# 1954 Detroit Tigers season

The 1954 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 68–86, 43 games behind the Cleveland Indians.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cleveland Indians | 111 | 43 | .721 | — | 59‍–‍18 | 52‍–‍25 |
| New York Yankees | 103 | 51 | .669 | 8 | 54‍–‍23 | 49‍–‍28 |
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 60 | .610 | 17 | 45‍–‍32 | 49‍–‍28 |
| Boston Red Sox | 69 | 85 | .448 | 42 | 38‍–‍39 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Detroit Tigers | 68 | 86 | .442 | 43 | 35‍–‍42 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Washington Senators | 66 | 88 | .429 | 45 | 37‍–‍41 | 29‍–‍47 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 54 | 100 | .351 | 57 | 32‍–‍45 | 22‍–‍55 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 51 | 103 | .331 | 60 | 29‍–‍47 | 22‍–‍56 |

### Record vs. opponents

1954 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–11 | 7–15 | 3–19 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 10–12 |
| Boston | 11–11 | — | 5–17 | 2–20–2 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 13–9 |
| Chicago | 15–7 | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 12–10–1 | 7–15 | 17–5 | 15–7 |
| Cleveland | 19–3 | 20–2–2 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 18–4 | 18–4 |
| Detroit | 14–8 | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 9–13 |
| New York | 17–5 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 18–4–1 | 13–9 |
| Philadelphia | 12–10 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 4–18 | 9–13 | 4–18–1 | — | 10–12–1 |
| Washington | 12–10 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 4–18 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 12–10–1 | — |

### Notable transactions

* August 20, 1954: Earl Harrist and cash were traded by the Tigers to the Seattle Rainiers for Van Fletcher.

### 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 | Frank House | 114 | 352 | 88 | .250 | 9 | 38 |
| 1B | Walt Dropo | 107 | 320 | 90 | .281 | 4 | 44 |
| 2B | Frank Bolling | 117 | 368 | 87 | .236 | 6 | 38 |
| SS | Harvey Kuenn | 155 | 656 | 201 | .306 | 5 | 48 |
| 3B | Ray Boone | 148 | 543 | 160 | .295 | 20 | 85 |
| LF | Jim Delsing | 122 | 371 | 92 | .248 | 6 | 38 |
| CF | Bill Tuttle | 147 | 530 | 141 | .266 | 7 | 58 |
| RF | Al Kaline | 138 | 504 | 139 | .276 | 4 | 43 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Nieman | 91 | 251 | 66 | .263 | 8 | 35 |
| Wayne Belardi | 88 | 250 | 58 | .232 | 11 | 24 |
| Fred Hatfield | 81 | 218 | 64 | .294 | 2 | 25 |
| Red Wilson | 54 | 170 | 48 | .282 | 2 | 22 |
| Hoot Evers | 30 | 60 | 11 | .183 | 0 | 5 |
| Don Lund | 35 | 54 | 7 | .130 | 0 | 3 |
| Bud Souchock | 25 | 39 | 7 | .179 | 3 | 8 |
| Reno Bertoia | 54 | 37 | 6 | .162 | 1 | 2 |
| Chuck Kress | 24 | 37 | 7 | .189 | 0 | 3 |
| Chick King | 11 | 28 | 6 | .214 | 0 | 3 |
| Matt Batts | 12 | 21 | 6 | .286 | 0 | 5 |
| Johnny Pesky | 20 | 17 | 3 | .176 | 1 | 1 |
| Al Lakeman | 5 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| George Bullard | 4 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Walt Streuli | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Steve Gromek | 36 | 252.2 | 18 | 16 | 2.74 | 102 |
| Ned Garver | 35 | 246.1 | 14 | 11 | 2.81 | 93 |
| George Zuverink | 35 | 203.0 | 9 | 13 | 3.59 | 70 |
| Billy Hoeft | 34 | 175.0 | 7 | 15 | 4.58 | 114 |

#### 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 |
| Al Aber | 32 | 124.2 | 5 | 11 | 3.97 | 54 |
| Ted Gray | 19 | 72.0 | 3 | 5 | 5.38 | 29 |
| Ralph Branca | 17 | 45.1 | 3 | 3 | 5.76 | 15 |
| Dick Weik | 9 | 16.1 | 0 | 1 | 7.16 | 9 |

#### 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 |
| Dick Marlowe | 38 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4.18 | 39 |
| Ray Herbert | 42 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 5.87 | 44 |
| Bob Miller | 32 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.45 | 27 |
| Frank Lary | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.45 | 5 |
| Dick Donovan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.50 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Buffalo Bisons | International League | Billy Hitchcock |
| AA | Little Rock Travelers | Southern Association | Bill Norman, Stubby Overmire and Pat Mullin |
| A | Wilkes-Barre Barons | Eastern League | Dan Carnevale |
| B | Durham Bulls | Carolina League | Charlie Metro |
| C | Greenville Tigers | Cotton States League | Willis Hudlin |
| C | Idaho Falls Russets | Pioneer League | Bob Mavis |
| D | Valdosta Tigers | Georgia–Florida League | Marv Owen and Stan Wasiak |
| D | Jamestown Falcons | PONY League | Danny Litwhiler and Wayne Blackburn |