The 1961 Detroit Tigers won 101 games but finished in second place, eight games behind the Yankees. The team's 1961 record tied the 1934 Tigers team record of 101 wins, and only twice in team history have the Tigers won more games: 1968 (103 wins) and 1984 (104 wins).
Offseason
On January 1, the Tigers' home park, Briggs Stadium, was renamed Tiger Stadium.
Notable transactions
December 14, 1960: 1960 MLB expansion draft
Steve Bilko was drafted from the Tigers by the Los Angeles Angels. Coot Veal was drafted from the Tigers by the Washington Senators.
Regular season
The 1961 Tigers were led by Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito, and Al Kaline. Cash won the AL batting title with a .361 batting average, and had 132 RBIs, and Colavito hit 45 home runs and had 140 RBIs. Kaline led the AL with 41 doubles and finished second to Cash for the batting title with a .324 average. Frank Lary led the pitching staff with 23 wins. The 1961 Tigers' winning percentage ranks as the 6th best in team history.
The players
Catchers: Brown and Roarke
Catcher Dick Brown hit 16 home runs in 1961, including back-to-back-to-back home runs with Norm Cash and Steve Boros on May 23, 1961. He hit a grand slam less than one month earlier on April 29, 1961.
Brown shared catching duties with rookie Mike Roarke who played in 86 games and hit .223 with 2 home runs and 22 RBIs. Roarke was a 30-year-old rookie in 1961. Roarke graduated from Boston College in 1952 where he was captain of the football and baseball teams in his senior season.
Brown appeared in 91 games at catcher in 1961, and Roarke in 85.
Infield: Cash, Wood, Fernández and Boros
First baseman Norm Cash won the AL batting crown with a .361 average and also led the league with a .488 on-base percentage and 193 hits. He was also among the league leaders with 41 home runs (6th in the AL), 132 RBIs (4th in the AL), 119 runs scored (4th in the AL), 124 walks (2nd in the AL), 354 total bases (2nd in the AL), and a .662 slugging average (2nd in the AL). He also led the AL in putouts in 1961. While Cash's performance was overshadowed by the 61 home runs of Roger Maris, his .361 average would be the highest by any major league player in the 1960s. Cash was 4th in the MVP voting.
Shortstop Chico Fernández was Detroit's regular shortstop for three seasons from 1960 to 1962. In 1960, he led American League shortstops with 34 errors. After six seasons in which he never hit more than 6 home runs, Fernández hit 20 home runs and 59 RBIs for the Tigers in 1962.
Second baseman Jake Wood was the Tigers' starting second baseman from 1961 to 1963. 1961 was his rookie season, and he led the AL in triples with 14 and in strikeouts with 141. He was also third in the AL in stolen bases with 30.
Third baseman Steve Boros signed a bonus contract with the Detroit Tigers in 1957. He was named the most valuable player of the Class AAA American Association in 1960 after he tied for the lead in runs batted in with 119. In his first full MLB season, 1961, Boros appeared in 116 games for the Tigers as a third baseman and hit .270 with 62 runs batted in. His season was cut short when he collided with Frank Lary and broke his collarbone.
Outfield: Colavito, Bruton and Kaline
Left fielder Rocky Colavito came to the Tigers in 1960 in a trade for Harvey Kuenn, who had won the 1959 batting title. The trade proved to be a good one for the Tigers. In 1961 with the Tigers, Colavito enjoyed career highs of 45 home runs, 140 RBI and 129 runs scored as the team led the major leagues in scoring. Colavito placed eighth in the MVP race, but Tiger fans didn't take to him. Sportswriter Joe Falls, who viewed Colavito as a "self-ordained deity," started a feature chronicling the runs he failed to drive in. In one game, Falls – acting as the official scorer – charged Colavito with a controversial error, and the outfielder tried to attack him. And on May 12, 1961, he was ejected from the game after climbing into the stands to go after a drunken fan who had been harassing his wife and father. After his excellent 1961 season, he drew the local fans' criticism by holding out for a higher salary than established team star Al Kaline. He was traded to the Athletics after the 1963 season.
Center fielder Bill Bruton put in a strong performance as the Tigers' center fielder. His range factor of 2.67 was far above the league average of 1.98. Bruton played in 160 games for the 1961 Tigers, scored 99 runs, collected 153 hits, and had 17 home runs, 63 RBIs, 22 stolen bases and a .257 batting average.