Detroit Tigers (MLB, 1952)

 

1952 Regular Season
Tigers vs. Chicago White Sox
Tigers vs. New York Yankees

     The 1950s were not a successful decade for the Detroit Tigers. Having been pennant contenders for most of the 1930s and 1940s, the team slipped to mediocrity in the postwar era. Following an exciting 1950 season that saw the Tigers finish just 3 games behind the Yankees for the pennant, the team stumbled to fifth place with a 73-81 record in 1951. 

     While 1951 was a letdown, 1952 would see the Tigers hit rock bottom. Red Rolfe returned for his third season as manager, while Tigers legend Charlie Gehringer was named the new GM. Detroit got off to a miserable 23-49 start before Rolfe was fired, replaced by ex-Tigers pitcher Fred Hutchinson. Hutchinson fared little better, guiding the Tigers to a 27-55 mark. The Tigers finished in last place in the American league, with an ugly 50-104 record, the first time the franchise ever hit 100 losses. Attendance at Briggs Stadium dropped to 1,026,848, fifth best in the AL.

     As a team, Detroit batted .243 and hit just 103 home runs. The leading home run hitter was first baseman Walt Dropo. Dropo, acquired in June in a trade that sent George Kell to the Boston Red Sox, hit 23 home runs with 70 RBI. He also matched an American League record for having 15 hits in 4 games, as well as hitting safely in 12 consecutive at-bats. Despite playing in a hitter-friendly ballpark, there was quite a drop-off in home runs after Dropo, the next-highest being 17 by Vic Wertz. The top batting average (over 200 at bats) was Jerry Priddy, who hit .283 in 279 at bats.

     The pitching staff owned a league-worst 4.25 ERA. Ted Gray had the most wins on the staff, with a 12-17 record and 4.14 ERA in 35 games. Art Houtteman, who just two years earlier won 19 games, had an 8-20 record with a 4.36 ERA in 35 games. Future Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser, a holdover from the 1945 World Champs, was 9-9 with a 3.74 ERA in 25 games. Then there's Virgil Trucks, Newhouser's teammate on the 1945 Tigers. The 35-year old Trucks had a miserable 5-19 record, but a respectable 3.97 ERA in 35 games. Despite that ugly record, Trucks became just the third pitcher in major league history to throw two no-hitters in a season, beating both the Washington Senators and New York Yankees, 1-0. 

     The Tigers 50-104 record put them 45 games back of the New York Yankees. Detroit was even way back of the hapless St. Louis Browns, finishing 14 back of the Brownies. The Yankees won the AL pennant by 2 games over Cleveland, then defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in 7 games to win their fourth-straight World Series championship.

     These two scorecards are the oldest Tiger programs/scorecards that I own, and the fifth oldest baseball programs/scorecards in my collection. I won both of them in a lot at Albrecht Auction in Vassar back in July. They are both in very good condition for their age. Both are 11 pages long, and are loaded with vintage advertisements. No pictures of Tiger players, but the opponents for these scorecards are the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. According to the one scorecard, the Tigers lost to the Sox, 6-3. No score was kept for the Yankees game, but considering how the season went, Detroit probably lost that one, too.

     Advertisements include Ned's (featuring a Motorola 17" TV for $199.95), Buddy's Television and Appliance, Paul's Auto Wash, WJBK 1490 AM (the radio home of the Tigers) and Krun-Chee Potato Chips. Car ads include the 1952 Lincoln, 1952 Mercury and Buick dealers. 

Aftermath: Despite the addition of young talent such as Al Kaline, Harvey Kuenn, Jim Bunning and Frank Lary, the Tigers would spend the rest of the 1950s in the middle of the pack of the American League. The team would win 101 games in 1961, but still fell 9 games back of the Yankees. Detroit would finally break through and win the pennant and World Series in 1968.

Reference:

1952 Detroit Tigers Statistics, from Baseball-Reference.com