1959 Detroit Tigers season

The 1959 Detroit Tigers season was the 59th season for the American League franchise in Detroit. Although the Tigers lost 15 of their first 17 games in —resulting in the May 2 firing of manager Bill Norman—they recovered under his successor, Jimmy Dykes, to finish in fourth place with a record of 76–78, eighteen games behind the AL Champion [1959 1959 Chicago White Sox season|Chicago White Sox season|Chicago White Sox].

Offseason

October 13, 1958: Maury Wills was sent to the Tigers by the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a conditional deal.
November 20, 1958: Billy Martin and Al Cicotte were traded by the Tigers to the Cleveland Indians for Don Mossi, Ray Narleski, and Ossie Álvarez.
December 1, 1958: Lou Skizas was drafted from the Tigers by the Chicago White Sox in the 1958 rule 5 draft.
Prior to 1959 season: Andy Kosco was signed as an amateur free agent by the Tigers.

Regular season

Notable transactions

March 21, 1959: Future Hall of Famer Larry Doby, who integrated the American League in 1947 with the Cleveland Indians, is acquired by the Tigers from Cleveland for outfielder Tito Francona. On April 10, Opening Day, left-fielder Doby becomes the second Black player and first African-American to appear in a Detroit uniform.
April 2, 1959: Maury Wills was returned by the Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a conditional deal.
May 13, 1959: Larry Doby's contract is sold to the Chicago White Sox. The 35-year-old Doby batted only.218 with no home runs in 55 at-bats with the Tigers and he will end his playing career in U.S. pro baseball later in 1959.
June 13, 1959: Bob Smith was selected off waivers by the Tigers from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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	Lou Berberet	100	338	73	.216	13	44
1B		114	349	77	.221	9	39
2B	Frank Bolling	127	459	122	.266	13	55
SS	Rocky Bridges	116	381	102	.268	3	35
3B	Eddie Yost	148	521	145	.278	21	60
LF	Charlie Maxwell	145	518	130	.251	31	95
CF	Al Kaline	136	511	167	.327	27	94
RF	Harvey Kuenn	139	561	198	.353	9	71

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
Red Wilson	67	228	60	.263	4	35
Ted Lepcio	76	215	60	.279	7	24
Bobo Osborne	86	209	40	.191	3	21
Gus Zernial	60	132	30	.227	7	26
Neil Chrisley	65	106	14	.132	6	11
Johnny Groth	55	102	24	.235	1	10
Coot Veal	77	89	18	.202	1	15
Larry Doby	18	55	12	.218	0	4
Steve Demeter	11	18	2	.111	0	1
Ron Shoop	3	7	1	.143	0	1
Charley Lau	2	6	1	.167	0	0
	8	2	1	.500	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
	40	249.2	17	13	3.89	201
Paul Foytack	39	240.1	14	14	4.64	110
	34	228.0	17	9	3.36	125
Frank Lary	32	223.0	17	10	3.55	137
Billy Hoeft	2	9.0	1	1	5.00	2

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
	42	104.1	4	12	5.78	71
Jerry Davie	11	36.2	2	2	4.17	20
Jim Proctor	2	2.2	0	1	16.88	0
	2	2.0	0	1	9.00	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
Tom Morgan	46	1	4	9	3.98	39
Dave Sisler	32	1	3	7	4.01	29
Pete Burnside	30	1	3	1	3.77	49
Barney Schultz	13	1	2	0	4.42	17
	9	0	0	0	12.89	9
	9	0	0	0	8.18	10
Jim Stump	5	0	0	0	2.38	6
	3	0	0	0	3.38	3