Sports / Business & brands
Hank Aguirre
1931–1994 · baseball pitcher, businessman
Tigers left-hander who led the league in ERA in 1962 and later founded Mexican Industries, a Detroit auto-parts company that employed hundreds of Hispanic Detroiters.
- Born
Azusa, California- Died
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
aged 63- Birth name
- Henry John Aguirre
- Detroit years
- 1958–1994
- Field
- Sports, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Aguirre came to the Tigers from Cleveland before the 1958 season and pitched ten years in Detroit. In 1962 he moved into the starting rotation and posted a 2.21 earned run average, the best in the American League and the lowest by a Tiger since Hal Newhouser in 1946, earning an All-Star selection. Famously one of the worst hitters in baseball, he made fans cheer his rare hits. After his playing career he stayed in Michigan, and in 1979 he founded Mexican Industries, a Detroit company that supplied specialized parts to the auto industry and was deliberately labor-intensive so it could hire workers from the Mexican-American community of Southwest Detroit. After a difficult start the company grew into a multimillion-dollar business in the 1980s and one of the largest Hispanic-owned firms in the country. Aguirre remained a community leader in Detroit until his death in 1994.
Highlights
- Led the American League with a 2.21 ERA in 1962
- Pitched for the Tigers 1958–1967
- 1962 All-Star
- Founded Mexican Industries in Detroit in 1979
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Played here · 1958–1967
Tiger Stadium (site)
Demolished · 1912–1999
His home park for ten seasons; demolished in 2008–2009.