1978 Detroit Tigers season

Major League Baseball season March 2026 November 2013 Detroit Tigers 1978 American League East Tiger Stadium Detroit, Michigan John Fetzer Jim Campbell Ralph Houk WWJ-TV(George Kell, Mike Barry, Joe Pellegrino, Al Kaline) WJR(Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey) The 1978 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 78th season and the 67th season at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers finished in fifth place in the American League East with a record of 86–76, 13½ games behind the Yankees. They outscored their opponents 714 to 653. It was the franchise's first winning season since 1973 and would start a string of winning seasons that would not come to an end until 1989. Offseason January 10, 1978: Chris Codiroli was drafted by the Tigers in the 1st round (11th pick) of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft.Chris Codiroli at Baseball-Reference January 30, 1978: Tito Fuentes was purchased from the Tigers by the Montreal Expos.Tito Fuentes at Baseball-Reference Regular season The Tigers drew 1,714,893 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1978, ranking 5th of the 14 teams in the American League. Season standings Record vs. opponents DET Notable transactions June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball draft Kirk Gibson was drafted by the Tigers in the 1st round (12th pick).Kirk Gibson at Baseball-Reference Jerry Ujdur was drafted by the Tigers in the 4th round.Jerry Ujdur at Baseball-Reference Roster 1978 Detroit Tigers Roster Pitchers 36 Fernando Arroyo 31 Steve Baker 41 Jack Billingham 42 Sheldon Burnside 28 Jim Crawford 20 Mark Fidrych 29 Steve Foucault 48 Ed Glynn 18 John Hiller 47 Jack Morris 19 Dave Rozema 21 Jim Slaton 27 Bob Sykes 32 Bruce Taylor 38 Dave Tobik 39 Milt Wilcox 37 Kip Young Catchers 12 Milt May 13 Lance Parrish Infielders  7 Steve Dillard  2 Phil Mankowski  4 Aurelio Rodríguez 30 Jason Thompson  3 Alan Trammell  5 Mark Wagner  1 Lou Whitaker Outfielders 25 Tim Corcoran 33 Steve Kemp  8 Ron LeFlore 34 Charlie Spikes 24 Mickey Stanley 22 Dave Stegman 14 John Wockenfuss Other batters 10 Rusty Staub Manager 35 Ralph Houk Coaches 26 Gates Brown 52 Fred Gladding 51 Fred Hatfield 50 Jim Hegan 53 Dick Tracewski 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 Milt May 105 352 88 .250 10 37 1B Jason Thompson Jason Thompson (first baseman, born 1954) 153 589 169 .287 26 79 2B Lou Whitaker 139 484 138 .285 3 58 3B Aurelio Rodríguez 134 385 102 .265 7 43 SS Alan Trammell 139 448 120 .268 2 34 LF Steve Kemp baseball 159 582 161 .277 15 79 CF Ron LeFlore 155 666 198 .297 12 62 RF Tim Corcoran Tim Corcoran (first baseman) 116 324 86 .265 1 27 DH Rusty Staub 162 642 175 .273 24 121 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 Lance Parrish 85 288 63 .219 14 41 Phil Mankowski 88 222 61 .275 4 20 John Wockenfuss 71 187 53 .283 7 22 Mickey Stanley 53 151 40 .265 3 8 Steve Dillard Steve Dillard (baseball) 56 130 29 .223 0 7 Mark Wagner Mark Wagner (shortstop) 39 109 26 .239 0 6 Charlie Spikes 10 28 7 .250 0 2 Dave Stegman 8 14 4 .286 1 3 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 Jim Slaton 35 233.2 17 11 4.12 92 Milt Wilcox 29 215.1 13 12 3.76 132 Dave Rozema 28 209.1 9 12 3.14 57 Jack Billingham 30 201.2 15 8 3.88 59 Kip Young 14 105.2 6 7 2.81 49 Mark Fidrych 3 22.0 2 0 2.45 10 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 Jack Morris 28 106.0 3 5 4.33 48 Bob Sykes Bob Sykes (baseball) 22 93.2 6 6 3.94 58 Steve Baker Steve Baker (baseball) 15 63.1 2 4 4.55 39 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 John Hiller 51 9 4 14 46 2.34 74 Steve Foucault 24 2 4 4 15 3.13 18 Jim Crawford Jim Crawford (baseball) 20 2 3 0 10 4.35 24 Ed Glynn 10 0 0 0 6 3.07 9 Dave Tobik 5 0 0 0 4 3.75 11 Fernando Arroyo 2 0 0 0 1 8.31 1 Sheldon Burnside 2 0 0 0 1 9.00 3 Bruce Taylor Bruce Taylor (baseball) 1 0 0 0 1 0.00 0 Awards and honors Lou Whitaker AL Rookie of the Year Award Ron LeFlore Tiger of the Year Award, from Detroit baseball writers All-Stars Jason Thompson, reserve (Second career All-Star appearance) League top ten finishers Steve Kemp #3 in AL in bases on balls (97) #4 in AL in times on base (259) #5 in AL in games played (159) Ron LeFlore MLB leader in runs scored (126) AL leader in stolen bases (68) AL leader in singles (153) #2 in AL in hits (198) #2 in AL in runs created (105) #2 in MLB in at bats (666) #2 in MLB in plate appearances (741) #3 in MLB in times on base (267) #3 in AL in outs (501) #4 in AL in Power/Speed Number (20.4) #5 in AL in times caught stealing (16) Dave Rozema #5 in MLB in bases on balls per 9 innings pitched (1.76) Jim Slaton #4 in AL in hit batsmen (8) #5 in AL in wild pitches (10) Rusty Staub #2 in MLB in RBIs (121) #2 in MLB in games played (162) #2 in AL in sacrifice flies (11) #2 in AL in at bats per strikeout (18.3) #2 in AL in outs (505) #3 in AL in at bats (642) #3 in MLB in plate appearances (734) #3 in MLB in times grounded into double plays (24) #4 in AL total bases (279) #5 in AL in hits (175) #5 in AL in times on base (254) Jason Thompson #4 in AL in runs created (104) #5 in AL in total bases (278) Milt Wilcox #4 in AL in hit batsmen (8) 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 (played 12 games as a rookie) Lou Whitaker: 13th best second baseman of all time (played 11 games as a rookie) Alan Trammell: 9th best shortstop of all time (played 19 games as a rookie) Aurelio Rodríguez: 91st best third baseman of all time Ron LeFlore: 80th best center fielder of all time Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Evansville Triplets American Association Les Moss AA Montgomery Rebels Southern League Eddie Brinkman A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Jim Leyland Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Joe Lewis References 2 External links 1978 Detroit Tigers Regular Season Statistics Baseball Category:Detroit Tigers seasons Detroit Tigers season Detroit Tiger Category:1978 in Detroit