# 1973 Detroit Tigers season

The 1973 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 73th season and the 62nd season at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers compiled a record of 85–77. They finished in third place in the AL East, 12 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. They were outscored by their opponents 674 to 642.

## Offseason

* November 30, 1972: Rich Reese was purchased by the Tigers from the Minnesota Twins.

## Regular season

* April 27, 1973: Steve Busby threw the first no-hitter in Kansas City Royals history against the Tigers. The Royals beat Detroit by a score of 3–0.

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Baltimore Orioles | 97 | 65 | .599 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 47‍–‍34 |
| Boston Red Sox | 89 | 73 | .549 | 8 | 48‍–‍33 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Detroit Tigers | 85 | 77 | .525 | 12 | 47‍–‍34 | 38‍–‍43 |
| New York Yankees | 80 | 82 | .494 | 17 | 50‍–‍31 | 30‍–‍51 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 74 | 88 | .457 | 23 | 40‍–‍41 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Cleveland Indians | 71 | 91 | .438 | 26 | 34‍–‍47 | 37‍–‍44 |

### Record vs. opponents

1973 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | TEX |
| Baltimore | — | 7–11 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 15–3 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 10–2 |
| Boston | 11–7 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 9–9 | 3–15 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 6–6 | 14–4 | 4–8 | 9–3 |
| California | 6–6 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 6–12 | 11–7 |
| Chicago | 4–8 | 6–6 | 10–8 | — | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–12 | 3–9 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 6–12 | 13–5 |
| Cleveland | 6–12 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 5–7 | — | 9–9 | 2–10 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 7–5 |
| Detroit | 9–9 | 15–3 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 4–8 | 12–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 |
| Kansas City | 4–8 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 10–2 | 8–4 | — | 8–4 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| Milwaukee | 3–15 | 6–12 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 4–8 | — | 8–4 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 8–4 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 9–9 | 4–8 | — | 3–9 | 14–4 | 12–6 |
| New York | 9–9 | 4–14 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 9–3 | — | 4–8 | 8–4 |
| Oakland | 7–5 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 8–4 | 4–14 | 8–4 | — | 11–7 |
| Texas | 2–10 | 3–9 | 7–11 | 5–13 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 6–12 | 4–8 | 7–11 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 2, 1973: Tim Hosley was traded by the Tigers to the Oakland Athletics for Don Shaw.
* June 5, 1973: Bob Adams was drafted by the Tigers in the 3rd round of the 1973 Major League Baseball draft.
* August 17, 1973: Rich Reese was released by the Tigers.

### 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 | 110 | 380 | 89 | .234 | 6 | 29 |
| 1B | Norm Cash | 121 | 363 | 95 | .262 | 19 | 40 |
| 2B | Dick McAuliffe | 106 | 343 | 94 | .274 | 12 | 47 |
| 3B | Aurelio Rodríguez | 160 | 555 | 123 | .222 | 9 | 58 |
| SS | Ed Brinkman | 162 | 515 | 122 | .237 | 7 | 40 |
| LF | Willie Horton | 111 | 411 | 130 | .316 | 17 | 53 |
| CF | Mickey Stanley | 157 | 602 | 147 | .244 | 17 | 57 |
| RF | Jim Northrup | 119 | 404 | 124 | .307 | 12 | 44 |
| DH | Gates Brown | 125 | 377 | 89 | .236 | 12 | 50 |

#### 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 |
| Al Kaline | 91 | 310 | 79 | .255 | 10 | 45 |
| Tony Taylor | 84 | 275 | 63 | .229 | 5 | 24 |
| Duke Sims | 80 | 252 | 61 | .242 | 8 | 30 |
| Frank Howard | 85 | 227 | 58 | .256 | 12 | 29 |
| Dick Sharon | 91 | 178 | 43 | .242 | 7 | 16 |
| Rich Reese | 59 | 102 | 14 | .137 | 2 | 4 |
| Ike Brown | 42 | 76 | 22 | .289 | 1 | 9 |
| Ron Cash | 14 | 39 | 16 | .410 | 0 | 6 |
| John Knox | 12 | 32 | 9 | .281 | 0 | 3 |
| Bob Didier | 7 | 22 | 10 | .455 | 0 | 1 |
| Tom Veryzer | 18 | 20 | 6 | .300 | 0 | 2 |
| Joe Staton | 9 | 17 | 4 | .235 | 0 | 3 |
| Marvin Lane | 6 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 1 | 2 |
| John Gamble | 7 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |

### 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 |
| Mickey Lolich | 42 | 308.2 | 16 | 15 | 3.82 | 214 |
| Joe Coleman | 40 | 288.1 | 23 | 15 | 3.53 | 202 |
| Jim Perry | 35 | 203.0 | 14 | 13 | 4.03 | 66 |
| Woodie Fryman | 34 | 169.2 | 6 | 13 | 5.36 | 119 |

#### 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 Strahler | 22 | 80.1 | 4 | 5 | 4.37 | 37 |
| Fred Holdsworth | 5 | 14.2 | 0 | 1 | 6.75 | 9 |
| Gary Ignasiak | 3 | 4.2 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| John Hiller | 65 | 10 | 5 | 38 | 60 | 1.44 | 124 |
| Fred Scherman | 34 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 4.23 | 28 |
| Ed Farmer | 24 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 5.00 | 28 |
| Bob Miller | 22 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 3.43 | 23 |
| Lerrin LaGrow | 21 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 4.33 | 33 |
| Tom Timmermann | 17 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3.69 | 21 |
| Chuck Seelbach | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 2 |
| Bill Slayback | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.50 | 1 |
| Dave Lemanczyk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.57 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* John Hiller, Hutch Award
* Al Kaline, Roberto Clemente Award
* Mickey Stanley, AL Gold Glove Award, outfield

### League top ten finishers

Ed Brinkman
* MLB leader in games played (162)
* AL leader in games played at shortstop (162)
* AL leader in complete games at shortstop (141)
* AL leader in innings played at shortstop (1390-2/3)
* #2 in AL in sacrifice hits (14)
* #2 in AL times grounded into double plays (22)
Joe Coleman
* AL leader in hit batsmen (10)
* #2 in AL in wins (23)
* #4 in AL in home runs allowed (32)
* #5 in MLB in games started (40)
* #9 in MLB in batters faced (1219)
Bill Freehan
* #2 in AL in times hit by pitch (11)
John Hiller
* MLB leader in saves (38)
* AL leader in games (65)
* AL leader in games finished (60)
* #5 in AL in win percentage (.667)
Al Kaline
* 4th oldest player in AL (38)
Mickey Lolich
* #2 in MLB in games started (42)
* #2 in MLB in home runs allowed (35)
* #2 in MLB in hits allowed (315)
* #2 in AL in strikeout to walk ratio (2.71)
* #3 in MLB in earned runs allowed (131)
* #5 in AL in bases on balls per 9 innings pitched (2.30)
* #5 in AL in strikeouts (214)
* #5 in AL in wild pitches (12)
* #6 in MLB in batters faced (1286)
* #7 in MLB in innings pitched (308.7)
Aurelio Rodríguez
* AL leader in games played at third base (160)
* AL leader in complete games at third base (151)
* AL leader in innings played at third base (1394-2/3)
* #5 in AL in games played (160)
Mickey Stanley
* #4 in AL in outs (481)

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

The following members of the 1975 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked by The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:
* Bill Freehan: 12th best catcher of all time
* Norm Cash: 20th best first baseman of all time
* Aurelio Rodríguez: 91st best third baseman of all time
* Al Kaline: 11th best right fielder of all time
* Willie Horton: 55th best left fielder of all time
* Mickey Lolich: 72nd best pitcher of all time

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Toledo Mud Hens | International League | Johnny Lipon and Cot Deal |
| AA | Montgomery Rebels | Southern League | Fred Hatfield |
| A | Lakeland Tigers | Florida State League | Stubby Overmire |
| A | Clinton Pilots | Midwest League | Jim Leyland |
| A | Anderson Tigers | Western Carolinas League | Len Okrie |
| Rookie | Bristol Tigers | Appalachian League | Joe Lewis |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montgomery