Team 94: The 1995 Tigers
By Blake VandeBunte • Nov 11th, 2009 • Category: CJ Nitkowski, David Wells, Lou Whitaker, Mike Henneman, Phil Nevin, Sparky Anderson, Top 109 Tigers- Year: 1995
- Record: 60-84 (late start due to 1994 strike)
- Win %: .417
- Win % Change: -44
- Run Differential: -190
- Pythagorean Record: 55-89
- AL Finish: 12th of 14
- Manager: Sparky Anderson
- Best Transaction: Traded Mike Henneman to the Houston Astros for Phil Nevin. Henneman was lights-out for the Tigers during the first half of the 1995 season. He had a 1.53 ERA August 10th when this deal went down. He was on pace for several career bests, but was 33 years old, coming off an awful season, and he played for a terrible club. Hence the trade. Nevin would go onto make an All-Star team and drive in 100 runs four different times. Sure, none of this happened with the Tigers, but still.
- Worst Transaction: Traded Tony Phillips to the California Angels for Chad Curtis. I hated this when it happened and I hate it now. Phillips was one of my favorites as a kid and this one stung. Phillips could play anywhere on the diamond and drew walks before it was cool to do so. After this trade, Phillips had seasons where he boasted walk totals of 113, 125, and 102. He did that when he was on the wrong side of 35. Curtis was okay with Detroit, but last just one full season before getting traded. Curtis was alright because he stole 27 bases in 1995, but he was usually amongst the league leaders in being caught as well.
- Upper: Return from the strike. This was a weird time in Major League Baseball. They lost a lot of fans after the strike and they have yet to earn some of those fans back. I knew people during this time who swore they would never watch MLB again and they would stick strictly to Minor League ball where money wasn’t the issue it was in the bigs. I remember being really excited. I was glad to see my guys back on the field. This season was highlighted by Lou Whitaker slugging 14 homers in only 280-some at-bats at the age of 38. Cecil Fielder continued to slug and the Tigers got decent pitching from David Wells and Mike Henneman before shipping them out of Detroit.
- Downer: The David Wells trade kind of stunk from the start. Wells was traded at mid-season to the Reds for CJ Nitkowski. The Tigers pitched Nitkowski to us fans as a future ace, but that never came close to happening. Nitkowski had a few decent seasons in the bigs as a reliever and was once kind enough to do an interview with me for this site. However, he was no David Wells. The Tigers team ERA in 1995 was 5.50. Sure this was during the steroid era, but 5.50 was bad and David Wells was good. At the time of the trade, Wells was 10-3 with an ERA of 3.04. Wells would win 166 games after this trade. Ouch.
- Summary: The Tiger actually played decent ball during the first half of the season by posting a 37-33 record. However, they were playing a bit over their heads and then traded off their two best pitchers for minor league players. The second half was a disaster as the Tigers limped to a 23-51 finish. It was also a bummer that Sparky Anderson had to go out on such a negative note. Not only did the Tigers suck, in their last home game with Sparky at the helm, they lost 13-1 to a young Mike Mussina. The amateur draft gave the Tigers little to build with and the club faced a long climb back up to respectability.
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Opening Day of this season was really strange. I remember a lot of booing, a lot of littering the field with magnet schedules, and a lot of people running onto the field. In short, it was much more insane than usual. But, you’re right: I, too, was happy to have my guys back out on the field.