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.

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

Gerald Laird Likely to Lose at His Uniform-Number Shell Game

LairdHead.jpgOn May 29, Gerald Laird changed his uniform number from 8 to 12 in the hope his offensive luck would change. Who could blame him for trying something — anything — to inject some life into his bat.

How’s it worked? He’s 2 for 16, or .125 since the switcheroo.

Before he had clubhouse guy Jim Schmakel sew him up a new uni, Laird was 16 for 101, or .158. And his overall stats for Laird while wearing #8 — the ones we’ll compare below with his predecessors are: .184 avg., 5 HR, .271 OBP, .553 OPS

This uniform-change ploy got me thinking about recent Tigers players that wore number 8 or number 12 to see which had the best offensive numbers and if, based on recent history (going back to 1995ish), Laird might luck out by some numerical karma.

Continue reading “Gerald Laird Likely to Lose at His Uniform-Number Shell Game”