1959 Detroit Tigers | ||
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League | American League | |
Ballpark | Briggs Stadium | |
City | Detroit, Michigan | |
Owners | Fred Knorr, John Fetzer | |
General managers | Rick Ferrell, Bill DeWitt | |
Managers | Bill Norman, Jimmy Dykes | |
Television | WJBK | |
Radio | WKMH (Van Patrick, George Kell) | |
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The 1959 Detroit Tigers season was the 59th season for the American League franchise in Detroit. Although the Tigers lost 15 of their first 17 games in 1959—resulting in the May 2 firing of manager Bill Norman—they recovered under his successor, Jimmy Dykes, to finish in fourth place with a record of 76–78, eighteen games behind the AL Champion Chicago White Sox.
Offseason
[edit]- October 13, 1958: Maury Wills was sent to the Tigers by the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a conditional deal.[1]
- November 20, 1958: Billy Martin and Al Cicotte were traded by the Tigers to the Cleveland Indians for Don Mossi, Ray Narleski, and Ossie Álvarez.[2]
- December 1, 1958: Lou Skizas was drafted from the Tigers by the Chicago White Sox in the 1958 rule 5 draft.[3]
- Prior to 1959 season: Andy Kosco was signed as an amateur free agent by the Tigers.[4]
Regular season
[edit]Season standings
[edit]Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago White Sox | 94 | 60 | .610 | — | 47–30 | 47–30 |
Cleveland Indians | 89 | 65 | .578 | 5 | 43–34 | 46–31 |
New York Yankees | 79 | 75 | .513 | 15 | 40–37 | 39–38 |
Detroit Tigers | 76 | 78 | .494 | 18 | 41–36 | 35–42 |
Boston Red Sox | 75 | 79 | .487 | 19 | 43–34 | 32–45 |
Baltimore Orioles | 74 | 80 | .481 | 20 | 38–39 | 36–41 |
Kansas City Athletics | 66 | 88 | .429 | 28 | 37–40 | 29–48 |
Washington Senators | 63 | 91 | .409 | 31 | 34–43 | 29–48 |
Record vs. opponents
[edit]Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH | |||||
Baltimore | — | 8–14 | 11–11–1 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 12–10 | |||||
Boston | 14–8 | — | 8–14 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 10–12 | |||||
Chicago | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | — | 15–7 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 13–9–1 | 16–6 | |||||
Cleveland | 12–10 | 14–8 | 7–15 | — | 14–8 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 16–6 | |||||
Detroit | 9–13 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 8–14 | — | 15–7 | 14–8 | 10–12 | |||||
Kansas City | 14–8 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 7–15 | 7–15 | — | 5–17 | 12–10 | |||||
New York | 10–12 | 9–13 | 9–13–1 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 17–5 | — | 15–7 | |||||
Washington | 10–12 | 12–10 | 6–16 | 6–16 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 7–15 | — |
Notable transactions
[edit]- March 21, 1959: Future Hall of Famer Larry Doby, who integrated the American League in 1947 with the Cleveland Indians, is acquired by the Tigers from Cleveland for outfielder Tito Francona. On April 10, Opening Day, left-fielder Doby becomes the second Black player (after Ozzie Virgil Sr.) and first African-American to appear in a Detroit uniform.
- April 2, 1959: Maury Wills was returned by the Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a conditional deal.[1]
- May 13, 1959: Larry Doby's contract is sold to the Chicago White Sox. The 35-year-old Doby batted only .218 with no home runs in 55 at-bats with the Tigers and he will end his playing career in U.S. pro baseball later in 1959.[5]
- June 13, 1959: Bob Smith was selected off waivers by the Tigers from the Pittsburgh Pirates.[6]
Roster
[edit]1959 Detroit Tigers | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
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Player stats
[edit]Batting
[edit]Starters by position
[edit]Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
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C | Lou Berberet | 100 | 338 | 73 | .216 | 13 | 44 |
1B | Gail Harris | 114 | 349 | 77 | .221 | 9 | 39 |
2B | Frank Bolling | 127 | 459 | 122 | .266 | 13 | 55 |
SS | Rocky Bridges | 116 | 381 | 102 | .268 | 3 | 35 |
3B | Eddie Yost | 148 | 521 | 145 | .278 | 21 | 60 |
LF | Charlie Maxwell | 145 | 518 | 130 | .251 | 31 | 95 |
CF | Al Kaline | 136 | 511 | 167 | .327 | 27 | 94 |
RF | Harvey Kuenn | 139 | 561 | 198 | .353 | 9 | 71 |
Other batters
[edit]Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Red Wilson | 67 | 228 | 60 | .263 | 4 | 35 |
Ted Lepcio | 76 | 215 | 60 | .279 | 7 | 24 |
Bobo Osborne | 86 | 209 | 40 | .191 | 3 | 21 |
Gus Zernial | 60 | 132 | 30 | .227 | 7 | 26 |
Neil Chrisley | 65 | 106 | 14 | .132 | 6 | 11 |
Johnny Groth | 55 | 102 | 24 | .235 | 1 | 10 |
Coot Veal | 77 | 89 | 18 | .202 | 1 | 15 |
Larry Doby | 18 | 55 | 12 | .218 | 0 | 4 |
Steve Demeter | 11 | 18 | 2 | .111 | 0 | 1 |
Ron Shoop | 3 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
Charley Lau | 2 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
Ossie Álvarez | 8 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
[edit]Starting pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jim Bunning | 40 | 249.2 | 17 | 13 | 3.89 | 201 |
Paul Foytack | 39 | 240.1 | 14 | 14 | 4.64 | 110 |
Don Mossi | 34 | 228.0 | 17 | 9 | 3.36 | 125 |
Frank Lary | 32 | 223.0 | 17 | 10 | 3.55 | 137 |
Billy Hoeft | 2 | 9.0 | 1 | 1 | 5.00 | 2 |
Other pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ray Narleski | 42 | 104.1 | 4 | 12 | 5.78 | 71 |
Jerry Davie | 11 | 36.2 | 2 | 2 | 4.17 | 20 |
Jim Proctor | 2 | 2.2 | 0 | 1 | 16.88 | 0 |
Bob Bruce | 2 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 9.00 | 1 |
Relief pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
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Tom Morgan | 46 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 3.98 | 39 |
Dave Sisler | 32 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 4.01 | 29 |
Pete Burnside | 30 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3.77 | 49 |
Barney Schultz | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.42 | 17 |
George Susce | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12.89 | 9 |
Bob Smith | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.18 | 10 |
Jim Stump | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.38 | 6 |
Hank Aguirre | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 3 |
Farm system
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Maury Wills at Baseball Reference
- ^ Billy Martin at Baseball Reference
- ^ Lou Skizas at Baseball Reference
- ^ Andy Kosco at Baseball Reference
- ^ Larry Doby at Baseball Reference]
- ^ Bob Smith at Baseball Reference