1962 AL Game: NY @ Det. Tigers Home Opener

April 13, 1962

  The Detroit Tigers opened the season on the road in Washington with a 7-3 loss. Their next 2 games against the Senators were rained out before they traveled back to Detroit for the Home Opener against the defending World Series Champion New York Yankees.
  Detroit has had 3 days off since their only game this season and played today on a raw, wet and cold afternoon. There was even snow falling earlier in the morning. Despite the bad weather, 29,000+ fans showed up for the Home Opener. Yankee Killer Frank Lary (pictured) started for the Tigers. Bill Stafford got the start for NY. Detroit got off to an early lead in the 1st inning thanks in part to a rare 2-base error by Mickey Mantle. In fact, Mantle had 2 errors in the game but only the first led to a run. NY went ahead in the 2nd on a Yogi Berra 2-run homer. The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the 6th. With 2 outs Rocky Colavito hit a 2-run homer. Norm Cash followed with a blast of his own. The back-to-back homeruns finished the day for Stafford. The Yankees got back a run in the 7th making it 4-3 in favor of Detroit. Terry Fox came on in relief to pitch the last 2 innings. Even though Fox got into jams both innings he was able to wiggle out of them for a Save, preserve the Win for Lary, and send the hometown fans away happy.

BOXSCORE: 1962 New York Yankees At 1962 Detroit Tigers              4/13/1962
 
  Yankees            AB  R  H RBI AVG     Tigers             AB  R  H RBI AVG
  B.Richardson 2B     3  0  0  0 .143     J.Wood 2B           4  0  0  0 .125  
  T.Tresh SS          4  0  1  0 .444     B.Bruton CF         4  1  0  0 .111  
  R.Maris RF          4  0  1  0 .286     A.Kaline RF         4  1  1  0 .125  
  M.Mantle CF         2  2  1  0 .600     R.Colavito LF       3  1  2  3 .400  
  Y.Berra LF          3  1  2  2 .667     N.Cash 1B           4  1  1  1 .286  
  E.Howard C          4  0  0  0 .333     S.Boros 3B          2  0  0  0 .250  
  B.Skowron 1B        3  0  1  1 .143     C.Fernandez SS      3  0  0  0 .286  
E-H.Lopez PH          1  0  0  0 .500     M.Roarke C          3  0  1  0 .286  
  C.Boyer 3B          4  0  0  0 .125     F.Lary P            2  0  0  0 .000  
  B.Stafford P        2  0  0  0 .000     S.Jones P           0  0  0  0 ----  
  T.Clevenger P       0  0  0  0 ----   A-C.Maxwell PH        1  0  0  0 .000  
C-J.Blanchard PH      0  0  0  0 ----   B-B.Morton PR         0  0  0  0 ----  
D-P.Linz PR           0  0  0  0 ----     T.Fox P             0  0  0  0 ----  
  B.Daley P           0  0  0  0 ----                                          
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      30  3  6  3                 Totals      30  4  5  4
 
A-Pinch Hit For Jones In 7th Inning
B-Pinch Ran For Maxwell In 7th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Clevenger In 8th Inning
D-Pinch Ran For Blanchard In 8th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Skowron In 9th Inning
 
Yankees......... 0 2 0  0 0 0  1 0 0  -  3  6  2
Tigers.......... 1 0 0  0 0 3  0 0    -  4  5  0
 
Yankees (1-1)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA
B.Stafford LOSS(0-1)      5 2/3   5   4   3   0   5   2   4.76
T.Clevenger               1 1/3   0   0   0   1   0   0   0.00
B.Daley                   1       0   0   0   1   1   0   0.00
Totals                    8       5   4   3   2   6   2
 
Tigers (1-1)             IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA
F.Lary WIN(1-0)           6 2/3   4   3   3   2   4   1   4.05
S.Jones HOLD(1st)         0 1/3   0   0   0   0   1   0   0.00
T.Fox SAVE(1st)           2       2   0   0   2   1   0   0.00
Totals                    9       6   3   3   4   6   1
 
ATTENDANCE- 29,294 DATE- Friday, April 13th 1962 TIME- Day WEATHER- Bad
UMPIRES- Hank Soar, John Rice, Bill Kinnamon, Joe Paparella
T- 1:54
LEFT ON BASE- Yankees: 5  Tigers: 4
DOUBLE PLAYS- Yankees: 1  Tigers: 1
ERRORS- M.Mantle-2
TRIPLES- M.Roarke(1st)
HOME RUNS- Y.Berra(1st), R.Colavito(1st), N.Cash(1st)
RBIs- Y.Berra-2(2nd), B.Skowron(2nd), R.Colavito-3(3rd), N.Cash(1st)
STOLEN BASES- R.Maris(1st)
CAUGHT STEALING- T.Tresh
SACRIFICE HITS- B.Richardson
WALKS- M.Mantle-2, Y.Berra, J.Blanchard, R.Colavito, S.Boros
STRIKE OUTS- B.Richardson, T.Tresh, R.Maris, E.Howard, C.Boyer, B.Stafford,
             J.Wood-2, A.Kaline, N.Cash, S.Boros, F.Lary
GIDP- E.Howard, J.Wood
BALKS- F.Lary, T.Fox
2-out RBI- R.Colavito-3, N.Cash, B.Skowron
RLISP 2-out- F.Lary, E.Howard, R.Maris, C.Boyer-2
TEAM RISP- Yankees: 3 for 11  Tigers: 1 for 3
 
29,294 fans watched an exciting game at Tiger Stadium.  The Detroit Tigers
topped the New York Yankees by the slimmest of margins, 4 to 3.
 
Detroit came up with 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning when they came up
with 3 base hits.  The big moment was provided by Rocky Colavito who made the
home-town crowd a happy bunch when he blasted a two-run home run.  New York
had a chance to come back in the 9th but they came up short.  
 
Frank Lary(1-0) went 6 and 2/3 innings allowing 3 runs for the win. Lary was
helped out by Terry Fox who recorded his 1st save.  Bill Stafford(0-1) was
the losing pitcher.