1969 Detroit Tigers season

1969 Detroit Tigers
1969 Detroit Tigers
League	American League
Division	East
Ballpark	Tiger Stadium
City	Detroit, Michigan
Owners	John Fetzer
General managers	Jim Campbell
Managers	Mayo Smith
Television	WJBK; (George Kell, Larry Osterman)
Radio	WJR; (Ernie Harwell, Ray Lane)

The 1969 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished a distant second in the newly established American League East with a record of 90–72, 19 games behind the Baltimore Orioles.

Offseason

October 15, 1968: Dick Drago was drafted from the Tigers by the Kansas City Royals as the 31st pick in the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft.^[1]
December 15, 1968: Dennis Ribant was purchased from the Tigers by the Kansas City Royals.^[2]
February 1, 1969: John Young was drafted by the Tigers in the 1st round (16th pick) of the 1969 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase).^[3]

Regular season

Season standings

v
t
e
AL East
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	109	53	.673	—	60‍–‍21	49‍–‍32
Detroit Tigers	90	72	.556	19	46‍–‍35	44‍–‍37
Boston Red Sox	87	75	.537	22	46‍–‍35	41‍–‍40
Washington Senators	86	76	.531	23	47‍–‍34	39‍–‍42
New York Yankees	80	81	.497	28½	48‍–‍32	32‍–‍49
Cleveland Indians	62	99	.385	46½	33‍–‍48	29‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

1969 American League records v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEP	WSH
Baltimore	—	10–8	6–6	9–3	13–5	11–7	11–1	8–4	11–7	8–4	9–3	13–5
Boston	8–10	—	8–4	5–7	12–6	10–8	10–2	7–5	11–7	4–8	6–6	6–12
California	6–6	4–8	—	9–9	8–4	5–7	9–9	7–11	3–9	6–12	9–9–1	5–7
Chicago	3–9	7–5	9–9	—	8–4	3–9	8–10	5–13	3–9	8–10	10–8	4–8
Cleveland	5–13	6–12	4–8	4–8	—	7–11	7–5	5–7	9–8	5–7	7–5	3–15
Detroit	7–11	8–10	7–5	9–3	11–7	—	8–4	6–6	10–8	7–5	10–2	7–11
Kansas City	1–11	2–10	9–9	10–8	5–7	4–8	—	8–10	5–7–1	8–10	10–8	7–5
Minnesota	4–8	5–7	11–7	13–5	7–5	6–6	10–8	—	10–2	13–5	12–6	6–6
New York	7–11	7–11	9–3	9–3	8–9	8–10	7–5–1	2–10	—	6–6	7–5	10–8
Oakland	4–8	8–4	12–6	10–8	7–5	5–7	10–8	5–13	6–6	—	13–5	8–4
Seattle	3–9	6–6	9–9–1	8–10	5–7	2–10	8–10	6–12	5–7	5–13	—	7–5
Washington	5–13	12–6	7–5	8–4	15–3	11–7	5–7	6–6	8–10	4–8	5–7	—

Notable transactions

June 14, 1969: Ron Woods was traded by the Tigers to the New York Yankees for Tom Tresh.^[4]
August 8, 1969: Don McMahon was traded by the Tigers to the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later. The Giants completed the deal by sending César Gutiérrez to the Tigers on September 2.^[5]

Roster

1969 Detroit Tigers

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

11 Bill Freehan
12 Jim Price

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

31 Wayne Redmond

Manager

10 Mayo Smith

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	143	489	128	.262	16	49
1B	Norm Cash	143	483	135	.280	22	74
2B	Dick McAuliffe	74	262	71	.262	11	33
SS	Tom Tresh	94	331	74	.224	13	37
3B	Don Wert	132	423	95	.225	14	50
LF	Willie Horton	141	508	133	.262	28	91
CF	Jim Northrup	148	543	160	.295	25	66
RF	Al Kaline	131	456	124	.272	21	69

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
Mickey Stanley	149	592	139	.235	16	70
Tom Matchick	94	298	72	.242	0	32
Jim Price	72	192	45	.234	9	28
Ike Brown	70	170	39	.229	5	12
Gates Brown	60	93	19	.204	1	6
Dick Tracewski	66	79	11	.139	0	4
César Gutiérrez	17	49	12	.245	0	0
Dave Campbell	32	39	4	.103	0	2
Ron Woods	17	15	4	.267	1	3
Wayne Redmond	5	3	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
Denny McLain	42	325.0	24	9	2.80	181
Mickey Lolich	37	280.2	19	11	3.14	271
Earl Wilson	35	214.2	12	10	3.31	150

Other pitchers