# 1942 Detroit Tigers season

The 1942 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 73–81, 30 games behind the New York Yankees.

## Offseason

* Prior to the 1942 season: Neil Berry 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 | 103 | 51 | .669 | — | 58‍–‍19 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Boston Red Sox | 93 | 59 | .612 | 9 | 53‍–‍24 | 40‍–‍35 |
| St. Louis Browns | 82 | 69 | .543 | 19½ | 40‍–‍37 | 42‍–‍32 |
| Cleveland Indians | 75 | 79 | .487 | 28 | 39‍–‍39 | 36‍–‍40 |
| Detroit Tigers | 73 | 81 | .474 | 30 | 43‍–‍34 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Chicago White Sox | 66 | 82 | .446 | 34 | 35‍–‍35 | 31‍–‍47 |
| Washington Senators | 62 | 89 | .411 | 39½ | 35‍–‍42 | 27‍–‍47 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 55 | 99 | .357 | 48 | 25‍–‍51 | 30‍–‍48 |

### Record vs. opponents

1942 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 13–8 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 14–7 |
| Chicago | 8–13 | — | 11–11 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 12–10 | 6–13 | 13–7 |
| Cleveland | 8–14 | 11–11 | — | 9–13–2 | 7–15 | 16–6 | 9–13 | 15–7 |
| Detroit | 7–15 | 13–9 | 13–9–2 | — | 7–15 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 9–13 |
| New York | 10–12 | 15–7 | 15–7 | 15–7 | — | 16–6 | 15–7 | 17–5 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 10–12 | 6–16 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — | 6–16 | 10–12 |
| St. Louis | 11–11 | 13–6 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 7–15 | 16–6 | — | 11–11 |
| Washington | 7–14 | 7–13 | 7–15 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 12–10 | 11–11 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 30, 1942: Schoolboy Rowe was purchased from the Tigers by the Brooklyn Dodgers.

### 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 | Birdie Tebbetts | 99 | 308 | 76 | .247 | 1 | 27 |
| 1B | Rudy York | 153 | 577 | 150 | .260 | 21 | 90 |
| 2B | Jimmy Bloodworth | 137 | 533 | 129 | .242 | 13 | 57 |
| SS | Billy Hitchcock | 85 | 280 | 59 | .211 | 0 | 29 |
| 3B | Pinky Higgins | 143 | 499 | 133 | .267 | 11 | 79 |
| OF | Doc Cramer | 151 | 630 | 166 | .263 | 0 | 43 |
| OF | Barney McCosky | 154 | 600 | 176 | .293 | 7 | 50 |
| OF | Ned Harris | 121 | 398 | 108 | .271 | 9 | 45 |

#### 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 |
| Don Ross | 87 | 226 | 62 | .274 | 3 | 30 |
| Dixie Parsons | 63 | 188 | 37 | .197 | 2 | 11 |
| Moe Franklin | 48 | 154 | 40 | .260 | 2 | 16 |
| Rip Radcliff | 62 | 144 | 36 | .250 | 1 | 20 |
| Johnny Lipon | 34 | 131 | 25 | .191 | 0 | 9 |
| Eric McNair | 26 | 68 | 11 | .162 | 1 | 4 |
| Dutch Meyer | 14 | 52 | 17 | .327 | 2 | 9 |
| Charlie Gehringer | 45 | 45 | 12 | .267 | 1 | 7 |
| Hank Riebe | 11 | 35 | 11 | .314 | 0 | 2 |
| Al Unser | 4 | 8 | 3 | .375 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Patrick | 4 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 1 | 3 |

### 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 |
| Al Benton | 35 | 226.2 | 7 | 13 | 2.90 | 110 |
| Dizzy Trout | 35 | 223.0 | 12 | 18 | 3.43 | 91 |
| Hal White | 34 | 216.2 | 12 | 12 | 2.91 | 93 |
| Tommy Bridges | 23 | 174.0 | 9 | 7 | 2.74 | 97 |
| Virgil Trucks | 28 | 167.2 | 14 | 8 | 2.74 | 91 |

#### 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 |
| Hal Newhouser | 38 | 183.2 | 8 | 14 | 2.45 | 103 |
| Charlie Fuchs | 9 | 36.2 | 3 | 3 | 6.63 | 15 |
| Schoolboy Rowe | 2 | 10.1 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Gorsica | 28 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4.75 | 19 |
| Roy Henshaw | 23 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4.09 | 24 |
| Hal Manders | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.09 | 14 |
| Jack Wilson | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.85 | 7 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Buffalo Bisons | International League | Al Vincent |
| A1 | Beaumont Exporters | Texas League | Steve O'Neill |
| A | Elmira Pioneers | Eastern League | Ray Brubaker |
| B | Hagerstown Owls | Interstate League | Dutch Dorman |
| B | Winston-Salem Twins | Piedmont League | Jack Tighe and Al Unser |
| C | Pittsfield Electrics | Canadian–American League | Shano Collins, Rabbit Moore and Vince "Moon" Mullen |
| D | Fulton Tigers | KITTY League | Vince "Moon" Mullen |
| D | Jamestown Falcons | PONY League | Greg Mulleavy |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jamestown
KITTY League folded, June 19, 1942