# 1943 Detroit Tigers season

The 1943 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 78–76, 20 games behind the New York Yankees.

## Offseason

* November 2, 1942: Johnny Welaj was drafted from the Tigers by the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1942 rule 5 draft.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 98 | 56 | .636 | — | 54‍–‍23 | 44‍–‍33 |
| Washington Senators | 84 | 69 | .549 | 13½ | 44‍–‍32 | 40‍–‍37 |
| Cleveland Indians | 82 | 71 | .536 | 15½ | 44‍–‍33 | 38‍–‍38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 82 | 72 | .532 | 16 | 40‍–‍36 | 42‍–‍36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 78 | 76 | .506 | 20 | 45‍–‍32 | 33‍–‍44 |
| St. Louis Browns | 72 | 80 | .474 | 25 | 44‍–‍33 | 28‍–‍47 |
| Boston Red Sox | 68 | 84 | .447 | 29 | 39‍–‍36 | 29‍–‍48 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 49 | 105 | .318 | 49 | 27‍–‍51 | 22‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1943 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 8–14 | 12–10 | 11–11–1 | 5–17–1 | 11–11 | 11–9–1 | 10–12 |
| Chicago | 14–8 | — | 7–15 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 18–4–1 | 10–12 | 14–8 |
| Cleveland | 10–12 | 15–7 | — | 15–7 | 9–13 | 16–6 | 9–13 | 8–13 |
| Detroit | 11–11–1 | 13–9 | 7–15 | — | 10–12 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 13–9 |
| New York | 17–5–1 | 12–10 | 13–9 | 12–10 | — | 16–6 | 17–5 | 11–11 |
| Philadelphia | 11–11 | 4–18–1 | 6–16 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — | 8–14 | 5–17 |
| St. Louis | 9–11–1 | 12–10 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 5–17 | 14–8 | — | 8–14 |
| Washington | 12–10 | 8–14 | 13–8 | 9–13 | 11–11 | 17–5 | 14–8 | — |

### 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 | Paul Richards | 100 | 313 | 69 | .220 | 5 | 33 |
| 1B | Rudy York | 155 | 571 | 155 | .271 | 34 | 118 |
| 2B | Jimmy Bloodworth | 129 | 474 | 114 | .241 | 6 | 52 |
| SS | Joe Hoover | 144 | 575 | 140 | .243 | 4 | 38 |
| 3B | Pinky Higgins | 138 | 523 | 145 | .277 | 10 | 84 |
| OF | Doc Cramer | 140 | 606 | 182 | .300 | 1 | 43 |
| OF | Dick Wakefield | 155 | 633 | 200 | .316 | 7 | 79 |
| OF | Ned Harris | 114 | 354 | 90 | .254 | 6 | 32 |

#### 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 | 89 | 247 | 66 | .267 | 0 | 18 |
| Joe Wood | 60 | 164 | 53 | .323 | 1 | 17 |
| Rip Radcliff | 70 | 115 | 30 | .261 | 0 | 10 |
| Dixie Parsons | 40 | 106 | 15 | .142 | 0 | 4 |
| Al Unser | 38 | 101 | 25 | .248 | 0 | 4 |
| Jimmy Outlaw | 20 | 67 | 18 | .269 | 1 | 6 |
| Charlie Metro | 44 | 40 | 8 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
| John McHale | 4 | 3 | 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 |
| Dizzy Trout | 44 | 246.2 | 20 | 12 | 2.48 | 111 |
| Virgil Trucks | 33 | 202.2 | 16 | 10 | 2.84 | 118 |
| Hal Newhouser | 37 | 195.2 | 8 | 17 | 3.04 | 144 |
| Tommy Bridges | 25 | 191.2 | 12 | 7 | 2.39 | 124 |
| Hal White | 32 | 177.2 | 7 | 12 | 3.39 | 58 |
| Rufe Gentry | 4 | 29.1 | 1 | 3 | 3.68 | 8 |

#### 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 |
| Stubby Overmire | 29 | 147.0 | 7 | 6 | 3.18 | 48 |

#### 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 | 35 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3.36 | 45 |
| Roy Henshaw | 26 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3.79 | 33 |
| Prince Oana | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4.50 | 15 |
| Joe Orrell | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.72 | 2 |

## Awards and honors
### League leaders

* Rudy York, Major league home run champion, (34)
* Rudy York, American League RBI champion, (118)

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Buffalo Bisons | International League | Greg Mulleavy |
| B | Hagerstown Owls | Interstate League | Eddie Phillips and Bobby Maier |