Team 87: The 1928 Tigers

• Year: 1928
• Record: 68-86
• Win %: .442
• Win % Change: -94
• Run Differential: -60
• Pythagorean Record: 72-82
• AL Finish: 6th of 8
• Manager: George Moriarty
• Best Transaction: Traded for Vic Sorrell.  Sorrell was never an All-Star, but the righty put together about a decade of solid starting pitching for the Tigers.  Sorrell won 92 games while with the Tigers and spent his entire big league career with the Tigers.  He retired with an ERA+102.  There have been worse pitchers to sport the Old English D.  Unfortunately...
• Worst Transaction: Sold Carl Hubbell.  In April of 1928, the Tigers traded a 25-year-old pitcher named Carl Hubbell to a minor league team.  Hubbell went on to win two MVP awards, make multiple All-Star teams, and get elected to the Hall of Fame.  Hubbell won 253 games, led the league in wins three times, as well as ERA+ three times.  The Tigers have never really had a great pitching team and Hubbell surely would have helped them on that front.  This deal is also painful since Hubbell made his big league debut with the Giants in 1928 and was pretty much great from the start.  The Tigers really messed this up.  The Tigers also traded away a Hall of Famer in 1928 in Heinie Manush.
• Upper:  Starting pitcher Ownie Carroll was one of the few brights spots on this club.  Carrollo qualified as the staff ace, leading the club in wins (with 16) and ERA.  What’s puzzling is how Carroll pulled it all off.  He struck out only 51 batters and walked 87.  That’s almost unheard of.  Carroll never won that many games ever again in a single season and led the National League in losses in 1932.
• Downer:  The story of Chick Galloway.  Galloway was a pretty great big league player.  In the mid-1920s, Galloway put together a series of good seasons and received MVP votes in three different years.  He spent the bulk of his career in Philadelphia.  In 1927, while still an Athletic, Gallow took a batting practice pitch to the skull.  He attempted a recovery with the Tigers in 1928, but sadly, he was never the same, and was eventually forced to end his career after only 53 games in Detroit.  Fortunately, Galloway was healthy enough to live to the age of 73.
• Summary: This team qualifies for this low spot because they were pretty disappointing.  Just the season before, the Tigers went 82-71 and were actually a pretty good club.  The 1928 Tigers got terrific offensive seasons from Harry Heilmann, Charlie Gehringer and Bob Fothergill, but got little production from the rest of the lineup.  In addition to some weak hitting, only one team in the American League gave up more runs than the Tigers, and no pitching staff walked more batters than the Detroiters.

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