# 1994 Detroit Tigers season

The 1994 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 94th season and the 83rd season at Tiger Stadium. They had a record of 53–62 in a strike-shortened season. The season ended with the Tigers in fifth place in the newly formed American League East. The season featured the return of former star Kirk Gibson, the return of Ernie Harwell to the television broadcast booth and the 18th season of the Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker double play combination.

## Offseason

* November 1, 1993: Eric Davis was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.
* November 7, 1993: Joe Boever was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.
* February 4, 1994: Kirk Gibson was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.
* February 7, 1994: Tim Belcher was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.
* February 14, 1994: Juan Samuel was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.
* February 18, 1994: Kevin Morgan was traded by the Tigers to the New York Mets for Joe Dellicarri (minors).
* March 31, 1994: Rico Brogna was traded by the Tigers to the New York Mets for Alan Zinter.

## Regular season

By Friday, August 12, the Tigers had compiled a 53-62 record through 115 games. They had scored 652 runs (5.67 per game) and had allowed 671 runs (5.83 per game).
The Tigers were struggling in terms of strikeouts, as their pitchers had combined for the fewest strikeouts (560) and their batters had combined for the most strikeouts (897) in the Majors. Tigers' pitchers also had the most intentional walks in the Majors (74), the fewest shutouts (1) and tied the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers for the fewest saves (20).

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 70 | 43 | .619 | — | 33‍–‍24 | 37‍–‍19 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 63 | 49 | .562 | 6½ | 28‍–‍27 | 35‍–‍22 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 55 | 60 | .478 | 16 | 33‍–‍26 | 22‍–‍34 |
| Boston Red Sox | 54 | 61 | .470 | 17 | 31‍–‍33 | 23‍–‍28 |
| Detroit Tigers | 53 | 62 | .461 | 18 | 34‍–‍24 | 19‍–‍38 |
vteDivision leaders :
| Team | W | L | Pct. |
| New York Yankees | 70 | 43 | .619 |
| Chicago White Sox | 67 | 46 | .593 |
| Texas Rangers | 52 | 62 | .456 |
vteWild Card team (Top team qualifies for postseason) :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Cleveland Indians | 66 | 47 | .584 | — |
| Baltimore Orioles | 63 | 49 | .562 | 2½ |
| Kansas City Royals | 64 | 51 | .557 | 3 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 55 | 60 | .478 | 12 |
| Boston Red Sox | 54 | 61 | .470 | 13 |
| Minnesota Twins | 53 | 60 | .469 | 13 |
| Detroit Tigers | 53 | 62 | .461 | 14 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 53 | 62 | .461 | 14 |
| Oakland Athletics | 51 | 63 | .447 | 15½ |
| Seattle Mariners | 49 | 63 | .438 | 16½ |
| California Angels | 47 | 68 | .409 | 20 |

### Record vs. opponents

1994 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–2 | 8–4 | 2–4 | 4–6 | 3–4 | 4–1 | 7–3 | 4–5 | 4–6 | 7–5 | 4–6 | 3–3 | 7–2 |
| Boston | 2–4 | — | 7–5 | 2–4 | 3–7 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 5–5 | 1–8 | 3–7 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 1–5 | 7–3 |
| California | 4–8 | 5–7 | — | 5–5 | 0–5 | 3–4 | 6–4 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 4–8 | 3–6 | 2–7 | 6–4 | 3–4 |
| Chicago | 4–2 | 4–2 | 5–5 | — | 7–5 | 8–4 | 3–7 | 9–3 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 6–3 | 9–1 | 4–5 | 2–3 |
| Cleveland | 6–4 | 7–3 | 5–0 | 5–7 | — | 8–2 | 1–4 | 5–2 | 9–3 | 0–9 | 6–0 | 3–2 | 5–7 | 6–4 |
| Detroit | 4–3 | 2–4 | 4–3 | 4–8 | 2–8 | — | 4–8 | 6–4 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 5–7 | 5–4 |
| Kansas City | 1–4 | 2–4 | 4–6 | 7–3 | 4–1 | 8–4 | — | 5–7 | 6–4 | 4–2 | 7–3 | 6–4 | 4–3 | 6–6 |
| Milwaukee | 3–7 | 5–5 | 3–3 | 3–9 | 2–5 | 4–6 | 7–5 | — | 6–6 | 2–7 | 4–1 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 7–3 |
| Minnesota | 5–4 | 8–1 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 3–9 | 3–3 | 4–6 | 6–6 | — | 4–5 | 2–5 | 3–3 | 4–5 | 4–8 |
| New York | 6–4 | 7–3 | 8–4 | 2–4 | 9–0 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 7–2 | 5–4 | — | 7–5 | 8–4 | 3–2 | 3–4 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 3–9 | 6–3 | 3–6 | 0–6 | 4–5 | 3–7 | 1–4 | 5–2 | 5–7 | — | 4–3 | 7–3 | 5–1 |
| Seattle | 4–6 | 6–6 | 7–2 | 1–9 | 2–3 | 3–6 | 4–6 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 4–8 | 3–4 | — | 9–1 | 1–5 |
| Texas | 3–3 | 5–1 | 4–6 | 5–4 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 3–4 | 3–3 | 5–4 | 2–3 | 3–7 | 1–9 | — | 4–8 |
| Toronto | 2–7 | 3–7 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 4–6 | 4–5 | 6–6 | 3–7 | 8–4 | 4–3 | 1–5 | 5–1 | 8–4 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 11, 1994: Jorge Velandia and Scott Livingstone were traded by the Tigers to the San Diego Padres for Gene Harris.
* June 17, 1994: Greg Cadaret was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.

### 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 | Chad Kreuter | 65 | 170 | 38 | .224 | 1 | 19 |
| 1B | Cecil Fielder | 109 | 425 | 110 | .259 | 28 | 90 |
| 2B | Lou Whitaker | 92 | 322 | 97 | .301 | 12 | 43 |
| SS | Alan Trammell | 76 | 292 | 78 | .267 | 8 | 28 |
| 3B | Travis Fryman | 114 | 464 | 122 | .263 | 18 | 85 |
| LF | Tony Phillips | 114 | 438 | 123 | .281 | 19 | 61 |
| CF | Eric Davis | 37 | 120 | 22 | .183 | 3 | 13 |
| RF | Junior Félix | 86 | 301 | 92 | .306 | 13 | 49 |
| DH | Kirk Gibson | 98 | 330 | 91 | .276 | 23 | 72 |

#### 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 |
| Mickey Tettleton | 107 | 339 | 84 | .248 | 17 | 51 |
| Chris Gomez | 84 | 296 | 76 | .257 | 8 | 53 |
| Juan Samuel | 59 | 136 | 42 | .309 | 5 | 21 |
| Milt Cuyler | 48 | 116 | 28 | .241 | 1 | 11 |
| Danny Bautista | 31 | 99 | 23 | .232 | 4 | 15 |
| John Flaherty | 34 | 40 | 6 | .150 | 0 | 4 |
| Riccardo Ingram | 12 | 23 | 5 | .217 | 0 | 2 |
| Scott Livingstone | 15 | 23 | 5 | .217 | 0 | 1 |
| Skeeter Barnes | 24 | 21 | 6 | .286 | 1 | 4 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Tim Belcher | 25 | 162.0 | 7 | 15 | 5.89 | 76 |
| Mike Moore | 25 | 154.1 | 11 | 10 | 5.42 | 62 |
| Bill Gullickson | 21 | 115.1 | 4 | 5 | 5.93 | 65 |
| David Wells | 16 | 111.1 | 5 | 7 | 3.96 | 71 |
| John Doherty | 18 | 101.1 | 6 | 7 | 6.48 | 28 |
| Sean Bergman | 3 | 17.2 | 2 | 1 | 5.60 | 12 |

#### 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 |
| Greg Gohr | 8 | 34.0 | 2 | 2 | 4.50 | 21 |
| José Lima | 3 | 6.2 | 0 | 1 | 13.50 | 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 |
| Mike Henneman | 30 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 5.19 | 27 |
| Joe Boever | 46 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 3.98 | 49 |
| Buddy Groom | 40 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.94 | 27 |
| Mike Gardiner | 38 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4.14 | 31 |
| Storm Davis | 35 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3.56 | 38 |
| Greg Cadaret | 17 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3.60 | 14 |
| Bill Krueger | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9.61 | 17 |
| Gene Harris | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7.15 | 10 |
| Phil Stidham | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24.92 | 4 |
| Kurt Knudsen | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Toledo Mud Hens | International League | Joe Sparks and Larry Parrish |
| AA | Trenton Thunder | Eastern League | Tom Runnells |
| A | Lakeland Tigers | Florida State League | Gerry Groninger and Mark Wagner |
| A | Fayetteville Generals | South Atlantic League | Dwight Lowry |
| A-Short Season | Jamestown Jammers | New York–Penn League | Dave Anderson |
| Rookie | Bristol Tigers | Appalachian League | Kevin Bradshaw |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Niagara Falls