1972 Detroit Tigers
American League East Champions
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkTiger Stadium
CityDetroit, Michigan
OwnersJohn Fetzer
General managersJim Campbell
ManagersBilly Martin
TelevisionWJBK
(George Kell, Larry Osterman)
RadioWJR
(Ernie Harwell, Ray Lane)
← 1971 Seasons 1973 →

The 1972 Detroit Tigers won the American League East championship with a record of 86–70 (.551), finishing one-half game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. They played one more game than the Red Sox due to a scheduling quirk caused by the 1972 Major League Baseball strike—a game which turned out to allow them to win the division. They lost the 1972 American League Championship Series to the Oakland A's three games to two.

Offseason

Notable transactions

Regular season

Season standings

AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 86 70 0.551 — 44–34 42–36
Boston Red Sox 85 70 0.548 ½ 52–26 33–44
Baltimore Orioles 80 74 0.519 5 38–39 42–35
New York Yankees 79 76 0.510 6½ 46–31 33–45
Cleveland Indians 72 84 0.462 14 43–34 29–50
Milwaukee Brewers 65 91 0.417 21 37–42 28–49

Record vs. opponents

1972 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore — 7–11 6–6 8–4 8–10 10–8 6–6 10–5 6–6 7–6 6–6 6–6
Boston 11–7 — 8–4 6–6 8–7 5–9 6–6 11–7 4–8 9–9 9–3 8–4
California 6–6 4–8 — 7–11 8–4 5–7 9–6 7–5 7–8 4–8 8–10 10–7
Chicago 4–8 6–6 11–7 — 8–4 5–7 8–9 9–3 8–6 7–5 7–8 14–4
Cleveland 10–8 7–8 4–8 4–8 — 10–8 6–6 5–10 8–4 7–11 2–10 9–3
Detroit 8–10 9–5 7–5 7–5 8–10 — 7–5 10–8 9–3 7–9 4–8 10–2
Kansas City 6–6 6–6 6–9 9–8 6–6 5–7 — 7–5 9–9 7–5 7–11 8–6
Milwaukee 5–10 7–11 5–7 3–9 10–5 8–10 5–7 — 4–8 9–9 4–8 5–7
Minnesota 6–6 8–4 8–7 6–8 4–8 3–9 9–9 8–4 — 6–6 8–9 11–7
New York 6–7 9–9 8–4 5–7 11–7 9–7 5–7 9–9 6–6 — 3–9 8–4
Oakland 6–6 3–9 10–8 8–7 10–2 8–4 11–7 8–4 9–8 9–3 — 11–4
Texas 6–6 4–8 7–10 4–14 3–9 2–10 6–8 7–5 7–11 4–8 4–11 —


Season summary

After having a losing record in 1970, the Tigers were reinvigorated in 1971 and 1972 by their fiery manager, Billy Martin.

The 1972 Tigers were an aging team whose best hitters (Al Kaline and Norm Cash) were both 37 years old. Together with the late-season acquisition of 38-year-old slugger Frank Howard, this led to a group of Tigers batters who were past their prime, and the team finished the year with an anemic .237 batting average—seventh in the AL. Light-hitting third baseman Aurelio Rodríguez led the team with 142 hits, and the 37-year-olds Kaline and Cash led the way in batting average (Kaline hit .313), RBIs (Cash had 61), and home runs (Cash had 22).

The strength of the 1972 team was pitching. The team's ace, Mickey Lolich, won 22 games, struck out 250 batters (2nd best in the AL), and had a 2.50 ERA. Joe Coleman had 19 wins and 222 strikeouts, and the early August acquisition of Woodie Fryman proved to be a key element in a tight pennant race. Between August 1 and 17, the Tigers went 5–12, and three of the team's wins were by Fryman. Excluding Fryman's wins, the Tigers were 2–12 in the first half of August. In the final two months of the season, Fryman had a 10–3 record with a 2.06 ERA (Adjusted ERA+ of 154).

Defense also played an important role in the team's success. Rodríguez led AL third basemen with 150 putouts and 348 assists, and shortstop Ed Brinkman won the Gold Glove award and led AL shortstops with a .990 fielding percentage (33 points above the league average). Brinkman set a record going 72 games and 331 total chances without an error from late May through early August. Despite a .205 batting average, Brinkman won the "Tiger of the Year" award from the Detroit baseball writers and finished ninth in the American League MVP voting.

The 1972 Tigers outscored their opponents 558 to 514. The pennant race came down to the final series, a matchup between the first place Red Sox and the second place Tigers. The Tigers won two of three games and finished a half game ahead of the Red Sox. (Because of cancellation of games missed during the early-season strike, the Tigers were scheduled for one game more than the Red Sox.)

Detroit's attendance total of 1,892,386 was tops among the twelve American League teams and second in the majors behind the New York Mets.

Season highlights

Notable transactions

Roster

1972 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 Bill Freehan 111 374 98 .262 10 56
1B Norm Cash 137 440 114 .259 22 61
2B Dick McAuliffe 122 408 98 .240 8 30
3B Aurelio Rodríguez 153 601 142 .236 13 56
SS Ed Brinkman 156 516 105 .203 6 49
LF Willie Horton 108 333 77 .231 11 36
CF Mickey Stanley 142 435 102 .234 14 55
RF Al Kaline 106 278 87 .313 10 32

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
Jim Northrup 134 426 111 .261 8 42
Gates Brown 103 252 58 .230 10 31
Tony Taylor 78 228 69 .303 1 20
Tom Haller 59 121 25 .207 2 13
Duke Sims 38 98 31 .316 4 19
Ike Brown 51 84 21 .250 2 10
Paul Jata 32 74 17 .230 0 3
Frank Howard 14 33 8 .242 1 7
John Knox 14 13 1 .077 0 0
Wayne Comer 27 9 1 .111 0 1
Dalton Jones 7 7 0 .000 0 0
Marvin Lane 8 6 0 .000 0 0
Ike Blessitt 4 5 0 .000 0 0
John Gamble 6 3 0 .000 0 0
Joe Staton 6 2 0 .000 0 0
Gene Lamont 1 0 0 ---- 0 0

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

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
Mickey Lolich 41 327.1 22 14 2.50 250
Joe Coleman 40 280.0 19 14 2.80 222
Woodie Fryman 16 113.2 10 3 2.06 72
Les Cain 5 23.2 0 3 3.80 16
Fred Holdsworth 2 7.0 0 1 12.86 5

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
Tom Timmermann 34 149.2 8 10 2.89 88
Bill Slayback 23 81.2 5 6 3.20 65
Joe Niekro 18 47.0 3 2 3.83 24

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
Chuck Seelbach 61 9 8 14 34 2.89 76
Fred Scherman 57 7 3 12 27 3.64 53
Chris Zachary 25 1 1 1 9 1.41 21
John Hiller 24 1 2 3 8 2.03 26
Ron Perranoski 17 0 1 0 5 7.71 10
Lerrin LaGrow 16 0 1 2 6 1.32 9
Jim Foor 7 1 0 0 1 14.73 2
Phil Meeler 7 0 1 0 2 4.32 5
Bob Strampe 7 0 0 0 4 11.57 4
Bill Gilbreth 2 0 0 0 0 16.20 2
Don Leshnock 1 0 0 0 1 0.00 2
Mike Kilkenny 1 0 0 0 1 9.00 0

Awards and honors

All-Stars

1972 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

League top ten finishers

Ed Brinkman

Joe Coleman

Woodie Fryman

Fred Holdsworth

Al Kaline

Mickey Lolich

Aurelio Rodríguez

Chuck Seelbach

Mickey Stanley

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1972 Tigers have been ranked among the Top 100 of all time at their position in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:

Postseason

American League Championship Series

Main article: 1972 American League Championship Series

The Tigers lost to the Oakland Athletics in the 1972 American League Championship Series, losing three games to two. The A's were 93–62 in the regular season and went on to beat the Cincinnati Reds in the 1972 World Series.

Game 1

October 7, 1972, at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Detroit 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 6 2
Oakland 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 10 1
W: Rollie Fingers (1–0)   L: Mickey Lolich (0–1)   
HR: DET – Norm Cash (1), Al Kaline (1)

Game 1 was a pitching duel with 20-game winners, Mickey Lolich (22–14) and Catfish Hunter (21–7). Norm Cash hit a solo home run in the second inning to put the Tigers ahead, but the A's struck back in the third inning as Bert Campaneris walked, moved to third on a single, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Joe Rudi. The score remained tied, 1–1, through ten innings. In the top of the 11th inning, Al Kaline hit a solo home run off Rollie Fingers to put Detroit ahead. After Sal Bando and Mike Epstein singled to open the bottom of the 11th, Chuck Seelbach came on in relief of Lolich who had pitched 10 innings. Gonzalo Márquez singled to right, driving in two runs to give the A's the win in Game 1.

Game 2

October 8, 1972, at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
Oakland 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 X 5 8 0
W: Blue Moon Odom (1–0)   L: Woodie Fryman (0–1)   
HR: None

Game 2 was a lopsided 5–0 win for the A's, as Blue Moon Odom (15–6) pitched a complete-game shutout and held the Tigers to three hits. Woodie Fryman (10–3), who had been virtually unhittable in August and September, gave up four runs in 4+1⁄3 innings. Bert Campaneris singled in the first inning, stole second and third on successive pitches, and then scored on a single by Joe Rudi. Campaneris singled again in the third inning, and singled and scored again in the firth inning. When Campaneris came to bat in the seventh inning, Lerrin LaGrow's first pitch hit Campaneris in the ankle. Campaneris staggered for a moment, glared at LaGrow and then flung his bat toward the mound. The bat spiraled at LaGrow five feet off the ground, but LaGrow ducked, and the bat narrowly missed LaGrow, landing a few feet behind the mound. A bench-clearing brawl ensued, and Tigers manager Billy Martin had to be restrained by umpires and teammates to prevent him from going after Campaneris. Both LaGrow and Campaneris were suspended for the rest of the ALCS.[5]

Game 3

October 10, 1972, at Tiger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
Detroit 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 X 3 8 1
W: Joe Coleman (1–0)   L: Ken Holtzman (0–1)   
HR: DET – Bill Freehan (1)

The Series moved to Detroit for the final three games. In Game 3, Joe Coleman (19–14) pitched a complete-game shutout and set an ALCS record by striking out 14 A's batters. The Tigers won, 3–0, as Ike Brown hit a single in the 4th inning that drove in Al Kaline and Bill Freehan. Freehan also hit a home run in the 8th inning to complete the scoring. Ken Holtzman (19–11) was the losing pitcher for the A's.

Game 4

October 11, 1972, at Tiger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Oakland 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 3 9 2
Detroit 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 10 1
W: John Hiller (1–0)   L: Bob Locker (0–1)  
HR: OAK – Mike Epstein (1) DET – Dick McAuliffe (1)

Game 4 was the most exciting game of the Series and was rated by The Sporting News as one of the five greatest games ever played at Tiger Stadium.[6] The game featured a rematch of Game 1 – Mickey Lolich for Detroit and Catfish Hunter for Oakland. Detroit took the lead in the 3rd inning on a solo home run by Dick McAuliffe, and Lolich held the A's scoreless through six innings. The A's tied the game, 1–1, on a Mike Epstein home run in the 7th inning, and the game went into extra innings with the score tied, 1–1. In the top of the 10th inning, Chuck Seelbach replaced Lolich and gave up two runs. With the Tigers on the verge of elimination, the Tigers staged a dramatic comeback in the bottom of the 10th inning. Dick McAuliffe and Al Kaline opened the inning with singles, and Gates Brown walked to load the bases with nobody out. Bill Freehan bounced a double play ball to third, but Sal Bando's throw to second baseman Gene Tenace was dropped, allowing McAuliffe to score. Norm Cash walked, and Kaline scored to tie the game at 3–3. Jim Northrup ended it with a walk-off game-winning single, as Gates Brown scored the winning run.

Game 5

October 12, 1972, at Tiger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 0
Detroit 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 2
W: Blue Moon Odom (2–0)   L: Woodie Fryman (0–2)   S: Vida Blue (1)
HR: None

The decisive Game 5 was another pitching duel between Blue Moon Odom and Woodie Fryman. Both teams combined for only nine hits, and the only extra-base hit was a double by Odom. The Tigers scored first in the bottom of the first inning, as Dick McAuliffe singled, moved to second on a walk, moved to third on a passed ball, and scored on a groundball by Bill Freehan. The A's tied in the top of the second inning, as Reggie Jackson walked, stole second base, advanced to third on a fly ball, and then stole home. In the fourth inning, George Hendrick reached base on a controversial throwing error (umpire John Rice ruled that first baseman Norm Cash had pulled his foot off the bag but replays showed otherwise).[7] He advanced to second on a bunt, and scored on a Gene Tenace single to left field. Neither team scored a run after the top of the fourth, and the A's won the game, 2–1. In the 9th inning, Norm Cash singled, but pinch hitter Mickey Stanley hit into a fielder's choice and Tony Taylor hit a fly ball to center for the final out. Odom and Vida Blue combined to hold the Tigers to five hits. Despite allowing only one earned run, Fryman took the loss.

Postseason 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
Norm Cash 5 16 4 .250 1 2
Willie Horton 5 10 1 .100 0 0
Al Kaline 5 19 5 .263 1 1
Dick McAuliffe 5 20 4 .200 1 1
Jim Northrup 5 15 5 .333 0 1
Aurelio Rodríguez 5 16 0 .000 0 0
Duke Sims 4 15 3 .200 0 0
Tony Taylor 4 15 2 .133 0 0
Bill Freehan 3 12 3 .250 1 3

Pitching

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 2 19.0 0 1 1.42 9
Woodie Fryman 2 12.1 0 2 3.65 8
Joe Coleman 1 9.0 1 0 0.00 14
John Hiller 3 3.1 1 0 0.00 1
Lerrin LaGrow 1 1.0 0 0 0.00 1
Chuck Seelbach 2 1.0 0 0 18.00 0
Fred Scherman 1 0.2 0 0 0.00 1
Chris Zachary 1 0.0 0 0 inf 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Johnny Lipon
AA Montgomery Rebels Southern League Fred Hatfield
A Rocky Mount Leafs Carolina League Len Okrie
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Stubby Overmire
A Clinton Pilots Midwest League Jim Leyland
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Joe Lewis

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montgomery, Bristol

See also

References

  1. ^ César Gutiérrez page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Jerry Manuel page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Woodie Fryman page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Frank Howard page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Lerrin LaGrow - Baseballbiography.com
  6. ^ "Sports 2000 Moments - Five greatest games at Tiger Stadium". Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved November 2, 2007.
  7. ^ Jim Northrup at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Jim Sargent, Retrieved Oct 14, 2013.

External links

American League East champions
1972 MLB season by team
Detroit Tigers
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