Dick McAuliffe (#495)

Here's Dick McAuliffe in his last season as the Tigers' shortstop. He was a regular infielder for them from 1963 to 1973.

He was signed by the Tigers in 1957 and played in the minors for 4+ seasons. Dick made his major-league debut in September 1960, but returned to the minors to begin the 1961 season.

McAuliffe was called up to the Tigers in late-June 1961 and started 70 of the final 98 games, either at shortstop or 3rd base.

In 1962 Dick started 67 games at 2nd base and 47 games at 3rd base, sharing the positions with Jake Wood (2b) and Steve Boros (3b).

In 1963, after starting 14 of the first 15 games at 2nd base he took over the starting shortstop job in early-May, starting almost every game there for the remainder of the season. He remained there for all of 1964 (159 starts).

McAuliffe was the starting shortstop for 107 of the first 120 games in 1965 until missing the final 40 games of the season. Good-field/no-hit Ray Oyler filled in for the remainder of the season, and also for a few weeks in mid-1966 when McAuliffe was out of the lineup.

Dick became the every-day 2nd baseman at the start of the 1967 season, remaining there through the end of the 1973 season (although Tony Taylor started 1/3 of the games at 2b in 1973).

While with the Tigers, McAuliffe made 3 consecutive all-star teams (1965-67). In 1964 he hit 24 home runs and 66 RBI, both career-highs. He also led the AL with 95 runs scored in 1968.

In October 1973 he was traded to the Red Sox for outfielder Ben Oglivie. Dick started 70 games for the Sox in ’74, backing up 2nd baseman Doug Griffin and shortstop Rico Petrocelli, then was released in October 1974.

McAuliffe began the 1975 season as the Red Sox' double-A manager, but was re-signed as a utility infielder in August. He played in 7 games, then was released at season’s end.