Bill Gullickson

The Thursday Fungo

Tigers’ Opening Day Record, 1977-1994

The wheelhouse of The Daily Fungo is the Ralph Houk, Les Moss and Sparky Anderson years. So, through that narrow lens in the Tigers’ much broader history, let’s look at how the teams from 1977 through 1994 opened their respective seasons.

* Indicates I was at the game.

Year	Opening Day	Score	Pitchers
1977	April 7 Home Boxscore	Royals 7 Tigers 4	W: Paul Splittorff L: Dave Roberts Save: Mark Littell
1978	April 7 Home Boxscore	Tigers 6 Blue Jays 2	W: Mark Fidrych L: Dave Lemanczyk
1979	April 7* Home Boxscore	Rangers 8 Tigers 2	W: Ferguson Jenkins L: Dave Rozema
1980	April 10 Away Boxscore	Tigers 5 Royals 1	W: Jack Morris L: Dennis Leonard
1981	April 9* Home Boxscore	Tigers 6 Blue Jays 2	W: Jack Morris L: Joey McLaughlin
1982	April 9* Away Boxscore	Royals 4 Tigers 2	W: Larry Gura L: Jack Morris
1983	April 5 Away Boxscore	Tigers 11 Twins 3	W: Jack Morris L: Brad Havens
1984	April 3 Away Boxscore	Tigers 8 Twins 1	W: Jack Morris L: Albert Williams
1985	April 8 Home Boxscore	Tigers 5 Indians 4	W: Jack Morris L: Ernie Camacho Save: Willie Hernandez
1986	April 7* Home Boxscore	Tigers 6 Red Sox 5	W: Jack Morris L: Sammy Stewart Save: Willie Hernandez
1987	April 6* Home Boxscore	Yankees 2 Tigers 1 10 innings	W: Dave Righetti L: Jack Morris
1988	April 4 Away Boxscore	Tigers 5 Red Sox 3 10 innings	W: Jack Morris L: Lee Smith Save: Mike Henneman
1989	April 4 Away	Rangers 4 Tigers 0	W: Charlie Hough L: Jack Morris
1990	April 9 Away Boxscore	Red Sox 5 Tigers 2	W: Roger Clemens L: Jack Morris Save: Lee Smith
1991	April 8 Home Boxscore	Tigers 6 Yankees 4	W: Paul Gibson L: Greg Cadaret Save: Mike Henneman
1992	April 6 Home Boxscore	Blue Jays 4 Tigers 2	W: Jack Morris L: Bill Gullickson
1993	April 5 Away Boxscore	A’s 9 Tigers 4	W: Bob Welch L: Mike Moore Save: Dennis Eckersley
1994	April 4 Away Boxscore	Red Sox 9 Tigers 8	W: Scott Bankhead L: Storm Davis Save: Jeff Russell

The result? An even 9 and 9, with Jack Morris notching a 6-4 record — not counting his win against the Tigers on Opening Day 1992 as a member of the Blue Jays.

Birthdays

Craig Paquette and the late Jimmy Barrett

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 361 9/9 – Rarity: 69

See you tomorrow.

The Thursday Fungo

On this Date in 2000

Sparky Anderson and Detroit Stars slugger Norman (Turkey) Stearnes were elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

Random Game: April 6, 1992

Blue Jays 4 – Tigers 2

Jack Morris starting an Opening Day at Tiger Stadium for the visiting team was certainly different. As usual, he went the distance, giving up ninth-inning homers to Cecil Fielder and Rob Deer.

W: Jack Morris — L: Bill Gullickson | Boxscore

Monday, April 6, 1992
Attendance: 51,068
Venue: Tiger Stadium
Game Duration: 2:46

Recap

Dave Winfield had three hits for the Jays.
Travis Fryman had a pair of hits.
Speaking of Rob Deer, this was the quintessential Deer performance: 1 for 4, three strikeouts to go with the homer.
Recently acquired Les Lancaster made his Tigers debut with a scoreless ninth.

Birthdays

He hasn’t made the Tigers yet, but Bligh Madris has a Leap Day® birthday.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 333 6/9 — Rarity: 427

Abysmal. But! A nice Hail Mary in the bottom right corner.

See you tomorrow.

The Tuesday Fungo: Feb. 20

The Chris Brown Experiment

Perhaps no other word best describes third baseman Chris Brown like enigmatic.

After a promising start to his career with the Giants in 1985, his .271 average and 16 homers earned him a fourth-place finish in the National League Rookie of the Year Award, and an All-Star Game appearance in ’86, Brown began frustrating his managers and his teammates with a string of questionable and bizarre injuries. In fact, he never appeared in more games than he did that rookie season (131).

The Tigers were in complete free fall when they traded Walt Terrell to the Padres for Brown and Keith Moreland, whose best years were behind him. Why Detroit thought Brown and his “Tin Man” reputation would be transformed under Sparky Anderson is mystifying.

Here’s a longer profile from the Fungo archives.

Birthdays

Buck Farmer, Justin Verlander, Kurt Knudsen, Bill Gullickson, Roy Face and the late Muddy Ruel and Suds Sutherland.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 324 9/9: Rarity: 20

See you tomorrow.