1978 Detroit Tigers season

1978 Detroit Tigers
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkTiger Stadium
CityDetroit, Michigan
OwnersJohn Fetzer
General managersJim Campbell
ManagersRalph Houk
TelevisionWWJ-TV
(George Kell, Mike Barry, Joe Pellegrino, Al Kaline)
RadioWJR
(Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
← 1977 Seasons 1979 →

The 1978 Detroit Tigers finished in fifth place in the American League East with a record of 86–76, 13½ games behind the Yankees. They outscored their opponents 714 to 653.

It was the franchise's first winning season since 1973 and would start a string of winning seasons that would not come to an end until 1989.

Offseason

[edit]

Regular season

[edit]

The Tigers drew 1,714,893 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1978, ranking 5th of the 14 teams in the American League.

Season standings

[edit]
AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 100 63 .613 — 55‍–‍26 45‍–‍37
Boston Red Sox 99 64 .607 1 59‍–‍23 40‍–‍41
Milwaukee Brewers 93 69 .574 6½ 54‍–‍27 39‍–‍42
Baltimore Orioles 90 71 .559 9 51‍–‍30 39‍–‍41
Detroit Tigers 86 76 .531 13½ 47‍–‍34 39‍–‍42
Cleveland Indians 69 90 .434 29 42‍–‍36 27‍–‍54
Toronto Blue Jays 59 102 .366 40 37‍–‍44 22‍–‍58

Record vs. opponents

[edit]
1978 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 7–8 4–6 8–1 9–6 7–8 2–8 7–8 5–5 6–9 11–0 9–1 7–4 8–7
Boston 8–7 — 9–2 7–3 7–8 12–3 4–6 10–5 9–2 7–9 5–5 7–3 3–7 11–4
California 6–4 2–9 — 8–7 6–4 4–7 9–6 5–5 12–3 5–5 9–6 9–6 5–10 7–3
Chicago 1–8 3–7 7–8 — 8–2 2–9 8–7 4–7 8–7 1–9 7–8 7–8 11–4 4–6
Cleveland 6–9 8–7 4–6 2–8 — 5–10 5–6 5–10 5–5 6–9 4–6 8–1 1–9 10–4
Detroit 8–7 3–12 7–4 9–2 10–5 — 4–6 7–8 4–6 4–11 6–4 8–2 7–3 9–6
Kansas City 8–2 6–4 6–9 7–8 6–5 6–4 — 6–4 7–8 6–5 10–5 12–3 7–8 5–5
Milwaukee 8–7 5–10 5–5 7–4 10–5 8–7 4–6 — 4–7 10–5 9–1 5–5 6–4 12–3
Minnesota 5–5 2–9 3–12 7–8 5–5 6–4 8–7 7–4 — 3–7 9–6 6–9 6–9 6–4
New York 9–6 9–7 5–5 9–1 9–6 11–4 5–6 5–10 7–3 — 8–2 6–5 6–4 11–4
Oakland 0–11 5–5 6–9 8–7 6–4 4–6 5–10 1–9 6–9 2–8 — 13–2 6–9 7–4
Seattle 1–9 3–7 6–9 8–7 1–8 2–8 3–12 5–5 9–6 5–6 2–13 — 3–12 8–2
Texas 4–7 7–3 10–5 4–11 9–1 3–7 8–7 4–6 9–6 4–6 9–6 12–3 — 4–7
Toronto 7–8 4–11 3–7 6–4 4–10 6–9 5–5 3–12 4–6 4–11 4–7 2–8 7–4 —


Notable transactions

[edit]

Roster

[edit]
1978 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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
C Milt May 105 352 88 .250 10 37
1B Jason Thompson 153 589 169 .287 26 79
2B Lou Whitaker 139 484 138 .285 3 58
3B Aurelio Rodríguez 134 385 102 .265 7 43
SS Alan Trammell 139 448 120 .268 2 34
LF Steve Kemp 159 582 161 .277 15 79
CF Ron LeFlore 155 666 198 .297 12 62
RF Tim Corcoran 116 324 86 .265 1 27
DH Rusty Staub 162 642 175 .273 24 121

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
Lance Parrish 85 288 63 .219 14 41
Phil Mankowski 88 222 61 .275 4 20
John Wockenfuss 71 187 53 .283 7 22
Mickey Stanley 53 151 40 .265 3 8
Steve Dillard 56 130 29 .223 0 7
Mark Wagner 39 109 26 .239 0 6
Charlie Spikes 10 28 7 .250 0 2
Dave Stegman 8 14 4 .286 1 3

Pitching

[edit]

Starting pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jim Slaton 35 233.2 17 11 4.12 92
Milt Wilcox 29 215.1 13 12 3.76 132
Dave Rozema 28 209.1 9 12 3.14 57
Jack Billingham 30 201.2 15 8 3.88 59
Kip Young 14 105.2 6 7 2.81 49
Mark Fidrych 3 22.0 2 0 2.45 10

Other pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jack Morris 28 106.0 3 5 4.33 48
Bob Sykes 22 93.2 6 6 3.94 58
Steve Baker 15 63.1 2 4 4.55 39

Relief pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; GF = Games finished; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV GF ERA SO
John Hiller 51 9 4 14 46 2.34 74
Steve Foucault 24 2 4 4 15 3.13 18
Jim Crawford 20 2 3 0 10 4.35 24
Ed Glynn 10 0 0 0 6 3.07 9
Dave Tobik 5 0 0 0 4 3.75 11
Fernando Arroyo 2 0 0 0 1 8.31 1
Sheldon Burnside 2 0 0 0 1 9.00 3
Bruce Taylor 1 0 0 0 1 0.00 0

Awards and honors

[edit]

Lou Whitaker

  • AL Rookie of the Year Award

Ron LeFlore

  • Tiger of the Year Award, from Detroit baseball writers

All-Stars

[edit]

Jason Thompson, reserve

League top ten finishers

[edit]

Steve Kemp

  • #3 in AL in bases on balls (97)
  • #4 in AL in times on base (259)
  • #5 in AL in games played (159)

Ron LeFlore

  • MLB leader in runs scored (126)
  • AL leader in stolen bases (68)
  • AL leader in singles (153)
  • #2 in AL in hits (198)
  • #2 in AL in runs created (105)
  • #2 in MLB in at bats (666)
  • #2 in MLB in plate appearances (741)
  • #3 in MLB in times on base (267)
  • #3 in AL in outs (501)
  • #4 in AL in Power/Speed Number (20.4)
  • #5 in AL in times caught stealing (16)

Dave Rozema

  • #5 in MLB in bases on balls per 9 innings pitched (1.76)

Jim Slaton

  • #4 in AL in hit batsmen (8)
  • #5 in AL in wild pitches (10)

Rusty Staub

  • #2 in MLB in RBIs (121)
  • #2 in MLB in games played (162)
  • #2 in AL in sacrifice flies (11)
  • #2 in AL in at bats per strikeout (18.3)
  • #2 in AL in outs (505)
  • #3 in AL in at bats (642)
  • #3 in MLB in plate appearances (734)
  • #3 in MLB in times grounded into double plays (24)
  • #4 in AL total bases (279)
  • #5 in AL in hits (175)
  • #5 in AL in times on base (254)

Jason Thompson

  • #4 in AL in runs created (104)
  • #5 in AL in total bases (278)

Milt Wilcox

  • #4 in AL in hit batsmen (8)

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

[edit]

The following members of the 1979 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked by The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:

  • Lance Parrish: 19th best catcher of all time (played 12 games as a rookie)
  • Lou Whitaker: 13th best second baseman of all time (played 11 games as a rookie)
  • Alan Trammell: 9th best shortstop of all time (played 19 games as a rookie)
  • Aurelio Rodríguez: 91st best third baseman of all time
  • Ron LeFlore: 80th best center fielder of all time

Farm system

[edit]
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Evansville Triplets American Association Les Moss
AA Montgomery Rebels Southern League Eddie Brinkman
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Jim Leyland
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Joe Lewis

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Chris Codiroli at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Tito Fuentes at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Kirk Gibson at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Jerry Ujdur at Baseball-Reference
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1978_Detroit_Tigers_season&oldid=1196264506"