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, games behind the New York Yankees season|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 season|Boston Red Sox].
Offseason
- October 27, 1952: Neil [Berry (baseball)|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
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.
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 | 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |