Detroit Tigers Trivia
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49 free Detroit Tigers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
45 free Detroit Tigers trivia questions with answers. Detroit Tigers trivia for the Corner faithful and the Comerica generation. The quiz walks through the whole franchise: the Western League club of 1894 and the AL charter of 1901, Bennett Park and the Michigan-and-Trumbull era, Ty Cobb's arrival at 18, the three straight World Series defeats of 1907-09, Greenberg and Gehringer's 1935 title, Newhouser's Game 7 in 1945, McLain's 31 wins and Lolich's three in 1968, the 35-5 start and Gibson's home run off Gossage in 1984, the 119-loss season of 2003, Ordonez's walk-off in 2006, Galarraga's imperfect game, Verlander's MVP year, Cabrera's Triple Crown and the 2024 and 2025 playoff runs. Expect questions on retired numbers, the Olde English D, why the road uniforms are the only ones in baseball with a colour the home whites lack, and where the team's nickname really came from. Easy questions open the set; the later ones will test someone who listened to Ernie Harwell every summer. Every answer has been checked against a reference page and each question shows its citation.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which minor league, the Tigers' home from 1894, became the American League?
Western League
The Western League took the American League name for 1900, then declared itself a major league in 1901 and raided National League rosters; Detroit is the only one of its clubs still in its first city.
Q 02Before settling on Tigers, the 1894 Detroit club was referred to by which names?
Wolverines and Creams
Newspapers called the 1894 club the Wolverines and Creams; 'Tigers' first appeared in the Detroit Free Press on 16 April 1895, a year before manager George Stallings arrived and later claimed credit for it.
Q 03According to author Richard Bak, the Tigers took their nickname from which local institution?
The Detroit Light Guard militia
Richard Bak traces the name to the Detroit Light Guard, a militia unit known as 'the Tigers' since the Civil War, and reads the newspaper nickname as a tribute to it; a rival tale credits the players' striped socks.
Q 04Bennett Park, Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium all stood at the corner of which two Detroit avenues?
Michigan and Trumbull
Michigan and Trumbull hosted the Tigers for 104 seasons, to 1999; when the stadium was torn down the field itself was saved, and it reopened in 2018 as a youth ballpark named The Corner.
Q 05Under what name did the ballpark that became Tiger Stadium open in 1912?
Navin Field
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.
Q 06Which Comerica Park ride has cars shaped like baseballs?
Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel rises behind third base at a park built as family entertainment as much as a ballpark; its merry-go-round has thirty hand-painted tigers in place of horses.
Q 07Tigers great Ty Cobb was known by which nickname?
Georgia Peach
The Georgia Peach grew up in Royston, Georgia; the Augusta club that sold him to Detroit in 1905 had released him within days the year before.
Q 08Which team beat the Tigers in both the 1907 and 1908 World Series?
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs beat Detroit in 1907 and 1908, then went 108 years without another title; the Tigers lost a third straight Series in 1909, to Pittsburgh.
Q 09In 1934 Hank Greenberg famously sat out a Tigers game on which Jewish holiday?
Yom Kippur
Hank Greenberg played on Rosh Hashanah in 1934 and homered twice in a 2-1 win, then spent Yom Kippur in synagogue; Edgar Guest's poem 'Speaking of Greenberg' praised the choice.
Q 10Which Tigers pitcher won the 1945 pitching Triple Crown with 25 wins, a 1.81 ERA and 212 strikeouts?
Hal Newhouser
Hal Newhouser, 'Prince Hal', also led the league with 313 innings in 1945, then struck out ten in a complete-game win in Game 7 of the World Series.
Q 11Which 20-year-old Tiger hit .340 in 1955 to become the youngest batting champion in major league history?
Al Kaline
Al Kaline was one day younger than Ty Cobb had been when he won the 1907 title, so the record passed from one Tiger to another; 'Mr. Tiger' spent all 22 of his seasons in Detroit.
Q 12Which Tigers first baseman won the 1961 batting title with a .361 average?
Norm Cash
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.
Q 13Which Tigers pitcher won 31 games in 1968?
Denny McLain
Denny McLain went 31-6, the majors' last 30-win season, and won the Cy Young and MVP awards; within two years he was suspended for half a season over his ties to a bookmaking ring.
Q 21Who was named MVP of the 1984 World Series after homering in his first two at-bats in Game 4?
Alan Trammell
Alan Trammell hit a pair of two-run homers off Eric Show for all of Detroit's runs in Game 4, and batted .450 across the five games.
Q 22Before the 1984 Tigers, which National League team last led from opening day to a title?
The 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers
The 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers led the National League from the first day, then beat a Yankees team that had won all five of their earlier World Series meetings; only the 1927 Yankees had gone wire to wire before.
Q 23The 2003 Tigers lost 119 games, one short of the modern record then held by which team?
Q 14Who was named MVP of the 1968 World Series after winning three games against the Cardinals?
Mickey Lolich
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 two-run triple in the seventh put the Tigers ahead for good.
Q 15Which pitcher's 1976 rookie season is called 'The Year of The Bird' in Tigers history?
Mark Fidrych
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.
Q 16Which pizza magnate bought the Tigers from John Fetzer for $53 million ahead of the 1984 season?
Tom Monaghan
Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, paid John Fetzer $53 million in 1983, then sold the club in 1992 to Little Caesars founder Mike Ilitch, a rival pizza man.
Q 17What was the 1984 Tigers' record after their first 40 games?
35-5
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.
Q 18Which Tigers pitcher threw a no-hitter on national television against the White Sox in the fourth game of 1984?
Jack Morris
Jack Morris no-hit Chicago at Comiskey Park on NBC's Game of the Week on 7 April, then threw two complete-game wins in that autumn's World Series.
Q 19Which reliever won both the AL Cy Young and MVP awards for the 1984 Tigers?
Willie Hernandez
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.
Q 20Off which Padres reliever did Kirk Gibson hit his three-run homer in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series?
Rich Gossage
Rich Gossage talked manager Dick Williams out of an intentional walk, sure he could strike Gibson out; the upper-deck homer that followed put the Series away.
1962 New York Mets
The 1962 New York Mets lost 120; the Tigers were 38-118 with six games left, then won five of them to finish 43-119 and escape the record.
Q 24Which Tigers pitcher threw two no-hitters in 1952 despite finishing the season 5-19?
Virgil Trucks
Virgil Trucks beat Washington in May and the Yankees in August, both 1-0, yet lost 19 games because the last-place Tigers, 50-104, so rarely scored for him.
Q 25Whose walk-off homer in Game 4 of the 2006 ALCS swept Oakland and sent Detroit to the World Series?
Magglio Ordonez
Magglio Ordonez's three-run shot off Huston Street, with Oakland one out from extra innings, put Detroit in its first World Series since 1984, three years after a 119-loss season.
Q 26Which umpire's blown call at first base cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game on 2 June 2010?
Jim Joyce
A tearful Jim Joyce apologised after seeing the replay; the next day Galarraga carried Detroit's lineup card out to him at home plate and the two shook hands.
Q 27Justin Verlander's 2011 AL MVP made him the first pitcher to win the award since which Oakland closer in 1992?
Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Eckersley saved 51 games for Oakland in 1992; Verlander, who threw his second no-hitter that May, was the first starting pitcher to win since Roger Clemens in 1986.
Q 28Miguel Cabrera's 2012 Triple Crown was the first in the majors since which player?
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski won the previous Triple Crown in 1967; Cabrera won his in the season he moved back to third base so that Detroit could fit a new slugger in at first.
Q 29Which team swept the Tigers in the 2012 World Series?
San Francisco Giants
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.
Q 30Which pitcher's 21-3 record won the 2013 AL Cy Young Award for Detroit?
Max Scherzer
Max Scherzer won his first 13 decisions of 2013; Detroit had landed him from Arizona in the 2009 three-team trade that sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees.