TIGER FLAWS

By Elliott Teaford

Sept. 27, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Looking back, the 1962 New York Mets were sort of fun. Playing in a broken-down ballpark, they were nutty and new with a 72-year-old manager who often spoke in a language all his own. The Mets were bad, but they had personality. They were “Amazin’.”

These 2003 Detroit Tigers are a grim bunch, a faceless collection of no-names and inexperienced hacks. There is no facetious tag to hang on them. In fact, they are so bad they might not even get losing right.

Going into the season’s final week, the Tigers seemed like a mortal lock to eclipse the Mets as the worst team in baseball’s modern history.

The expansion Mets, assembled in only six months, were 40-120 in their inaugural National League season. The Tigers, established in 1901, set an American League record with their 118th loss Monday, but then won three in a row before suffering their 119th defeat Friday night. They have two games left and still have a chance to avoid infamy.

“I don’t want to be part of the worst team ever,” defiant Tiger catcher Brandon Inge told a Detroit newspaper this week. “I don’t want to tell my grandkids that.”

Expectations of the Tigers were not high to start the season. During spring training, when every team -- contender and pretender alike -- believes it has a chance to become World Series champion, the Tigers were simply hoping to avoid a 100-loss season.

Fans haven’t exactly abandoned the Tigers, but they have been hiding from Comerica Park, the new downtown stadium. The Tigers’ overall attendance average of 17,123 was the second-lowest in the AL going into the final weekend of the season.

“Even if they ‘only’ drop 119, this Tigers team is the worst team ever,” “Brian D.” posted on a Tiger fan Internet site this week. “The Mets circa 1962 didn’t have 100 years to assemble talent. They didn’t even have a major league team in ‘61, let alone a minor league system. The ’62 Mets had an excuse, I’m not sure I can find one for our Tigers. That said, I would still prefer they finish without the record in hand.”

Naturally, media attention has been trained on Detroit in recent days and weeks. Much as freeway drivers focus on a wreck on the other side of the divider, it has been difficult for reporters to avert their eyes from the Tigers.

One columnist, Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, went so far as to defend them. Boswell correctly pointed out the Tigers cannot truly be called the worst team in history since the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics won only 36 games and had a .235 winning percentage. He wondered why a team that had all its stars sold in payroll-dumping moves by owner Connie Mack would be ignored in the Tigers-vs.-Mets debate.

“Because it’s more fun to humiliate the Tigers?” Boswell wondered.

The Detroit Free Press’ Web site Friday featured three articles and a photograph of the Tigers’ victory Thursday over the Minnesota Twins, squeezing aside a story on hockey’s Red Wings, winners of three Stanley Cup championships in the last six years.

The rival Detroit News’ Web site also played the Tigers above the Red Wings. There was a photograph of a Tiger fan named Carl Kudla of suburban St. Clair Shores, who wore a sweatshirt with the words “No Way” and the record-setting number of 121 with a red circle around it and a red slash through it.

What’s more, the Tigers have gained quite a following among members of the ’62 Mets, including pitcher Jay Hook, who penned an opinion piece for The Times this week.

“Needless to say, I’ve begun to follow this saga closely,” Hook wrote. “As I listened to a Tiger game against the Twins recently, the announcer from Detroit said, ‘We are losing games every way possible.’ His words set me back 41 years.”

Perhaps the only thing the 1962 Mets and the 2003 Tigers have in common is losing.

The Mets were a team of veteran castoffs just happy to have one more season in the sun. The Tigers are a team of youngsters trying to prove they belong in the major leagues.

The Mets had familiar names such as Gus Bell, Roger Craig, Gil Hodges, Frank Thomas, “Marvelous” Marv Throneberry and Don Zimmer. The Tigers have fresh-scrubbed faces such as Mike Maroth, the first pitcher in 23 years to lose 20 games.

The Mets played in the dilapidated Polo Grounds, former home of the Giants before they moved to San Francisco, while awaiting the completion of Shea Stadium. The Tigers play in Comerica Park, a major upgrade from ancient Tiger Stadium.

The Mets were managed by Casey Stengel, 72, who after winning 10 pennants with other teams refused to treat losses as the end of the world. The Tigers are managed by former Detroit shortstop Alan Trammell, a popular overachiever as a player and a chronic stoic in his rookie season as manager.

Stengel made sure everyone got the joke. Trammell has been determined to make sure nobody’s feelings get hurt, going so far as to remove Jeremy Bonderman (6-19) from the rotation before he could incur his 20th loss.

Trammell managed the team for two days without telling anyone of his mother’s death last week. He departed Tuesday for the funeral Wednesday in San Diego, then returned for Thursday’s game at Detroit.

“I thought it was the right thing,” he told a reporter from Major League Baseball’s Internet site. “I need to be here, and it’s the right thing to do. I’ll be home next week and get back to a few things. I’m never going to run from anything.”

Craig, the former Met pitcher who later managed the Giants and San Diego Padres, considers Trammell a man of great character and talent. He dislikes the notion of reporters pestering Trammell 40 years from now about the 2003 Tigers.

“I don’t want him known as the manager of the worst team in history,” Craig said by telephone from his Hilton Head, S.C., home. “That stuff sticks to you.”

Craig has spoken with Trammell during this season of discontent.

“I think the most important thing I told him was that he should always walk into that clubhouse as if the Tigers were on a 10-game winning streak,” Craig said. “Because if he didn’t act that way, who else would?

“And he’s already called me and asked when I’ll be available to talk about next year. I look back at 1962 with some pride now. I took my regular turn [with a 10-24 record] every time and what happened in 1962 helped me in my relationships with players when I was a pitching coach and a manager.

“I have no regrets. I played for the Mets two years and got a raise each year. How about that?”

Times staff writer Diane Pucin contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Worst of the Worst

A look at the five major league teams that lost at least 115 games:

Team: 1899 Cleveland Spiders

Record: 20-134

Finished: 12th in NL, 84 games behind leader

Best starter: Jim Hughey (4-30, 5.41 ERA)

20-game losers: 2

Best hitter: Tommy Dowd (.278, 2 HR, 35 RBIs)

Comment: Scored 529 runs, gave up 1,252.