1963 Detroit Tigers
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkTiger Stadium
CityDetroit, Michigan
OwnersJohn Fetzer
General managersJim Campbell
ManagersBob Scheffing, Chuck Dressen
TelevisionWJBK
RadioWKMH
WWJ
WJR
(George Kell, Ernie Harwell)
← 1962 Seasons 1964 →

The 1963 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished tied for fifth place in the American League with a record of 79–83, 25+1⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees.

A sluggish start, then a seven-game, mid-June losing streak, cost third-year manager Bob Scheffing his job on June 17. He was replaced by 68-year-old veteran former MLB manager Chuck Dressen. When the change was made, the Tigers were in ninth place at 24–36 (.400), 11+1⁄2 games behind the Yankees. Scheffing's three-man coaching staff was released along with him.[1] Under Dressen, Detroit would recover to win 55 of 102 games and move up to its fifth-place finish.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 104 57 0.646 — 58–22 46–35
Chicago White Sox 94 68 0.580 10½ 49–33 45–35
Minnesota Twins 91 70 0.565 13 48–33 43–37
Baltimore Orioles 86 76 0.531 18½ 48–33 38–43
Cleveland Indians 79 83 0.488 25½ 41–40 38–43
Detroit Tigers 79 83 0.488 25½ 47–34 32–49
Boston Red Sox 76 85 0.472 28 44–36 32–49
Kansas City Athletics 73 89 0.451 31½ 36–45 37–44
Los Angeles Angels 70 91 0.435 34 39–42 31–49
Washington Senators 56 106 0.346 48½ 31–49 25–57

Record vs. opponents

1963 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KCA LAA MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore — 7–11 7–11 10–8 13–5 9–9 9–9 9–9 7–11 15–3
Boston 11–7 — 8–10 10–8 9–9 7–11 9–8 7–11 6–12 9–9
Chicago 11–7 10–8 — 11–7 11–7 12–6 10–8 8–10 8–10 13–5
Cleveland 8–10 8–10 7–11 — 10–8 11–7 10–8 5–13 7–11 13–5
Detroit 5–13 9–9 7–11 8–10 — 13–5 12–6 8–10 8–10 9–9
Kansas City 9–9 11–7 6–12 7–11 5–13 — 10–8 9–9 6–12 10–8
Los Angeles 9–9 8–9 8–10 8–10 6–12 8–10 — 9–9 5–13 9–9
Minnesota 9–9 11–7 10–8 13–5 10–8 9–9 9–9 — 6–11 14–4
New York 11–7 12–6 10–8 11–7 10–8 12–6 13–5 11–6 — 14–4
Washington 3–15 9–9 5–13 5–13 9–9 8–10 9–9 4–14 4–14 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1963 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
C Gus Triandos 106 327 78 .239 14 41
1B Norm Cash 147 493 133 .270 26 79
2B Jake Wood 85 351 95 .271 11 27
SS Dick McAuliffe 150 568 149 .262 13 61
3B Bubba Phillips 128 464 114 .246 5 45
LF Rocky Colavito 160 597 162 .271 22 91
CF Bill Bruton 145 524 134 .256 8 48
RF Al Kaline 145 551 172 .312 27 101

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
Bill Freehan 100 300 73 .243 9 36
Don Wert 78 251 65 .259 7 25
George Smith 52 171 37 .216 0 17
George Thomas 49 109 26 .239 1 11
Gates Brown 55 82 22 .268 2 14
Whitey Herzog 52 53 8 .151 0 7
Frank Kostro 31 52 12 .231 0 0
Chico Fernández 15 49 7 .143 0 1
Mike Roarke 23 44 14 .318 0 1
Willie Horton 15 43 14 .326 1 4
Coot Veal 15 32 7 .219 0 4
Bubba Morton 6 11 1 .091 0 2
Purnal Goldy 9 8 2 .250 0 0
John Sullivan 3 5 0 .000 0 0
Vic Wertz 6 5 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
Jim Bunning 39 248.1 12 13 3.88 196
Hank Aguirre 38 225.2 14 15 3.67 134
Phil Regan 38 189.0 15 9 3.86 115
Don Mossi 24 122.2 7 7 3.74 68
Frank Lary 16 107.1 4 9 3.27 46
Denny McLain 3 21.0 2 1 4.29 22

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
Mickey Lolich 33 144.1 5 9 3.55 103
Bill Faul 28 97.0 5 6 4.64 64
Willie Smith 11 21.2 1 0 4.57 16
Alan Koch 7 10.0 1 1 10.80 5

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
Terry Fox 46 8 6 11 3.59 35
Bob Anderson 32 3 1 0 3.30 38
Tom Sturdivant 28 1 2 2 3.76 36
Fred Gladding 22 1 1 7 1.98 24
Dick Egan 20 0 1 0 5.14 16
Paul Foytack 9 0 1 0 8.66 7
Bob Dustal 7 0 1 0 9.00 4
Larry Foster 1 0 0 0 13.50 1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse Chiefs International League Bob Swift and Frank Carswell
AA Knoxville Smokies Sally League Frank Carswell, Frank Lary
and Frank Skaff
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Gail Henley
A Thomasville Tigers Georgia–Florida League Al Federoff
A Jamestown Tigers New York–Penn League Stubby Overmire, John O'Neil,
Max Macon and Fred Hatfield
A Duluth–Superior Dukes Northern League Bob Mavis

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Thomasville

Notes

  1. ^ The Associated Press (June 18, 1963). "Tigers Dismiss Scheffing as Manager and Name Dressen" (PDF). timesmachine.nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  2. ^ Tom Matchick at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Rich Reese at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Conrad Cardinal at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Whitey Herzog at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Denny McLain at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Chico Fernández at Baseball Reference

References

Categories