(Photo credit: Topps.com)
Instead of doing another opening day preview, I decided to look back at previous opening days. With the help of the Retrosheet play-by-play database, I was able to summarize data from Tigers opening days from 1950-2014. For the purpose of this post, opening day means first game of the season as opposed to first home game. The Tigers opening day batting leaders are shown in Table 1 below. Here are some of the highlights:
- Hall of Famer Al Kaline played in more opening days (21) than any other Tiger. He did not perform particularly well in those game though posting a .210/.333/.321 line.
- Shortstop Alan Trammell led all Tigers with 19 hits and 9 extra base hits in 16 opening days.
- Nine Tigers played in 10 or more opening days, the most recent being Brandon Inge. Inge had a .934 OPS and his 8 RBI is third highest on the team.
- Outfielders Kirk Gibson and Dmitri Young each had three opening day home runs. Young, of course, hit all three in the same game in 2005.
- The best opening day slugger might have been right-handed hitting Larry Herndon who had 11 hits, including six for extra bases in six openers. He had at least one hit in every game from 1982-1987 and multiple hits in four games.
- The worst hitter might have been outfielder Jim Northrup with just three hits and a .346 OPS in nine openers.
Table 1: Detroit Tigers Opening Day Batting Leaders, 1950-2014
Statistic | First | Second | Third |
G | Kaline 21 | Whitaker 17 | Trammell 16 |
H | Trammell 19 | Kaline 17 | Whitaker, Cash 12 |
HR | Gibson 3 | Young 3 | Many tied with 2 |
TB | Trammell 33 | Kaline 26 | Herndon 22 |
RBI | Trammell 10 | Kaline 9 | Inge 8 |
R | Trammell 13 | Kaline 8 | Whitaker 8 |
BA | Herndon .440 | Boone .412 | Easley .407 |
OBP | Boone .500 | Herndon .481 | Fryman .452 |
SLG | Herndon .880 | Boone .765 | Young .762 |
OPS | Herndon 1.361 | Stanley 1.265 | Young 1.126 |
Data source: Retrosheet.org
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