Detroit Tigers - The Psychedelic Years (1960-1969)  
   
 
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        Yr P W L   Yr P W L   Yr P W L               1960  
        1960 6 71 83   1963 5 79 83   1967 2 91 71               Decade  
        1961 2 101 61   1964 4 85 77   1968 1 103 59               Click  
        1962 4 85 76   1965 4 89 73   1969 2 90 72               on Logo  
                  1966 3 88 74                            
                                                       
   
  Titles:  Top Tigers Players of the Sixties  
  World Champs 1968 (Beat St. Louis)  
    Pitchers:  
  BallPark: Denny McLain (22.16) -    74  
  Tiger Stadium (previously Navin Field and Briggs Stadium) Mickey Lolich (14.16) -    62  
    Jim Bunning (16.72) -    43  
  Team Name:  Earl Wilson (11.55) -   35  
  Tigers Hank Aguirre (17.43) -    34  
    Frank Lary (8.72) -    30  
  Owner:  Don Mossi (9.44) -    22  
  John Fetzer   Dave Wickersham (5.24) -    20  
    Joe Sparma (0.72) -    20  
  General Managers: Phil Regan (-0.13) -    17  
  Rick Ferrelll (1960-1962) Terry Fox (8.04) -   11  
  Jim Campbell (1963-1969) Fred Gladding (6.5) -  5  
       
  Managers: Catchers:  
  Jimmie Dykes (1960) Bill Freehan (24.87) -    68  
  Billy Hitchcock (1960) Dick Brown (1.29) -    11  
  Joe Gordon (1960)    
  Bob Scheffing (1961-1963) First Basemen:  
  Chuck Dressen (1964-1966) Norm Cash (42.91) -    107  
  Bob Swift (1965-1966) Bobo Osborne (0.55) -    0  
  Frank Skaff (1966)    
  Mayo Smith (1967-1969) Second Basemen:  
    Dick McAulliffe (28.8) -    65  
  No Hitters:  Jake Wood (-0.14) -    18  
  None Chuck Cottier (0) -    0  
       
  Hall of Famers: ShortStop:  
  Jim Bunning  Chico Fernandez (0.91) -    16  
  Al Kaline Ray Oyler (1.27) -    11  
    Coot Veal (0.08) -    0  
  Rookie of the Year:    
  None Third Base:  
    Don Wert (11.81) -    20  
  MVP:    
  Denny McLain (1968) Outfield:  
    Al Kaline (48.67) -    110  
  Cy Young: Willie Horton (16.65) -    44  
  Denny McLain (1968) Jim Northrup (15.17) -     39  
    Rocco Colavito (17.29) -    35  
  Notable Events: Bill Bruton (8.3) -    34  
    Mickey Stanley (9.79) -    20  
  1960 - John Fetzer emerges as the sole owner of the Tigers. He had been  Gates Brown (7.26) -    11  
  one of a group of radio and television executives who had bought the club Don Demeter (2.97) -    11  
  from the Briggs family four years earlier. Fetzer has the resources to support a     
  successful operation. Notable Events:  
       
  1960 - Briggs Stadium is renamed Tiger Stadium 1963 - The Tigers select nineteen year old righthander Denny    
    McLain from the White Sox as a first year waiver selection.  
  1960 - The Tigers are a stagnant ballclub on a mediocrity treadmill coming into the    
  decade. The 1960 roster shows that there is some hope, however. The lineup boasts 1963 - Twenty Two year old lefthander Mickey Lolich is brought   
  three young sluggers, first baseman Norm Cash, 25, right fielder Rocky Colavito, 26  up from Syracuse.   
  and centerfielder Al Kaline, 25. Kaline has been with the club since he was eighteen.    
  Meanwhile, the Tigers braintrust of President Bill DeWitt and General Manager Rick 1963 - Willie Horton, slugging twenty four year old outfielder,  
  Ferrell perpetrated a couple of major thefts in getting Cash and Colavito. Cash was   joins the Tigers from Syracuse. He will spend the next fifteen   
  picked up from Cleveland before the season in exchange for journeyman utility infielder  years with Detroit including four all star appearances  
  Steve Demeter. Colavito was obtained in a monumental deal, again with the Indians    
  and their GM Frank Lane, for Harvey Kuenn. It was a no-brainer deal from Detroit's 1963 - Catcher Bill Freehan is a hard hitting twenty one year old    
  point of view and, from Cleveland's point of view, Lane had no brains. Cash would  rookie. He'll spend the next fifteen years as Detroit's starting   
  spend the next fifteen years in Detroit as their starting first baseman Colavito would be  catcher and as one of the top catchers in the game including  
  with the Tigers four years before being dealt to Kansas City. On the pitching   eleven all star games.  
  side of the ledger, Detroit had three solid righthanders anchoring their rotation in the    
  late Fifties: Frank Lary (30), Jim Bunning (28) and Paul Foytack (29). Foytack would 1964 - Jim Northrup, 24, is a rookie. He will spend the next eleven   
  hurt his arm in 1960 and bounce back a bit in 1961. However, Lary and Bunning were  seasons as a  starting outfielder in Detroit.  
  still getting better. The Tigers also had a couple of pretty good lefties on their roster    
  who had also been pilfered from Cleveland: Don Mossi (31) who was obtained for 1964 - Twenty one year old centerfielder Mickey Stanley is brought   
  Billy Martin in 1959  and Hank Aguirre (29) who was picked up for Hal Woodeshick in   up from Syracuse. He'll be the Tigers' starting center fielder  
  1958.  Also on the roster was twenty year old second baseman Dick McAulliffe.  for the next fourteen years.  
  Dick would be Detroit's starting second baseman for the next thirteen years.    
   The Tigers didn't have a good season in 1960, but the pieces were falling into place. 1967 - The Tigers finish second to the Red Sox by one game with   
     the pennant race coming down to the final day.   
  1961 - Detroit gains a whopping thirty victories, going from 71 wins to 101 wins. Detroit has one  of the more stable lineups in baseball history,  
  However, they only finish second, eight games behind the legendary 1961 Yankees  probably the most stable, with catcher Freehan, first baseman Cash,  
  Lots of players had big years to account for the gain. Cash's liine was 41-132-.361.  second baseman McAulliffe, third baseman Wert and outfielders  
  Colavito's 45-140-.290. Kaliine hit .324. On the mound, Lary went 23-9, Bunning 17-11,  Kaline, Horton, Stanley and Northrup.  
  and Mossi 15-7. The bullpen featured Terry Fox, 25, with a 1.41 ERA and  This is basically their lineup from 1965 thru 1974 (with a few tweaks,   
   Phil Regan, 24, who went 10-7   of course). At this stage of the game, this Detroit lineup is young   
  and  just starting to come into it's own  
  1962 -Detroit falls back down to earth, winning 85 games. A good, but not great team in  
  the mid Sixties, they will average 85 wins over the next five years, not deviating much 1968 - Denny McLain wins 31 games.  No one has won thirty since.   
  from the norm during that period  It had been 34 years since Dizzy Dean had last won thirty in 1934.  
   McLain was a monster talent who tragically had the personality  
  1963 - Jim Campbell takes over for Rick Ferrell as GM. Ferrell had done all of the  of a purse snatcher.  
    legwork bringing in a great deal of talent into the organization.     
   Campbell picked it up from there by not screwing it up and tinkering with the  1968 - Detroit wins the pennant with 103 wins and goes on to beat   
  base of talent that had been assembled. He had the good sense to ride the wave.  the Cardinals and a brilliant Bob Gibson in the World Series.  
  Ferrell is moved upstairs to VP   Mickey Lolich is the hero of the series winning three games   
    including beating Gibson in game seven.  
       
    1969 - The Bengals drop back down to second place, still playing   
     at a high level with 90 wins. Most of the decline is the collapse   
    of the bullpen with Hiller and Dobson going from lights out to  
    lights on plus McLain comes back down to earth a bit from 31-5  
     to 24-9. The staff yields 103 more runs in '69 than in '68.