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)
Seasons

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

Regular season

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

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 10063 0.613 — 55–26 45–37
Boston Red Sox 9964 0.607 1 59–23 40–41
Milwaukee Brewers 9369 0.574 6½ 54–27 39–42
Baltimore Orioles 9071 0.559 9 51–30 39–41
Detroit Tigers 8676 0.531 13½ 47–34 39–42
Cleveland Indians 6990 0.434 29 42–36 27–54
Toronto Blue Jays 59102 0.366 40 37–44 22–58

Record vs. opponents

1978 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —7–84–68–19–67–82–87–85–56–911–09–17–48–7
Boston 8–7—9–27–37–812–34–610–59–27–95–57–33–711–4
California 6–42–9—8–76–44–79–65–512–35–59–69–65–107–3
Chicago 1–83–77–8—8–22–98–74–78–71–97–87–811–44–6
Cleveland 6–98–74–62–8—5–105–65–105–56–94–68–11–910–4
Detroit 8–73–127–49–210–5—4–67–84–64–116–48–27–39–6
Kansas City 8–26–46–97–86–56–4—6–47–86–510–512–37–85–5
Milwaukee 8–75–105–57–410–58–74–6—4–710–59–15–56–412–3
Minnesota 5–52–93–127–85–56–48–77–4—3–79–66–96–96–4
New York 9–69–75–59–19–611–45–65–107–3—8–26–56–411–4
Oakland 0–115–56–98–76–44–65–101–96–92–8—13–26–97–4
Seattle 1–93–76–98–71–82–83–125–59–65–62–13—3–128–2
Texas 4–77–310–54–119–13–78–74–69–64–69–612–3—4–7
Toronto 7–84–113–76–44–106–95–53–124–64–114–72–87–4—

Notable transactions

Roster

1978 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

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
CMilt May10535288.2501037
1BJason Thompson153589169.2872679
2BLou Whitaker139484138.285358
3BAurelio Rodríguez134385102.265743
SSAlan Trammell139448120.268234
LFSteve Kemp159582161.2771579
CFRon LeFlore155666198.2971262
RFTim Corcoran11632486.265127
DHRusty Staub162642175.27324121

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
Lance Parrish8528863.2191441
Phil Mankowski8822261.275420
John Wockenfuss7118753.283722
Mickey Stanley5315140.26538
Steve Dillard5613029.22307
Mark Wagner3910926.23906
Charlie Spikes10287.25002
Dave Stegman8144.28613

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jim Slaton35233.217114.1292
Milt Wilcox29215.113123.76132
Dave Rozema28209.19123.1457
Jack Billingham30201.21583.8859
Kip Young14105.2672.8149
Mark Fidrych322.0202.4510

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jack Morris28106.0354.3348
Bob Sykes2293.2663.9458
Steve Baker1563.1244.5539

Relief pitchers

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 Hiller519414462.3474
Steve Foucault24244153.1318
Jim Crawford20230104.3524
Ed Glynn1000063.079
Dave Tobik500043.7511
Fernando Arroyo200018.311
Sheldon Burnside200019.003
Bruce Taylor100010.000

Awards and honors

Lou Whitaker

  • AL Rookie of the Year Award

Ron LeFlore

  • Tiger of the Year Award, from Detroit baseball writers

All-Stars

Jason Thompson, reserve

League top ten finishers

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

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

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

  1. ↑ Chris Codiroli at Baseball-Reference
  2. ↑ Tito Fuentes at Baseball-Reference
  3. ↑ Kirk Gibson at Baseball-Reference
  4. ↑ Jerry Ujdur at Baseball-Reference
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