Detroit Tigers

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1901
• Home ballpark: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
• Owner: Ilitch family trust
• Team colors: Navy blue, orange, and white

Overview

The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team playing in the American League Central division. The franchise was one of eight charter members of the American League (AL), although its history dates back several years earlier as a minor league club. The Tigers’ success in the early twentieth century was built around the legendary Ty Cobb, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. By the time of his retirement, Cobb had set numerous MLB batting records, some of which he still holds as of 2024. Despite being one of the better AL teams of the early 1900s, the Tigers would not win their first championship until 1935. Detroit won additional titles in 1945, 1968, and 1984 but was never able to sustain its success over multiple seasons. In the twenty-first century, the Tigers’ fortunes have seemingly been on a roller coaster, alternating between World Series appearances and historically bad seasons.

History

The Detroit franchise began in 1894 as a member of the Western League (WL), a minor league with teams primarily in Midwestern cities. At first, the team was unofficially called the Wolverines, but by 1896, it was referred to in the press as the Tigers. According to the most likely story, the team adopted the name from the Detroit Light Guard, an infantry unit that fought in the Civil War. The unit was nicknamed “Tigers” for its ferocity in battle. In 1901, the WL, declaring itself a major league and changing its name to the American League (AL). The new AL placed franchises in eastern cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington. Detroit was the only WL franchise to make the transition to the AL while remaining in its home city and keeping its original name.

In their very first game in the AL, the Tigers trailed 13–4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, only to score ten runs and win the game, 14–13. As of 2020, the ten-run comeback remains the largest ninth-inning deficit ever overcome to win a game in MLB history. Despite its promising first game, Detroit scuffled for much of the next six seasons, posting only two winning records in that span. The seeds of a turnaround were planted in 1905 when the Tigers signed eighteen-year-old outfielder Ty Cobb. Cobb would go on to become one of the greatest hitters in MLB history and the face of baseball for the first two decades of the century. With Cobb in the lineup, Detroit made three straight World Series from 1907 to 1909, although all three ended in a losing effort.

From 1910 to 1933, the Tigers were among the more competitive teams in the AL, finishing with a winning record fourteen times, including a 100-win season in 1915. However, a return to the World Series remained elusive until 1934. That season, Detroit won 101 games but lost the series to the St. Louis Cardinals. A year later, the Tigers were back in the World Series, this time capturing their first championship with a 4–2 win over the Chicago Cubs. Detroit made two more World Series in the 1940s, losing to the Cincinnati Reds in 1940 and defeating the Cubs in 1945 for a second championship. Although the Tigers had several notable seasons over the next two decades, the team always fell short of the World Series. In 1961, the team matched its franchise high at the time with 101 wins, only to finish eight games back of the powerhouse New York Yankees.

In 1968, the Tigers won 103 games and advanced to the World Series to face the Cardinals. Detroit fell behind 3–1 in the best-of-seven series but rallied in Games Five and Six to force a Game Seven. Led by the pitching of Mickey Lolich, the Tigers completed the comeback to win their third championship. At the time, it was only the third instance in MLB history that a team came back to win a World Series after trailing 3–1. A year later, MLB realigned the National and American Leagues into two divisions each, and the Tigers were placed in the AL East. Despite winning a division title in 1972, Detroit spent most of the next decade near the bottom of the AL East standings.

After finishing in second place in 1983, the Tigers exploded out of the gates during the 1984 season, winning an MLB record thirty-five of their first forty games. Detroit ran away with the AL East title with a franchise-best 104 victories. They swept the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and dominated the San Diego Padres to win the World Series in five games. Detroit contended for a division title for the next five years, winning the AL East again in 1987 and barely missing the playoffs in 1988.

The next seventeen years would mark a low point for the franchise as the Tigers finished below .500 fifteen times from 1989 to 2005. Detroit lost 109 games in 1996 and 106 games in 2002 as a member of the realigned AL Central. In 2003, the Tigers set an AL record with 119 losses, only one behind the modern-MLB mark of 120 by the 1962 New York Mets. However, two years later, the team hired manager Jim Leyland and began a surprising turnaround. In 2006, Detroit not only made the playoffs as a wild card team, but also advanced to the World Series, losing to the Cardinals in five games. The Tigers won four straight AL Central titles from 2011 to 2014 and made it to the 2012 World Series. That series also ended in a loss, this time to the San Francisco Giants.

After the franchise’s last playoff appearance in 2014, the Tigers once again fell to the bottom of the AL standings. Other than a modest eighty-six-win season in 2016, Detroit finished with a losing record eight times from 2015 to 2023. The Tigers endured a historically bad year in 2019, losing 114 games—the fifth-most losses in a season in modern MLB history.

Notable players

More than twenty-five former players, managers, and team officials associated with the Detroit Tigers have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Undoubtedly, the best player in franchise history was also one of the most iconic players in MLB history. Ty Cobb played twenty-two seasons with the Tigers from 1905 to 1926. During that time, he won a record twelve batting titles and finished with two-hundred or more hits nine times. Cobb was known as much for his fiery and sometimes controversial personality as for his hitting ability,and at one point in his career faced allegations of game fixing. Almost a century after he retired, Cobb still holds almost every major franchise record for the Tigers. These include most hits with 3,900, runs scored with 2,087, runs batted in (RBIs) with 1,811, and steals with 869. Counting the statistics he accumulated in his final two seasons with the Philadelphia A’s, Cobb finished his career with 4,189 hits, a record that stood for almost sixty years until it was broken in 1985. His lifetime batting average of .366 remains a MLB record and is unlikely to ever be broken. When he was elected to the inaugural Hall of Fame class in 1936, Cobb received more votes than any other player.

One of Cobb’s teammates during this time was outfielder Harry Helmann, a four-time batting champ who was often overshadowed by his more famous teammate. Hellmann, who played for Detroit from 1914 to 1929, was considered one of the greatest right-handed hitting players of his generation. His .342 batting average is second to Cobb’s in Tigers’ history and his 2,499 hits rank fourth. During the 1930s, Detroit was led by a trio of future Hall of Famers known as the “G-Men”—Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, and Leon Goslin. Gehringer played with the Tigers from 1924 to 1942, finishing third on the franchise list for hits with 2,839. Greenberg played with Detroit from 1930 to 1946 and was one of the most feared power hitters of the 1930s. He hit 306 home runs with the Tigers and would have had more if he did not spend three years in the military during World War II. Goslin played with the Tigers from 1934 to 1937 and achieved the bulk of his Hall-of-Fame statistics with other teams.

Outfielder Al Kaline played his entire career in Detroit from 1953 to 1974, earning him the nickname “Mr. Tiger.” Kaline made eighteen All-Star games and won ten Gold Gloves for defensive excellence. He is the franchise leader with 399 career home runs and is second in hits with 3,007 and RBIs with 1,582. Shortstop Alan Trammell was also a lifelong Tiger, playing in Detroit from 1977 to 1996. A six-time All-Star, Trammell was also named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 1984 World Series. Pitcher Jack Morris was also a member of the 1984 World Series team. Morris played with Detroit from 1977 to 1990 and won 198 games with the team—fifth-most in franchise history. Although not a member of the Hall of Fame, second baseman Lou Whitaker was a five-time All-Star who was also a key contributor to the 1984 championship.

During the Tigers’ run of success from 2006 to 2014, the pitching staff was led by Justin Verlander, who won both the AL Cy Young Award and MVP award in 2011. Verlander played in Detroit from 2005 to 2017 and is second on the franchise strikeout list with 2,373. First baseman Miguel Cabrera joined the Tigers in 2008 and won back-to-back MVP awards in 2012 and 2013. In 2013, he accomplished the rare feat of winning the AL Triple Crown—leading the league in batting average, home runs, and RBIs.

Bibliography

Caputo, Pat. “Top 10 Detroit Tigers of All-Time.” Oakland Press, 11 Apr. 2020, www.theoaklandpress.com/sports/pat-caputo---top-10-detroit-tigers-of-all-time/article‗11c45d8a-7be9-11ea-b13a-771dc71e8eed.html. Accessed 25 May 2020.

“Detroit Tigers.” Detroit Historical Society, 2020, detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/detroit-tigers. Accessed 25 May 2020.

“Detroit Tigers.” Baseball Almanac, 2024, www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/dett.shtml. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

“Detroit Tigers Team History.” Sports Team History, 2020, sportsteamhistory.com/detroit-tigers. Accessed 25 May 2020.

“Detroit Tigers Team History & Encyclopedia.” Baseball Reference, 2024, www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DET/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Gage, Tom. The Big 50: Detroit Tigers. Triumph Books, 2017.

Ginsburg, Daniel. “Ty Cobb.” Society for American Baseball Research, sabr.org/bioproj/person/7551754a. Accessed 25 May 2020.

“History.” MLB.com, 2020, www.mlb.com/tigers/history. Accessed 25 May 2020.