2000 Detroit Tigers
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionCentral
BallparkComerica Park
CityDetroit, Michigan
OwnersMike Ilitch
General managersRandy Smith
ManagersPhil Garner
TelevisionWKBD
(Frank Beckmann, Al Kaline)
Fox Sports Detroit
(Josh Lewin, Kirk Gibson, Tom Paciorek)
RadioDetroit Tigers Radio Network
(Ernie Harwell, Jim Price, Dan Dickerson)
Seasons

The 2000 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 100th season and its first season at Comerica Park, after playing at Tiger Stadium since 1912, at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue (also site of their previous stadiums since 1896).

Offseason

  • November 2, 1999: Juan González was traded by the Texas Rangers with Danny Patterson and Gregg Zaun to the Detroit Tigers for Frank Catalanotto, Francisco Cordero, Bill Haselman, Gabe Kapler, Justin Thompson, and Alan Webb (minors).[1]
  • November 15, 1999: Luis Polonia was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.[2]
  • November 29, 1999: Mike Oquist was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.[3]
  • March 7, 2000: Gregg Zaun was sent to the Kansas City Royals by the Detroit Tigers as part of a conditional deal.[4]
  • March 13, 2000: Mike Oquist was released by the Detroit Tigers.[3]
  • March 26, 2000: Mike Oquist was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.[3]

Regular season

  • On October 1, 2000, Dusty Allen hit a home run in the last at-bat of his career.[5]
Honored 2000

Harry
Heilmann
OF: 1914-29

Heinie
Manush
OF: 1923-27

 Honored 2000

Hughie
Jennings
M: 1907-20

Sam
Crawford
OF: 1903-17

 Honored 2000

Mickey
Cochrane
C: 1934-37
M: 1934-38
George
Kell
3B: 1946-52		 Honored 2000

Ernie
Harwell
Broadcaster:
1960–2002		 Honored 2000

Comerica Park

Groundbreaking for a new ballpark to replace Tiger Stadium for the Detroit Tigers was held on October 29, 1997, and the new stadium was opened to the public in 2000. At the time of construction, the scoreboard in left field was the largest in Major League Baseball.[6] In December 1998, Comerica Bank agreed to pay US$66 million over 30 years for the naming rights for the new ballpark. Upon its opening, there was some effort to try to find a nickname for the park, with the abbreviation CoPa suggested by many,[7] but that nickname has not gained widespread acceptance.

First Game

Comerica Park panoramic

The first game at Comerica Park was held on Tuesday, April 11, 2000, with 39,168 spectators attending, on a cold snowy afternoon. Grounds people had to clear snow off the field from the night before. The Tigers defeated the Seattle Mariners by a score of 5-2. The winning pitcher, like in the final game at Tiger Stadium was Brian Moehler.

April 22

The Tigers were involved in a pair of bench-clearing brawls in a 14–6 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park on April 22. Both were fueled by pitchers hitting batters. The tensions began in the sixth inning with Carlos Lee and Jeff Weaver who continued to jaw with Lee after being subbed out. A retaliatory pitch thrown by Jim Parque to Dean Palmer one inning later in the seventh began the first brawl which moved into shallow right field and included Keith Foulke being punched by Bobby Higginson and sustaining a cut under his left eye that needed five stitches to close. Four batters after Tanyon Sturtze hit Deivi Cruz in the ninth, the second brawl erupted when Bob Howry did likewise to Shane Halter. Among the eleven ejections were the Tigers' Weaver, Palmer, Robert Fick, Danny Patterson and Doug Brocail and White Sox's Sturtze, Howry, Magglio Ordóñez, Bill Simas, manager Jerry Manuel and bench coach Joe Nossek.[8]

In the harshest penalty for a brawl in MLB history, a combined 16 members of the Tigers and White Sox were suspended for a total of 82 games five days later on April 27.[9] Tigers coach Juan Samuel incurred the longest at 15 for throwing punches rather than serving as a peacemaker, while the opposing managers Manuel and Phil Garner each received eight. Palmer was also assessed eight for participating in the second brawl despite having already been ejected. Other suspended Tigers were Higginson and Fick for five each, Brocail for four and Juan Encarnación, Karim García and Luis Polonia for three. Ordóñez was the White Sox player receiving the longest suspension at five, while Lee, Parque, Foulke, Sturtze and Howry got three each.[10]

Season standings

AL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 9567 0.586 — 46–35 49–32
Cleveland Indians 9072 0.556 5 48–33 42–39
Detroit Tigers 7983 0.488 16 43–38 36–45
Kansas City Royals 7785 0.475 18 42–39 35–46
Minnesota Twins 6993 0.426 26 36–45 33–48

Record vs. opponents

2000 American League record

Source: AL Standings Head-to-Head
Team ANA BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC  MIN NYY OAK SEA TB  TEX TOR NL 
Anaheim—7–55–44–63–65–56–67–35–55–85–86–67–55–712–6
Baltimore5–7—5–74–65–46–43–76–35–74–83–78–56–67–67–11
Boston4–57–5—7–56–67–54–68–26–75–55–56–67–34–89–9
Chicago6–46–45–7—8–59–35–77–58–46–37–56–45–55–512–6
Cleveland6–34–56–65–8—6–75–75–85–56–67–28–26–48–413–5
Detroit5–54–65–73–97–6—5–77–68–46–47–24–55–53–910–8
Kansas City6–67–36–47–57–57–5—7–52–84–84–85–53–74–68–10
Minnesota3–73–62–85–78–56–75–7—5–55–73–94–68–45–47–11
New York5–57–57–64–85–54–88–25–5—6–34–66–610–25–711–6
Oakland8–58–45–53–66–64–68–47–53–6—9–47–25–77–311–7
Seattle8–57–35–55–72–72–78–49–36–44–9—9–37–58–211–7
Tampa Bay6–65–86–64–62–85–45–56–46–62–73–9—5–75–79–9
Texas5–76–63–75–54–65–57–34–82–107–55–77–5—4–67–11
Toronto7–56–78–45–54–89–36–44–57–53–72–87–56–4—9–9

Notable transactions

  • May 10, 2000: Rich Becker was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.[11]
  • July 31, 2000: Luis Polonia was released by the Detroit Tigers.[2]

Roster

2000 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

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
Bobby Higginson154597179.30030102
Deivi Cruz15658376.3021082
Juan Encarnación141547158.2891472
Dean Palmer145524134.25629102
Brad Ausmus150523139.266751
Damion Easley126464120.2591458
Juan González115461133.2892267
Luis Polonia8026773.273625
Shane Halter10523862.261327
Rich Becker9223858.244734
Tony Clark6020857.2741337
Wendell Magee9118651.274731
José Macías7317344.254224
Robert Fick6616341.252322
Gregg Jefferies4114239.275214
Billy McMillon4612337.301424
Hal Morris4010633.31118
Javier Cardona26407.17512
Karim García8173.17600
Dusty Allen18167.43822
Eric Munson350.00001
Rod Lindsey1131.33300
Gabe Alvarez110.00000
Pitcher Totals162191.05300
Team Totals16256441553.275177785

Note: Individual pitchers' batting statistics not included

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
Jeff Weaver31200.011154.32136
Hideo Nomo32190.08124.74181
Brian Moehler29178.01294.50103
Dave Mlicki24119.16115.5857
Steve Sparks20104.0754.0753

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
Willie Blair47156.21064.8874
C.J. Nitkowski67109.2495.2581
Adam Bernero1234.1014.1920
Mark Johnson924.0017.5011
Dave Borkowski25.10121.941

Relief pitchers

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

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Todd Jones6764.024423.5267
Matt Anderson6974.13214.7271
Danny Patterson5856.25103.9729
Doug Brocail4950.25404.0941
Nelson Cruz2741.05203.0734
Jim Poole188.21007.275
Allen McDill1310.00007.207
Kevin Tolar53.00003.003
Brandon Villafuerte34.100010.381
Erik Hiljus33.20007.362
Sean Runyan33.00006.001
Masao Kida22.200010.130
Shane Halter10.0000----0
Team Pitching Totals1621443.17983444.71978

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Dave Anderson and Glenn Ezell
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Gene Roof
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Skeeter Barnes
A West Michigan Whitecaps Midwest League Bruce Fields
A-Short Season Oneonta Tigers New York–Penn League Gary Green
Rookie GCL Tigers Gulf Coast League Kevin Bradshaw

[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Juan Gonzalez Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  2. 1 2 "Luis Polonia Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  3. 1 2 3 "Mike Oquist Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  4. ↑ "Gregg Zaun Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  5. ↑ "Home Run in Last At Bat by Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com.
  6. ↑ "Turner Construction Company". Archived from the original on February 17, 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Fans were terrific at going-away party". archive.is. November 1, 2006. Archived from the original on November 1, 2006.
  8. ↑ "Tigers, White Sox Get Fighting Mad: 11 Tossed," The Washington Post, Sunday, April 23, 2000. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  9. ↑ "MLB Suspends 16 After Melee," The Associated Press (AP), Thursday, April 27, 2000. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  10. ↑ Newhan, Ross. "16 Suspended for 82 Games for Roles in Chicago Brawl," Los Angeles Times, Friday, April 28, 2000. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Rich Becker Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  12. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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