2000 Detroit Tigers season

2000 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Central Division (since 1998)
Location
Comerica Park (since 2000)
Detroit, Michigan (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Mike Ilitch
General manager(s)	Randy Smith
Manager(s)	Phil Garner
Local television	WKBD (Frank Beckmann, Al Kaline) FSN Detroit (Josh Lewin, Kirk Gibson, Tom Paciorek)
Local radio	WJR (Ernie Harwell, Jim Price, Dan Dickerson)
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The Detroit Tigers' 2000 season was a season in American baseball. It was their first season at Comerica Park, after playing at Tiger Stadium since 1961, at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue (also site of their previous stadiums since 1896).

Offseason

• November 2, 1999: Juan González was traded by the Texas Rangers with Danny Patterson and Gregg Zaun to the Detroit Tigers for Frank Catalanotto, Francisco Cordero, Bill Haselman, Gabe Kapler, Justin Thompson, and Alan Webb (minors).^[1]
• November 15, 1999: Luis Polonia was signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.^[2]
• November 29, 1999: Mike Oquist was signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.^[3]
• March 7, 2000: Gregg Zaun was sent to the Kansas City Royals by the Detroit Tigers as part of a conditional deal.^[4]
• March 13, 2000: Mike Oquist was released by the Detroit Tigers.^[3]
• March 26, 2000: Mike Oquist was signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.^[3]

Regular season

• On October 1, 2000, Dusty Allen hit a home run in the last at-bat of his career.^[5]

Honored 2000 Harry Heilmann OF: 1914-29 Heinie Manush OF: 1923-27	Honored 2000 Hughie Jennings M: 1907-20 Sam Crawford OF: 1903-17	Honored 2000 Mickey Cochrane C: 1934-37 M: 1934-38 George Kell 3B: 1946-52	Honored 2000 Ernie Harwell Broadcaster: 1960–2002	Honored 2000

Comerica Park

Tiled Tigers logo outside of the front entrance.

Groundbreaking for a new ballpark to replace Tiger Stadium for the Detroit Tigers was held on October 29, 1997 and the new stadium was opened to the public in 2000. At the time of construction, the scoreboard in left field was the largest in Major League Baseball. In December 1998, Comerica Bank agreed to pay US$66 million over 30 years for the naming rights for the new ballpark. Upon its opening, there was some effort to try to find a nickname for the park, with the abbreviation CoPa suggested by many , but that nickname has not gained widespread acceptance.

First Game

Comerica Park panoramic

The first game at Comerica Park was held on Tuesday, April 11, 2000 with 39,168 spectators attending, on a cold snowy afternoon. Grounds people had to clear snow off the field from the night before. The Tigers defeated the Seattle Mariners by a score of 5-2. The winning pitcher, like in the final game at Tiger Stadium was Brian Moehler.

Season standings

AL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Sox	95	67	0.586	—	46–35	49–32
Cleveland Indians	90	72	0.556	5	48–33	42–39
Detroit Tigers	79	83	0.488	16	43–38	36–45
Kansas City Royals	77	85	0.475	18	42–39	35–46
Minnesota Twins	69	93	0.426	26	36–45	33–48

Record vs. opponents

2000 American League Records Source: AL Standings Head-to-Head
Team	ANA	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TB	TEX	TOR	NL
Anaheim	—	7–5	5–4	4–6	3–6	5–5	6–6	7–3	5–5	5–8	5–8	6–6	7–5	5–7	12–6
Baltimore	5–7	—	5–7	4–6	5–4	6–4	3–7	6–3	5–7	4–8	3–7	8–5	6–6	7–6	7–11
Boston	4–5	7–5	—	7–5	6–6	7–5	4–6	8–2	6–7	5–5	5–5	6–6	7–3	4–8	9–9
Chicago	6–4	6–4	5–7	—	8–5	9–3	5–7	7–5	8–4	6–3	7–5	6–4	5–5	5–5	12–6
Cleveland	6–3	4–5	6–6	5–8	—	6–7	5–7	5–8	5–5	6–6	7–2	8–2	6–4	8–4	13–5
Detroit	5–5	4–6	5–7	3–9	7–6	—	5–7	7–6	8–4	6–4	7–2	4–5	5–5	3–9	10–8
Kansas City	6–6	7–3	6–4	7–5	7–5	7–5	—	7–5	2–8	4–8	4–8	5–5	3–7	4–6	8–10
Minnesota	3–7	3–6	2–8	5–7	8–5	6–7	5–7	—	5–5	5–7	3–9	4–6	8–4	5–4	7–11
New York	5–5	7–5	7–6	4–8	5–5	4–8	8–2	5–5	—	6–3	4–6	6–6	10–2	5–7	11–6
Oakland	8–5	8–4	5–5	3–6	6–6	4–6	8–4	7–5	3–6	—	9–4	7–2	5–7	7–3	11–7
Seattle	8–5	7–3	5–5	5–7	2–7	2–7	8–4	9–3	6–4	4–9	—	9–3	7–5	8–2	11–7
Tampa Bay	6–6	5–8	6–6	4–6	2–8	5–4	5–5	6–4	6–6	2–7	3–9	—	5–7	5–7	9–9
Texas	5–7	6–6	3–7	5–5	4–6	5–5	7–3	4–8	2–10	7–5	5–7	7–5	—	4–6	7–11
Toronto	7–5	6–7	8–4	5–5	4–8	9–3	6–4	4–5	7–5	3–7	2–8	7–5	6–4	—	9–9

Notable transactions

• May 10, 2000: Rich Becker was signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.^[6]
• July 31, 2000: Luis Polonia was released by the Detroit Tigers.^[2]

Roster

2000 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers 14 Matt Anderson 49 Adam Bernero 20 Willie Blair 45 Dave Borkowski 26 Doug Brocail 40 Nelson Cruz 35 Erik Hiljus 46 Mark Johnson 59 Todd Jones 41 Masao Kida 49 Allen McDill 30 Dave Mlicki 38 Brian Moehler 49 C. J. Nitkowski 23 Hideo Nomo 56 Danny Patterson 37 Jim Poole 44 Sean Runyan 37 Steve Sparks 52 Kevin Tolar 56 Brandon Villafuerte 36 Jeff Weaver		Catchers 12 Brad Ausmus 23 Javier Cardona Infielders 22 Dusty Allen 17 Tony Clark  8 Deivi Cruz  9 Damion Easley 31 Robert Fick 17 Shane Halter 21 Gregg Jefferies 39 José Macías 25 Hal Morris 17 Eric Munson  7 Dean Palmer		Outfielders 24 Rich Becker 34 Juan Encarnación 24 Karim García 19 Juan González  4 Bobby Higginson 54 Rod Lindsey 29 Wendell Magee 43 Billy McMillon 29 Luis Polonia Other batters 25 Gabe Alvarez		Manager 33 Phil Garner Coaches 48 Bill Madlock 32 Doug Mansolino 15 Bob Melvin 13 Lance Parrish 10 Juan Samuel 31 Dan Warthen

Player stats

Batting

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
Brad Ausmus	150	523	139	.266	7	51
Tony Clark	60	208	57	.274	13	37
Damion Easley	126	464	120	.259	14	58
Dean Palmer	145	524	134	.256	29	102
Deivi Cruz	156	583	76	.302	10	82
Juan Encarnación	141	547	158	.289	14	72
Bobby Higginson	154	597	179	.300	30	102
Juan González	115	461	133	.289	22	67
Javier Cardona	26	40	7	.175	1	10
Robert Fick	66	163	41	.252	3	22
Shane Halter	105	238	62	.261	3	27
Gregg Jefferies	41	142	39	.275	2	14
José Macías	73	173	44	.254	2	24
Hal Morris	40	106	33	.311	1	8
Rich Becker	92	238	58	.244	7	34
Wendell Magee	91	186	51	.274	7	31
Billy McMillon	46	123	37	.301	4	24
Luis Polonia	80	267	73	.273	6	25

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

Starting 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
Jeff Weaver	31	200.0	11	15	4.32	136
Hideo Nomo	32	190.0	8	12	4.74	181
Brian Moehler	29	178.0	12	9	4.50	103
Dave Mlicki	24	119.1	6	11	5.58	57
Steve Sparks	20	104.0	7	5	4.07	53

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Willie Blair	47	10	6	0	4.88	74
C. J. Nitkowski	67	4	9	0	5.25	81
Matt Anderson	69	3	2	1	4.72	71
Todd Jones	67	2	4	42	3.52	67
Danny Patterson	58	5	1	0	3.97	29
Doug Brocail	49	5	4	0	4.09	41
Nelson Cruz	27	5	2	0	3.07	34
Adam Bernero	12	0	1	0	4.19	20
Mark Johnson	9	0	1	0	7.50	11
Allen McDill	13	0	0	0	7.20	7

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toledo Mud Hens	International League	Dave Anderson and Glenn Ezell
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Gene Roof
A	Lakeland Tigers	Florida State League	Skeeter Barnes
A	West Michigan Whitecaps	Midwest League	Bruce Fields
A-Short Season	Oneonta Tigers	New York–Penn League	Gary Green
Rookie	GCL Tigers	Gulf Coast League	Kevin Bradshaw

^[7]

References

1. Juan Gonzalez Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
2. Luis Polonia Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
3. http://www.baseball-reference.com/o/oquismi01.shtml
4. Gregg Zaun Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
5. Home Run in Last At Bat by Baseball Almanac
6. http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/beckeri01.shtml
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

• 2000 Detroit Tigers season at Baseball Reference
• Tigers on Baseball Almanac