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1993 Detroit Tigers season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1993 Detroit Tigers
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkTiger Stadium
CityDetroit, Michigan
OwnersMike Ilitch
General managersJerry Walker
ManagersSparky Anderson
TelevisionWDIV-TV
(George Kell, Al Kaline)
PASS
(Jim Price, Jim Northrup)
RadioWJR
(Rick Rizzs, Bob Rathbun, Ernie Harwell)
← 1992 Seasons 1994 →

The 1993 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 93rd season and the 82nd season at Tiger Stadium. The team wasn't expected to do much after a sixth-place finish the previous season. The pitching staff was riddled with inconsistencies, but the Tigers were in first place as late as June 25 before a 10-game losing streak ended their hopes of a turnaround. This would be the Tigers last winning season of the 20th century, the next time the team finished with the winning record was 2006, by then the team had been playing in Comerica Park for 7 years.

Overview

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At the heart of the team were three stars left over from the championship team of 1984: 36-year-old second baseman Lou Whitaker, 36-year-old outfielder Kirk Gibson (who had returned to Detroit during the 1992 offseason), and 35-year-old shortstop Alan Trammell. There was also the All-Star slugger Cecil Fielder at first base who, true to form, clubbed 30 home runs and drove in a team-high 117 RBIs; promising young shortstop Travis Fryman batted an even .300 and paced the team with 182 hits; and catcher Chad Kreuter enjoyed the best season of his career, setting career-highs in homers (15), average (.286) and runs batted in (51).

Tony Phillips, a versatile switch hitter, could play just about anywhere in the field and even DH, but he mostly ended up in the outfield. A patient leadoff man, Phillips set the table for the Tigers' offense. He got on base any way he could, with a base hit, drawing a walk or getting hit by a pitch more than 300 times; thus, he scored 113 runs while hitting for a .313 average. Mickey Tettleton was equally flexible. He caught, played first, and also saw duty in the outfield and at DH when needed. With power from both sides of the plate, Tettleton did serious damage, hitting 32 homers, driving in 110 runs, and drawing 109 walks.

Though the team may often be overlooked in the long, storied history of the Tigers' franchise (perhaps due to being in the midst of the team's leanest years), they were as powerful a lineup as the Tigers had ever seen, and for several weeks they lit up the American League, scoring runs at an eye-popping rate. With a lineup built around patience and swing-for-the-fences power, the Tigers got off to a remarkable start in tallying runs. In their home opener, they pummeled the Oakland Athletics by the score of 20–4. In that game Fryman had five RBIs, Tettleton plated four, and Fielder went 4-for-4 as the Tigers pounded out 18 hits and drew twelve walks. Four days later against the Mariners, the Tigers won 20–3, this time behind 20 hits and ten more walks. The next day Detroit won, 8–7. But that was just the beginning. When the club went on the road to face the Twins for a three-game series in late April, Detroit pounded their way to victories by the scores of 12–4, 17–1, and 16–5. In the series, Detroit finished with 46 hits and drew 22 walks while hitting 11 homers and 23 extra-base hits.[1]

On April 23, the Tigers were in first place and they would stay there for two months. Over the first six weeks of the season, the vaunted Tiger lineup was averaging 81⁄2 runs per game, on pace to score more than 1,300 runs. This would have shattered the modern-day record held by the 1894 Baltimore Orioles, who scored 1,171 runs.[2]

On June 20, the Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7–3, putting them at 43–25, good for first in the East with a two-game lead over second-place and defending World Champion Toronto. However, the team immediately went on a 10-game losing streak, during which they were outscored 80–31. The Tigers never recovered and finished in a tie for third place in the American League East with Baltimore.

Even with their success, the pitching continued to struggle, as evidenced by numerous high-scoring affairs against other top-tier teams such as the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees.

The Tigers lead the American League in runs scored (899), walks (765), on-base percentage (.362), and on base-plus slugging (.796).

The 85 victories were the most by the team in five years and would also mark the Tigers' last winning season until 2006.

Offseason

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  • December 7, 1992: Bill Gullickson was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.[3]
  • February 10, 1993: Kirk Gibson was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.[4]
  • Before 1993 Season: Steve Carter was sent from the Detroit Tigers to the Cincinnati Reds.[5]

Regular season

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Season standings

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AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Toronto Blue Jays 95 67 .586 — 48‍–‍33 47‍–‍34
New York Yankees 88 74 .543 7 50‍–‍31 38‍–‍43
Baltimore Orioles 85 77 .525 10 48‍–‍33 37‍–‍44
Detroit Tigers 85 77 .525 10 44‍–‍37 41‍–‍40
Boston Red Sox 80 82 .494 15 43‍–‍38 37‍–‍44
Cleveland Indians 76 86 .469 19 46‍–‍35 30‍–‍51
Milwaukee Brewers 69 93 .426 26 38‍–‍43 31‍–‍50

Record vs. opponents

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1993 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 — 6–7 7–5 4–8 8–5 5–8 7–5 8–5 8–4 6–7 10–2 7–5 4–8 5–8
Boston 7–6 — 7–5 7–5 5–8 6–7 5–7 5–8 7–5 6–7 9–3 7–5 6–6 3–10
California 5–7 5–7 — 7–6 5–7 4–8 6–7 7–5 4–9 6–6 6–7 6–7 6–7 4–8
Chicago 8–4 5–7 6–7 — 9–3 7–5 6–7 9–3 10–3 4–8 7–6 9–4 8–5 6–6
Cleveland 5–8 8–5 7–5 3–9 — 6–7 7–5 8–5 4–8 6–7 8–4 3–9 7–5 4–9
Detroit 8–5 7–6 8–4 5–7 7–6 — 5–7 8–5 6–6 4–9 8–4 7–5 6–6 6–7
Kansas City 5–7 7–5 7–6 7–6 5–7 7–5 — 5–7 7–6 6–6 6–7 7–6 7–6 8–4
Milwaukee 5–8 8–5 5–7 3–9 5–8 5–8 7–5 — 7–5 4–9 7–5 4–8 4–8 5–8
Minnesota 4–8 5–7 9–4 3–10 8–4 6–6 6–7 5–7 — 4–8 8–5 4–9 7–6 2–10
New York 7–6 7–6 6–6 8–4 7–6 9–4 6–6 9–4 8–4 — 6–6 7–5 3–9 5–8
Oakland 2–10 3–9 7–6 6–7 4–8 4–8 7–6 5–7 5–8 6–6 — 9–4 5–8 5–7
Seattle 5–7 5–7 7–6 4–9 9–3 5–7 6–7 8–4 9–4 5–7 4–9 — 8–5 7–5
Texas 8–4 6–6 7–6 5–8 5–7 6–6 6–7 8–4 6–7 9–3 8–5 5–8 — 7–5
Toronto 8–5 10–3 8–4 6–6 9–4 7–6 4–8 8–5 10–2 8–5 7–5 5–7 5–7 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1993 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game log

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Regular season

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1993 regular season game log: 85–77 (Home: 44–37; Away: 41–40)
April: 15–7 (Home: 8–1; Away: 7–6)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Streak
1 April 5 @ Athletics
2 April 7 @ Athletics
3 April 8 @ Athletics
4 April 9 @ Angels
5 April 10 @ Angels
6 April 11 @ Angels
7 April 13 Athletics
8 April 15 Athletics
9 April 16 Mariners
10 April 17 Mariners
11 April 18 Mariners
12 April 19 Mariners
May: 15–11 (Home: 7–7; Away: 8–4)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Streak
— May 17 @ Brewers Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: August 13)
46 May 28 @ Mariners
47 May 29 @ Mariners
48 May 30 @ Mariners
June: 13–16 (Home: 11–6; Away: 2–10)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Streak
49 June 1 White Sox L 2–4
50 June 2 White Sox L 1–10
51 June 3 White Sox W 5–3
52 June 4 Angels
53 June 5 Angels
54 June 6 Angels
55 June 7 @ White Sox L 3–7
56 June 8 @ White Sox W 6–4
57 June 9 @ White Sox W 7–4
July: 10–18 (Home: 3–11; Away: 7–7)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Streak
64th All-Star Game in Baltimore, Maryland
August: 18–10 (Home: 10–3; Away: 8–7)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Streak
121 August 16 @ Angels
122 August 17 @ Angels
123 August 18 @ Angels
124 August 20 Athletics
125 August 21 Athletics
126 August 22 Athletics
127 August 23 Athletics
128 August 24 Mariners
129 August 25 Mariners
130 August 27 @ Athletics
131 August 28 @ Athletics
132 August 29 @ Athletics
133 August 30 @ Mariners
134 August 31 @ Mariners
September: 13–12 (Home: 5–9; Away: 8–3)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Streak
135 September 1 @ Mariners
136 September 3 White Sox L 6–8
137 September 4 White Sox L 2–11
138 September 5 White Sox L 3–5
139 September 7 Angels
140 September 8 Angels
141 September 9 Angels
142 September 10 @ White Sox W 4–0
143 September 11 @ White Sox L 1–3
144 September 12 @ White Sox W 6–3
— September 25 @ Orioles Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: September 26)
— September 27 @ Red Sox Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: September 28)
October: 1–2 (Home: 0–0; Away: 1–2)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Streak
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement
Bold = Tigers team member

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Chad Kreuter 119 374 107 .286 15 51
1B Cecil Fielder 154 573 153 .267 30 117
2B Lou Whitaker 119 383 111 .290 9 67
SS Travis Fryman 151 607 182 .300 22 97
3B Scott Livingstone 98 304 89 .293 2 39
LF Dan Gladden 91 356 95 .267 13 56
CF Milt Cuyler 82 249 53 .213 0 19
RF Rob Deer 90 323 70 .217 14 39
DH Kirk Gibson 116 403 105 .261 13 62

Other batters

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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
Tony Phillips 151 566 177 .313 7 57
Mickey Tettleton 152 522 128 .245 32 110
Alan Trammell 112 401 132 .329 12 60
Skeeter Barnes 84 160 45 .281 2 27
Chris Gomez 46 128 32 .250 0 11
Gary Thurman 75 89 19 .213 0 13
Eric Davis 23 75 19 .253 6 15
Danny Bautista 17 61 19 .311 1 9
Rich Rowland 21 46 10 .217 0 4

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mike Moore 36 213.2 13 9 5.22 89
David Wells 32 187.0 11 9 4.19 139
John Doherty 32 184.2 14 11 4.44 63
Bill Gullickson 28 159.1 13 9 5.37 70

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mark Leiter 27 106.2 6 6 4.73 70
Tom Bolton 43 102.2 6 6 4.47 66
Bill Krueger 32 82.0 6 4 3.40 60
Sean Bergman 9 39.2 1 4 5.67 19

Relief pitchers

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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 63 5 3 24 2.64 58
Bob MacDonald 68 3 3 3 5.35 39
Kurt Knudsen 30 3 2 2 4.78 29
Storm Davis 24 0 2 4 3.06 36
Dave Haas 20 1 2 0 6.11 17
Buddy Groom 19 0 2 0 6.14 15
Joe Boever 19 2 1 3 2.74 14
Greg Gohr 16 0 0 0 5.96 23
Mike Gardiner 10 0 0 0 3.97 4
John Kiely 8 0 2 0 7.71 3
Mike Munoz 8 0 1 0 6.00 1
Dave Johnson 6 1 1 0 12.96 7
Mark Grater 6 0 0 0 5.40 4
John DeSilva 1 0 0 0 9.00 0

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Joe Sparks
AA London Tigers Eastern League Tom Runnells
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Gerry Groninger
A Fayetteville Generals South Atlantic League Mark Wagner
A-Short Season Niagara Falls Rapids New York–Penn League Larry Parrish
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Rubén Amaro, Sr.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Niagara Falls[8]

Notes

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  1. ^ 1993 Detroit Tigers schedule
  2. ^ 1894 Baltimore Orioles season
  3. ^ Bill Gullickson at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ "Kirk Gibson Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  5. ^ http: Steve Carter was//www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cartest01.shtml
  6. ^ Joe Boever at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Eric Davis at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

References

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