1917 Detroit Tigers season

The 1917 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fourth in the American League with a record of 78–75, 21½ games behind the Chicago White Sox.

1917 Detroit Tigers
League	American League
Ballpark	Navin Field
City	Detroit
Owners	William H. Yawkey and Frank Navin
Managers	Hughie Jennings
← 1916 Seasons 1918 →

Regular season

Season standings

v t e American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Sox	100	54	0.649	—	56–21	44–33
Boston Red Sox	90	62	0.592	9	45–33	45–29
Cleveland Indians	88	66	0.571	12	44–34	44–32
Detroit Tigers	78	75	0.510	21½	34–41	44–34
Washington Senators	74	79	0.484	25½	42–35	32–44
New York Yankees	71	82	0.464	28½	35–40	36–42
St. Louis Browns	57	97	0.370	43	31–46	26–51
Philadelphia Athletics	55	98	0.359	44½	29–47	26–51

Record vs. opponents

1917 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	10–12–1	10–12	9–12	13–9–1	18–3–1	17–5–1	13–9–1
Chicago	12–10–1	—	14–8	16–6	12–10	15–7	16–6	15–7–1
Cleveland	12–10	8–14	—	12–10	15–7	16–6	14–8	11–11–2
Detroit	12–9	6–16	10–12	—	13–9–1	12–10	14–8	11–11
New York	9–13–1	10–12	7–15	9–13–1	—	15–7	13–9	8–13
Philadelphia	3–18–1	7–15	6–16	10–12	7–15	—	11–11	11–11
St. Louis	5–17–1	6–16	8–14	8–14	9–13	11–11	—	10–12
Washington	9–13–1	7–15–1	11–11–2	11–11	13–8	11–11	12–10	—

Roster

1917 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Bernie Boland Johnny Couch Harry Coveleski George Cunningham Hooks Dauss Howard Ehmke Bill James Deacon Jones Willie Mitchell		Catchers Tubby Spencer Oscar Stanage Archie Yelle Infielders George Burns Donie Bush Sam Crawford Tony DeFate Ben Dyer Babe Ellison Bob Jones Ossie Vitt Ralph Young		Outfielders Ty Cobb Ira Flagstead George Harper Harry Heilmann Fred Nicholson Bobby Veach Other positions Frank Walker		Manager Hughie Jennings Coaches Jimmy Burke

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	Oscar Stanage	99	297	61	.205	0	30
1B	George Burns	119	407	92	.226	1	40
2B	Ralph Young	141	503	116	.231	1	38
SS	Donie Bush	147	581	163	.281	0	23
3B	Ossie Vitt	140	512	130	.254	0	45
OF	Harry Heilmann	150	556	156	.281	5	85
OF	Ty Cobb	152	588	225	.383	6	106
OF	Bobby Veach	154	571	182	.319	8	110

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
Tubby Spencer	70	192	46	.240	0	22
George Harper	47	117	24	.205	0	12
Sam Crawford	61	104	18	.173	2	11
Bob Jones	46	77	12	.156	0	2
Ben Dyer	30	67	14	.209	0	0
Archie Yelle	25	51	7	.137	0	0
Babe Ellison	9	29	5	.172	1	4
Fred Nicholson	13	14	4	.286	0	2
Ira Flagstead	4	4	0	.000	0	0
Frank Walker	2	2	0	.000	0	0
Tony DeFate	3	2	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
Hooks Dauss	37	270.2	17	14	2.43	102
Bernie Boland	43	238.0	16	11	2.68	89
Howard Ehmke	35	206.0	10	15	2.97	90
Bill James	34	198.0	13	10	2.09	62
Willie Mitchell	30	185.1	12	8	2.19	80

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
George Cunningham	44	139.0	2	7	2.91	49
Deacon Jones	24	77.0	4	4	2.92	28
Harry Coveleski	16	69.0	4	6	2.61	15

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
Johnny Couch	3	0	0	0	2.70	1

References

•  Baseball portal

• 1917 Detroit Tigers season at Baseball Reference