# 1903 Detroit Tigers season

1903 was the third year for the Detroit Tigers in the still-new American League. The team finished in fifth place with a record or 65–71 (.478), 25 games behind the Boston Americans. The 1903 Tigers outscored their opponents 567 to 539. The team's attendance at Bennett Park was 224,523, sixth out of the eight teams in the AL.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Boston Americans | 91 | 47 | .659 | — | 49‍–‍20 | 42‍–‍27 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 75 | 60 | .556 | 14½ | 44‍–‍21 | 31‍–‍39 |
| Cleveland Naps | 77 | 63 | .550 | 15 | 49‍–‍25 | 28‍–‍38 |
| New York Highlanders | 72 | 62 | .537 | 17 | 41‍–‍26 | 31‍–‍36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 65 | 71 | .478 | 25 | 37‍–‍28 | 28‍–‍43 |
| St. Louis Browns | 65 | 74 | .468 | 26½ | 38‍–‍32 | 27‍–‍42 |
| Chicago White Stockings | 60 | 77 | .438 | 30½ | 41‍–‍28 | 19‍–‍49 |
| Washington Senators | 43 | 94 | .314 | 47½ | 29‍–‍40 | 14‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1903 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYH | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 14–6 | 12–8 | 10–9–1 | 13–7 | 13–6 | 14–6 | 15–5–2 |
| Chicago | 6–14 | — | 10–10 | 10–9 | 7–11–1 | 6–14 | 9–11 | 12–8 |
| Cleveland | 8–12 | 10–10 | — | 9–11 | 14–6 | 9–11 | 11–9 | 16–4 |
| Detroit | 9–10–1 | 9–10 | 11–9 | — | 10–9 | 11–9 | 6–14 | 9–10 |
| New York | 7–13 | 11–7–1 | 6–14 | 9–10 | — | 10–8–1 | 15–5 | 14–5 |
| Philadelphia | 6–13 | 14–6 | 11–9 | 9–11 | 8–10–1 | — | 11–8 | 16–3–1 |
| St. Louis | 6–14 | 11–9 | 9–11 | 14–6 | 5–15 | 8–11 | — | 12–8 |
| Washington | 5–15–2 | 8–12 | 4–16 | 10–9 | 5–14 | 3–16–1 | 8–12 | — |

### 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 | Deacon McGuire | 72 | 248 | 62 | .250 | 0 | 21 |
| 1B | Charlie Carr | 135 | 548 | 154 | .281 | 2 | 79 |
| 2B | Heinie Smith | 93 | 336 | 75 | .223 | 1 | 22 |
| 3B | Joe Yeager | 109 | 402 | 103 | .256 | 0 | 43 |
| SS | Sport McAllister | 78 | 265 | 69 | .260 | 0 | 22 |
| OF | Sam Crawford | 137 | 550 | 184 | .335 | 4 | 89 |
| OF | Jimmy Barrett | 136 | 517 | 163 | .315 | 2 | 31 |
| OF | Billy Lush | 119 | 423 | 116 | .274 | 1 | 33 |

#### 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 |
| Herman Long | 69 | 239 | 53 | .222 | 0 | 23 |
| Fritz Buelow | 63 | 192 | 41 | .214 | 1 | 13 |
| Kid Elberfeld | 35 | 132 | 45 | .341 | 0 | 19 |
| Doc Gessler | 29 | 105 | 25 | .238 | 0 | 12 |
| Ernie Courtney | 23 | 74 | 17 | .230 | 0 | 6 |
| Jack Burns | 11 | 37 | 10 | .270 | 0 | 3 |
| John Murphy | 5 | 22 | 4 | .182 | 0 | 1 |
| Simon Nicholls | 2 | 8 | 3 | .375 | 0 | 0 |
| Paddy Greene | 1 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

### 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 |
| George Mullin | 41 | 320.2 | 19 | 15 | 2.25 | 170 |
| Bill Donovan | 35 | 307.0 | 17 | 16 | 2.29 | 187 |
| Frank Kitson | 31 | 257.2 | 15 | 162 | 2.58 | 102 |
| Rube Kisinger | 16 | 118.2 | 7 | 9 | 2.96 | 33 |
| John Deering | 10 | 60.2 | 3 | 4 | 3.86 | 14 |
| Mal Eason | 7 | 56.1 | 2 | 5 | 3.36 | 21 |
| John Skopec | 6 | 39.1 | 2 | 2 | 3.43 | 14 |
| Harry Kane | 3 | 18.0 | 0 | 2 | 8.50 | 10 |
| Joe Yeager | 1 | 9.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.00 | 1 |
| Alex Jones | 2 | 8.2 | 0 | 1 | 12.46 | 2 |

## Awards and honors
### League top five finishers

Jimmy Barrett
* AL leader in on-base percentage (.407)
* AL leader in bases on balls (74)
* AL leader in times on base (243)
* #4 in AL in batting average (.315)
* #3 in AL in runs scored (95)
* #3 in AL in plate appearances (615)
* #4 in AL in singles (138)
Sam Crawford
* AL leader in runs created (98)
* MLB leader in triples (25)
* #2 in AL in batting average (.335)
* #2 in AL in hits (184)
* #2 in AL in total bases (269)
* #3 in AL in OPS (.855)
* #3 in AL in times on base (211)
* #4 in AL in slugging percentage (.489)
* #4 in AL in sacrifice hits (25)
* #5 in AL in RBIs (89)
Bill Donovan
* #2 in AL in strikeouts (187)
* #2 in MLB in hits allowed per 9 innings pitched (7.24)
* #2 in AL in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (5.48)
* #2 in AL in bases on balls allowed (95)
* #5 in AL in wild pitches (7)
Harry "Candy" Kane
* 2nd youngest player in AL (19)
Frank Kitson
* #4 in AL in home runs allowed (8)
Billy Lush
* MLB leader in sacrifice hits (34)
* #2 in AL in bases on balls (70)
* #3 in on-base percentage (.379)
Deacon McGuire
* 2nd oldest player in the AL (39)
George Mullin
* AL leader in saves (2)
* AL leader in bases on balls allowed (106)
* #2 in AL in shutouts (6)
* #2 in games (41)
* #3 in AL in batters faced (1345)
* #5 in AL in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (4.77)
* #5 in AL in strikeouts (170)
* #6 in AL in ERA (2.26)
Joe Yeager
* #4 in AL in times hit by pitch (9)