1977 Detroit Tigers season

1977 Detroit Tigers
Division	Eastern Division
Ballpark	Tiger Stadium
City	Detroit, Michigan
Owners	John Fetzer
Managers	Ralph Houk
Television	WWJ-TV (George Kell, Larry Osterman, Joe Pellegrino, Al Kaline)
Radio	WJR (Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
Seasons

The 1977 Detroit Tigers finished in fourth place in the American League East with a record of 74–88, 26 games behind the New York Yankees. They were outscored by their opponents 751 to 714. The Tigers drew 1,359,856 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1977, ranking 7th of the 14 teams in the American League.

Offseason

• February 23, 1977: Tito Fuentes was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.

Regular season

With 212 hits, 100 runs scored, and a .325 batting average, center fielder Ron LeFlore was the team's most valuable player, and the recipient of the "Tiger of the Year" award. First baseman Jason Thompson led the team with 31 home runs and 105 RBIs, and second baseman Tito Fuentes was the team's only other .300 hitter, with a .309 batting average and 190 hits. Designated hitter Rusty Staub also had a .278 batting average, 173 hits, 22 home runs, and 101 RBIs. Rookie Steve Kemp (the first pick in the 1976 amateur draft) hit .257 with 18 home runs and 88 RBIs.

The rookie sensation of 1976, Mark Fidrych pitched in 1977 (2.89 ERA), but tendinitis limited "The Bird" to 11 games. The pitching star of 1977 for Detroit was rookie Dave Rozema who went 15–7 with a 3.09 ERA and finished eight in the American League Cy Young Award voting.

1977 also saw the debut of Steve Kemp (debut April 7, 1977), Dave Rozema (debut April 11, 1977), Jack Morris (debut July 26, 1977), Lance Parrish (debut September 5, 1977), Alan Trammell (debut September 9, 1977), and Lou Whitaker (debut September 9, 1977).

Season standings

AL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	100	62	.617	—	55‍–‍26	45‍–‍36
Baltimore Orioles	97	64	.602	2½	54‍–‍27	43‍–‍37
Boston Red Sox	97	64	.602	2½	51‍–‍29	46‍–‍35
Detroit Tigers	74	88	.457	26	39‍–‍42	35‍–‍46
Cleveland Indians	71	90	.441	28½	37‍–‍44	34‍–‍46
Milwaukee Brewers	67	95	.414	33	37‍–‍44	30‍–‍51
Toronto Blue Jays	54	107	.335	45½	25‍–‍55	29‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1977 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	—	6–8	5–6	5–5	11–4	12–3	4–7	11–4	6–4	8–7	8–2	7–3	4–6	10–5
Boston	8–6	—	7–3	3–7	8–7	9–6	5–5	9–6	4–6	8–7	8–3	10–1	6–4	12–3
California	6–5	3–7	—	8–7	6–4	4–6	6–9	5–5	7–8	4–7	5–10	9–6	5–10	6–4
Chicago	5–5	7–3	7–8	—	6–4	4–6	8–7	6–5	10–5	3–7	10–5	10–5	6–9	8–3
Cleveland	4–11	7–8	4–6	4–6	—	8–7	3–7	11–4	2–9	3–12	7–3	7–3	2–9	9–5
Detroit	3–12	6–9	6–4	6–4	7–8	—	3–8	10–5	5–5	6–9	5–5	5–6	2–8	10–5
Kansas City	7–4	5–5	9–6	7–8	7–3	8–3	—	8–2	10–5	5–5	9–6	11–4	8–7	8–2
Milwaukee	4–11	6–9	5–5	5–6	4–11	5–10	2–8	—	3–8	8–7	5–5	7–3	5–5	8–7
Minnesota	4–6	6–4	8–7	5–10	9–2	5–5	5–10	8–3	—	2–8	8–6	7–8	8–7	9–1
New York	7–8	7–8	7–4	7–3	12–3	9–6	5–5	7–8	8–2	—	9–2	6–4	7–3	9–6
Oakland	2–8	3–8	10–5	5–10	3–7	5–5	6–9	5–5	6–8	2–9	—	7–8	2–13	7–3
Seattle	3–7	1–10	6–9	5–10	3–7	6–5	4–11	3–7	8–7	4–6	8–7	—	9–6	4–6
Texas	6–4	4–6	10–5	9–6	9–2	8–2	7–8	5–5	7–8	3–7	13–2	6–9	—	7–4
Toronto	5–10	3–12	4–6	3–8	5–9	5–10	2–8	7–8	1–9	6–9	3–7	6–4	4–7	—

Notable transactions

• April 12, 1977: Willie Horton was traded by the Tigers to the Texas Rangers for Steve Foucault.

Roster

1977 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers 36 Fernando Arroyo 21 Ray Bare 28 Jim Crawford 20 Mark Fidrych 29 Steve Foucault 48 Ed Glynn 49 Steve Grilli 18 John Hiller 47 Jack Morris 17 Dave Roberts 19 Dave Rozema 31 Vern Ruhle 27 Bob Sykes 32 Bruce Taylor 39 Milt Wilcox		Catchers 11 Bruce Kimm 12 Milt May 13 Lance Parrish 14 John Wockenfuss Infielders 40 Bob Adams 15 Luis Alvarado 44 Tito Fuentes  2 Phil Mankowski  4 Aurelio Rodríguez  9 Chuck Scrivener 30 Jason Thompson 42 Alan Trammell  7 Tom Veryzer  5 Mark Wagner 43 Lou Whitaker		Outfielders 25 Tim Corcoran 23 Willie Horton 33 Steve Kemp  8 Ron LeFlore 22 Ben Oglivie 24 Mickey Stanley Other batters 34 Bob Molinaro 10 Rusty Staub		Manager 35 Ralph Houk Coaches 52 Fred Gladding 51 Fred Hatfield 50 Jim Hegan 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	Milt May	115	397	99	.249	12	46
1B	Jason Thompson	158	585	158	.270	31	105
2B	Tito Fuentes	151	615	190	.309	5	51
3B	Aurelio Rodríguez	96	306	67	.219	10	32
SS	Tom Veryzer	125	350	69	.197	2	28
CF	Ron LeFlore	154	652	212	.325	16	57
LF	Steve Kemp	151	552	142	.257	18	88
RF	Ben Oglivie	132	450	118	.262	21	61
DH	Rusty Staub	158	623	173	.278	22	101

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
Phil Mankowski	94	286	79	.276	3	27
Mickey Stanley	75	222	51	.230	8	23
John Wockenfuss	53	164	45	.274	9	25
Tim Corcoran	55	103	29	.282	3	15
Chuck Scrivener	61	72	6	.083	0	2
Mark Wagner	22	48	7	.146	1	3
Lance Parrish	12	46	9	.196	3	7
Alan Trammell	19	43	8	.186	0	0
Lou Whitaker	11	32	8	.250	0	2
Bruce Kimm	14	25	2	.080	0	1
Bob Adams	15	24	6	.250	2	2
Willie Horton	1	4	1	.250	0	0
Bob Molinaro	4	4	1	.250	0	0
Luis Alvarado	2	1	0	.000	0	0

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
Dave Rozema	28	218.1	15	7	3.09	92
Fernando Arroyo	38	209.1	8	18	4.17	60
Dave Roberts	22	129.1	4	10	5.15	46
Mark Fidrych	11	81.0	6	4	2.89	42
Vern Ruhle	14	66.1	3	5	5.70	27
Jack Morris	7	45.2	1	1	3.74	28
Ray Bare	5	14.1	0	2	12.56	4

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
Bob Sykes	32	132.2	5	7	4.41	58
Jim Crawford	37	126.0	7	8	4.79	91
Milt Wilcox	20	106.1	6	2	3.64	82
Ed Glynn	8	27.1	2	1	5.27	13

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
Steve Foucault	44	7	7	13	34	3.15	58
John Hiller	45	8	14	7	27	3.56	115
Steve Grilli	30	1	2	0	13	4.83	49
Bruce Taylor	19	1	0	2	12	3.38	19

Awards and honors

Award winners

Ron LeFlore

• Tiger of the Year Award from the Detroit baseball writers
• Finished 20th in AL MVP voting

Dave Rozema

• Finished 8th in the AL Cy Young Award voting

Jason Thompson

• Finished 21st in AL MVP voting

All-Stars

Jason Thompson, reserve

League top ten finishers

Fernando Arroyo

• #4 in AL in losses (18)

Mark Fidrych

• AL All Star Team, pitcher

Tito Fuentes

• AL leader in innings played at second base (1327)
• AL leader in putouts at second base (379)
• AL leader in double plays at second base (115)
• AL leader in errors at second base (26)
• AL leader in complete games at second base (144)
• #2 in AL in singles (156)
• #8 in AL in hits (190)
• #8 in AL in triples (10)
• #9 in AL in sacrifice hits (13)

Steve Kemp

• AL leader in games in left field (148)
• AL leader in complete games in left field (146)
• AL leader in innings played in left field (1316)

Ron LeFlore

• AL leader in assists by a center fielder (12)
• #2 in AL in hits (212)
• #2 in AL in singles (156)
• #2 in AL in at bats (652)
• #2 in AL in singles (156)
• #2 in AL in times caught stealing (19)
• #4 in AL in plate appearances (698)
• #4 in AL in strikeouts (121) (tied with Tito Fuentes)
• #5 in AL in batting average (.325)
• #5 in AL in stolen bases (39)
• #5 in AL in total bases (310)
• #6 in AL in Power/Speed Number (22.7)
• #8 in AL in triples (10)
• #8 in AL in times on base (253)
• #9 in AL in runs scored (100)
• #9 in AL in outs (475)
• #10 in AL in runs created (110)

Dave Rozema

• AL leader in bases on balls per 9 innings pitched (1.40)
• #5 in AL in Adjusted ERA+ (138)
• #6 in AL in strikeout to walk ratio (2.71)
• #7 in AL in ERA (3.09)
• #8 in AL in complete games (16)
• #9 in AL in win percentage (.682)

Rusty Staub

• #1 in AL in times grounded into double plays (27)
• #2 in AL in outs (490)
• #3 in AL in sacrifice flies (10)
• #5 in AL in plate appearances (695)
• #7 in AL in at bats per strikeout (13.3)
• #8 in AL in doubles (34)

Jason Thompson

• #6 in AL in home runs (31)
• #6 in AL in sacrifice flies (9)
• #8 in AL in RBIs (105)

Alan Trammell

• Youngest player in the AL (19)

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1977 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
• Ben Oglivie: 64th best left fielder of all time
• Willie Horton: 55th best left fielder of all time (played one game for 1977 Tigers)

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
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

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montgomery, Lakeland, Bristol

External links

• 1977 Detroit Tigers Regular Season Statistics at Baseball Reference