# 1960 Detroit Tigers season

The 1960 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Tigers' sixth-place finish in the American League with a 71–83 record, 26 games behind the AL Champion New York Yankees.

## Offseason

* October 26, 1959: Gus Zernial was released by the Tigers.
* November 30, 1959: Steve Bilko was drafted by the Tigers from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1959 Rule 5 draft.
* December 5, 1959: Ted Lepcio, Ken Walters, and Alex Cosmidis (minors) were traded by the Tigers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Chico Fernández and Ray Semproch.
* The team changed the home jersey from featuring an Olde English 'D' to displaying "Tigers" in script; the Olde English 'D' returned in 1961.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 55‍–‍22 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 89 | 65 | .578 | 8 | 44‍–‍33 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Chicago White Sox | 87 | 67 | .565 | 10 | 51‍–‍26 | 36‍–‍41 |
| Cleveland Indians | 76 | 78 | .494 | 21 | 39‍–‍38 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Washington Senators | 73 | 81 | .474 | 24 | 32‍–‍45 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 71 | 83 | .461 | 26 | 40‍–‍37 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Boston Red Sox | 65 | 89 | .422 | 32 | 36‍–‍41 | 29‍–‍48 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 58 | 96 | .377 | 39 | 34‍–‍43 | 24‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1960 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 16–6 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 11–11 |
| Boston | 6–16 | — | 5–17 | 9–13 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 7–15 | 11–11 |
| Chicago | 9–13 | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 11–11 | 15–7 | 10–12 | 14–8 |
| Cleveland | 8–14 | 13–9 | 11–11 | — | 7–15 | 15–7 | 6–16 | 16–6 |
| Detroit | 9–13 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 15–7 | — | 10–12 | 8–14 | 10–12 |
| Kansas City | 9–13 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 12–10 | — | 7–15–1 | 7–15 |
| New York | 13–9 | 15–7 | 12–10 | 16–6 | 14–8 | 15–7–1 | — | 12–10 |
| Washington | 11–11 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 10–12 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 12, 1960: The Tigers acquired first baseman Norm Cash from the Cleveland Indians for utility infielder Steve Demeter; Cash played in 2,018 games and slugged 373 homers for Detroit (1960–74); Demeter played in four games and was hitless in five at-bats for the Indians before disappearing into the minor leagues.
* April 17, 1960: Reigning American League batting average champion Harvey Kuenn (.353 in 1959) was traded by the Tigers to the Indians, even-up, for reigning AL home run champ Rocky Colavito (42 homers in 1959, tied with Harmon Killebrew).
* June 15, 1960: Ray Semproch and cash were traded by the Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Clem Labine.
* July 26, 1960: Harry Chiti was purchased by the Tigers from the Kansas City Athletics.
* August 3, 1960: In the only manager-for-manager trade in Major League history, the Tigers swapped Jimmy Dykes to the Indians for Joe Gordon; coaches Luke Appling and Jo-Jo White also traded teams.

### 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 | Lou Berberet | 85 | 232 | 45 | .194 | 5 | 23 |
| 1B | Norm Cash | 121 | 353 | 101 | .286 | 18 | 63 |
| 2B | Frank Bolling | 139 | 536 | 136 | .254 | 9 | 59 |
| 3B | Eddie Yost | 143 | 497 | 129 | .260 | 14 | 47 |
| SS | Chico Fernández | 133 | 435 | 105 | .241 | 4 | 35 |
| LF | Charlie Maxwell | 134 | 482 | 114 | .237 | 24 | 81 |
| CF | Al Kaline | 147 | 551 | 153 | .278 | 15 | 68 |
| RF | Rocky Colavito | 145 | 555 | 138 | .249 | 35 | 87 |

#### 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 |
| Steve Bilko | 78 | 222 | 46 | .207 | 9 | 25 |
| Neil Chrisley | 96 | 220 | 56 | .255 | 5 | 24 |
| Red Wilson | 45 | 134 | 29 | .216 | 1 | 14 |
| Ozzie Virgil Sr. | 62 | 132 | 30 | .227 | 3 | 13 |
| Harry Chiti | 37 | 104 | 17 | .163 | 2 | 5 |
| Casey Wise | 30 | 68 | 10 | .147 | 2 | 5 |
| Sandy Amorós | 65 | 67 | 10 | .149 | 1 | 7 |
| Coot Veal | 27 | 64 | 19 | .297 | 0 | 8 |
| Hank Foiles | 26 | 56 | 14 | .250 | 0 | 3 |
| Dick Gernert | 21 | 50 | 15 | .300 | 1 | 5 |
| Dick McAuliffe | 8 | 27 | 7 | .259 | 0 | 1 |
| Johnny Groth | 25 | 19 | 7 | .368 | 0 | 2 |
| Gail Harris | 8 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Rocky Bridges | 10 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Em Lindbeck | 2 | 1 | 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 |
| Frank Lary | 38 | 274.1 | 15 | 15 | 3.81 | 149 |
| Jim Bunning | 36 | 252.0 | 11 | 14 | 2.79 | 201 |
| Don Mossi | 23 | 158.1 | 9 | 8 | 3.47 | 69 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Bruce | 34 | 130.0 | 4 | 7 | 3.74 | 76 |
| Pete Burnside | 31 | 113.2 | 7 | 7 | 4.28 | 71 |
| Paul Foytack | 28 | 96.2 | 2 | 11 | 6.14 | 38 |
| Phil Regan | 17 | 68.0 | 0 | 4 | 4.50 | 38 |
| Bill Fischer | 20 | 55.0 | 5 | 3 | 3.44 | 24 |

#### 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 |
| Hank Aguirre | 37 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 2.85 | 80 |
| Dave Sisler | 41 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 2.48 | 47 |
| Tom Morgan | 22 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4.66 | 12 |
| Ray Semproch | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.00 | 9 |
| Clem Labine | 14 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5.12 | 6 |
| George Spencer | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.52 | 4 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Denver Bears | American Association | Charlie Metro |
| AA | Birmingham Barons | Southern Association | Skeeter Newsome |
| AA | Victoria Rosebuds | Texas League | Johnny Pesky |
| A | Knoxville Smokies | Sally League | Frank Skaff |
| B | Durham Bulls | Carolina League | Stubby Overmire |
| C | Duluth–Superior Dukes | Northern League | Frank Carswell |
| D | Montgomery Rebels | Alabama–Florida League | Al Lakeman |
| D | Decatur Commodores | Midwest League | Al Federoff |