| 1978 Detroit Tigers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | American League | |||
| Division | East | |||
| Ballpark | Tiger Stadium | |||
| City | Detroit,Michigan | |||
| Owners | John Fetzer | |||
| General managers | Jim Campbell | |||
| Managers | Ralph Houk | |||
| Television | WWJ-TV (George Kell, Mike Barry, Joe Pellegrino,Al Kaline) | |||
| Radio | WJR (Ernie Harwell,Paul Carey) | |||
| ||||
The1978 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 78th season and the 67th season atTiger Stadium. The Tigers finished in fifth place in theAmerican League East with a record of 86–76, 13½ games behind theYankees. They outscored their opponents 714 to 653.
It was the franchise's first winning season since1973 and would start a string of winning seasons that would not come to an end until1989.
The Tigers drew 1,714,893 fans toTiger Stadium in 1978, ranking 5th of the 14 teams in the American League.
| 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 |
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 | — |
| 1978 Detroit Tigers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders
Other batters | Manager Coaches | ||||||
| = Indicates team leader |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
Jason Thompson, reserve (Second career All-Star appearance)
The following members of the 1979 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked byThe Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:
