# 1953 Detroit Tigers season

The 1953 Detroit Tigers season was the franchise’s 54th. The team finished sixth in the American League with a record of 60–94, 40+1⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees.
The team has the dubious distinction of having surrendered a 17-run inning — the most runs scored in a single inning in the Modern Era — in a 23-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

## Offseason

* October 27, 1952: Neil Berry, Cliff Mapes and $25,000 were traded by the Tigers to the St. Louis Browns for Jake Crawford.
* December 4, 1952: Johnny Groth, Virgil Trucks and Hal White were traded by the Tigers to the St. Louis Browns for Jay Porter, Owen Friend and Bob Nieman.
* Prior to 1953 season: Bob Shaw was signed as an amateur free agent by the Tigers.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 99 | 52 | .656 | — | 50‍–‍27 | 49‍–‍25 |
| Cleveland Indians | 92 | 62 | .597 | 8½ | 53‍–‍24 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 89 | 65 | .578 | 11½ | 41‍–‍36 | 48‍–‍29 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 69 | .549 | 16 | 38‍–‍38 | 46‍–‍31 |
| Washington Senators | 76 | 76 | .500 | 23½ | 39‍–‍36 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Detroit Tigers | 60 | 94 | .390 | 40½ | 30‍–‍47 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 59 | 95 | .383 | 41½ | 27‍–‍50 | 32‍–‍45 |
| St. Louis Browns | 54 | 100 | .351 | 46½ | 23‍–‍54 | 31‍–‍46 |

### Record vs. opponents

1953 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 10–11 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 10–12 |
| Chicago | 16–6 | — | 11–11–1 | 14–8–1 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 17–5 | 12–10 |
| Cleveland | 9–13 | 11–11–1 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 19–3 | 17–5 | 11–11 |
| Detroit | 9–13 | 8–14–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 11–11–3 | 7–15 | 11–11 |
| New York | 11–10 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 17–5 | 17–5 | 14–6 |
| Philadelphia | 7–15 | 12–10 | 3–19 | 11–11–3 | 5–17 | — | 13–9 | 8–14 |
| St. Louis | 5–17 | 5–17 | 5–17 | 15–7 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 10–12 |
| Washington | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 6–14 | 14–8 | 12–10 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 15, 1953: Art Houtteman, Owen Friend, Bill Wight, and Joe Ginsberg were traded by the Tigers to the Cleveland Indians for Ray Boone, Al Aber, Steve Gromek, and Dick Weik.
* July 27, 1953: Hal Newhouser 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 | Matt Batts | 116 | 374 | 104 | .278 | 6 | 42 |
| 1B | Walt Dropo | 152 | 606 | 150 | .248 | 13 | 96 |
| 2B | Johnny Pesky | 103 | 308 | 90 | .292 | 2 | 24 |
| SS | Harvey Kuenn | 155 | 679 | 209 | .308 | 2 | 48 |
| 3B | Ray Boone | 101 | 385 | 120 | .312 | 22 | 93 |
| OF | Bob Nieman | 142 | 508 | 143 | .281 | 15 | 69 |
| OF | Jim Delsing | 138 | 479 | 138 | .288 | 11 | 62 |
| OF | Don Lund | 131 | 421 | 108 | .257 | 9 | 47 |

#### 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 |
| Fred Hatfield | 109 | 311 | 79 | .254 | 3 | 19 |
| Bud Souchock | 89 | 278 | 84 | .302 | 11 | 46 |
| Jerry Priddy | 65 | 196 | 46 | .235 | 1 | 24 |
| Johnny Bucha | 60 | 158 | 35 | .222 | 1 | 14 |
| Pat Mullin | 79 | 97 | 26 | .268 | 4 | 17 |
| Owen Friend | 31 | 96 | 17 | .177 | 3 | 10 |
| Russ Sullivan | 23 | 72 | 18 | .250 | 1 | 6 |
| Joe Ginsberg | 18 | 53 | 16 | .302 | 0 | 3 |
| Billy Hitchcock | 22 | 38 | 8 | .211 | 0 | 0 |
| Al Kaline | 30 | 28 | 7 | .250 | 1 | 2 |
| John Baumgartner | 7 | 27 | 5 | .185 | 0 | 2 |
| Frank Carswell | 16 | 15 | 4 | .267 | 0 | 2 |
| Bob Swift | 2 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| George Freese | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Reno Bertoia | 1 | 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 |
| Ned Garver | 30 | 198.1 | 11 | 11 | 4.45 | 69 |
| Billy Hoeft | 29 | 197.2 | 9 | 14 | 4.83 | 90 |
| Ted Gray | 30 | 176.0 | 10 | 15 | 4.60 | 115 |
| Steve Gromek | 19 | 125.2 | 6 | 8 | 4.51 | 59 |
| Ralph Branca | 17 | 102.0 | 4 | 7 | 4.15 | 50 |

#### 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 |
| Dick Marlowe | 42 | 119.2 | 6 | 7 | 5.26 | 52 |
| Art Houtteman | 16 | 68.2 | 2 | 6 | 5.90 | 28 |
| Al Aber | 17 | 66.2 | 4 | 3 | 4.46 | 34 |
| Bill Wight | 13 | 25.1 | 0 | 3 | 8.88 | 10 |
| Hal Newhouser | 7 | 21.2 | 0 | 1 | 7.06 | 6 |
| Earl Harrist | 8 | 18.2 | 0 | 2 | 8.68 | 7 |
| Milt Jordan | 8 | 17.0 | 0 | 1 | 5.82 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Ray Herbert | 43 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5.24 | 37 |
| Dave Madison | 32 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6.82 | 27 |
| Hal Erickson | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4.73 | 19 |
| Bob Miller | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5.94 | 9 |
| Ray Scarborough | 13 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8.27 | 12 |
| Dick Weik | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13.97 | 6 |
| Paul Foytack | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.17 | 7 |
| Fred Hutchinson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.79 | 4 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Buffalo Bisons | International League | Jack Tighe |
| AA | Little Rock Travelers | Southern Association | Paul Campbell |
| A | Montgomery Grays | Sally League | Charlie Metro |
| B | Durham Bulls | Carolina League | Marv Owen |
| C | Bakersfield Indians | California League | Ray Perry |
| C | Jackson Senators | Cotton States League | Marland Doolittle |
| D | Jamestown Falcons | PONY League | Dan Carnevale |
| D | Wausau Timberjacks | Wisconsin State League | Wayne Blackburn |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jamestown