2002 Detroit Tigers season

2002  Detroit Tigers
League	American League
Division	Central
Ballpark	Comerica Park
City	Detroit, Michigan
Record	55–106 (.342)
Divisional place	5th
Owners	Mike Ilitch
General managers	Randy Smith, Dave Dombrowski
Managers	Phil Garner, Luis Pujols
Television	WKBD (Frank Beckmann, Lance Parrish) FSN Detroit (Jack Morris, Mario Impemba)
Radio	WXYT (AM) (Ernie Harwell, Jim Price, Dan Dickerson)
←  2001 Seasons 2003  →

The 2002 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 102nd season and its third at Comerica Park. Their win total regressed for the second consecutive year, finishing 11 games worse than their 66-win total in 2001. They finished last in the American League Central, 39 games out of first place, and missed the playoffs for the 15th consecutive season. ^[1] The .342 win percentage was the third-worst in Tigers history at the time, better than only 1952 (.325) and 1996 (.327); it has since been further surpassed by 2003 (.265) and 2019 (.292).

Offseason

• December 19, 2001: Adam Riggs was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers. ^[2]

Regular season

On July 2, the Tigers and White Sox set a Major League Baseball record by combining to hit for 12 home runs in one game. The box score for the home runs is as follows:

• Detroit Young 2 (7,1st inning off Ritchie 0 on, 2 out, 9th inning off Howry 0 on, 2 out); Fick (11,1st inning off Ritchie 1 on, 2 out); Lombard (1,7th inning off Ritchie 0 on, 1 out); Magee (6,9th inning off Howry 0 on, 0 out); Easley (4,9th inning off Howry 1 on).
• Chicago Lofton (4,1st inning off Bernero 0 on, 0 out); Ordonez 2 (15,1st inning off Bernero 0 on, 2 out, 8th inning off Paniagua 3 on, 1 out); Valentin (11,2nd inning off Bernero 0 on, 0 out); Alomar 2 (6,4th inning off Bernero 0 on, 2 out, 6th inning off Lima 0 on). ^[3]

Notable transactions

• June 4, 2002: Curtis Granderson was drafted by the Tigers in the 3rd round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 28, 2002. ^[4]
• July 5, 2002: Jeff Weaver was traded by the Tigers to the New York Yankees, and cash was sent by the Tigers to the Oakland Athletics, as part of a 3-team trade. The Athletics sent Carlos Peña, Franklyn Germán, and a player to be named later to the Tigers. The Yankees sent Ted Lilly, John-Ford Griffin, and Jason Arnold (minors) to the Athletics. The Athletics completed the trade by sending Jeremy Bonderman to the Tigers on August 22. ^[5]
• August 16, 2002: Jason Beverlin was selected off waivers by the Tigers from the Cleveland Indians. ^[6]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL Central

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	94	67	.584	—	54‍–‍27	40‍–‍40
Chicago White Sox	81	81	.500	13½	47‍–‍34	34‍–‍47
Cleveland Indians	74	88	.457	20½	39‍–‍42	35‍–‍46
Kansas City Royals	62	100	.383	32½	37‍–‍44	25‍–‍56
Detroit Tigers	55	106	.342	39	33‍–‍47	22‍–‍59

American League Wild Card

• v
• t
• e

Division leaders

Team	W	L	Pct.
New York Yankees	103	58	.640
Minnesota Twins	94	67	.584
Oakland Athletics	103	59	.636

• v
• t
• e

Wild Card team
(Top team qualifies for postseason)

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Anaheim Angels	99	63	.611	—
Boston Red Sox	93	69	.574	6
Seattle Mariners	93	69	.574	6
Chicago White Sox	81	81	.500	18
Toronto Blue Jays	78	84	.481	21
Cleveland Indians	74	88	.457	25
Texas Rangers	72	90	.444	27
Baltimore Orioles	67	95	.414	32
Kansas City Royals	62	100	.383	37
Detroit Tigers	55	106	.342	43½
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	55	106	.342	43½

Record vs. opponents

2002 American League record Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2002 v t e
Team	ANA	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TB	TEX	TOR	NL
Anaheim	—	7–2	3–4	6–3	6–3	8–1	6–3	4–5	3–4	9–11	9–10	8–1	12–7	7–2	11–7
Baltimore	2–7	—	6–13	3–4	1–5	2–4	7–0	5–1	6–13	4–5	5–4	10–9	3–6	4–15	9–9
Boston	4–3	13–6	—	2–4	5–4	5–4	4–2	3–3	9–10	6–3	4–5	16–3	4–3	13–6	5–13
Chicago	3–6	4–3	4–2	—	9–10	12–7	11–8	8–11	2–4	2–7	5–4	4–3	5–4	4–2	8–10
Cleveland	3–6	5–1	4–5	10–9	—	10–9	9–10	8–11	3–6	2–5	3–4	4–2	4–5	3–3	6–12
Detroit	1–8	4–2	4–5	7–12	9–10	—	9–10	4–14	1–8	1–6	2–5	2–4	5–4	0–6	6–12
Kansas City	3–6	0–7	2–4	8–11	10–9	10–9	—	5–14	1–5	1–8	3–6	4–2	7–2	3–4	5–13
Minnesota	5–4	1–5	3–3	11–8	11–8	14–4	14–5	—	0–6	3–6	5–4	5–2	6–3	6–1	10–8
New York	4–3	13–6	10–9	4–2	6–3	8–1	5–1	6–0	—	5–4	4–5	13–5	4–3	10–9	11–7
Oakland	11–9	5–4	3–6	7–2	5–2	6–1	8–1	6–3	4–5	—	8–11	8–1	13–6	3–6	16–2
Seattle	10–9	4–5	5–4	4–5	4–3	5–2	6–3	4–5	5–4	11–8	—	5–4	13–7	6–3	11–7
Tampa Bay	1–8	9–10	3–16	3–4	2–4	4–2	2–4	2–5	5–13	1–8	4–5	—	4–5	8–11	7–11
Texas	7–12	6–3	3–4	4–5	5–4	4–5	2–7	3–6	3–4	6–13	7–13	5–4	—	8–1	9–9
Toronto	2–7	15–4	6–13	2–4	3–3	6–0	4–3	1–6	9–10	6–3	3–6	11–8	1–8	—	9–9

Roster

2002 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers 57 Juan Acevedo 14 Matt Anderson 24 Adam Bernero 31 Jason Beverlin 34 Nate Cornejo 61 Eric Eckenstahler 52 Jeff Farnsworth 62 Franklyn Germán 50 Seth Greisinger 41 Oscar Henríquez 63 Jason Jimenez 30 Kris Keller 42 José Lima 58 Shane Loux 46 Mike Maroth 58 Matt Miller 38 Brian Moehler 22 José Paniagua 28 Danny Patterson 45 Terry Pearson 40 Matt Perisho 40 Brian Powell 55 Mark Redman 56 Fernando Rodney 58 Erik Sabel 48 Julio Santana 37 Steve Sparks 50 Andy Van Hekken 32 Jamie Walker 36 Jeff Weaver		Catchers 12 Brandon Inge 21 Mitch Meluskey 33 Eric Munson 49 Mike Rivera 45 Matt Walbeck Infielders 22 Hiram Bocachica  9 Damion Easley 17 Shane Halter 20 Omar Infante 12 Damian Jackson 39 José Macías  7 Dean Palmer  8 Craig Paquette 43 Carlos Peña 40 Oscar Salazar 39 Ramón Santiago 35 Randall Simon 27 Chris Truby 26 Dmitri Young		Outfielders 44 Jacob Cruz 25 Robert Fick  4 Bobby Higginson 20 Ryan Jackson 30 George Lombard 29 Wendell Magee 21 Craig Monroe 44 Andrés Torres		Manager 33 Phil Garner 53 Luis Pujols Coaches ? Felipe Alou (Bench) ? Jeff Jones (Bullpen) ? Rafael Landestoy (1st Base) 32 Doug Mansolino (3rd Base) ? Steve McCatty (Pitching) 56 Ed Ott (Bullpen) 53 Luis Pujols (Bench) 19 Merv Rettenmund (Hitting) 10 Juan Samuel (1st Base), (3rd Base) 31 Dan Warthen (Pitching) 23 Kirk Gibson (Roving)

Worst Seasons in Detroit Tigers History
Rank	Year	Wins	Losses	Win %
1	2003	43	119	.265
2	1952	50	104	.325
3	1996	53	109	.327
4	2002	55	106	.342
5	1975	57	102	.358

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	Brandon Inge	95	321	65	.202	7	24
1B	Carlos Peña	75	273	69	.253	12	36
2B	Damion Easley	85	304	68	.224	8	30
3B	Chris Truby	89	277	55	.199	2	15
SS	Shane Halter	122	410	98	.239	10	39
LF	Bobby Higginson	119	444	125	.282	10	63
CF	Wendell Magee	97	347	94	.271	6	35
RF	Robert Fick	148	556	150	.270	17	63
DH	Randall Simon	130	482	145	.301	19	82

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
Craig Paquette	72	252	49	.194	4	20
Damian Jackson	81	245	63	.320	1	25
George Lombard	72	241	58	.241	5	13
Ramón Santiago	65	222	54	.243	4	20
Dmitri Young	54	201	57	.284	7	27
Mike Rivera	39	132	30	.227	1	11
José Macías	33	107	25	.234	0	6
Hiram Bocachica	34	103	23	.223	4	8
Jacob Cruz	35	88	24	.273	2	6
Matt Walbeck	27	85	20	.273	0	3
Omar Infante	18	72	24	.235	0	3
Andrés Torres	19	70	14	.200	0	3
Eric Munson	18	59	11	.186	2	5
Mitch Meluskey	8	27	6	.222	0	0
Craig Monroe	13	25	3	.120	1	1
Oscar Salazar	8	21	4	.190	1	3
Dean Palmer	4	12	0	.000	0	0
Ryan Jackson	4	6	2	.333	0	0

Pitching

Starting and 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
Mark Redman	30	203.0	8	15	4.21	109
Steve Sparks	32	189.0	8	16	5.52	98
Mike Maroth	21	128.2	6	10	4.41	58
Jeff Weaver	17	121.2	6	8	3.18	75
Adam Bernero	28	101.2	4	7	6.20	69
José Lima	20	68.1	4	6	7.77	33
Brian Powell	13	57.2	1	5	4.84	30
Nate Cornejo	9	50.0	1	5	5.04	23
Seth Greisinger	8	37.2	2	2	6.21	14
Andy Van Hekken	5	30.0	1	3	3.00	5
Brian Moehler	3	19.2	1	1	2.29	13
Shane Loux	3	14.0	0	3	9.00	7
Jason Beverlin	3	12.1	0	3	9.49	7

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
Juan Acevedo	65	1	5	28	2.65	43
Jamie Walker	57	1	1	1	3.71	40
Jeff Farnsworth	44	2	3	0	5.79	28
José Paniagua	41	0	1	1	5.83	34
Julio Santana	38	3	5	0	2.84	38
Óscar Henríquez	30	1	1	2	4.50	23
Fernando Rodney	20	1	3	0	6.00	10
Matt Anderson	12	2	1	0	9.00	8
Eric Eckenstahler	7	1	0	0	5.63	13
Franklyn Germán	7	1	0	1	0.00	6
Danny Patterson	6	0	2	0	15.00	1
Matt Perisho	5	0	0	0	8.71	3
Terry Pearson	4	0	0	0	10.50	4
Matt Miller	2	0	0	0	13.50	1
Kris Keller	1	0	0	0	27.00	1
Jason Jiménez	1	0	0	0	27.00	0
Erik Sabel	1	0	0	0	inf	0

Awards and records

• On July 2, the White Sox and Tigers set a Major League record by hitting 12 home runs in one game. ^[3]

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toledo Mud Hens	International League	Bruce Fields
AA	Erie SeaWolves	Eastern League	Kevin Bradshaw
A	Lakeland Tigers	Florida State League	Gary Green
A	West Michigan Whitecaps	Midwest League	Phil Regan
A-Short Season	Oneonta Tigers	New York–Penn League	Randy Ready
Rookie	GCL Tigers	Gulf Coast League	Howard Bushong

^[7]

References

1. "2002 American League Standings & Expanded Standings". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
2. "Adam Riggs Stats".
3. Box Score of Game played on Tuesday, July 2, 2002 at Comiskey Park II
4. Curtis Granderson at Baseball Reference
5. Ted Lilly at Baseball Reference
6. Jason Beverlin at Baseball Reference
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

• Baseball portal

• 2002 Detroit Tigers season at Baseball Reference