# 1980 Detroit Tigers season

The 1980 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 80th season and the 69th season at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers finished in fifth 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. This was Sparky Anderson's first full season as Tigers manager.

## Offseason

* December 7, 1979: Ron LeFlore was traded by the Tigers to the Montreal Expos for Dan Schatzeder.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 103 | 59 | .636 | — | 53‍–‍28 | 50‍–‍31 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 100 | 62 | .617 | 3 | 50‍–‍31 | 50‍–‍31 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 86 | 76 | .531 | 17 | 40‍–‍42 | 46‍–‍34 |
| Boston Red Sox | 83 | 77 | .519 | 19 | 36‍–‍45 | 47‍–‍32 |
| Detroit Tigers | 84 | 78 | .519 | 19 | 43‍–‍38 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Cleveland Indians | 79 | 81 | .494 | 23 | 44‍–‍35 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 67 | 95 | .414 | 36 | 35‍–‍46 | 32‍–‍49 |
Boston's record of 83–77 has a fractionally better winning percentage than Detroit's record of 84–78; .51875 and .51851, respectively.

### Record vs. opponents

1980 American League recordvte 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.
* June 3, 1980: Chuck Hensley was drafted by the Tigers in the 10th round of the 1980 Major League Baseball draft.
* June 6, 1980: Bárbaro Garbey was signed as an amateur free agent by the Tigers.
* September 21, 1980: Roger Mason was signed as an amateur 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 | Lance Parrish | 144 | 553 | 158 | .286 | 24 | 82 |
| 1B | Richie Hebner | 104 | 341 | 99 | .290 | 12 | 82 |
| 2B | Lou Whitaker | 145 | 477 | 111 | .233 | 1 | 45 |
| 3B | Tom Brookens | 151 | 509 | 140 | .275 | 10 | 66 |
| SS | Alan Trammell | 146 | 560 | 168 | .300 | 9 | 65 |
| LF | Steve Kemp | 135 | 508 | 149 | .293 | 21 | 101 |
| CF | Rick Peters | 133 | 477 | 139 | .291 | 2 | 42 |
| RF | Al Cowens | 108 | 403 | 113 | .280 | 5 | 42 |
| DH | Champ 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 |
| John Wockenfuss | 126 | 372 | 102 | .274 | 16 | 65 |
| Kirk Gibson | 51 | 175 | 46 | .263 | 9 | 16 |
| Jim Lentine | 67 | 161 | 42 | .261 | 1 | 17 |
| Tim Corcoran | 84 | 153 | 44 | .288 | 3 | 18 |
| Dave Stegman | 65 | 130 | 23 | .177 | 2 | 9 |
| Jason Thompson | 36 | 126 | 27 | .214 | 4 | 20 |
| Stan Papi | 46 | 114 | 27 | .237 | 3 | 17 |
| Duffy Dyer | 48 | 108 | 20 | .185 | 4 | 11 |
| Mark Wagner | 45 | 72 | 17 | .236 | 0 | 3 |
| Lynn Jones | 30 | 55 | 14 | .255 | 0 | 6 |
| Dan Gonzales | 2 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

### 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 |
| Jack Morris | 36 | 250.0 | 16 | 15 | 4.18 | 112 |
| Milt Wilcox | 32 | 198.2 | 13 | 11 | 4.48 | 97 |
| Dan Schatzeder | 32 | 192.2 | 11 | 13 | 4.02 | 94 |
| Dan Petry | 27 | 164.2 | 10 | 9 | 3.94 | 88 |
| Mark Fidrych | 9 | 44.1 | 2 | 3 | 5.68 | 16 |

#### 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 |
| Dave Rozema | 42 | 144.2 | 6 | 9 | 3.92 | 49 |
| Roger Weaver | 19 | 63.2 | 3 | 0 | 4.10 | 42 |
| Bruce Robbins | 15 | 51.2 | 4 | 2 | 6.62 | 23 |
| Jerry 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 |
| Aurelio López | 67 | 13 | 6 | 21 | 59 | 3.77 | 97 |
| Pat Underwood | 49 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 24 | 3.59 | 60 |
| Dave Tobik | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3.98 | 34 |
| John Hiller | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.40 | 18 |
| Jack 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 |