# 1939 Detroit Tigers season

The 1939 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 81–73, 261⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 106 | 45 | .702 | — | 52‍–‍25 | 54‍–‍20 |
| Boston Red Sox | 89 | 62 | .589 | 17 | 42‍–‍32 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Cleveland Indians | 87 | 67 | .565 | 20½ | 44‍–‍33 | 43‍–‍34 |
| Chicago White Sox | 86 | 69 | .555 | 22 | 50‍–‍27 | 36‍–‍42 |
| Detroit Tigers | 81 | 73 | .526 | 26½ | 42‍–‍35 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Washington Senators | 65 | 87 | .428 | 41½ | 37‍–‍39 | 28‍–‍48 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 55 | 97 | .362 | 51½ | 28‍–‍48 | 27‍–‍49 |
| St. Louis Browns | 43 | 111 | .279 | 64½ | 18‍–‍59 | 25‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1939 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 8–14 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 11–8–1 | 18–4 | 16–6 | 15–7 |
| Chicago | 14–8 | — | 12–10 | 12–10 | 4–18 | 11–11 | 18–4 | 14–8–1 |
| Cleveland | 11–11 | 10–12 | — | 11–11 | 7–15 | 18–4 | 16–6 | 14–8 |
| Detroit | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11 | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 14–8–1 | 14–8 |
| New York | 8–11–1 | 18–4 | 15–7 | 13–9 | — | 18–4 | 19–3 | 15–7 |
| Philadelphia | 4–18 | 11–11 | 4–18 | 11–11 | 4–18 | — | 13–9–1 | 8–12 |
| St. Louis | 6–16 | 4–18 | 6–16 | 8–14–1 | 3–19 | 9–13–1 | — | 7–15 |
| Washington | 7–15 | 8–14–1 | 8–14 | 8–14 | 7–15 | 12–8 | 15–7 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 13, 1939: Vern Kennedy, Bob Harris, George Gill, Roxie Lawson, Chet Laabs, and Mark Christman were traded by the Tigers to the St. Louis Browns for Red Kress, Beau Bell, Bobo Newsom, and Jim Walkup.

### 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 | 106 | 341 | 89 | .261 | 4 | 53 |
| 1B | Hank Greenberg | 138 | 500 | 156 | .312 | 33 | 113 |
| 2B | Charlie Gehringer | 118 | 406 | 132 | .325 | 16 | 86 |
| SS | Frank Croucher | 97 | 324 | 87 | .269 | 5 | 40 |
| 3B | Pinky Higgins | 132 | 489 | 135 | .276 | 8 | 76 |
| OF | Earl Averill | 87 | 309 | 81 | .262 | 10 | 58 |
| OF | Barney McCosky | 147 | 611 | 190 | .311 | 4 | 58 |
| OF | Pete Fox | 141 | 519 | 153 | .295 | 7 | 66 |

#### 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 |
| Rudy York | 102 | 329 | 101 | .307 | 20 | 68 |
| Benny McCoy | 55 | 192 | 58 | .302 | 1 | 33 |
| Roy Cullenbine | 75 | 179 | 43 | .240 | 6 | 23 |
| Billy Rogell | 74 | 174 | 40 | .230 | 2 | 23 |
| Red Kress | 51 | 157 | 38 | .242 | 1 | 22 |
| Dixie Walker | 43 | 154 | 47 | .305 | 4 | 19 |
| Beau Bell | 54 | 134 | 32 | .239 | 0 | 24 |
| Chet Laabs | 5 | 16 | 5 | .313 | 0 | 2 |
| Mark Christman | 6 | 16 | 4 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Les Fleming | 8 | 16 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |
| Merv Shea | 4 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Dixie Parsons | 5 | 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 |
| Bobo Newsom | 35 | 246.0 | 17 | 10 | 3.37 | 164 |
| Tommy Bridges | 29 | 198.0 | 17 | 7 | 3.50 | 129 |
| Schoolboy Rowe | 28 | 164.0 | 10 | 12 | 4.99 | 51 |
| Fred Hutchinson | 13 | 84.0 | 3 | 6 | 5.21 | 22 |
| Vern Kennedy | 4 | 21.0 | 0 | 3 | 6.43 | 9 |
| Hal Newhouser | 1 | 5.0 | 0 | 1 | 5.40 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Dizzy Trout | 33 | 162.0 | 9 | 10 | 3.61 | 72 |
| Al Benton | 37 | 150.0 | 6 | 8 | 4.56 | 67 |
| Archie McKain | 32 | 129.2 | 5 | 6 | 3.68 | 49 |
| Harry Eisenstat | 10 | 29.2 | 2 | 2 | 6.98 | 6 |
| Bob Harris | 5 | 18.0 | 1 | 1 | 4.00 | 9 |
| Cotton Pippen | 3 | 14.0 | 0 | 1 | 7.07 | 5 |
| Roxie Lawson | 2 | 11.1 | 1 | 1 | 4.76 | 4 |
| George Gill | 3 | 8.2 | 0 | 1 | 8.31 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Bud Thomas | 27 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 4.18 | 14 |
| Slick Coffman | 23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.38 | 10 |
| Floyd Giebell | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.93 | 9 |
| Jim Walkup | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7.50 | 5 |
| Red Lynn | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8.64 | 3 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| A1 | Beaumont Exporters | Texas League | Al Vincent |
| C | Hot Springs Bathers | Cotton States League | Conard Fisher |
| C | Henderson Oilers | East Texas League | Jake Atz |
| D | Fulton Tigers | KITTY League | Charlie Eckert |
| D | Newport Canners | Northeast Arkansas League | Clary Harris |
| D | Tiffin Mud Hens | Ohio State League | Jimmy Lawrence and Al Curry |