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.
1959 Detroit Tigers | ||
---|---|---|
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) | |
|
American League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago White Sox | 94 | 60 | 0.610 | — | 47–30 | 47–30 |
Cleveland Indians | 89 | 65 | 0.578 | 5 | 43–34 | 46–31 |
New York Yankees | 79 | 75 | 0.513 | 15 | 40–37 | 39–38 |
Detroit Tigers | 76 | 78 | 0.494 | 18 | 41–36 | 35–42 |
Boston Red Sox | 75 | 79 | 0.487 | 19 | 43–34 | 32–45 |
Baltimore Orioles | 74 | 80 | 0.481 | 20 | 38–39 | 36–41 |
Kansas City Athletics | 66 | 88 | 0.429 | 28 | 37–40 | 29–48 |
Washington Senators | 63 | 91 | 0.409 | 31 | 34–43 | 29–48 |
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 | — |
1959 Detroit Tigers | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
|
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 | 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |