# 1964 Detroit Tigers season

The 1964 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 64th season and the 53rd season at Tiger Stadium. The team finished fourth in the American League with a record of 85–77, 14 games behind the New York Yankees.

## Offseason

* December 2, 1963: Howie Koplitz was drafted from the Tigers by the Washington Senators in the 1963 rule 5 draft.
* December 5, 1963: Gus Triandos and Jim Bunning were traded by the Tigers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Don Demeter and Jack Hamilton.
* March 18, 1964: Don Mossi was purchased from the Tigers by the Chicago White Sox.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 99 | 63 | .611 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 49‍–‍32 |
| Chicago White Sox | 98 | 64 | .605 | 1 | 52‍–‍29 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 97 | 65 | .599 | 2 | 49‍–‍32 | 48‍–‍33 |
| Detroit Tigers | 85 | 77 | .525 | 14 | 46‍–‍35 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 82 | 80 | .506 | 17 | 45‍–‍36 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cleveland Indians | 79 | 83 | .488 | 20 | 41‍–‍40 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Minnesota Twins | 79 | 83 | .488 | 20 | 40‍–‍41 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Boston Red Sox | 72 | 90 | .444 | 27 | 45‍–‍36 | 27‍–‍54 |
| Washington Senators | 62 | 100 | .383 | 37 | 31‍–‍50 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 57 | 105 | .352 | 42 | 26‍–‍55 | 31‍–‍50 |

### Record vs. opponents

1964 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA | MIN | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 13–5–1 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 13–5 |
| Boston | 7–11 | — | 4–14 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 12–6 |
| Chicago | 8–10 | 14–4 | — | 12–6 | 11–7 | 16–2 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 12–6 |
| Cleveland | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 10–8–1 | 3–15–1 | 11–7 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 13–5 | 7–11 | 7–11 | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 8–10–1 | 11–7 |
| Kansas City | 5–13–1 | 6–12 | 2–16 | 8–10 | 7–11 | — | 6–12 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 8–10 |
| Los Angeles | 7–11 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 12–6 | — | 12–6 | 7–11 | 10–8 |
| Minnesota | 8–10 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 8–10–1 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–12 | — | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| New York | 8–10 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 15–3–1 | 10–8–1 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 10–8 | — | 12–6 |
| Washington | 5–13 | 6–12 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 6–12 | — |

### Notable transitions

Andy Kosco was released by the Tigers on June 3, 1964. On September 16, 1964, Dick Drago was signed as an amateur free agent. After playing in 106 games during his fourth season with the Tigers, outfielder Bill Bruton retired.

### 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 | 144 | 520 | 156 | .300 | 18 | 80 |
| 1B | Norm Cash | 144 | 479 | 123 | .257 | 23 | 83 |
| 2B | Jerry Lumpe | 158 | 624 | 160 | .256 | 6 | 46 |
| 3B | Don Wert | 148 | 525 | 135 | .257 | 9 | 55 |
| SS | Dick McAuliffe | 162 | 557 | 134 | .241 | 24 | 66 |
| LF | Gates Brown | 123 | 426 | 116 | .272 | 15 | 54 |
| CF | Bill Bruton | 106 | 296 | 82 | .277 | 5 | 33 |
| RF | Al Kaline | 146 | 525 | 154 | .293 | 17 | 68 |

#### 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 | 134 | 441 | 113 | .256 | 22 | 80 |
| George Thomas | 105 | 308 | 88 | .286 | 12 | 44 |
| Jake Wood | 64 | 125 | 29 | .232 | 1 | 7 |
| Bubba Phillips | 46 | 87 | 22 | .253 | 3 | 6 |
| Mike Roarke | 29 | 82 | 19 | .232 | 0 | 7 |
| Willie Horton | 25 | 80 | 13 | .163 | 1 | 10 |
| Jim Northrup | 5 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | 0 |
| Mickey Stanley | 4 | 11 | 3 | .273 | 0 | 1 |
| Bill Roman | 3 | 8 | 3 | .375 | 1 | 1 |
| George Smith | 5 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 2 |
| John Sullivan | 2 | 3 | 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 |
| Dave Wickersham | 40 | 254.0 | 19 | 12 | 3.44 | 164 |
| Mickey Lolich | 44 | 232.0 | 18 | 9 | 3.26 | 192 |
| Hank Aguirre | 32 | 161.2 | 5 | 10 | 3.79 | 88 |
| Denny McLain | 19 | 100.0 | 4 | 5 | 4.05 | 70 |
| Bill Faul | 1 | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 10.80 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Ed Rakow | 42 | 152.1 | 8 | 9 | 3.72 | 96 |
| Phil Regan | 32 | 146.2 | 5 | 10 | 5.03 | 91 |
| Joe Sparma | 21 | 84.0 | 5 | 6 | 3.00 | 71 |
| Frank Lary | 6 | 18.0 | 0 | 2 | 7.00 | 6 |
| Jack Hamilton | 5 | 15.0 | 0 | 1 | 8.40 | 5 |

#### 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 |
| Larry Sherry | 38 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 3.66 | 58 |
| Fred Gladding | 42 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 3.07 | 59 |
| Terry Fox | 32 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3.39 | 28 |
| Julio Navarro | 26 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3.95 | 36 |
| Dick Egan | 23 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.46 | 21 |
| Johnnie Seale | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 | 5 |
| Alan Koch | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 1 |
| Fritz Fisher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 108.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Syracuse Chiefs | International League | Frank Carswell |
| AA | Knoxville Smokies | Southern League | Bob Mavis |
| A | Lakeland Tigers | Florida State League | Al Federoff |
| A | Jamestown Tigers | New York–Penn League | Jack Phillips |
| A | Duluth–Superior Dukes | Northern League | Gail Henley |
| Rookie | Cocoa Tigers | Cocoa Rookie League | Doc Daugherty |