# 1965 Detroit Tigers season

The 1965 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 65th season and the 54th season at Tiger Stadium. The team finished fourth in the American League with a record of 89–73, 13 games behind the Minnesota Twins.

## Offseason

* Prior to 1965 season: George Korince was signed as an amateur free agent by the Tigers.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 102 | 60 | .630 | — | 51‍–‍30 | 51‍–‍30 |
| Chicago White Sox | 95 | 67 | .586 | 7 | 48‍–‍33 | 47‍–‍34 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 94 | 68 | .580 | 8 | 46‍–‍33 | 48‍–‍35 |
| Detroit Tigers | 89 | 73 | .549 | 13 | 47‍–‍34 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Cleveland Indians | 87 | 75 | .537 | 15 | 52‍–‍30 | 35‍–‍45 |
| New York Yankees | 77 | 85 | .475 | 25 | 40‍–‍43 | 37‍–‍42 |
| Los Angeles/California Angels | 75 | 87 | .463 | 27 | 46‍–‍34 | 29‍–‍53 |
| Washington Senators | 70 | 92 | .432 | 32 | 36‍–‍45 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Boston Red Sox | 62 | 100 | .383 | 40 | 34‍–‍47 | 28‍–‍53 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 59 | 103 | .364 | 43 | 33‍–‍48 | 26‍–‍55 |

### Record vs. opponents

1965 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA/ CAL | MIN | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–7 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 13–5 | 8–10 |
| Boston | 7–11 | — | 4–14 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 5–13 | 1–17 | 9–9 | 11–7 |
| Chicago | 9–9 | 14–4 | — | 10–8 | 9–9 | 13–5 | 12–6 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 13–5 |
| Cleveland | 8–10 | 10–8 | 8–10 | — | 9–9 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 11–7 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 9–9 | — | 13–5 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 11–7 |
| Kansas City | 7–11 | 7–11 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 5–13 | — | 5–13 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 6–12 |
| Los Angeles/California | 5–13 | 13–5 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 13–5 | — | 9–9 | 6–12 | 6–12 |
| Minnesota | 10–8 | 17–1 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | — | 13–5 | 15–3 |
| New York | 5–13 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 5–13 | — | 11–7 |
| Washington | 10–8 | 7–11 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 3–15 | 7–11 | — |
NOTE: The Los Angeles Angels changed their name to California Angels on September 2, 1965, with the season in progress.

### 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 | Bill Freehan | 130 | 431 | 101 | .234 | 10 | 43 |
| 1B | Norm Cash | 142 | 467 | 124 | .266 | 30 | 82 |
| 2B | Jerry Lumpe | 145 | 502 | 129 | .257 | 4 | 39 |
| 3B | Don Wert | 162 | 609 | 159 | .261 | 12 | 54 |
| SS | Dick McAuliffe | 113 | 404 | 105 | .260 | 15 | 54 |
| LF | Willie Horton | 143 | 512 | 140 | .273 | 29 | 104 |
| CF | Al Kaline | 125 | 399 | 112 | .281 | 18 | 72 |
| RF | Jim Northrup | 80 | 219 | 45 | .205 | 2 | 16 |

#### 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 |
| Don Demeter | 122 | 389 | 108 | .278 | 16 | 58 |
| Gates Brown | 96 | 227 | 58 | .256 | 10 | 43 |
| Ray Oyler | 82 | 194 | 36 | .186 | 5 | 13 |
| George Thomas | 79 | 169 | 36 | .213 | 3 | 10 |
| Mickey Stanley | 30 | 117 | 28 | .239 | 3 | 13 |
| Jake Wood | 58 | 104 | 30 | .288 | 2 | 7 |
| John Sullivan | 34 | 86 | 23 | .267 | 2 | 11 |
| Jackie Moore | 21 | 53 | 5 | .094 | 0 | 2 |
| George Smith | 32 | 53 | 5 | .094 | 1 | 1 |
| Bill Roman | 21 | 27 | 2 | .074 | 0 | 0 |
| Wayne Redmond | 4 | 4 | 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 |
| Mickey Lolich | 43 | 243.2 | 15 | 9 | 3.44 | 226 |
| Denny McLain | 33 | 220.1 | 16 | 6 | 2.61 | 192 |
| Hank Aguirre | 32 | 208.1 | 14 | 10 | 3.59 | 141 |
| Dave Wickersham | 34 | 195.1 | 9 | 14 | 3.78 | 109 |
| Joe Sparma | 30 | 167.0 | 13 | 8 | 3.18 | 127 |

#### 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 |
| Phil Regan | 16 | 51.2 | 1 | 5 | 5.05 | 37 |
| Jack Hamilton | 4 | 4.1 | 1 | 1 | 14.54 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Terry Fox | 42 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 2.78 | 34 |
| Fred Gladding | 46 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2.83 | 43 |
| Larry Sherry | 39 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 3.10 | 46 |
| Orlando Peña | 30 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2.51 | 55 |
| Ron Nischwitz | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.78 | 12 |
| Julio Navarro | 15 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4.20 | 22 |
| Ed Rakow | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.08 | 10 |
| John Hiller | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 4 |
| Johnnie Seale | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12.00 | 3 |
| Leo Marentette | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |
| Vern Holtgrave | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Syracuse Chiefs | International League | Frank Carswell |
| AA | Montgomery Rebels | Southern League | Wayne Blackburn |
| A | Rocky Mount Leafs | Carolina League | Al Lakeman |
| A | Daytona Beach Islanders | Florida State League | Al Federoff |
| A | Jamestown Tigers | New York–Penn League | Gail Henley |
| A-Short Season | Duluth–Superior Dukes | Northern League | Doc Daugherty |
Duluth-Superior affiliation shared with Chicago Cubs