Monday, March 31, 2014


Brad Ausmus - career as Detroit Tiger

The Tigers won their 2014 season opener under new manager Brad Ausmus.  On "97.1 the Ticket" sport radio in Detroit, the question was posed,

"Is this the first time Brad Ausmus has been above .500 in a Tigers uniform?"

This is a great question because the Tigers were terrible during the 3 seasons Brad was with the team.  I looked for the answers on  http://www.baseball-reference.com and here is what I came up with:
 

1996 season

traded to Tigers June 18 1996 and played that day
Tigers record was 18-52
Tigers finished season 53-109 and never made it to .500
traded to Astros December 10 1996

traded to Tigers January 14 1999

1999 season

Tigers were 1-1 on April 6 1999
Brad played the 6th through 9th innings of the All Star Game, batted once and grounded out, and threw out Brian Jordan attempting to steal second base.  He was the only Tiger on the AL squad, presumably chosen because there had to be somebody from each team.
Tigers ended season 69-92

2000 season

Tigers were 1-1 on April 4 2000
Tigers were 63-63 on August 24 2000
* this day in Tiger history was apparently most notable for the flying ant swarm during the game.
Tigers were 64-64 on August 26 2000
Tigers were 65-65 on August 29 2000
Tigers were 66-66 on August 31 2000
Tigers were 67-66 on September 1 2000 - above .500
7 game streak above .500
best record 70-67 on September 5
Tigers were 70-70 on September 8 2000
Tigers finished season 79-83

traded to Astros December 11, 2000