# 1969 Detroit Tigers season

The 1969 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 69th season and the 58th season at Tiger Stadium. The team finished a distant second in the newly established American League East with a record of 90–72, 19 games behind the Baltimore Orioles.

## Offseason

* October 15, 1968: Dick Drago was drafted from the Tigers by the Kansas City Royals as the 31st pick in the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft.
* December 15, 1968: Dennis Ribant was purchased from the Tigers by the Kansas City Royals.
* February 1, 1969: John Young was drafted by the Tigers in the 1st round (16th pick) of the 1969 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase).

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Baltimore Orioles | 109 | 53 | .673 | — | 60‍–‍21 | 49‍–‍32 |
| Detroit Tigers | 90 | 72 | .556 | 19 | 46‍–‍35 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Boston Red Sox | 87 | 75 | .537 | 22 | 46‍–‍35 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Washington Senators | 86 | 76 | .531 | 23 | 47‍–‍34 | 39‍–‍42 |
| New York Yankees | 80 | 81 | .497 | 28½ | 48‍–‍32 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Cleveland Indians | 62 | 99 | .385 | 46½ | 33‍–‍48 | 29‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1969 American League recordsvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEP | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 10–8 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 13–5 | 11–7 | 11–1 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 9–3 | 13–5 |
| Boston | 8–10 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 10–2 | 7–5 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–12 |
| California | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 9–9 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 6–12 | 9–9–1 | 5–7 |
| Chicago | 3–9 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 8–4 | 3–9 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 3–9 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 4–8 |
| Cleveland | 5–13 | 6–12 | 4–8 | 4–8 | — | 7–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 9–8 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 3–15 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 7–11 |
| Kansas City | 1–11 | 2–10 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 4–8 | — | 8–10 | 5–7–1 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 7–5 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 10–8 | — | 10–2 | 13–5 | 12–6 | 6–6 |
| New York | 7–11 | 7–11 | 9–3 | 9–3 | 8–9 | 8–10 | 7–5–1 | 2–10 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 10–8 |
| Oakland | 4–8 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 5–13 | 6–6 | — | 13–5 | 8–4 |
| Seattle | 3–9 | 6–6 | 9–9–1 | 8–10 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 5–13 | — | 7–5 |
| Washington | 5–13 | 12–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 15–3 | 11–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 5–7 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 14, 1969: Ron Woods was traded by the Tigers to the New York Yankees for Tom Tresh.
* August 8, 1969: Don McMahon was traded by the Tigers to the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later. The Giants completed the deal by sending César Gutiérrez to the Tigers on September 2.

### 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 | 143 | 489 | 128 | .262 | 16 | 49 |
| 1B | Norm Cash | 143 | 483 | 135 | .280 | 22 | 74 |
| 2B | Dick McAuliffe | 74 | 262 | 71 | .262 | 11 | 33 |
| SS | Tom Tresh | 94 | 331 | 74 | .224 | 13 | 37 |
| 3B | Don Wert | 132 | 423 | 95 | .225 | 14 | 50 |
| LF | Willie Horton | 141 | 508 | 133 | .262 | 28 | 91 |
| CF | Jim Northrup | 148 | 543 | 160 | .295 | 25 | 66 |
| RF | Al Kaline | 131 | 456 | 124 | .272 | 21 | 69 |

#### 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 |
| Mickey Stanley | 149 | 592 | 139 | .235 | 16 | 70 |
| Tom Matchick | 94 | 298 | 72 | .242 | 0 | 32 |
| Jim Price | 72 | 192 | 45 | .234 | 9 | 28 |
| Ike Brown | 70 | 170 | 39 | .229 | 5 | 12 |
| Gates Brown | 60 | 93 | 19 | .204 | 1 | 6 |
| Dick Tracewski | 66 | 79 | 11 | .139 | 0 | 4 |
| César Gutiérrez | 17 | 49 | 12 | .245 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Campbell | 32 | 39 | 4 | .103 | 0 | 2 |
| Ron Woods | 17 | 15 | 4 | .267 | 1 | 3 |
| Wayne Redmond | 5 | 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 |
| Denny McLain | 42 | 325.0 | 24 | 9 | 2.80 | 181 |
| Mickey Lolich | 37 | 280.2 | 19 | 11 | 3.14 | 271 |
| Earl Wilson | 35 | 214.2 | 12 | 10 | 3.31 | 150 |

#### 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 |
| Mike Kilkenny | 39 | 128.1 | 8 | 6 | 3.37 | 97 |
| Pat Dobson | 49 | 105.0 | 5 | 10 | 3.60 | 64 |
| John Hiller | 40 | 99.1 | 4 | 4 | 3.99 | 74 |
| Joe Sparma | 23 | 92.2 | 6 | 8 | 4.76 | 41 |
| Bob Reed | 8 | 14.2 | 0 | 0 | 1.84 | 9 |

#### 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 |
| Don McMahon | 34 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 3.89 | 38 |
| Fred Lasher | 32 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3.07 | 26 |
| Tom Timmermann | 31 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2.75 | 42 |
| Daryl Patterson | 18 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.82 | 12 |
| Dick Radatz | 11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3.38 | 18 |
| Gary Taylor | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.23 | 3 |
| Fred Scherman | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 3 |
| Norm McRae | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 3 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Toledo Mud Hens | International League | Jack Tighe |
| AA | Montgomery Rebels | Southern League | Frank Carswell |
| A | Rocky Mount Leafs | Carolina League | Al Federoff |
| A | Lakeland Tigers | Florida State League | Len Okrie |
| A-Short Season | Batavia Trojans | New York–Penn League | Bob Dustal |
| Rookie | Bristol Tigers | Appalachian League | Bill Lajoie |

## Awards and honors

* Al Kaline, Hutch Award