1993 Detroit Tigers season

The Detroit Tigers' 1993 season was a season in American baseball. The club wasn't expected to do much after a sixth-place finish the previous season. The pitching staff was riddled with inconsistencies, but the Tigers were in first place as late as June 25 before a 10-game losing streak ended their hopes of a turnaround.

1993 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
OwnersMike Ilitch
General managersJerry Walker
ManagersSparky Anderson
Local televisionWDIV-TV
(George Kell, Al Kaline)
PASS
(Jim Price, Jim Northrup)
Local radioWJR
(Rick Rizzs, Bob Rathbun, Ernie Harwell)
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Overview

At the heart of the team were three stars left over from the championship team of 1984: 36-year-old second baseman Lou Whitaker, 36-year-old outfielder Kirk Gibson (who had returned to Detroit during the 1992 offseason), and 35-year-old shortstop Alan Trammell. There was also the All-Star slugger Cecil Fielder at first base who, true to form, clubbed 30 home runs and drove in a team-high 117 RBIs; promising young shortstop Travis Fryman batted an even .300 and paced the team with 182 hits; and catcher Chad Kreuter enjoyed the best season of his career, setting career-highs in homers (15), average (.286) and runs batted in (51).

Tony Phillips, a versatile switch hitter, could play just about anywhere in the field and even DH, but he mostly ended up in the outfield. A patient leadoff man, Phillips set the table for the Tigers' offense. He got on base any way he could, with a base hit, drawing a walk or getting hit by a pitch more than 300 times; thus, he scored 113 runs while hitting for a .313 average. Mickey Tettleton was equally flexible. He caught, played first, and also saw duty in the outfield and at DH when needed. With power from both sides of the plate, Tettleton did serious damage, hitting 32 homers, driving in 110 runs, and drawing 109 walks.

Though the team may often be overlooked in the long, storied history of the Tigers' franchise (perhaps due to being in the midst of the team's leanest years), they were as powerful a lineup as the Tigers had ever seen, and for several weeks they lit up the American League, scoring runs at an eye-popping rate. With a lineup built around patience and swing-for-the-fences power, the Tigers got off to a remarkable start in tallying runs. In their home opener, they pummeled the Oakland Athletics by the score of 20–4. In that game Fryman had five RBIs, Tettleton plated four, and Fielder went 4-for-4 as the Tigers pounded out 18 hits and drew twelve walks. Four days later against the Mariners, the Tigers won 20–3, this time behind 20 hits and ten more walks. The next day Detroit won, 8–7. But that was just the beginning. When the club went on the road to face the Twins for a three-game series in late April, Detroit pounded their way to victories by the scores of 12–4, 17–1, and 16–5. In the series, Detroit finished with 46 hits and drew 22 walks while hitting 11 homers and 23 extra-base hits.[1]

On April 23, the Tigers were in first place and they would stay there for two months. Over the first six weeks of the season, the vaunted Tiger lineup was averaging 81⁄2 runs per game, on pace to score more than 1,300 runs. This would have shattered the modern-day record held by the 1894 Baltimore Orioles, who scored 1,171 runs.[2]

On June 20, the Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7–3, putting them at 43–25, good for first in the East with a two-game lead over second-place and defending World Champion Toronto. However, the team immediately went on a 10-game losing streak, during which they were outscored 80–31. The Tigers never recovered and finished in a tie for third place in the American League East with Baltimore.

Even with their success, the pitching continued to struggle, as evidenced by numerous high-scoring affairs against other top-tier teams such as the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees.

The Tigers lead the American League in runs scored (899), walks (765), on-base percentage (.362), and on base-plus slugging (.796).

The 85 victories were the most by the team in five years and would also mark the Tigers' last winning season until 2006.

Offseason
  • December 7, 1992: Bill Gullickson was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.[3]
  • February 10, 1993: Kirk Gibson was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.[4]
  • Before 1993 Season: Steve Carter was sent from the Detroit Tigers to the Cincinnati Reds.[5]

Regular season

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Toronto Blue Jays 9567 0.586 — 48–33 47–34
New York Yankees 8874 0.543 7 50–31 38–43
Baltimore Orioles 8577 0.525 10 48–33 37–44
Detroit Tigers 8577 0.525 10 44–37 41–40
Boston Red Sox 8082 0.494 15 43–38 37–44
Cleveland Indians 7686 0.469 19 46–35 30–51
Milwaukee Brewers 6993 0.426 26 38–43 31–50

Record vs. opponents
1993 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —6–77–54–88–55–87–58–58–46–710–27–54–85–8
Boston 7–6—7–57–55–86–75–75–87–56–79–37–56–63–10
California 5–75–7—7–65–74–86–77–54–96–66–76–76–74–8
Chicago 8–45–76–7—9–37–56–79–310–34–87–69–48–56–6
Cleveland 5–88–57–53–9—6–77–58–54–86–78–43–97–54–9
Detroit 8–57–68–45–77–6—5–78–56–64–98–47–56–66–7
Kansas City 5–77–57–67–65–77–5—5–77–66–66–77–67–68–4
Milwaukee 5–88–55–73–95–85–87–5—7–54–97–54–84–85–8
Minnesota 4–85–79–43–108–46–66–75–7—4–88–54–97–62–10
New York 7–67–66–68–47–69–46–69–48–4—6–67–53–95–8
Oakland 2–103–97–66–74–84–87–65–75–86–6—9–45–85–7
Seattle 5–75–77–64–99–35–76–78–49–45–74–9—8–57–5
Texas 8–46–67–65–85–76–66–78–46–79–38–55–8—7–5
Toronto 8–510–38–46–69–47–64–88–510–28–57–55–75–7—

Notable transactions

Roster
1993 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Starters by position

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
CChad Kreuter119374107.2861551
1BCecil Fielder154573153.26730117
2BLou Whitaker119383111.290967
SSTravis Fryman151607182.3002297
3BScott Livingstone9830489.293239
LFDan Gladden9135695.2671356
CFMilt Cuyler8224953.213019
RFRob Deer9032370.2171439
DHKirk Gibson116403105.2611362

Other batters

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
Tony Phillips151566177.313757
Mickey Tettleton152522128.24532110
Alan Trammell112401132.3291260
Skeeter Barnes8416045.281227
Chris Gomez4612832.250011
Gary Thurman758919.213013
Eric Davis237519.253615
Danny Bautista176119.31119
Rich Rowland214610.21704

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mike Moore36213.21395.2289
David Wells32187.01194.19139
John Doherty32184.214114.4463
Bill Gullickson28159.11395.3770

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mark Leiter27106.2664.7370
Tom Bolton43102.2664.4766
Bill Krueger3282.0643.4060
Sean Bergman939.2145.6719

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mike Henneman6353242.6458
Bob MacDonald683335.3539
Kurt Knudsen303224.7829
Storm Davis240243.0636
Dave Haas201206.1117
Buddy Groom190206.1415
Joe Boever192132.7414
Greg Gohr160005.9623
Mike Gardiner100003.974
John Kiely80207.713
Mike Munoz80106.001
Dave Johnson611012.967
Mark Grater60005.404
John DeSilva10009.000

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Joe Sparks
AA London Tigers Eastern League Tom Runnells
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Gerry Groninger
A Fayetteville Generals South Atlantic League Mark Wagner
A-Short Season Niagara Falls Rapids New York–Penn League Larry Parrish
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Rubén Amaro, Sr.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Niagara Falls[8]

Notes
  1. 1993 Detroit Tigers schedule
  2. 1894 Baltimore Orioles season
  3. Bill Gullickson at Baseball Reference
  4. "Kirk Gibson Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  5. http: Steve Carter was//www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cartest01.shtml
  6. Joe Boever at Baseball Reference
  7. Eric Davis at Baseball Reference
  8. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball". Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

References
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