1969 Detroit Tigers season

The 1969 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished a distant second in the newly established American League East with a record of 90–72, 19 games behind the Baltimore Orioles.

1969 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Tiger Stadium (since 1912) Detroit, Michigan (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	John Fetzer
General manager(s)	Jim Campbell
Manager(s)	Mayo Smith
Local television	WJBK (George Kell, Larry Osterman)
Local radio	WJR (Ernie Harwell, Ray Lane)
< Previous season     Next season >

Offseason

• October 15, 1968: Dick Drago was drafted from the Tigers by the Kansas City Royals as the 31st pick in the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft.[1]
• December 15, 1968: Dennis Ribant was purchased from the Tigers by the Kansas City Royals.[2]
• February 1, 1969: John Young was drafted by the Tigers in the 1st round (16th pick) of the 1969 Major League Baseball draft (Secondary Phase).[3]

Regular season

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	109	53	0.673	—	60–21	49–32
Detroit Tigers	90	72	0.556	19	46–35	44–37
Boston Red Sox	87	75	0.537	22	46–35	41–40
Washington Senators	86	76	0.531	23	47–34	39–42
New York Yankees	80	81	0.497	28½	48–32	32–49
Cleveland Indians	62	99	0.385	46½	33–48	29–51

Record vs. opponents

1969 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	WSH
Baltimore	—	10–8	6–6	9–3	13–5	11–7	11–1	8–4	11–7	8–4	9–3	13–5
Boston	8–10	—	8–4	5–7	12–6	10–8	10–2	7–5	11–7	4–8	6–6	6–12
California	6–6	4–8	—	9–9	8–4	5–7	9–9	7–11	3–9	6–12	9–9–1	5–7
Chicago	3–9	7–5	9–9	—	8–4	3–9	8–10	5–13	3–9	8–10	10–8	4–8
Cleveland	5–13	6–12	4–8	4–8	—	7–11	7–5	5–7	9–8	5–7	7–5	3–15
Detroit	7–11	8–10	7–5	9–3	11–7	—	8–4	6–6	10–8	7–5	10–2	7–11
Kansas City	1–11	2–10	9–9	10–8	5–7	4–8	—	8–10	5–7–1	8–10	10–8	7–5
Minnesota	4–8	5–7	11–7	13–5	7–5	6–6	10–8	—	10–2	13–5	12–6	6–6
New York	7–11	7–11	9–3	9–3	8–9	8–10	7–5–1	2–10	—	6–6	7–5	10–8
Oakland	4–8	8–4	12–6	10–8	7–5	5–7	10–8	5–13	6–6	—	13–5	8–4
Seattle	3–9	6–6	9–9–1	8–10	5–7	2–10	8–10	6–12	5–7	5–13	—	7–5
Washington	5–13	12–6	7–5	8–4	15–3	11–7	5–7	6–6	8–10	4–8	5–7	—

Notable transactions

• June 14, 1969: Ron Woods was traded by the Tigers to the New York Yankees for Tom Tresh.[4]
• August 8, 1969: Don McMahon was traded by the Tigers to the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later. The Giants completed the deal by sending César Gutiérrez to the Tigers on September 2.[5]

Roster

1969 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers 22 Pat Dobson 18 John Hiller 35 Mike Kilkenny 15 Fred Lasher 29 Mickey Lolich 17 Denny McLain 47 Don McMahon 36 Norm McRae 43 Daryl Patterson 14 Dick Radatz 20 Bob Reed 39 Fred Scherman 21 Joe Sparma 47 Gary Taylor 28 Tom Timmermann 16 Earl Wilson	Catchers 11 Bill Freehan 12 Jim Price Infielders  9 Ike Brown 33 Dave Campbell 25 Norm Cash  7 César Gutiérrez  2 Tom Matchick  3 Dick McAuliffe 44 Dick Tracewski  4 Tom Tresh  8 Don Wert		Outfielders 26 Gates Brown 23 Willie Horton  6 Al Kaline  5 Jim Northrup 24 Mickey Stanley 27 Ron Woods Other batters 31 Wayne Redmond		Manager 10 Mayo Smith Coaches 51 Wally Moses 52 Hal Naragon 50 Grover Resinger 53 Johnny Sain

Player stats

Batting

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
C	Bill Freehan	143	489	128	.262	16	49
1B	Norm Cash	143	483	135	.280	22	74
2B	Dick McAuliffe	74	262	71	.262	11	33
SS	Tom Tresh	94	331	74	.224	13	37
3B	Don Wert	132	423	95	.225	14	50
LF	Willie Horton	141	508	133	.262	28	91
CF	Jim Northrup	148	543	160	.295	25	66
RF	Al Kaline	131	456	124	.272	21	69

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
Mickey Stanley	149	592	139	.235	16	70
Tommy Matchick	94	298	72	.242	0	32
Jim Price	72	192	45	.234	9	28
Ike Brown	70	170	39	.229	5	12
Gates Brown	60	93	19	.204	1	6
Dick Tracewski	66	79	11	.139	0	4
César Gutiérrez	17	49	12	.245	0	0
Dave Campbell	32	39	4	.103	0	2
Ron Woods	17	15	4	.267	1	3
Wayne Redmond	5	3	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

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
Denny McLain	42	325	24	9	2.80	181
Mickey Lolich	37	280.2	19	11	3.14	271
Earl Wilson	35	214.2	12	10	3.31	150

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
Mike Kilkenny	39	128.1	8	6	3.37	97
Pat Dobson	49	105	5	10	3.60	64
John Hiller	40	99.1	4	4	3.99	74
Joe Sparma	23	92.2	6	8	4.76	41
Bob Reed	8	14.2	0	0	1.84	9

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
Don McMahon	34	3	5	11	3.89	38
Fred Lasher	32	2	1	0	3.07	26
Tom Timmermann	31	4	3	1	2.75	42
Daryl Patterson	18	0	2	0	2.82	12
Dick Radatz	11	2	2	0	3.38	18
Gary Taylor	7	0	1	0	5.23	3
Fred Scherman	4	1	0	0	6.75	3
Norm McRae	3	0	0	0	6.00	3

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toledo Mud Hens	International League	Jack Tighe
AA	Montgomery Rebels	Southern League	Frank Carswell
A	Rocky Mount Leafs	Carolina League	Al Federoff
A	Lakeland Tigers	Florida State League	Len Okrie
A-Short Season	Batavia Trojans	New York–Penn League	Bob Dustal
Rookie	Bristol Tigers	Appalachian League	Bill Lajoie

Awards and honors

• Al Kaline, Hutch Award[6]

Notes

1. Dick Drago at Baseball Reference
2. Dennis Ribant at Baseball Reference
3. John Young at Baseball Reference
4. Tom Tresh at Baseball Reference
5. César Gutiérrez at Baseball Reference
6. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/aw_hut.shtml

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1969 Detroit Tigers season at Baseball Reference