1983 Detroit Tigers season

1983 Detroit Tigers
1983 Detroit Tigers
League	American League
Division	East
Ballpark	Tiger Stadium
City	Detroit, Michigan
Owners	Tom Monaghan
General managers	Jim Campbell
Managers	Sparky Anderson
Television	WDIV-TV ; (George Kell, Al Kaline) ; ONTV ; (Larry Adderley, Hank Aguirre, Norm Cash)
Radio	WJR ; (Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)

Last updated August 06, 2025

The 1983 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 83rd season and the 72nd season at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers finished in second place in the American League East with a record of 92–70 (.568), six games behind the Orioles. The Tigers outscored their opponents 789 to 679. The Tigers drew 1,829,636 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1983, ranking 8th of the 14 teams in the American League.

Offseason

February 21, 1983: Dave Revering was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.^[1]
March 15, 1983: Julio González was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.^[2]
March 25, 1983: Stine Poole (minors) and cash were traded by Tigers to the Minnesota Twins for Sal Butera.^[3]

Regular season

Season standings

v
t
e
AL East
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	98	64	.605	—	50‍–‍31	48‍–‍33
Detroit Tigers	92	70	.568	6	48‍–‍33	44‍–‍37
New York Yankees	91	71	.562	7	51‍–‍30	40‍–‍41
Toronto Blue Jays	89	73	.549	9	48‍–‍33	41‍–‍40
Milwaukee Brewers	87	75	.537	11	52‍–‍29	35‍–‍46
Boston Red Sox	78	84	.481	20	38‍–‍43	40‍–‍41
Cleveland Indians	70	92	.432	28	36‍–‍45	34‍–‍47

Record vs. opponents

1983 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	8–5	7–5	7–5	6–7	5–8	8–4	11–2	8–4	6–7	8–4	8–4	9–3	7–6
Boston	5–8	—	6–6	6–6	7–6	4–9	5–7	4–9	5–7	7–6	8–4	7–5	7–5	7–6
California	5–7	6–6	—	3–10	8–4	4–8	6–7	6–6	6–7	5–7	5–8	6–7	6–7	4–8
Chicago	5–7	6–6	10–3	—	8–4	8–4	9–4	4–8	8–5	8–4	8–5	12–1	8–5	5–7
Cleveland	7–6	6–7	4–8	4–8	—	5–8	7–5	3–10	6–6	6–7	7–5	8–4	3–9	4–9
Detroit	8–5	9–4	8–4	4–8	8–5	—	7–5	6–7	9–3	5–8	6–6	8–4	8–4	6–7
Kansas City	4–8	7–5	7–6	4–9	5–7	5–7	—	6–6	6–7	6–6	7–6	8–5	8–5–1	6–6
Milwaukee	2–11	9–4	6–6	8–4	10–3	7–6	6–6	—	8–4	4–9	6–6	5–7	8–4	8–5
Minnesota	4–8	7–5	7–6	5–8	6–6	3–9	7–6	4–8	—	4–8	4–9	9–4	5–8	5–7
New York	7–6	6–7	7–5	4–8	7–6	8–5	6–6	9–4	8–4	—	8–4	7–5	7–5	7–6
Oakland	4–8	4–8	8–5	5–8	5–7	6–6	6–7	6–6	9–4	4–8	—	9–4	2–11	6–6
Seattle	4–8	5–7	7–6	1–12	4–8	4–8	5–8	7–5	4–9	5–7	4–9	—	6–7	4–8
Texas	3–9	5–7	7–6	5–8	9–3	4–8	5–8–1	4–8	8–5	5–7	11–2	7–6	—	4–8
Toronto	6–7	6–7	8–4	7–5	9–4	7–6	6–6	5–8	7–5	6–7	6–6	8–4	8–4	—

Notable transactions

June 6, 1983: 1983 Major League Baseball draft
- Jeff Robinson was drafted by the Tigers in the 3rd round.^[4]
- D. J. Dozier was drafted by the Tigers in the 18th round, but did not sign.^[5]
June 30, 1983: Pat Underwood was traded by the Tigers to the Cincinnati Reds for Wayne Krenchicki.^[6]

Roster

1983 Detroit Tigers

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

11 Sparky Anderson

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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	Lance Parrish	155	605	163	.269	27	114
1B	Enos Cabell	121	392	122	.311	5	46
2B	Lou Whitaker	161	643	206	.320	12	72
3B	Tom Brookens	138	332	71	.214	6	32
SS	Alan Trammell	142	505	161	.319	14	66
CF	Chet Lemon	145	491	125	.255	24	69
RF	Glenn Wilson	144	503	135	.268	11	65
LF	Larry Herndon	153	603	182	.302	20	92
DH	Kirk Gibson	128	401	91	.227	15	51

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
John Wockenfuss	92	245	66	.269	9	44
Rick Leach	99	242	60	.248	3	26
Johnny Grubb	57	134	34	.254	4	22
Wayne Krenchicki	59	133	37	.278	1	22
Marty Castillo	67	119	23	.193	2	16
Howard Johnson	27	66	14	.212	3	5
Lynn Jones	49	64	17	.266	0	6
Mike Ivie	12	42	9	.214	0	7
Bill Fahey	19	22	6	.273	0	2
Julio González	12	21	3	.143	0	2
Mike Laga	12	21	4	.190	0	2
Sal Butera	4	5	1	.200	0	0
Bob Molinaro	8	2	0	.000	0	0
Bill Nahorodny	2	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Jack Morris	37	293.2	20	13	3.34	232
Dan Petry	38	266.1	19	11	3.92	122
Milt Wilcox	26	186.0	11	10	3.97	101
Juan Berenguer	37	157.2	9	5	3.14	129
Glenn Abbott	7	46.2	2	1	1.93	11

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
Dave Rozema	29	105.0	8	3	3.43	63
Larry Pashnick	12	37.2	1	3	5.26	17
Jerry Ujdur	11	34.0	0	4	7.15	13
Dave Rucker	4	9.0	1	2	17.00	6

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W= Wins; L= Losses; SV = Saves; GF = Games Finished; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	GF	ERA	SO
Aurelio López	57	9	8	18	46	2.81	90
Howard Bailey	33	5	5	0	15	4.88	21
Doug Bair	27	7	3	4	10	3.88	39
Dave Gumpert	26	0	2	2	17	2.64	14
John Martin	15	0	0	1	5	7.43	11
Pat Underwood	4	0	0	0	2	8.71	2
Bob James	4	0	0	0	3	11.25	4

Award winners and league leaders

Kirk Gibson

#2 in AL in triples (9)
#10 in AL in Power/Speed Number (14.5)

Larry Herndon

#2 in AL in triples (9)
#8 in AL in hits (182)
#10 in AL in at bats (603)
#10 in AL in total bases (288)

Chet Lemon

AL leader in times hit by pitch (20)

Aurelio López

AL All Star Team, pitcher

Jack Morris

AL leader in strikeouts (232)
AL leader in innings pitched (293-2/3)
AL leader in wild pitches (18)
AL leader in batters faced (1204)
#2 in AL in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (7.11)
#2 in AL in games started (37)
#2 in AL in complete games (20)
#2 in AL in strikeout to walk ratio (2.80)
#4 in AL in wins (20)
#4 in AL in walks plus hits per innings pitched (WHIP) (1.158)
#4 in AL in hits allowed (257)
#5 in AL in home runs allowed (30)

Lance Parrish

AL Gold Glove Award, catcher
AL Silver Slugger Award, catcher
AL All Star Team, catcher
AL leader in runners caught stealing (54)
AL leader in sacrifice flies (13)
Finished 9th in AL MVP voting
#3 in doubles (42)
#3 in AL in extra base hits (72)
#4 in AL in RBIs (114)
#6 in AL in outs (479)
#8 in AL in total bases (292)
#9 in AL in home runs (27)
#9 in AL in at bats (605)
#9 in AL in strikeouts (106)
#9 in AL in times grounded into double plays (21)

Dan Petry

AL leader in games started (38)
AL leader in home runs allowed (37)
#2 in AL in earned runs allowed (116)
#2 in AL in wild pitches (12)
#3 in AL in innings pitched (266-1/3)
#3 in AL in bases on balls allowed (99)
#3 in AL in batters faced (1115)
#5 in AL in wins (19)
#5 in AL in hits allowed (256)

Alan Trammell

AL Gold Glove Award, shortstop
AL leader in sacrifice hits (15)
Finished 15th in AL MVP voting
#4 in AL in batting average (.319)
#5 in AL in Power/Speed Number (19.1)
#8 in AL in on-base percentage (.385)
#9 in AL in times caught stealing (10)

Lou Whitaker

AL Gold Glove Award, second baseman
AL Silver Slugger Award, second baseman
AL All Star Team, second baseman
AL leader in games played at second base (160)
Tiger of the Year Award, by Detroit baseball writers
Finished 8th in AL MVP voting
#2 in AL in plate appearances (720)
#2 in AL in singles (148)
#2 in AL in times on base (273)
#3 in AL in batting average (.320)
#3 in AL in hits (206)
#3 in AL in at bats (643)
#4 in AL in games (161)
#5 in AL in runs created (114)
#7 in AL in total bases (294)
#7 in AL in doubles (40)
#7 in AL in sacrifice flies (8)
#9 in AL in times caught stealing (10)

Milt Wilcox

#4 in AL in wild pitches (10)

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1983 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked by The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract:

Lance Parrish: 19th best catcher of all time
Lou Whitaker: 13th best second baseman of all time
Alan Trammell: 9th best shortstop of all time
Kirk Gibson: 36th best left fielder of all time

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Evansville Triplets	American Association	Gordon Mackenzie
AA	Birmingham Barons	Southern League	Roy Majtyka
A	Lakeland Tigers	Florida State League	Ted Brazell
Rookie	Bristol Tigers	Appalachian League	Boots Day

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Birmingham

Notes

↑ Dave Revering at Baseball Reference
↑ Julio González at Baseball Reference
↑ Sal Butera at Baseball Reference
↑ Jeff Robinson at Baseball Reference
↑ D. J. Dozier at Baseball Reference
↑ Wayne Krenchicki at Baseball Reference

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
1983 Detroit Tigers Regular Season Statistics at Baseball Reference

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Dave Revering at Baseball Reference

[2] Julio González at Baseball Reference

[3] Sal Butera at Baseball Reference

[4] Jeff Robinson at Baseball Reference

[5] D. J. Dozier at Baseball Reference

[6] Wayne Krenchicki at Baseball Reference

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]