# 1963 Detroit Tigers season

The 1963 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 63rd season and the 52nd season at Tiger Stadium. The team finished tied for fifth place in the American League with a record of 79–83, 25+1⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees.
A sluggish start, then a seven-game, mid-June losing streak, cost third-year manager Bob Scheffing his job on June 17. He was replaced by 68-year-old veteran former MLB manager Chuck Dressen. When the change was made, the Tigers were in ninth place at 24–36 (.400), 11+1⁄2 games behind the Yankees. Scheffing's three-man coaching staff was released along with him. Under Dressen, Detroit would recover to win 55 of 102 games and move up to its fifth-place finish.

## Offseason

* November 26, 1962: 1962 first-year draft
** Tom Matchick was drafted by the Tigers from the St. Louis Cardinals.
** Rich Reese was drafted from the Tigers by the Minnesota Twins.
** Conrad Cardinal was drafted from the Tigers by the Houston Colt .45s.
* November 26, 1962: Dick Brown was traded by the Tigers to the Baltimore Orioles for Whitey Herzog and Gus Triandos.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 104 | 57 | .646 | — | 58‍–‍22 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 68 | .580 | 10½ | 49‍–‍33 | 45‍–‍35 |
| Minnesota Twins | 91 | 70 | .565 | 13 | 48‍–‍33 | 43‍–‍37 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 86 | 76 | .531 | 18½ | 48‍–‍33 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Cleveland Indians | 79 | 83 | .488 | 25½ | 41‍–‍40 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Detroit Tigers | 79 | 83 | .488 | 25½ | 47‍–‍34 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Boston Red Sox | 76 | 85 | .472 | 28 | 44‍–‍36 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 73 | 89 | .451 | 31½ | 36‍–‍45 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 70 | 91 | .435 | 34 | 39‍–‍42 | 31‍–‍49 |
| Washington Senators | 56 | 106 | .346 | 48½ | 31‍–‍49 | 25‍–‍57 |

### Record vs. opponents

1963 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA | MIN | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 7–11 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 15–3 |
| Boston | 11–7 | — | 8–10 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 9–8 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 9–9 |
| Chicago | 11–7 | 10–8 | — | 11–7 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 13–5 |
| Cleveland | 8–10 | 8–10 | 7–11 | — | 10–8 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 13–5 |
| Detroit | 5–13 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 8–10 | — | 13–5 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 9–9 |
| Kansas City | 9–9 | 11–7 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 5–13 | — | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 10–8 |
| Los Angeles | 9–9 | 8–9 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 8–10 | — | 9–9 | 5–13 | 9–9 |
| Minnesota | 9–9 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 9–9 | — | 6–11 | 14–4 |
| New York | 11–7 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 13–5 | 11–6 | — | 14–4 |
| Washington | 3–15 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 4–14 | 4–14 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 8, 1963: Denny McLain was selected off waivers by the Tigers from the Chicago White Sox as first-year waiver pick.
* May 8, 1963: Chico Fernández was traded by the Tigers to the Milwaukee Braves for Lou Johnson and cash.

### 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 | Gus Triandos | 106 | 327 | 78 | .239 | 14 | 41 |
| 1B | Norm Cash | 147 | 493 | 133 | .270 | 26 | 79 |
| 2B | Jake Wood | 85 | 351 | 95 | .271 | 11 | 27 |
| SS | Dick McAuliffe | 150 | 568 | 149 | .262 | 13 | 61 |
| 3B | Bubba Phillips | 128 | 464 | 114 | .246 | 5 | 45 |
| LF | Rocky Colavito | 160 | 597 | 162 | .271 | 22 | 91 |
| CF | Bill Bruton | 145 | 524 | 134 | .256 | 8 | 48 |
| RF | Al Kaline | 145 | 551 | 172 | .312 | 27 | 101 |

#### 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 |
| Bill Freehan | 100 | 300 | 73 | .243 | 9 | 36 |
| Don Wert | 78 | 251 | 65 | .259 | 7 | 25 |
| George Smith | 52 | 171 | 37 | .216 | 0 | 17 |
| George Thomas | 49 | 109 | 26 | .239 | 1 | 11 |
| Gates Brown | 55 | 82 | 22 | .268 | 2 | 14 |
| Whitey Herzog | 52 | 53 | 8 | .151 | 0 | 7 |
| Frank Kostro | 31 | 52 | 12 | .231 | 0 | 0 |
| Chico Fernández | 15 | 49 | 7 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Mike Roarke | 23 | 44 | 14 | .318 | 0 | 1 |
| Willie Horton | 15 | 43 | 14 | .326 | 1 | 4 |
| Coot Veal | 15 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 0 | 4 |
| Bubba Morton | 6 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 2 |
| Purnal Goldy | 9 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| John Sullivan | 3 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Vic Wertz | 6 | 5 | 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 |
| Jim Bunning | 39 | 248.1 | 12 | 13 | 3.88 | 196 |
| Hank Aguirre | 38 | 225.2 | 14 | 15 | 3.67 | 134 |
| Phil Regan | 38 | 189.0 | 15 | 9 | 3.86 | 115 |
| Don Mossi | 24 | 122.2 | 7 | 7 | 3.74 | 68 |
| Frank Lary | 16 | 107.1 | 4 | 9 | 3.27 | 46 |
| Denny McLain | 3 | 21.0 | 2 | 1 | 4.29 | 22 |

#### 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 |
| Mickey Lolich | 33 | 144.1 | 5 | 9 | 3.55 | 103 |
| Bill Faul | 28 | 97.0 | 5 | 6 | 4.64 | 64 |
| Willie Smith | 11 | 21.2 | 1 | 0 | 4.57 | 16 |
| Alan Koch | 7 | 10.0 | 1 | 1 | 10.80 | 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 |
| Terry Fox | 46 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 3.59 | 35 |
| Bob Anderson | 32 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3.30 | 38 |
| Tom Sturdivant | 28 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3.76 | 36 |
| Fred Gladding | 22 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1.98 | 24 |
| Dick Egan | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.14 | 16 |
| Paul Foytack | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8.66 | 7 |
| Bob Dustal | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.00 | 4 |
| Larry Foster | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Syracuse Chiefs | International League | Bob Swift and Frank Carswell |
| AA | Knoxville Smokies | Sally League | Frank Carswell, Frank Lary and Frank Skaff |
| A | Lakeland Tigers | Florida State League | Gail Henley |
| A | Thomasville Tigers | Georgia–Florida League | Al Federoff |
| A | Jamestown Tigers | New York–Penn League | Stubby Overmire, John O'Neil, Max Macon and Fred Hatfield |
| A | Duluth–Superior Dukes | Northern League | Bob Mavis |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Thomasville