The 1938 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The Detroit Tigers compiled a record of 84 wins and 70 losses, good enough for fourth place in the American League. Hank Greenberg hit 58 home runs, and became the first unanimous selection as the American League MVP.
1938 Detroit Tigers | ||
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League | American League | |
Ballpark | Briggs Stadium | |
City | Detroit | |
Owners | Walter Briggs, Sr. | |
General managers | Mickey Cochrane | |
Managers | Mickey Cochrane, Del Baker | |
Radio | WWJ (AM) (Ty Tyson) WXYZ (Harry Heilmann) | |
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Offseason edit
- December 2, 1937: Mike Tresh, Marv Owen and Gee Walker were traded by the Tigers to the Chicago White Sox for Vern Kennedy, Tony Piet, and Dixie Walker.[1]
Regular season edit
The highlight of the 1938 season was first baseman Hank Greenberg challenging the single-season home run record held by Babe Ruth (60). Hank went into the season's final weekend against the Cleveland Indians with 58 home runs, but failed to homer on Saturday or Sunday. He did tie Jimmie Foxx's record for a right-handed hitter, set in 1932.[2]
Season standings edit
American League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 99 | 53 | 0.651 | — | 55–22 | 44–31 |
Boston Red Sox | 88 | 61 | 0.591 | 9½ | 52–23 | 36–38 |
Cleveland Indians | 86 | 66 | 0.566 | 13 | 46–30 | 40–36 |
Detroit Tigers | 84 | 70 | 0.545 | 16 | 48–31 | 36–39 |
Washington Senators | 75 | 76 | 0.497 | 23½ | 44–33 | 31–43 |
Chicago White Sox | 65 | 83 | 0.439 | 32 | 33–39 | 32–44 |
St. Louis Browns | 55 | 97 | 0.362 | 44 | 31–43 | 24–54 |
Philadelphia Athletics | 53 | 99 | 0.349 | 46 | 28–47 | 25–52 |
Record vs. opponents edit
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH | |||||
Boston | — | 12–6 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 17–5 | 12–9 | |||||
Chicago | 6–12 | — | 9–13 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 13–8–1 | 10–11 | |||||
Cleveland | 10–12 | 13–9 | — | 12–10 | 8–13 | 18–4 | 13–9–1 | 12–9 | |||||
Detroit | 12–10 | 15–7 | 10–12 | — | 8–14 | 14–8 | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | |||||
New York | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 13–8 | 14–8 | — | 16–5–2 | 15–7–1 | 16–6–1 | |||||
Philadelphia | 8–14 | 10–12 | 4–18 | 8–14 | 5–16–2 | — | 12–9 | 6–16 | |||||
St. Louis | 5–17 | 8–13–1 | 9–13–1 | 10–12–1 | 7–15–1 | 9–12 | — | 7–15 | |||||
Washington | 9–12 | 11–10 | 9–12 | 9–13 | 6–16–1 | 16–6 | 15–7 | — |
Roster edit
1938 Detroit Tigers | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
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Player stats edit
Batting edit
Starters by position edit
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 | Rudy York | 135 | 463 | 138 | .298 | 33 | 127 |
1B | Hank Greenberg | 155 | 556 | 175 | .315 | 58 | 146 |
2B | Charlie Gehringer | 152 | 568 | 174 | .306 | 20 | 107 |
SS | Billy Rogell | 136 | 501 | 130 | .259 | 3 | 55 |
3B | Don Ross | 77 | 265 | 69 | .260 | 1 | 30 |
OF | Dixie Walker | 127 | 454 | 140 | .308 | 6 | 43 |
OF | Pete Fox | 155 | 634 | 186 | .293 | 7 | 96 |
OF | Chet Morgan | 74 | 306 | 87 | .284 | 0 | 27 |
Other batters edit
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mark Christman | 95 | 318 | 79 | .248 | 1 | 44 |
Chet Laabs | 64 | 211 | 50 | .237 | 7 | 37 |
Jo-Jo White | 78 | 206 | 54 | .262 | 0 | 15 |
Birdie Tebbetts | 53 | 143 | 42 | .294 | 1 | 25 |
Tony Piet | 41 | 80 | 17 | .213 | 0 | 14 |
Roy Cullenbine | 25 | 67 | 19 | .284 | 0 | 9 |
Ray Hayworth | 8 | 19 | 4 | .211 | 0 | 5 |
Benny McCoy | 7 | 15 | 3 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
George Archie | 3 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching edit
Starting pitchers edit
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vern Kennedy | 33 | 190.1 | 12 | 9 | 5.06 | 53 |
George Gill | 24 | 164.0 | 12 | 9 | 4.12 | 30 |
Elden Auker | 27 | 160.2 | 11 | 10 | 5.27 | 46 |
Tommy Bridges | 25 | 151.0 | 13 | 9 | 4.59 | 101 |
Schoolboy Rowe | 4 | 21.0 | 0 | 2 | 3.00 | 4 |
Other pitchers edit
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Roxie Lawson | 27 | 127.0 | 8 | 9 | 5.46 | 39 |
Harry Eisenstat | 32 | 125.1 | 9 | 6 | 3.72 | 37 |
Boots Poffenberger | 25 | 125.0 | 6 | 7 | 4.82 | 28 |
Al Benton | 19 | 95.1 | 5 | 3 | 3.30 | 33 |
Bob Harris | 3 | 10.0 | 1 | 0 | 7.20 | 7 |
Relief pitchers edit
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Slick Coffman | 39 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6.02 | 31 |
Jake Wade | 27 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6.56 | 23 |
Joe Rogalski | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 2 |
Woody Davis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 | 1 |
Awards and honors edit
- Hank Greenberg finished third in the American League MVP voting.
Farm system edit
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Beaumont, Beckley, Harlingen[3]
Notes edit
- ^ Mike Tresh at Baseball Reference
- ^ "Hank Greenberg Facts from". The Baseball Page.com. Archived from the original on March 12, 2006. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
- ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
External links edit
- 1938 Detroit Tigers season at Baseball Reference