20-year-old Tigers outfielder Al Kaline batted .340 in 1955 to become the youngest player ever to win a batting title.
(Photo credit: BaseballHall.org)
This week, I present the Detroit Tigers All Star team for the 1950-1959 decade. All Star teams for previous decades are found below:
In each decade, I select nine position players, one for each position on the field plus one other hitter. This ninth player could be a designated hitter, a multiple position player who didn't fit neatly into one position and/or the best hitter who didn't get selected as a position player. I refer to this final hitter as the utility player. Then I select five pitchers: four starters and one reliever. In earlier decades when relievers were not frequently used, it will just be the fifth best starting pitcher.
Some further general rules are as follows:
- A player must have played at least half of his games with the Tigers at a given position or played that position more than any other position. In rare cases, I might cheat a little bit if none of the players qualifying at a given position are any good at all and there is a superior player who played a good number of games at that position.
- A player must have played at least two full seasons with the Tigers, preferably at the assigned position.
- Only games played with the Tigers are considered.
- If a player played other positions with the Tigers besides his assigned position, his hitting performance in those games does count.
Many statistics and sometimes, especially for fielding evaluation, anecdotal information will be considered. For hitters, some of the statistics I consider are:
- Games Played (G)
- Plate Appearances (PA)
- Wins Above Replacement (Baseball-Reference WAR),
- Adjusted Batting Runs (ABR)
- Adjusted On Base Plus Slugging (OPS+)
- Games (G)
- Innings Pitched (IP)
- Wins Above Replacement (Baseball-Reference WAR)
- Pitching Runs (PR)
- Relative ERA (ERA+)
The 1950s decade was not one of the most eventful periods in Tigers history. In 1950, the Tigers finished in second place in The American League with a 95-59 record, three games behind the New York Yankees. From 1951-1959, they finished no higher than fourth place. From 1951-1954, The Tigers endured four consecutive losing seasons including a record of 50-104, the first 100-loss season in franchise history.
The Tigers then played around .500 ball or a little above from 1955-1959, but were still never in serious contention for a title. The Tigers teams of the fifties did not feature as many stars as previous eras, but Al Kaline did start his Hall of Fame career in 1953.
The top Tigers of 1950-1949 by Wins Above Replacement were:
Al Kaline 34
Harvey Kuenn 21
Frank Lary 20
Charlie Maxwell 17
Ray Boone 17
The decade All Star team is listed in Tables 1 and 2 below and player profiles follow.
Table 1: Tigers All Star Position Players: 1950-1959
Pos |
Player |
From |
To |
G |
PA |
WAR |
ABR |
OPS+ |
C |
Red Wilson |
1954 |
1959 |
440 |
1,560 |
6 |
-8 |
95 |
1B |
Earl Torgeson |
1955 |
1957 |
236 |
831 |
4 |
21 |
119 |
2B |
Frank Bolling |
1954 |
1959 |
646 |
2,680 |
11 |
-12 |
95 |
SS |
Harvey Kuenn |
1952 |
1959 |
1,049 |
4,750 |
21 |
72 |
112 |
3B |
Ray Boone |
1953 |
1958 |
683 |
2,856 |
17 |
107 |
130 |
LF |
Charlie
Maxwell |
1955 |
1959 |
610 |
2,371 |
17 |
80 |
129 |
CF |
Johnny Groth |
1950 |
1959 |
597 |
2,100 |
5 |
11 |
102 |
RF |
Al Kaline |
1953 |
1959 |
904 |
3,777 |
34 |
143 |
131 |
UT |
Vic Wertz |
1950 |
1952 |
372 |
1,571 |
11 |
70 |
137 |
Table 2: Tigers All Star Pitchers: 1950-1959
Pos |
Player |
From |
To |
G |
IP |
WAR |
PR |
ERA+ |
SP |
Frank Lary |
1954 |
1959 |
191 |
1,254 |
20 |
91 |
121 |
SP |
Jim Bunning |
1955 |
1959 |
150 |
841 |
13 |
44 |
112 |
SP |
Paul Foytack |
1953 |
1959 |
187 |
998 |
11 |
23 |
104 |
SP |
Billy Hoeft |
1952 |
1959 |
239 |
1,324 |
14 |
7 |
98 |
RP |
Ned Garver |
1952 |
1956 |
105 |
702 |
8 |
16 |
106 |
Player Profiles
Wilson platooned behind the plate with Frank House from 1954-1957 and ,as the right-handed hitter, he received fewer at bats than House. Wilson, however, out produced House with an OPS+ of 95 versus 85 as a Tiger in the fifties decade. He then took over the starting job in 1958 when House was traded to Kansas City. Wilson' best season was was 1956 when he had a 122 OPS+ and 2.2 WAR.
The auburn haired catcher was regarded as a good receiver. Detroit Sports columnist Watson Spoelstra said that "Red Wilson deserves an assist in the conclusion that improved pitching has made Detroit a solid first division club." (The Sporting News, July 15, 1955) The Tigers finished 79-75 in 1955 after four consecutive losing seasons.
1B Earl Torgeson
The first base position was a revolving door for the Tigers in the 1950s with six different primary first basemen (player who who had the highest number at bats on the team as a first baseman in a given season). None had a WAR of more than 2.4 in a season. Clifford Earl Torgeson was the best with 2.4 and 1.8 WAR in 1955 and 1956 respectively. The tall bespectacled first sacker had a .400 on base percentage and 119 OPS+ in just 831 plate appearances.
Roy Cullenbine 19.1%
Aaron Robinson 19.0%
Mickey Tettleton 18.3%
Earl Torgeson 18.2%
Frank Bolling played six seasons with the Tigers missing one while serving in the military in 1955. He was a solid hitter and defender in 646 games with the Tigers during the decade. He never had a great season but was between 2 and 4 WAR each year between 1956-1959. His best WAR as a Tiger was 3.6 WAR in 1958 when he won a Gold Glove and finished in the top ten in the American League in hits (164), doubles (25), times on base (222) and runs (91).
Harvey Kuenn won the American League Rookie of the Year award at age 22 in 1953 leading the league in hits (209) and finishing in the top ten in batting average. Kuenn's reputation and numbers at shortstop were very poor which is why he became an outfielder at age 27, but he could hit. He led the league in hits four times and finished in the top ten in batting average six times between 1953-1959.
Ray was the patriarch of the Boone family which spanned three generations in the major leagues. His son Bob played 19 years as a catcher primarily with the Phillies and Angels and his grandsons Aaron and Bret were both long-time infielders. All the Boones played in all star games at some point during their careers.
Ray batted .312/.395/.556 in 101 games for the Tigers after being traded from Cleveland in 1953. His 156 OPS+ that year was the best for any Tiger third baseman other than Miguel Cabrera. He finished in the top ten in OPS four times as a Tiger.
LF Charlie Maxwell
Charlie Maxwell was nicknamed "Sunday Punch" due to his propensity to hit home runs on Sunday. According to Baseball: A Doubleheader Collection of Facts, Feats & Firsts published by The Sporting News, Maxwell hit 40 of his 148 career home runs on Sundays, but he hit well on other days too.
The Michigan native had his best year in 1956 when he batted .326/.414/.534 with a 149 OPS+ and 5.9 WAR. He also reached 5 WAR in 1957.
RF Al Kaline
Vic Wertz is best known as the Cleveland Indians batter who hit the long fly ball resulting in Willie Mays' famous catch and throw in game one of the 1954 World Series. Nothing that memorable happened during his nine years with the Tigers, but did have some good seasons at the plate. Wertz finished in the American League top ten in both home runs (27 each year) and OPS+ (136 and 140) in both 1950 and 1951.
SP Paul Foytack
Foytack was a durable and dependable starter averaging 235 innings and a 119 ERA+ from 1956-1958. His WAR totals in those seasons were almost identical: 3.6, 3.7, 3.5.
He hit two home runs in one game on July 14, 1957.
According to Billy Nowlin of SABR, Hoeft once pitched a perfect game in legion ball where he struck out all 27 batters. That is quite a feat at any level.
RP Ned Garver
No comments:
Post a Comment