Detroit Tigers All-Time 25-Man Roster
By Matt Snyder
Starting Pitcher #1 – Hal Newhouser
Hal Newhouser first appeared in a game for the Detroit Tigers as an 18 year old in 1939 and pitched for the club for the next 15 seasons.
During his peak he was an absolute workhorse for the Tigers, averaging more than 268 innings per season during his eight-year peak from 1942-1949.
Newhouser was at his most dominant in his age 23, 24, and 25 seasons (1944-1946). In those three seasons he pitched a total of 918 innings, was credited with 80 wins, won two American League MVP Awards (and was the runner up in the third season), and posted a 1.99 ERA.
According to modern metrics, Newhouser was worth between eight and nine wins above replacement during that incredible run. That’s basically Justin Verlander’s best four-year stretch condensed into three seasons.
All told, Newhouser “won” 200 games as a member of the Tigers with a career 3.07 ERA. He threw 212 complete games (33 of them shutouts) and also racked up 19 saves for good measure.
He was all but done as a starting pitcher by the age of 31, but he had already compiled a tremendous career’s worth of statistics at that point and was a worthy inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame when the Veteran’s Committee admitted him in 1992.
Next: Starting Pitcher #2