Team 102: The 1920 Tigers
By Blake VandeBunte • Nov 3rd, 2009 • Category: Babe Ellison, Bert Cole, Bobby Veach, Dutch Leonard, Hooks Dauss, Hughie Jennings, Top 109 Teams, Ty Cobb- Year: 1920
- Record: 61-93
- Win %: .396
- Win % Change: -175 from season before
- Run Differential: -181
- Pythagorean Record: 60-94
- AL Finish: 7th of 8
- Manager: Hughie Jennings
- Best Transaction: There were not many transactions back in the day. As a matter of fact, the Tigers made three transactions before, during and directly after the 1920 season. The best move they made was trading Babe Ellison (never appeared in the bigs again) for Bert Cole. Cole was a league-average pitcher at best, and his best season came in 1923 when he went 13-5 as a starter and relief pitcher.
- Worst Transaction: There are no moves to put a negative spin on. Sorry.
- Upper: Bobby Veach did it all for this disappoint Tigers club. Veach led the Tigers in home runs, RBI, slugging, hits and runs. Ty Cobb missed a good chunk of the season and Veach stepped up his game and put up some monster numbers. Veach ranked 7th in home runs, 7th in doubles, 9th in hits and 7th in RBI. Veach spent 12 seasons in Detroit and played second fiddle to Cobb for most of the time. Without Veach’s contributions in 1920, who knows how bad this team would have been.
- Downer: The Tigers pitching staff was a mess in 1920, with Dutch Leonard leading the way. The Tigers starter went 10-17 and had an ERA+ of 86. This was especially disappointing since Leonard had a such a good career. He set many career worsts in 1920 and he’s the sort of guy that the Tigers were depending upon to win ball games that season. It’s unfair to lay all the blame on Leonard, though. Five Tigers pitchers lost at least 13 games in 1920 with Hooks Dauss leading the way with 21.
- Summary: The 1920 Tigers are the first team on this list to slide down, not only because of their record. Their .396 winning percentage is better than many teams that have yet to appear on the list. However, this club gets bumped down for how far they fell from the previous season. In 1919, Detroit went 80-60, one of the better records in the American League. They returned most of the players from that team and had guys like Cobb and Veach in their prime. They just fell flat. The Tigers got out of the gate slow, going 24-50 in the first half of the season. Detroit especially struggled against the Chicago White Sox (a team still featuring the 8 players that threw the 1919 World Series), as they went only 3-19 against Joe Jackson and the Sox. This was the worst big league team that Ty Cobb ever played for.
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