1980 Detroit Tigers season

1980 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Tiger Stadium (since 1912)
Detroit, Michigan (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	John Fetzer
General manager(s)	Jim Campbell
Manager(s)	Sparky Anderson
Local television	WDIV-TV (George Kell, Al Kaline)
Local radio	WJR (Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
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The 1980 Detroit Tigers finished in fourth place in the American League East with a record of 84-78, 19 games behind the Yankees. They outscored their opponents 830 to 757. The Tigers drew 1,785,293 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1980, ranking 7th of the 14 teams in the American League.

Offseason

• December 7, 1979: Ron LeFlore was traded by the Tigers to the Montreal Expos for Dan Schatzeder.^[1]

Regular season

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	103	59	0.636	—	53–28	50–31
Baltimore Orioles	100	62	0.617	3	50–31	50–31
Milwaukee Brewers	86	76	0.531	17	40–42	46–34
Detroit Tigers	84	78	0.519	19	43–38	41–40
Boston Red Sox	83	77	0.519	19	36–45	47–32
Cleveland Indians	79	81	0.494	23	44–35	35–46
Toronto Blue Jays	67	95	0.414	36	35–46	32–49

Record vs. opponents

1980 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	8–5	10–2	6–6	6–7	10–3	6–6	7–6	10–2	7–6	7–5	6–6	6–6	11–2
Boston	5–8	—	9–3	6–4	7–6	8–5	5–7	6–7	6–6	3–10	9–3	7–5	5–7	7–6
California	2–10	3–9	—	3–10	4–6	5–7	5–8	6–6	7–6	2–10	3–10	11–2	11–2	3–9
Chicago	6–6	4–6	10–3	—	5–7	2–10	5–8	5–7	5–8	5–7	6–7	6–7	6–7–2	5–7
Cleveland	7–6	6–7	6–4	7–5	—	3–10	5–7	3–10	9–3	5–8	6–6	8–4	6–6	8–5
Detroit	3–10	5–8	7–5	10–2	10–3	—	2–10	7–6	6–6	5–8	6–6	10–2–1	4–8	9–4
Kansas City	6–6	7–5	8–5	8–5	7–5	10–2	—	6–6	5–8	8–4	6–7	7–6	10–3	9–3
Milwaukee	6–7	7–6	6–6	7–5	10–3	6–7	6–6	—	7–5	5–8	7–5	9–3	5–7	5–8
Minnesota	2–10	6–6	6–7	8–5	3–9	6–6	8–5	5–7	—	4–8	6–7	7–6	9–3	7–5
New York	6–7	10–3	10–2	7–5	8–5	8–5	4–8	8–5	8–4	—	8–4	9–3	7–5	10–3
Oakland	5–7	3–9	10–3	7–6	6–6	6–6	7–6	5–7	7–6	4–8	—	8–5	7–6	8–4
Seattle	6–6	5–7	2–11	7–6	4–8	2–10–1	6–7	3–9	6–7	3–9	5–8	—	4–9	6–6
Texas	6–6	7–5	2–11	7–6–2	6–6	8–4	3–10	7–5	3–9	5–7	6–7	9–4	—	7–5
Toronto	2–11	6–7	9–3	7–5	5–8	4–9	3–9	8–5	5–7	3–10	4–8	6–6	5–7	—

Notable transactions

• June 2, 1980: Al Greene and John Martin were traded by the Tigers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jim Lentine.^[2]
• June 3, 1980: Chuck Hensley was drafted by the Tigers in the 10th round of the 1980 Major League Baseball draft.^[3]
• June 6, 1980: Bárbaro Garbey was signed as an amateur free agent by the Tigers.^[4]
• September 21, 1980: Roger Mason was signed as an amateur free agent by the Tigers.^[5]

Roster

1980 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers 41 Jack Billingham 20 Mark Fidrych 18 John Hiller 29 Aurelio López 47 Jack Morris 46 Dan Petry 48 Bruce Robbins 19 Dave Rozema 36 Dan Schatzeder 38 Dave Tobik 28 Jerry Ujdur 40 Pat Underwood 44 Roger Weaver 39 Milt Wilcox		Catchers 15 Duffy Dyer 13 Lance Parrish Infielders 16 Tom Brookens 25 Tim Corcoran  2 Richie Hebner  9 Stan Papi 30 Jason Thompson  3 Alan Trammell  5 Mark Wagner  1 Lou Whitaker 14 John Wockenfuss		Outfielders 10 Al Cowens 23 Kirk Gibson 34 Dan Gonzales 35 Lynn Jones 33 Steve Kemp 27 Jim Lentine 32 Rick Peters 22 Dave Stegman 24 Champ Summers		Manager 11 Sparky Anderson Coaches 26 Gates Brown 50 Billy Consolo 52 Roger Craig 51 Alex Grammas 53 Dick Tracewski

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	Parrish, LanceLance Parrish	144	553	158	.286	24	82
1B	Hebner, RichieRichie Hebner	104	341	99	.290	12	82
2B	Whitaker, LouLou Whitaker	145	477	111	.233	1	45
3B	Brookens, TomTom Brookens	151	509	140	.275	10	66
SS	Trammell, AlanAlan Trammell	146	560	168	.300	9	65
LF	Kemp, SteveSteve Kemp	135	508	149	.293	21	101
CF	Peters, RickRick Peters	133	477	139	.291	2	42
RF	Cowens, AlAl Cowens	108	403	113	.280	5	42
DH	Summers, ChampChamp Summers	120	347	103	.297	17	60

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
Wockenfuss, JohnJohn Wockenfuss	126	372	102	.274	16	65
Gibson, KirkKirk Gibson	51	175	46	.263	9	16
Lentine, JimJim Lentine	67	161	42	.261	1	17
Corcoran, TimTim Corcoran	84	153	44	.288	3	18
Stegman, DaveDave Stegman	65	130	23	.177	2	9
Thompson, JasonJason Thompson	36	126	27	.214	4	20
Papi, StanStan Papi	46	114	27	.237	3	17
Dyer, DuffyDuffy Dyer	48	108	20	.185	4	11
Wagner, MarkMark Wagner	45	72	17	.236	0	3
Jones, LynnLynn Jones	30	55	14	.255	0	6
Gonzales, DanDan Gonzales	2	7	1	.143	0	0

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

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
Morris, JackJack Morris	36	250	16	15	4.18	112
Wilcox, MiltMilt Wilcox	32	198.2	13	11	4.48	97
Schatzeder, DanDan Schatzeder	32	192.2	11	13	4.02	94
Petry, DanDan Petry	27	164.2	10	9	3.94	88
Fidrych, MarkMark Fidrych	9	44.1	2	3	5.68	16

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
Rozema, DaveDave Rozema	42	144.2	6	9	3.92	49
Weaver, RogerRoger Weaver	19	63.2	3	0	4.10	42
Robbins, BruceBruce Robbins	15	51.2	4	2	6.62	23
Ujdur, JerryJerry Ujdur	9	21.1	1	0	7.59	8

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
López, AurelioAurelio López	67	13	6	21	59	3.77	97
Underwood, PatPat Underwood	49	3	6	5	24	3.59	60
Tobik, DaveDave Tobik	17	1	0	0	6	3.98	34
Hiller, JohnJohn Hiller	11	1	0	0	2	4.40	18
Billingham, JackJack Billingham	8	0	0	0	3	7.36	3

Awards and honors

• Lance Parrish, AL Silver Slugger Award, catcher
• Alan Trammell, AL Gold Glove Award, shortstop
• Alan Trammell, Tiger of the Year Award, from Detroit sportswriters

All Star selections

• Lance Parrish, AL All Star Team, catcher
• Alan Trammell, AL All Star Team, shortstop

League top ten finishers

Steve Kemp

• #2 in MLB in time grounded into double plays (24)
• #5 in AL in sacrifice flies

Aurelio López

• #3 in AL in games (67)
• #3 in AL in games finished (59)

Jack Morris

• #3 in AL in earned runs allowed (116)
• #4 in AL in games started (36)
• #10 in MLB in bases on balls allowed (87)
• #10 in MLB in losses (15)

Lance Parrish

• #2 in MLB in time grounded into double plays (24)
• #4 in AL in strikeouts (109)
• #10 in MLB in extra base hits (64)

Alan Trammell

• #5 in AL in runs scored (107)
• #6 in AL in sacrifice hits (13)

Milt Wilcox

• #10 in MLB in complete games (13)

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:

• Lance Parrish: 19th best catcher of all time
• Lou Whitaker: 13th best second baseman of all time
• Alan Trammell: 9th best shortstop of all time

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Evansville Triplets	American Association	Jim Leyland
AA	Montgomery Rebels	Southern League	Roy Majtyka
A	Lakeland Tigers	Florida State League	Eddie Brinkman
Rookie	Bristol Tigers	Appalachian League	Tom Kotchman

Notes

1. Dan Schatzeder at Baseball Reference
2. Jim Lentine at Baseball Reference
3. Chuck Hensley at Baseball-Reference
4. Bárbaro Garbey at Baseball-Reference
5. Roger Mason at Baseball Reference

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1980 Detroit Tigers Regular Season Statistics