, five of them starts, and walked only 20. He then finished the year with Glen Falls of the Class AA Eastern League, where he had a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings in eight relief appearances.

In 1989 Mike pitched in some major league spring training games before starting the regular season with London, Ontario, which replaced Glen Falls as the Tigers’ AA team. He had a 1.07 ERA in eight games, two of them starts, when on May 23 he was called up to Detroit—the Tigers were short on pitching due to injuries. He made his major league debut on the 27^th in Kansas City, coming in with one out in the sixth, down 5-1, with runners on first and third, and got Bo Jackson to ground into a double play; then he pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth with two strikeouts, allowing a Jim Eisenreich double for his only baserunner. After the game Dick Tracewski, filling in as Tiger manager during an absence by Sparky Anderson, said “He’s ready to be a major-leaguer right now. There’s one kid who’ll make a lot of money pitching.”

Mike came back the next evening and got the last two KC outs in a 9-5 Detroit loss; he walked Kevin Seitzer to force in a run, struck out Bo Jackson and got Pat Tabler, famous for his success with the bases loaded, to ground out. From the next day’s Detroit News:

Control pitcher: Mike Schwabe walked in a run Sunday.

He what?

He walked in a run because he made a rookie mistake and tried to be too fine with his pitches when he entered Sunday’s game in the eighth with the bases loaded.

“I can’t remember the last time I did that,” he said, “but it must have happened sometime.”

After a six-inning relief stint at home against the Orioles on June 1, Mike got his first start on the sixth, at home against the Red Sox. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run, five hits, and no walks, and got a 5-1 victory. The next day’s Detroit News reported:

…He impressed Sparky, but not all the Red Sox.

“He throws strikes and keeps the ball down,” said Anderson. “He’ll be a starter until he proves otherwise.”

Boston’s Mike Greenwell, hitless in two trips against Schwabe, wasn’t impressed at all, though.

“He didn’t have anything,” said Greenwell. “I bet he didn’t throw one pitch over 80 mph. He made some good pitches, but I guarantee you that if we face him in Fenway, we’ll light him up.”

…Nothing spoiled the afterglow of his debut as a starter, however—not even the memory of his first day in the majors.

Schwabe arrived on May 23, two hours before the Tigers made room for him on the roster. They eventually optioned infielder Mike Brumley to Toledo after batting practice.

“The players must have been saying, ‘Who’s this dumb kid?’” Schwabe said. “Then they realized someone must be leaving and I felt like a heel. At least now I’ve begun to earn my keep.”…

“I’m sure my relatives in California who rented a big room with a satellite feed to watch this game are pleased,” said the rookie. “So are my relatives in Iowa who bribed the bartender to turn on the right channel.”

Mike got three more starts as part of the Tiger rotation but lost them all, lasting 6 1/3, 4 2/3, and 1 2/3 innings. From the July 10 Sporting News:

Detroit Tigers rookie Mike Schwabe was assigned to bullpen duty after lasting only 1 2/3 innings in his fourth start. “I think he’s more suited for long relief anyway,” said Manager Sparky Anderson. Schwabe agreed. “I don’t think starting is where I’ll be in the future,” the righthander said. “I don’t want to make that decision for them, but I want to feel like I belong in the majors, and I don’t feel that way now.”

Mike made six relief appearances from late June to mid-July, earning a win and a loss while his ERA rose from 4.61 to 6.04. On July 17 he was optioned to AAA Toledo. From the August 9 Detroit News:

Schwabe assigned outright to Mud Hens

By Tom Gage

News Staff Writer

Mike Schwabe has followed in the footsteps of Torey Lovullo as a hot prospect whose star rapidly fell this season.

The Tigers announced Tuesday that Schwabe, who already was at Triple-A Toledo on option, has been assigned outright to the Mud Hens. To return him to the majors, his contract would have to be repurchased. That’s a common occurrence, certainly—it’s not difficult to purchase a contract—but the Tigers wouldn’t have made the move if they planned to summon Schwabe anytime soon.

“We have to create openings on our roster,” said General Manager Bill Lajoie.

Schwabe was 2-4 with a 6.04 ERA for the Tigers. He’s 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA at Toledo.

The move doesn’t end Schwabe’s future as a Tigers prospect, but if the Tigers don’t put him back on the roster, he’ll be eligible for the winter draft.

Mike was named International League pitcher of the week for August 6-12, a week in which he went 2-0 while allowing ten hits in 15 1/3 innings and lowered his Toledo ERA to 2.58. He finished the International League season at 2.60, throwing 62 1/3 innings in 13 games, four of them starts, walking just ten batters. In October Tim Kurkjian of the Baltimore Sun wrote:

The Toronto Blue Jays’ Mike Flanagan has a new nickname for Tiger reliever Mike Schwabe: Chemo. Get it? Chemo Schwabe.

In November the Tigers added Mike to their 40-man roster, keeping him from being exposed in the winter draft. He went to spring training with Detroit, and signed a major league contract in March, but was assigned to Toledo at the beginning of April. He was used almost exclusively as a reliever by the Mud Hens, until on July 19 he was called up by Detroit when Lance McCullers was placed on the disabled list. The next night he finished up a 5-3 loss at Texas; Tom Gage of the Detroit News described Mike’s week on the 22^nd:

Life of leisure not for Schwabe

Pitcher crowds Toledo recall, baby watch and Tigers appearance into a week

ARLINGTON, Texas—Mike Schwabe has had a busy week—and it looks as if it’s not going to calm down.

Not only did he get called up from Toledo, but his pregnant wife is a week overdue, and he made the first appearance of his second stretch with the Tigers Friday night on two hours sleep.

“Considering everything going on in my life,” he said, “I didn’t think it was a bad outing at all.”

It wasn’t.

Schwabe gave up a run on five hits in 3 1/3 innings of relief, but he’s the kind of finesse pitcher who’s going to give up hits.

“As long as they’re all singles, I don’t get in trouble,” he said. “This time, they were all singles.”

Schwabe wasn’t sure he was going to get called up, especially after reading that the Tigers were planning to go with only nine pitchers.

“An announcer in Toledo hadn’t seen me in the bullpen Wednesday night, so I guess he assumed I’d been called up. My wife heard it, and it got back to me, so after the game I waited for a tap on the shoulder that didn’t come. Not right away, at least.”

At 220, Schwabe weighs 20 pounds more than when he pitched for the Tigers a year ago, but he says the added weight in his legs helps.

“The big thing,” he said, “is that I found a flaw on videotape in my delivery and I’m coming off four of my best outings ever.”

His last outing with the Mud Hens was 5 1/3 innings of one-hit relief Tuesday night.

“Hopefully, I’ll pitch that well with the Tigers,” he said.

And hopefully for him, his life will soon settle down.

That was actually Mike’s only major league appearance of 1990, as on July 28 he was optioned back to Toledo when the Tigers re-signed Walt Terrell following his release by the Pirates. Mike finished the season with the Mud Hens with a 3.83 ERA in 108 innings in 51 games; on December 5 the Tigers gave him his unconditional release, which I assume was a surprise to him. It seems surprising in retrospect.

Mike found a job for 1991 with Jalisco of the Mexican League; he had a 9-5 record and a 4.20 ERA. The Mexican League season ended August 1, after which he found an AA job with the Twins organization, as reported in the Orange County Register of August 19:

“His agent had made a couple of calls to us,” [Twins farm director Jim] Rantz said. “We needed a pitcher at (Double-A) Orlando. Orlando had a doubleheader scheduled for a Sunday. I called Mike on a Friday—two days before the doubleheader. I told him ‘I’ve got a job available, but it might not be the one you’re looking for.’

“He had just got back to Southern California and was trying to get things settled. He listened and said, ‘I’ll be there tomorrow.’ All he said was he hoped to get a shot in spring training next year. I said I had no problem with that.”

On August 23 Mike pitched a two-hit shutout, striking out 13, relying heavily on his new pitch, a forkball, and on the strength of that he was named Southern League pitcher of the week. He had a 1.77 ERA in six starts for the Sun Rays, with 34 strikeouts and seven walks in 35 2/3 innings. The team beat Birmingham in the league’s championship series, three games to one; Mike pitched the opening game and won 3-2, and would have pitched the fifth game had it been necessary.

For 1992 the Twins moved Mike up to the AAA Portland Beavers, but early on things weren’t right. After three starts he was 0-2 with a 10.93 ERA in 14 innings; after three more starts his ERA was still 8.02. He made no appearances after May. From the August 3 Orange County Register:

Schwabe picks retirement over surgery

‘Tommy John’ operation prescribed for elbow

Rather than have major elbow surgery, which would require at least a year of rehabilitation, former Tustin High and Rancho Santiago College pitcher Mike Schwabe has decided to retire from baseball.

Schwabe was released by the Minnesota Twins’ Portland farm team in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League earlier this summer.

“I was having arm problems early in the year and I kept trying to pitch,” Schwabe said. “We thought they were just bone spurs and the Twins finally released me and said I should see Dr. (Frank) Jobe.

“He said I would need the Tommy John surgery. I’m 28, and the recovery period from that surgery is at least a year, so I retired.”

In 2004 Mike was inducted into the Santa Ana College (the name was changed back from Rancho Santiago) Hall of Fame. A 2015 article in the Laguna News Post reported that he was a pitching coach for GWE Baseball in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; his Facebook page says that he lives in Tustin, California.

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