49 Fun Facts About Detroit Tigers

In which year did the Tigers become a charter member of the American League?

Detroit was one of the American League's eight charter franchises when it began play as a major league in 1901; the club had played in the minor Western League since 1894.

Before settling on Tigers, the 1894 Detroit club was referred to by which names?

Newspapers called the 1894 Western League club the Wolverines and the Creams; 'Tigers' first appeared in the Detroit Free Press on 16 April 1895, before manager George Stallings claimed credit for it.

According to author Richard Bak, the Tigers took their nickname from which local institution?

Richard Bak's 1998 history traces the name to the Detroit Light Guard, a militia unit nicknamed 'the Tigers' that fought in the Civil and Spanish-American wars; the club obtained its formal permission to use the name in 1901.

Bennett Park, Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium all stood at the corner of which two Detroit avenues?

Bennett Park opened at Michigan and Trumbull in 1896; its successor on the same site opened in 1912 and was renamed twice before the Tigers left 'The Corner' after the 1999 season.

Under what name did the ballpark that became Tiger Stadium open in 1912?

It opened as Navin Field on 20 April 1912, named for owner Frank Navin, the same day Fenway Park opened; it became Briggs Stadium in 1938 and Tiger Stadium in 1961.

Since which year have the Tigers played at Comerica Park?

Comerica Park opened on 11 April 2000 with a 5-2 win over Seattle, replacing Tiger Stadium after the 1999 season.

How old was Ty Cobb when the Tigers acquired him in 1905?

Cobb was 18, born in December 1886, when Detroit bought him from Augusta in August 1905; the Georgia Peach won the 1909 Triple Crown with a .377 average, 9 home runs and 107 RBIs.

Which team beat the Tigers in both the 1907 and 1908 World Series?

Detroit lost a third straight Series to Pittsburgh in 1909, going down 8-0 in Game 7 at Bennett Park.

In 1934 Hank Greenberg famously sat out a Tigers game on which Jewish holiday?

Hank Greenberg played on Rosh Hashanah in 1934, hitting two home runs, but sat out the Yom Kippur game ten days later, a choice celebrated in Edgar Guest's poem 'Speaking of Greenberg'.

Which Tigers pitcher won the 1945 pitching Triple Crown with 25 wins, a 1.81 ERA and 212 strikeouts?

Hal Newhouser, 'Prince Hal', also led the league with 313 innings in 1945, then beat the Cubs with a complete game in the Series-clinching Game 7 on 10 October.

In 1955 Al Kaline hit .340 to become what?

Kaline was 20 years and 280 days old, one day younger than Ty Cobb had been in 1907, making him the youngest batting champion in major league history; Mr. Tiger retired with 3,007 hits.

Which Tigers first baseman won the 1961 batting title with a .361 average?

Norm Cash hit .361 with 41 home runs in 1961 and never hit .300 again; the 101-win Tigers led the majors in runs yet finished eight games behind the Maris-Mantle Yankees.

How many games did Denny McLain win for the 1968 Tigers?

He went 31-6 with a 1.96 ERA as Detroit won 103 games and led the AL from 10 May to the finish.

Who was named MVP of the 1968 World Series after winning three games against the Cardinals?

Mickey Lolich won Games 2, 5 and 7, beating Bob Gibson on two days' rest in the finale as Detroit came back from 3-1 down; Jim Northrup's triple in Game 7 scored Cash and Horton in a 4-1 win.

Which pitcher's 1976 rookie season is called 'The Year of The Bird' in Tigers history?

Mark Fidrych, 'The Bird', went 19-9 with a league-best 2.34 ERA in 1976 and won Rookie of the Year while talking to the ball and grooming the mound by hand.

Which pizza magnate bought the Tigers from John Fetzer for $53 million ahead of the 1984 season?

Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, paid John Fetzer $53 million in October 1983, then sold the club in 1992 to Little Caesars founder Mike Ilitch, a rival pizza man.

What was the 1984 Tigers' record after their first 40 games?

The 1984 Tigers started 9-0 and stood 35-5 after 40 games, then cruised to a franchise-record 104 wins, leading the AL East wire to wire and finishing 15 games clear of Toronto.

Which pitcher threw a televised no-hitter against the White Sox in the fourth game of 1984?

Morris went on to pitch two complete-game wins in the World Series; his number 47 was retired in 2018.

Which reliever won both the AL Cy Young and MVP awards for the 1984 Tigers?

Willie Hernandez, acquired from the Phillies that March, saved 32 games in 33 chances with a 1.92 ERA in 1984, the second reliever after Rollie Fingers in 1981 to win both awards in one season.

Off which Padres reliever did Kirk Gibson hit his three-run homer in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series?

Sparky Anderson yelled 'He don't want to walk you!' after Gossage talked manager Dick Williams out of an intentional pass.

Who was named MVP of the 1984 World Series after homering in his first two at-bats in Game 4?

The Tigers' manager became the first to win the World Series in both leagues.

Before the 1984 Tigers, which team last led from opening day to a championship?

The 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers opened 22-2 and led the National League every day on the way to their only Brooklyn title; the 1927 Yankees were the only earlier wire-to-wire champions.

What was the Tigers' record in 2003, the worst in franchise history?

The 2003 Tigers finished 43-119, avoiding a tie with the 1962 Mets' 120 losses by winning five of their last six; Mike Maroth went 9-21, the majors' first 20-game loser since 1980.

Which Tigers pitcher threw two no-hitters in 1952 despite finishing the season 5-19?

Virgil Trucks no-hit Washington on 15 May and the Yankees on 25 August 1952, both 1-0 wins, in a season he finished 5-19 for a last-place Tigers team.

Whose walk-off homer in Game 4 of the 2006 ALCS swept Oakland and sent Detroit to the World Series?

The Tigers had lost their last five regular-season games to blow the division, then beat the Yankees as a wild card.

Which umpire's blown call at first base cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game on 2 June 2010?

A tearful Joyce apologised, and the next day Galarraga brought the lineup card to the plate and shook his hand.

Justin Verlander's 2011 AL MVP made him the first pitcher to win the award since whom?

Dennis Eckersley's 1992 award for Oakland was the last pitcher MVP before Verlander, who won the 2011 pitching Triple Crown with 24 wins, a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts, plus a unanimous Cy Young.

Miguel Cabrera's 2012 Triple Crown was the first in the majors since which player?

Carl Yastrzemski won the previous Triple Crown in 1967; Cabrera hit .330 with 44 homers and 139 RBIs in 2012 and was named MVP, repeating as MVP in 2013.

Which team swept the Tigers in the 2012 World Series?

The San Francisco Giants swept the Series after Pablo Sandoval's three-homer Game 1; Detroit had itself swept the Yankees in the ALCS for its 11th AL pennant.

Which pitcher's 21-3 record won the 2013 AL Cy Young Award for Detroit?

Max Scherzer went 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and 240 strikeouts in 2013, opening the year 13-0; the staff's 1,428 strikeouts broke the 2003 Cubs' major league record.

Acquiring David Price in July 2014 gave the Tigers what first in major league history?

Verlander (2011), Price (2012) and Scherzer (2013) had won the previous three AL Cy Youngs.

Who replaced Jim Leyland as Tigers manager after the 2013 season?

Brad Ausmus, a former Tigers catcher with no managing experience, was hired in November 2013 and won the AL Central in his first season; Leyland's number 10 was retired in 2024, the year he entered the Hall of Fame.

The 2024 Tigers were 55-63 on 10 August. What did they do next?

They then swept Houston for their first postseason series win since 2013 before losing to Cleveland in the ALDS.

The 2025 Tigers led the AL Central by 15.5 games in early July but lost the division to whom?

The Cleveland Guardians overhauled a 15.5-game deficit from 8 July to take the AL Central on the season's final weekend; Detroit dropped to a wild card, then beat Cleveland two games to one in the Wild Card Series.

Which second baseman's number 1 was retired by the Tigers in August 2022?

Gehringer's number 2 had been retired in 1983; Whitaker and Trammell formed one of the great double-play partnerships.

Why is Ty Cobb honoured at Comerica Park by name rather than by a retired number?

Sam Crawford, Harry Heilmann, Heinie Manush and Hughie Jennings are honoured the same way.

Which long-time broadcaster is honoured by name alongside the retired numbers at Comerica Park?

Harwell called Tigers games from 1960 to 2002 and won the Ford C. Frick Award.

Which manager's number 11 did the Tigers retire in 2011?

Anderson led the 1984 champions and had already won two titles with Cincinnati's Big Red Machine.

The Tigers' classic home uniform design dates from which year?

The Tigers' famous D first appeared on the uniform in 1904, and the white home design with the D on the left breast and navy trim became the standard in 1934.

The Tigers' road uniforms use which accent colour that is absent from the home whites?

Orange outlines the navy 'Detroit' lettering and numbers on the Tigers' grey road uniform, and the road cap's D is orange, while the home whites and cap use navy alone.

The Tigers' 2024 City Connect jersey celebrates which side of Detroit's identity?

The navy jersey celebrates Detroit's car business, with electric-blue tyre-tread patterns and 'Motor City' across the chest; the Tigers first wore it in May 2024.

Which typeface style is the Tigers' famous D, often mislabelled 'Old English'?

The D is a blackletter (Gothic script) letterform rather than the Old English typeface it is usually called; in 2018 the club changed the home jersey's curved D to match the sharper cap version.

In 1915 the Tigers won a then-club-record 100 games but lost the pennant to which team?

The Red Sox won 101, and went on to beat the Phillies in the World Series.

Which Tiger threw out Lou Brock at the plate in Game 5 of the 1968 Series?

Willie Horton's throw from left field caught Lou Brock, who did not slide, at the plate in the fifth inning of Game 5; Detroit won 5-3 to begin its comeback from 3-1 down.

Which owner built Bennett Park at 'The Corner' in 1895, giving the Tigers a home for 104 seasons?

The first game at 'The Corner' was an April 1896 exhibition the Tigers won 30–3 over a local semi-pro side.

In their first major-league game in April 1901, the Tigers came back from what deficit to win 14–13?

Trailing Milwaukee 13-4 entering the ninth on 25 April 1901, Detroit scored ten runs to win 14-13 before some 10,000 fans at Bennett Park; the team finished third in the eight-team league.

Who holds the Tigers' single-season home run record with 58?

Hank Greenberg hit 58 home runs in 1938, two short of Babe Ruth's record at the time; Cecil Fielder's 51 in 1990 is the only other Tigers season above 50.

What feat has the Tigers' 1945 pitching Triple Crown winner alone achieved among AL pitchers?

His second MVP came in 1945, and he won Game 7 of that year's World Series against the Cubs.

Which future Hall of Famer did the Tigers trade to Atlanta in 1987 for pitcher Doyle Alexander?

Alexander went 9–0 with a 1.53 ERA to help win the AL East; Smoltz, a Michigan native, reached Cooperstown in 2015.