# 1982 Detroit Tigers season

The 1982 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 82nd season and the 71st season at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers finished in fourth place in the American League East with a record of 83–79 (.512), 12 games behind the AL Champion Brewers. The Tigers outscored their opponents 729 to 685. The Tigers drew 1,636,058 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1982, ranking 7th of the 14 teams in the American League.

## Offseason

* October 5, 1981: Mark Fidrych was released by the Tigers.
* December 9, 1981: Dan Schatzeder and Mike Chris were traded by the Tigers to the San Francisco Giants for Larry Herndon.
* December 14, 1981: Dennis Kinney was released by the Tigers.
* March 4, 1982: Champ Summers was traded by the Tigers to the San Francisco Giants for Enos Cabell and cash.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 95 | 67 | .586 | — | 48‍–‍34 | 47‍–‍33 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 94 | 68 | .580 | 1 | 53‍–‍28 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Boston Red Sox | 89 | 73 | .549 | 6 | 49‍–‍32 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Detroit Tigers | 83 | 79 | .512 | 12 | 47‍–‍34 | 36‍–‍45 |
| New York Yankees | 79 | 83 | .488 | 16 | 42‍–‍39 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cleveland Indians | 78 | 84 | .481 | 17 | 41‍–‍40 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 78 | 84 | .481 | 17 | 44‍–‍37 | 34‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1982 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–9 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 9–4–1 | 8–4 | 11–2 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 10–3 |
| Boston | 9–4 | — | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 7–6 |
| California | 5–7 | 5–7 | — | 8–5 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 8–4 |
| Chicago | 7–5 | 8–4 | 5–8 | — | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–10 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 9–4 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 8–4 |
| Cleveland | 7–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–7 | 2–10 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 7–6 |
| Detroit | 6–7 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 7–6 | — | 6–6 | 3–10 | 9–3 | 8–5 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–7 |
| Kansas City | 8–4 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 10–3 | 10–2 | 6–6 | — | 7–5 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 |
| Milwaukee | 4–9–1 | 9–4 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 6–7 | 10–3 | 5–7 | — | 7–5 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 9–4 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 5–7 | — | 2–10 | 3–10 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 5–7 |
| New York | 2–11 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 9–4 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 10–2 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 4–8 | 4–9 | 4–9 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 10–3 | 5–7 | — | 6–7 | 5–8 | 3–9 |
| Seattle | 5–7 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 7–6 | — | 9–4 | 7–5 |
| Texas | 3–9 | 2–10 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 4–9 | — | 4–8 |
| Toronto | 3–10 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 8–4 | — |

### 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 | 133 | 486 | 138 | .284 | 32 | 87 |
| 1B | Enos Cabell | 125 | 464 | 121 | .261 | 2 | 37 |
| 2B | Lou Whitaker | 152 | 560 | 160 | .286 | 15 | 65 |
| 3B | Tom Brookens | 140 | 398 | 92 | .231 | 9 | 58 |
| SS | Alan Trammell | 157 | 489 | 126 | .258 | 9 | 57 |
| LF | Larry Herndon | 157 | 614 | 179 | .292 | 23 | 88 |
| RF | Chet Lemon | 125 | 436 | 116 | .266 | 19 | 52 |
| CF | Glenn Wilson | 84 | 322 | 94 | .292 | 12 | 34 |
| DH | Mike Ivie | 80 | 259 | 60 | .232 | 14 | 38 |

#### 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 |
| Kirk Gibson | 69 | 266 | 74 | .278 | 8 | 35 |
| Rick Leach | 82 | 218 | 52 | .239 | 3 | 12 |
| Jerry Turner | 85 | 210 | 52 | .248 | 8 | 27 |
| John Wockenfuss | 70 | 193 | 58 | .301 | 8 | 32 |
| Richie Hebner | 68 | 179 | 49 | .274 | 8 | 18 |
| Howard Johnson | 54 | 155 | 49 | .316 | 4 | 14 |
| Lynn Jones | 58 | 139 | 31 | .223 | 0 | 14 |
| Mike Laga | 27 | 88 | 23 | .261 | 3 | 11 |
| Bill Fahey | 28 | 67 | 10 | .149 | 0 | 4 |
| Eddie Miller | 14 | 25 | 1 | .040 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark DeJohn | 24 | 21 | 4 | .190 | 0 | 1 |
| Mick Kelleher | 2 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Manny Castillo | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Jack Morris | 37 | 266.1 | 17 | 16 | 4.06 | 135 |
| Dan Petry | 35 | 246.0 | 15 | 9 | 3.22 | 132 |
| Milt Wilcox | 29 | 193.2 | 12 | 10 | 3.62 | 112 |
| Jerry Ujdur | 25 | 178.0 | 10 | 10 | 3.69 | 86 |

#### 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 |
| Pat Underwood | 33 | 99.0 | 4 | 8 | 4.73 | 43 |
| Larry Pashnick | 28 | 94.1 | 4 | 4 | 4.01 | 19 |
| Dave Rozema | 8 | 27.2 | 3 | 0 | 1.63 | 15 |
| Juan Berenguer | 2 | 6.2 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 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 |
| Dave Tobik | 51 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 31 | 3.56 | 63 |
| Elías Sosa | 38 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 4.43 | 24 |
| Kevin Saucier | 31 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 3.12 | 23 |
| Dave Rucker | 27 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 3.38 | 31 |
| Aurelio López | 19 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 5.27 | 26 |
| Bob James | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5.03 | 20 |
| Howard Bailey | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0.00 | 3 |
| Dave Gumpert | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 27.00 | 0 |
| Larry Rothschild | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |

## Award winners and league leaders

Larry Herndon
* #2 in MLB in triples (13)
* #5 in AL in outs (470)
* #8 in MLB in times grounded into double plays (20)
Chet Lemon
* MLB leader in times hit by pitch (15)
Jack Morris
* #2 in AL in complete games (17)
* #2 in MLB in home runs allowed (37)
* #2 in MLB in earned runs allowed (120)
* #2 in AL in wild pitches (10)
* #2 in AL in batters faced (1107)
* #3 in AL in innings pitched (266-1/3)
* #4 in AL in shutouts (3)
* #4 in AL in losses (16)
* #5 in AL in wins (17)
* #5 in AL in games started (37)
* #8 in MLB in bases on balls allowed (96)
Lance Parrish
* AL Silver Slugger Award, catcher
* AL All Star Team, catcher
* Tiger of the Year Award, by Detroit baseball writers
* #4 in AL in at bats per home run (15.2)
* #5 in AL in home runs (32)
* #10 in MLB in slugging percentage (.529)
Dan Petry
* #4 in AL in ERA (3.22)
* #4 in AL in bases on balls allowed (100)
* #5 in AL in wild pitches (9)
Jerry Ujdur
* #2 in AL in hits allowed per 9 innings pitched (7.58)
Milt Wilcox
* #3 in AL in hit batsmen (7)

### Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1982 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked by The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract:
* 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
* Kirk Gibson: 36th best left fielder of all time

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Evansville Triplets | American Association | Roy Majtyka |
| AA | Birmingham Barons | Southern League | Eddie Brinkman |
| A | Lakeland Tigers | Florida State League | Bruce Kimm |
| A | Macon Peaches | South Atlantic League | Ted Brazell |
| Rookie | Bristol Tigers | Appalachian League | Boots Day |