# 1955 Detroit Tigers season

The 1955 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 79–75, 17 games behind the New York Yankees.
Al Kaline became the youngest major league player to win the American League (AL) batting title at 20 years old which still stands to this day. He hit .340 for the season, 21 points better than runner-up Vic Power.

## Offseason

* December 6, 1954: Walt Dropo, Ted Gray and Bob Nieman were traded by the Tigers to the Chicago White Sox for Leo Cristante, Ferris Fain, and Jack Phillips.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 96 | 58 | .623 | — | 52‍–‍25 | 44‍–‍33 |
| Cleveland Indians | 93 | 61 | .604 | 3 | 49‍–‍28 | 44‍–‍33 |
| Chicago White Sox | 91 | 63 | .591 | 5 | 49‍–‍28 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 70 | .545 | 12 | 47‍–‍31 | 37‍–‍39 |
| Detroit Tigers | 79 | 75 | .513 | 17 | 46‍–‍31 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 63 | 91 | .409 | 33 | 33‍–‍43 | 30‍–‍48 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 57 | 97 | .370 | 39 | 30‍–‍47 | 27‍–‍50 |
| Washington Senators | 53 | 101 | .344 | 43 | 28‍–‍49 | 25‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1955 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 9–13 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 14–8 |
| Boston | 14–8 | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 15–7 |
| Chicago | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | — | 10–12 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 17–5 |
| Cleveland | 19–3 | 11–11 | 12–10 | — | 12–10 | 17–5 | 13–9 | 9–13 |
| Detroit | 13–9 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 10–12 | 17–5 |
| Kansas City | 12–10–1 | 8–14 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | — | 7–15 | 13–9 |
| New York | 19–3 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 15–7 | — | 16–6 |
| Washington | 8–14 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — |

### Roster
## 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 | Frank House | 102 | 328 | 85 | .259 | 15 | 53 |
| 1B | Earl Torgeson | 89 | 300 | 85 | .283 | 9 | 50 |
| 2B | Fred Hatfield | 122 | 413 | 96 | .232 | 8 | 33 |
| SS | Harvey Kuenn | 145 | 620 | 190 | .306 | 8 | 62 |
| 3B | Ray Boone | 135 | 500 | 142 | .284 | 20 | 116 |
| LF | Jim Delsing | 114 | 356 | 85 | .239 | 10 | 60 |
| CF | Bill Tuttle | 154 | 603 | 168 | .279 | 14 | 78 |
| RF | Al Kaline | 152 | 588 | 200 | .340 | 27 | 102 |

#### 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 |
| Red Wilson | 78 | 241 | 53 | .220 | 2 | 17 |
| Harry Malmberg | 67 | 208 | 45 | .216 | 0 | 19 |
| Bubba Phillips | 95 | 184 | 43 | .234 | 3 | 23 |
| Ferris Fain | 58 | 140 | 37 | .264 | 2 | 23 |
| Jack Phillips | 55 | 117 | 37 | .316 | 1 | 20 |
| Charlie Maxwell | 55 | 109 | 29 | .266 | 7 | 18 |
| Reno Bertoia | 38 | 68 | 14 | .206 | 1 | 10 |
| Jay Porter | 24 | 55 | 13 | .236 | 0 | 3 |
| Chick King | 7 | 21 | 5 | .238 | 0 | 0 |
| Walt Streuli | 2 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Jim Small | 12 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Wayne Belardi | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bud Souchock | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 1 |
| Ron Samford | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 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 Lary | 36 | 235.0 | 14 | 15 | 3.10 | 98 |
| Ned Garver | 33 | 230.2 | 12 | 16 | 3.98 | 83 |
| Billy Hoeft | 32 | 220.0 | 16 | 7 | 2.99 | 133 |
| Steve Gromek | 28 | 181.0 | 13 | 10 | 3.98 | 73 |
| Duke Maas | 18 | 86.2 | 5 | 6 | 4.88 | 42 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Bunning | 15 | 51.0 | 3 | 5 | 6.35 | 37 |
| Bob Miller | 7 | 25.1 | 2 | 1 | 2.49 | 11 |
| Dick Marlowe | 4 | 15.0 | 1 | 0 | 1.80 | 9 |
| Bud Black | 3 | 14.0 | 1 | 1 | 1.29 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Al Aber | 39 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3.38 | 37 |
| Babe Birrer | 36 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4.15 | 28 |
| Paul Foytack | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.26 | 38 |
| Leo Cristante | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.19 | 9 |
| Joe Coleman | 17 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3.20 | 5 |
| George Zuverink | 14 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6.99 | 13 |
| Van Fletcher | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 4 |
| Ben Flowers | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 2 |
| Bill Froats | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Bob Schultz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.25 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Buffalo Bisons | International League | Dan Carnevale |
| AA | Little Rock Travelers | Southern Association | Bob Mavis and Steve Souchock |
| A | Augusta Tigers | Sally League | Charlie Metro |
| B | Durham Bulls | Carolina League | Frank Skaff |
| B | Terre Haute Tigers | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Stubby Overmire |
| C | Greenville Bucks | Cotton States League | Willis Hudlin, Luther Tucker, Banks McDowell and Daniel Ryan |
| C | Idaho Falls Russets | Pioneer League | Pat Mullin |
| D | Panama City Fliers | Alabama–Florida League | Bill Adair |
| D | Valdosta Tigers | Georgia–Florida League | Stan Wasiak |
| D | Jamestown Falcons | PONY League | Tony Lupien |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Panama City