1989 Detroit Tigers season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1989 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Tom Monaghan
General manager(s)Bill Lajoie
Manager(s)Sparky Anderson
Local televisionWDIV-TV
(George Kell, Al Kaline)
PASS
(Larry Osterman, Jim Northrup)
Local radioWJR
(Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
< Previous season     Next season >

The Detroit Tigers' 1989 season was a season in American baseball. The Tigers finished 59–103 and in last place in the AL East. It was the team's first losing season since 1977, the worst record in the Major Leagues, as well as (at the time) the franchise's second-worst season ever in terms of both losses (103) and win percentage (.364). It was also (at the time) the franchise's worst full 162-game season (those marks would be surpassed in 1996, 2003, and 2019).

Offseason[]

  • November 16, 1988: Ray Knight was released by the Tigers.[1]
  • November 30, 1988: Randy Bockus was signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.[2]
  • January 13, 1989: Doyle Alexander was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.[3]
  • February 22, 1989: Mark Huismann was released by the Tigers.[4]
  • March 23, 1989: Tom Brookens was traded by the Tigers to the New York Yankees for Charles Hudson.[5]
  • March 23, 1989: Eric King was traded by the Tigers to the Chicago White Sox for Kenny Williams.[6]

Regular season[]

In August, pitcher Charles Hudson, driving drunk, slammed his Mercury Cougar into a telephone pole in a Detroit suburb. He broke his left leg and his right knee needed reconstructive surgery. Hudson would later discuss how he began to drink as he struggled in his baseball career. He would not pitch in the major leagues again and the Tigers released him in November 1989.[7]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Toronto Blue Jays 89 73 0.549 — 46–35 43–38
Baltimore Orioles 87 75 0.537 2 47–34 40–41
Boston Red Sox 83 79 0.512 6 46–35 37–44
Milwaukee Brewers 81 81 0.500 8 45–36 36–45
New York Yankees 74 87 0.460 14½ 41–40 33–47
Cleveland Indians 73 89 0.451 16 41–40 32–49
Detroit Tigers 59 103 0.364 30 38–43 21–60

Record vs. opponents[]

1989 American League Records
  • v
  • t

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 — 6–7 6–6 6–6 7–6 10–3 6–6 7–6 4–8 8–5 5–7 6–6 9–3 7–6
Boston 7–6 — 4–8 7–5 8–5 11–2 4–8 6–7 6–6 7–6 7–5 5–7 6–6 5–8
California 6–6 8–4 — 8–5 5–7 11–1 4–9 7–5 11–2 6–6 5–8 7–6 6–7 7–5
Chicago 6–6 5–7 5–8 — 7–5 4–8 6–7 10–2 5–8 5–6 5–8 7–6 3–10 1–11
Cleveland 6–7 5–8 7–5 5–7 — 5–8 8–4 3–10 5–7 9–4 2–10 6–6 7–5 5–8
Detroit 3–10 2–11 1–11 8–4 8–5 — 6–6 6–7 5–7 6–7 4–8 4–8 4–8 2–11
Kansas City 6–6 8–4 9–4 7–6 4–8 6–6 — 8–4 7–6 6–6 7–6 9–4 8–5 7–5
Milwaukee 6–7 7–6 5–7 2–10 10–3 7–6 4–8 — 9–3 8–5 5–7 7–5 5–7 6–7
Minnesota 8–4 6–6 2–11 8–5 7–5 7–5 6–7 3–9 — 6–6 6–7 7–6 5–8 9–3
New York 5–8 6–7 6–6 6–5 4–9 7–6 6–6 5–8 6–6 — 3–9 8–4 5–7 7–6
Oakland 7–5 5–7 8–5 8–5 10–2 8–4 6–7 7��5 7–6 9–3 — 9–4 8–5 7–5
Seattle 6–6 7–5 6–7 6–7 6–6 8–4 4–9 5–7 6–7 4–8 4–9 — 6–7 5–7
Texas 3–9 6–6 7–6 10–3 5–7 8–4 5–8 7–5 8–5 7–5 5–8 7–6 — 5–7
Toronto 6–7 8–5 5–7 11–1 8–5 11–2 5–7 7–6 3–9 6–7 5–7 7–5 7–5 —


Notable transactions[]

  • May 19, 1989: Rick Schu was purchased by the Tigers from the Baltimore Orioles.[8]
  • June 16, 1989: Pat Sheridan was traded by the Tigers to the San Francisco Giants for Tracy Jones.[9]
  • August 17, 1989: Keith Atherton was signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.[10]

Roster[]

1989 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager
  • 11 Sparky Anderson

Coaches

Player stats[]

= Indicates team leader

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 Mike Heath 122 396 104 .263 10 43
1B Dave Bergman 137 385 103 .268 7 37
2B Lou Whitaker 148 509 128 .251 28 85
3B Rick Schu 98 266 57 .214 7 21
SS Alan Trammell 121 449 109 .243 5 43
LF Fred Lynn 117 353 85 .241 11 46
CF Gary Pettis 119 444 114 .257 1 18
RF Chet Lemon 127 414 98 .237 7 47
DH Keith Moreland 90 318 95 .299 5 35

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
Gary Ward 105 275 69 .251 9 29
Matt Nokes 87 268 67 .250 9 39
Kenny Williams 94 258 53 .205 6 23
Mike Brumley 92 212 42 .198 1 11
Doug Strange 64 196 42 .214 1 14
Tracy Jones 46 158 41 .259 3 26
Pat Sheridan 50 120 29 .242 3 15
Scott Lusader 40 103 26 .252 1 8
Torey Lovullo 29 87 10 .115 1 4
Al Pedrique 31 69 14 .203 0 5
Chris Brown 17 57 11 .193 0 4
Rob Richie 19 49 13 .265 1 10
Matt Sinatro 13 25 3 .120 0 1
Bill Bean 9 11 0 .000 0 0
Jeff Datz 7 10 2 .200 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
Frank Tanana 33 223.2 10 14 3.58 147
Doyle Alexander 33 223 6 18 4.44 95
Jack Morris 24 170.1 6 14 4.86 115
Jeff Robinson 16 78 4 5 4.73 40
Kevin Ritz 12 74 4 6 4.38 56
Brian Dubois 6 36 0 4 1.75 13

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
Paul Gibson 45 132 4 8 4.64 77
Charles Hudson 18 66.2 1 5 6.35 23
Mike Schwabe 13 44.2 2 4 6.04 13
Mike Trujillo 8 25.2 1 2 5.96 13
Steve Searcy 8 22.1 1 1 6.04 11
David Palmer 5 17.1 0 3 7.79 12
Randy Nosek 2 5.1 0 2 13.50 4
Dave Beard 2 5.1 0 2 5.06 1

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
Mike Henneman 60 11 4 8 3.70 69
Frank Williams 42 3 3 1 3.64 33
Willie Hernández 32 2 2 15 5.74 30
Edwin Núñez 27 3 4 1 4.17 41
Brad Havens 13 1 2 0 5.56 15
Ramón Peña 8 0 0 0 6.00 12
Shawn Holman 5 0 0 0 1.80 9
Randy Bockus 2 0 0 0 5.06 2

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League John Wockenfuss
AA London Tigers Eastern League Chris Chambliss
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Johnny Lipon
A Fayetteville Generals South Atlantic League Gene Roof
A-Short Season Niagara Falls Rapids New York–Penn League
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Rubén Amaro, Sr.

[11]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Ray Knight at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ "Randy Bockus Stats".
  3. ^ Doyle Alexander at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Mark Huismann at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Tom Brookens at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Kenny Williams at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ John Harper (February 22, 1995). "A Crash-Course Cubbie". New York Daily News.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Rick Schu at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Tracy Jones at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ "Keith Atherton Stats".
  11. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball". Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

References[]

Retrieved from ""