Team 76: The 1977 Tigers
By Blake VandeBunte • Dec 6th, 2009 • Category: Alan Trammell, Dave Rozema, Jason Thompson, Lance Parrish, Lou Whitaker, Mark Fidrych, Top 109 Teams- Year: 1977
- Record: 74-88
- Win %: .457
- Win % Change: -3
- Run Differential: -37
- Pythagorean Record: 77-85
- AL Finish: 8th of 14
- Manager: Ralph Houk
- Best Transaction: Sold Dave Roberts. This is a real reach, but the Tigers didn’t take part in many good transactions this season. Most of their moves amounted to nothing or were bad. Roberts had a decent big league career and the Tigers sold him before he hit rock-bottom.
- Worst Transaction: Trading Ben Ogilvie and Willie Horton. Ogilivie was a young up-and-comer that didn’t get a his fair shot in Detroit. He was 28 when he was traded and went on to hit 176 homers after leaving Detroit. Horton was aging but was a Tigers icon. More than being a baseball icon, he was an icon for the city of Detroit. Horton was 34 at the time of the trade and had only one good season left in him, but the Tigers got little in return and let a guy who should have been a lifetime Tiger leave town.
- Upper: Dave Rozema. In some ways, Rozema was Mark Fidrych 2.0. Sure he wasn’t as charismatic as The Bird, but he was a Michigan guy who tore it up as a rookie. The 20-year-old went 15-7 with an ERA of 3.09 (ERA+ 138). Rozema was a pretty unique pitcher in that he struck out next to no one, but walked even fewer. He led the AL in walks per nine innings as a rookie and finished fourth in the Cy Young voting.
- Downer: Tom Veryzer having one of the worst offensive seasons ever. I have never heard of this guy since this was four years before I was born, but man oh man, what a disaster. Veryzer was a weak-hitting shortstop who got into 125 games for the Tigers in 1977. Alan Trammell was only 19 years old, so they didn’t have another option at the position. Veryzer put up this line: .197/.230/.254. That’s unbelievable. His OPS+ was only 30, one of the lowest in the history of baseball for a player with that many plate appearances. Veryzer was decent enough in the field to play another 600+ games in his career.
- Summary: Offensive postives included Ron LeFlore (100 runs and 39 steals) and Jason Thompson (31 HR and 105 RBI). Rozema led the pitching staff, but most everyone else struggled with performance and/or injuries (Fidrych). This club had only two winning months and got off to a bad start with an 18-26 start over the season’s first two months. A few young guys came up with this club, though. Alan Trammell made his debut at the age of 19, Jason Thompson and Steve Kemp were only 22, Lance Parrish was 21 and Lou Whitaker was just 20. This club was clearly on the way up, but the key pieces were a few years away from making serious contributions.
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