1939 Detroit Tigers season

The 1939 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 81–73, 261⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees.

1939 Detroit Tigers
League	American League
Ballpark	Briggs Stadium
City	Detroit
Owners	Walter Briggs, Sr.
General managers	Jack Zeller
Managers	Del Baker
Radio	WWJ (AM) (Ty Tyson) WXYZ (Harry Heilmann)
← 1938 Seasons 1940 →

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	106	45	.702	—	52‍–‍25	54‍–‍20
Boston Red Sox	89	62	.589	17	42‍–‍32	47‍–‍30
Cleveland Indians	87	67	.565	20½	44‍–‍33	43‍–‍34
Chicago White Sox	85	69	.552	22½	50‍–‍27	35‍–‍42
Detroit Tigers	81	73	.526	26½	42‍–‍35	39‍–‍38
Washington Senators	65	87	.428	41½	37‍–‍39	28‍–‍48
Philadelphia Athletics	55	97	.362	51½	28‍–‍48	27‍–‍49
St. Louis Browns	43	111	.279	64½	18‍–‍59	25‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1939 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	8–14	11–11	10–12	11–8–1	18–4	16–6	15–7
Chicago	14–8	—	12–10	12–10	4–18	11–11	18–4	14–8–1
Cleveland	11–11	10–12	—	11–11	7–15	18–4	16–6	14–8
Detroit	12–10	10–12	11–11	—	9–13	11–11	14–8–1	14–8
New York	8–11–1	18–4	15–7	13–9	—	18–4	19–3	15–7
Philadelphia	4–18	11–11	4–18	11–11	4–18	—	13–9–1	8–12
St. Louis	6–16	4–18	6–16	8–14–1	3–19	9–13–1	—	7–15
Washington	7–15	8–14–1	8–14	8–14	7–15	12–8	15–7	—

Notable transactions

• May 13, 1939: Vern Kennedy, Bob Harris, George Gill, Roxie Lawson, Chet Laabs, and Mark Christman were traded by the Tigers to the St. Louis Browns for Red Kress, Beau Bell, Bobo Newsom, and Jim Walkup.^[1]

Roster

1939 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers 22 Al Benton 10 Tommy Bridges 25 Slick Coffman 24 Harry Eisenstat 29 Floyd Giebell 16 George Gill 26 Bob Harris 18 Fred Hutchinson 11 Vern Kennedy 23 Roxie Lawson 27 Red Lynn 28 Archie McKain 16 Hal Newhouser 12 Bobo Newsom -- Cotton Pippen 14 Schoolboy Rowe 11 Bud Thomas 15 Dizzy Trout 26 Jim Walkup		Catchers  8 Dixie Parsons 30 Merv Shea  1 Birdie Tebbetts  4 Rudy York Infielders 12 Mark Christman  3 Frank Croucher  2 Charlie Gehringer  5 Hank Greenberg  6 Pinky Higgins 23 Red Kress 27 Benny McCoy  7 Billy Rogell		Outfielders 24 Earl Averill 20 Beau Bell 19 Roy Cullenbine 20 Les Fleming  9 Pete Fox 17 Chet Laabs 21 Barney McCosky  8 Dixie Walker		Manager 32 Del Baker Coaches 17 Gordie Hinkle 31 Bing Miller 30 Merv Shea

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	Birdie Tebbetts	106	341	89	.261	4	53
1B	Hank Greenberg	138	500	156	.312	33	113
2B	Charlie Gehringer	118	406	132	.325	16	86
SS	Frank Croucher	97	324	87	.269	5	40
3B	Pinky Higgins	132	489	135	.276	8	76
OF	Earl Averill	87	309	81	.262	10	58
OF	Barney McCosky	147	611	190	.311	4	58
OF	Pete Fox	141	519	153	.295	7	66

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
Rudy York	102	329	101	.307	20	68
Benny McCoy	55	192	58	.302	1	33
Roy Cullenbine	75	179	43	.240	6	23
Billy Rogell	74	174	40	.230	2	23
Red Kress	51	157	38	.242	1	22
Dixie Walker	43	154	47	.305	4	19
Beau Bell	54	134	32	.239	0	24
Chet Laabs	5	16	5	.313	0	2
Mark Christman	6	16	4	.250	0	0
Les Fleming	8	16	0	.000	0	1
Merv Shea	4	2	0	.000	0	0
Dixie Parsons	5	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

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
Bobo Newsom	35	246.0	17	10	3.37	164
Tommy Bridges	29	198.0	17	7	3.50	129
Schoolboy Rowe	28	164.0	10	12	4.99	51
Fred Hutchinson	13	84.0	3	6	5.21	22
Vern Kennedy	4	21.0	0	3	6.43	9
Hal Newhouser	1	5.0	0	1	5.40	4

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
Dizzy Trout	33	162.0	9	10	3.61	72
Al Benton	37	150.0	6	8	4.56	67
Archie McKain	32	129.2	5	6	3.68	49
Harry Eisenstat	10	29.2	2	2	6.98	6
Bob Harris	5	18.0	1	1	4.00	9
Cotton Pippen	3	14.0	0	1	7.07	5
Roxie Lawson	2	11.1	1	1	4.76	4
George Gill	3	8.2	0	1	8.31	1

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
Bud Thomas	27	7	0	1	4.18	14
Slick Coffman	23	2	1	0	6.38	10
Floyd Giebell	9	1	1	0	2.93	9
Jim Walkup	7	0	1	1	7.50	5
Red Lynn	4	0	1	0	8.64	3

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
A1	Beaumont Exporters	Texas League	Al Vincent
C	Hot Springs Bathers	Cotton States League	Conard Fisher
C	Henderson Oilers	East Texas League	Jake Atz
D	Fulton Tigers	KITTY League	Charlie Eckert
D	Newport Canners	Northeast Arkansas League	Clary Harris
D	Tiffin Mud Hens	Ohio State League	Jimmy Lawrence and Al Curry

^[2]