1996 Detroit Tigers season

1996 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
East Division (since 1969)
Location
Tiger Stadium (since 1912)
Detroit, Michigan (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Mike Ilitch
General manager(s)	Randy Smith
Manager(s)	Buddy Bell
Local television	WKBD (George Kell, Al Kaline) PASS (Ernie Harwell, Fred McLeod)
Local radio	WJR (Frank Beckmann, Lary Sorensen)
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The 1996 Detroit Tigers had a record of 53-109 for the third worst winning percentage (.327) in team history. With a number of capable batters (Cecil Fielder, Tony Clark, Bobby Higginson, Alan Trammell, Rubén Sierra, and Damion Easley), the team scored a respectable 783 runs. However, the 1996 Tigers lacked pitching and allowed their opponents to score 1,103 runs. No team in American League history and only one in major league history (the 1930 Philadelphia Phillies) has given up more runs. No pitcher on the team had more than 7 wins. The Tigers made more unwanted history when they were swept 12-0 by the Cleveland Indians in the regular season series, losing all twelve games played while being outscored, 79-28.

Regular season

Opening Day roster

• Chad Curtis CF
• Bobby Higginson RF
• Travis Fryman 3B
• Cecil Fielder 1B
• Melvin Nieves LF
• Eddie Williams DH
• Mark Lewis 2B
• John Flaherty C
• Alan Trammell SS
• Felipe Lira SP

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	92	70	0.568	—	49–31	43–39
Baltimore Orioles	88	74	0.543	4	43–38	45–36
Boston Red Sox	85	77	0.525	7	47–34	38–43
Toronto Blue Jays	74	88	0.457	18	35–46	39–42
Detroit Tigers	53	109	0.327	39	27–54	26–55

Record vs. opponents

1996 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	7–6	6–6	4–8	5–7	11–2	9–3	9–3	7–5	3–10	9–4	7–5	3–10–1	8–5
Boston	6–7	—	8–4	6–6	1–11	12–1	3–9	7–5	6–6	7–6	8–5	7–6	6–6	8–5
California	6–6	4–8	—	6–6	4–9	6–6	4–8	7–5	4–8	7–6	6–7	5–8	4–9	7–5
Chicago	8–4	6–6	6–6	—	5–8	10–3	7–6	6–7	6–7	6–7	5–7	5–7	8–4	7–5
Cleveland	7–5	11–1	9–4	8–5	—	12–0	7–6	7–6	10–3	3–9	6–6	8–4	4–8	7–5
Detroit	2–11	1–12	6–6	3–10	0–12	—	6–6	4–8	6–6	5–8	4–8	6–6	4–9	6–7
Kansas City	3–9	9–3	8–4	6–7	6–7	6–6	—	4–9	6–7	4–8	5–7	7–5	6–6	5–8
Milwaukee	3–9	5–7	5–7	7–6	6–7	8–4	9–4	—	9–4	6–6	7–5	4–9	6–7	5–7
Minnesota	5–7	6–6	8–4	7–6	3–10	6–6	7–6	4–9	—	5–7	6–7	6–6	7–5	8–5
New York	10–3	6–7	6–7	7–6	9–3	8–5	8–4	6–6	7–5	—	9–3	3–9	5–7	8–5
Oakland	4–9	5–8	7–6	7–5	6–6	8–4	7–5	5–7	7–6	3–9	—	8–5	7–6	4–8
Seattle	5–7	6–7	8–5	7–5	4–8	6–6	5–7	9–4	6–6	9–3	5–8	—	10–3	5–7
Texas	10–3–1	6–6	9–4	4–8	8–4	9–4	6–6	7–6	5–7	7–5	6–7	3–10	—	10–2
Toronto	5–8	5–8	5–7	5–7	5–7	7–6	8–5	7–5	5–8	5–8	8–4	7–5	2–10	—

Notable transactions

• March 22, 1996: Melvin Nieves was traded by the San Diego Padres with Raul Casanova and Richie Lewis to the Detroit Tigers for Sean Bergman, Todd Steverson, and Cade Gaspar (minors).^[1]
• March 31, 1996: Curtis Pride was signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.^[2]
• April 27, 1996: Joe Boever was selected off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Detroit Tigers.^[3]
• July 31, 1996: Cecil Fielder was traded by the Detroit Tigers to the New York Yankees for Rubén Sierra and Matt Drews (minors).^[4]
• July 31, 1996: Chad Curtis was traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers for John Cummings and Joey Eischen.^[5]
• August 6, 1996: Todd Van Poppel was selected off waivers by the Detroit Tigers from the Oakland Athletics.

Roster

1996 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers 49 Scott Aldred 33 Mike Christopher 34 John Cummings 43 Joey Eischen 52 John Farrell 34 Greg Gohr 57 Greg Keagle 43,51 Richie Lewis 32 José Lima 40 Felipe Lira 15 Brian Maxcy 43 Jeff McCurry 37 Trever Miller 38 Brian Moehler 27 Mike Myers 48 C. J. Nitkowski 28 Omar Olivares 37 Gregg Olson 49 A. J. Sager 38 Bob Scanlan 46 Clint Sodowsky 22 Justin Thompson 42 Tom Urbani 59 Todd Van Poppel 42,52 Randy Veres 21 Mike Walker 26 Brian Williams		Catchers  7 Brad Ausmus 33 Raul Casanova 12 John Flaherty  8 Mark Parent Infielders 15 Andújar Cedeño 17 Tony Clark 41 Fausto Cruz  9 Damion Easley 45 Cecil Fielder 24 Travis Fryman 35 Chris Gomez  8 Phil Hiatt  7 Tim Hyers 14 Mark Lewis 12 Phil Nevin  3 Alan Trammell 20 Eddie Williams		Outfielders 39,12 Kimera Bartee 29 Danny Bautista  9 Chad Curtis  4 Bobby Higginson 30 Melvin Nieves 42 Shannon Penn 36 Curtis Pride 21 Rubén Sierra 15 Duane Singleton		Manager 25 Buddy Bell Coaches 10 Glenn Ezell (bench) 55 Terry Francona (third base) 31 Larry Herndon 18 Fred Kendall 54 Jon Matlack 16 Ron Oester

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	Brad Ausmus	75	226	56	.248	4	22
1B	Tony Clark	100	376	94	.250	27	72
2B	Mark Lewis	145	545	147	.270	11	55
3B	Travis Fryman	157	616	165	.268	22	100
SS	Andújar Cedeño	52	179	35	.196	7	20
LF	Bobby Higginson	130	440	141	.320	26	81
CF	Kimera Bartee	120	217	55	.253	1	14
RF	Melvin Nieves	110	431	106	.246	24	60
DH	Eddie Williams	77	215	43	.200	6	26

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
Chad Curtis	104	400	105	.263	10	37
Cecil Fielder	107	391	97	.248	26	80
Curtis Pride	95	267	80	.300	10	31
Alan Trammell	66	193	45	.233	1	16
Rubén Sierra	46	158	35	.222	1	20
John Flaherty	47	152	38	.250	4	23
Chris Gomez	48	128	31	.242	1	16
Phil Nevin	38	120	35	.292	8	19
Mark Parent	38	104	25	.240	7	17
Damion Easley	21	67	23	.343	2	10

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Felipe Lira	32	194.7	6	14	5.22	113
Omar Olivares	25	160	7	11	4.89	81
Greg Gohr	17	91.7	4	8	7.17	60
Justin Thompson	11	59	1	6	4.58	44
Todd Van Poppel	9	36.3	2	4	11.39	16
Scott Aldred	11	43.3	0	4	9.35	36
C. J. Nitkowski	11	45.7	2	3	8.08	36

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Brian Williams	40	121	3	10	6.77	72
Greg Keagle	26	87.7	3	6	7.39	70
A. J. Sager	22	79	4	5	5.01	52

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Gregg Olson	43	3	0	8	5.02	29
Mike Myers	83	1	5	6	5.01	69
Richie Lewis	72	4	6	2	4.18	78
José Lima	39	5	6	3	5.70	59

League leaders and award winners

• Kimera Bartee: #5 in AL times caught stealing (10)
• Chad Curtis: #5 in AL times caught stealing (10)
• Cecil Fielder: MLB leader in salary ($9,237,500)
• Travis Fryman: AL leader in fielding percentage at third base (.979)
• Travis Fryman: #3 in AL in sacrifice filies (10)
• Travis Fryman: #4 in AL in outs (483)
• Richie Lewis: #2 in AL in wild pitches (14)
• Felipe Lira: #4 in AL in shutouts (2)
• Mike Myers: AL leader in games (83)
• Melvin Nieves: #2 in AL in strikeouts (158)

Worst seasons in Detroit Tigers history

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

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toledo Mud Hens	International League	Tom Runnells
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Bill Plummer and Larry Parrish
A	Visalia Oaks	California League	Tim Torricelli
A	Lakeland Tigers	Florida State League	Dave Anderson
A	Fayetteville Generals	South Atlantic League	Dwight Lowry
A-Short Season	Jamestown Jammers	New York–Penn League	Bruce Fields
Rookie	GCL Tigers	Gulf Coast League	Kevin Bradshaw

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jacksonville

Visalia affiliation shared with Arizona Diamondbacks^[6]

See also

• List of worst MLB season records
• 1996 in baseball

References

1. http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nieveme01.shtml
2. http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pridecu01.shtml
3. http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/boevejo01.shtml
4. Cecil Fielder Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
5. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/curtich01.shtml
6. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball". Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

External links

• Baseball-Reference.com 1996 Tigers