<P> The club employed eight full - time managers during the 1945--60 period, and the Tiger front office was run by eight different general managers in the same time span: Jack Zeller (1945), George Trautman (1946), Billy Evans (1947--51), Charlie Gehringer (1952--53), Muddy Ruel (1954--56), Spike Briggs (1956--57), John McHale (1957--58) and Rick Ferrell (1959--62). In addition, veteran MLB executive Bill DeWitt was club president in 1959--60 and played a dominant role in the team's baseball operations during his brief stay . Spike Briggs' mid-1950s tenure was especially tumultuous . He had inherited the Tigers in 1952 from his father, who had been sole owner since 1935 . The younger Briggs' ownership began with the steep decline in the Tigers' fortunes . In June 1956, while he was in the process of selling the team (purchased that year by a group led by broadcasters John Fetzer and Fred Knorr), he made headlines with scathing public criticism of manager Harris, his coaching staff and his players . Upon selling the Tigers, Briggs signed a contract to continue under the new owners as general manager . But he was abruptly relieved of those duties in April 1957 . The club's fortunes began to consistently improve when Fetzer became majority owner in December 1960 upon Knorr's death, and with the ascension of Jim Campbell to general manager in September 1962 . Campbell would remain in that post for 21 seasons, serve as club president from 1978--90, and play critical roles in the Tigers' 1968 and 1984 world championships . </P> <P> The Tigers' resistance to racial integration lasted for more than 11 seasons after Jackie Robinson's breakthrough in 1947 . Then, on June 6, 1958, Ozzie Virgil, Sr., an Afro - Latin American infielder from the Dominican Republic, started at third base in an 11--2 defeat of the Washington Senators . Detroit was the 15th of the then - 16 MLB teams in existence to break the color line . The Tigers did not field their first African - American player until April 10, 1959, when future Hall of Famer Larry Doby, who had integrated the American League in 1947 for the Cleveland Indians and had been acquired in a spring training trade, started in left field on Opening Day at Briggs Stadium . His career winding down, the 35 - year - old Doby appeared in only 18 games for Detroit before his contract was sold to the White Sox on May 13 . Only the Boston Red Sox then trailed the Tigers in integrating their roster; they finally relented on July 21, 1959 . </P> <P> As the American League expanded from 8 to 10 teams, Detroit began its slow ascent back to success with an outstanding 1961 campaign . They won 101 games but still finished eight games behind the Yankees, one of the few times a team had failed to reach the postseason despite winning over 100 games . First baseman Norm Cash had the best batting average in the American League, a remarkably high . 361, while teammate Al Kaline finished second . Cash never hit over . 286 before or after the' 61 season, and would later say of the accomplishment: "It was a freak . Even at the time, I realized that ." Cash's plate heroics, which also included 41 home runs and 132 RBI, might have earned him MVP honors that season were it not for New York's Roger Maris bashing a record 61 homers the same year . </P> <P> The 1961 club featured two nonwhite starters, Jake Wood and Bill Bruton, and later in the 1960s, black players such as Willie Horton, Earl Wilson, and Gates Brown would contribute to Detroit's rise in the standings . </P>

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