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)
← 1977 Seasons 1979 →

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 100 63 0.613 — 55–26 45–37
Boston Red Sox 99 64 0.607 1 59–23 40–41
Milwaukee Brewers 93 69 0.574 6½ 54–27 39–42
Baltimore Orioles 90 71 0.559 9 51–30 39–41
Detroit Tigers 86 76 0.531 13½ 47–34 39–42
Cleveland Indians 69 90 0.434 29 42–36 27–54
Toronto Blue Jays 59 102 0.366 40 37–44 22–58

Record vs. opponents

1978 American League record

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 —


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
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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

Awards and honors

Lou Whitaker

Ron LeFlore

All-Stars

Jason Thompson, reserve

League top ten finishers

Steve Kemp

Ron LeFlore

Dave Rozema

Jim Slaton

Rusty Staub

Jason Thompson

Milt Wilcox

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:

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
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

External links

1978 MLB season by team
Detroit Tigers
Categories