Tiger Rage

All over the city, even though it was early in the season, businessmen deserted the office to cluster anxiously around barroom TV sets. Radios blared baseball at pedestrians on downtown sidewalks. It was more than the sobersided Detroit Athletic Club could stand. "We are impelled," announced the club's News, "to caution the Tigers' friends not to make too hasty an appraisal of their potential." Few Detroiters listened. Their big-league ball club, moribund for the past 15 years, was suddenly the top team in baseball. Last week the Tigers split four games with the New York Yankees, swept three from the Baltimore Orioles, and moved five games in front of the American League. Pennant fever raged in Detroit.

While other American League teams were stumbling and grumbling about cold weather and weak benches, the Tigers were playing with convincing skill. The team batting average was a sparkling .280, and four regulars were hitting over .300. The pitching staff had a respectable earned-run average of 3.37. Against the Orioles, Manager Bob Scheffing needed no more than eleven men a game; the Tigers collected 42 hits and 29 runs in 27 innings. Afield, they made only one error to the Orioles' four.

Skillful Trades. Secret of the Tigers' startling rejuvenation is a series of skillfully planned trades, dating back to the beginning of the 1960 season, that brought First Baseman Norm Cash, Leftfielder Rocky Colavito, Centerfielder Billy Bruton, and Catcher Dick Brown to Detroit. Playing regularly for the first time this year, Cash is batting .333, has five home runs and 29 RBIs. Temperamental, Bronx-born Rocky Colavito, who was appalled at being traded and suffered through a miserable 1960 season, is now happy with Detroit ("I like the town, and then some"). Slugger Colavito, starting fast, already has nine home runs, 27 RBIs, and his own fan club of teen-age-girl bleacherites, who wear sweaters emblazoned ROCKY. With Colavito in left, Bruton in center and Veteran Al Kaline in right, the Detroit outfield is probably the finest in the league. Catcher Brown, another former benchwarmer, is hitting .303.

Good Gamble. To round out his team, Manager Scheffing has gambled on Rookies Jake Wood, 23, Steve Boros, 24, and Phil Regan, 24. All three bets have paid off. Regan, a fastballing righthander, has the lowest earned-run average among Tiger pitchers (2.12), has won four games and lost none so far this season. Second Baseman Wood is a slick fielder and a long-ball hitter who resembles the Chicago Cubs' Ernie Banks at the plate. Third

Baseman Steve Boros, a $25,000 bonus baby from the University of Michigan, leads the Tigers with a .339 batting average, is a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year. To balance his youngsters, Scheffing relies on a hard core of able, steady Tiger veterans: Outfielder Kaline, Shortstop Chico Fernandez, Pitchers Frank Lary and Don Mossi. For the first time in years, the Tigers have strength to spare. Reserve Outfielder Charley Maxwell hit 24 home runs in 1960, and second-string First Baseman Larry Osborne led the American Association in batting.

But the biggest single factor in the Tigers' upsurge, insists ex-Tiger George Kell, now a Detroit sportscaster, is Manager Scheffing himself. "He's very abrupt and he's very fair," says Kell. "He's a man's man, and the players respect him. Lately, the way things have been going, there are moments when they worship the guy."

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