Detroit Tigers All Time 9
September 10th, 2009 | by jelletlambie |While this time of year I can talk pennant race all day, it’s nice now and again to take a break and look to the past. Loyal reader Ron forwarded me a link yesterday to a very interesting discussion taking place now at the Tigers official site. Major League Baseball is actually hosting this discussion (and voting) at each teams website. The question posed is simple, and difficult in the same breath – choose the all time best season by each position for your favorite team. In the case of the Tigers you’ll find a plethora of options going back to the early parts of the 20th century. At each offensive position, including DH, you can choose from several outstanding seasons to assemble a lineup of the best single season performances in the history of the Bengals. You can view the contestants and cast your vote here.
As a child I was treated to bedtime stories of Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Ty Cobb, George Kell, Al Kaline and so many other Tigers greats. My father was born in 1936, and acted as the defacto baseball encyclopedia of my early youth. His tales of great Tigers long before my time were a gateway to a lifelong love of the history of my team. His memories played a large part in some of my choices. Let’s take a look at your options as you prepare to hunker down in analysis and decision.
The stat lines laid out below are in order of year, batting average, home runs, RBI’s, runs scored and stolen bases. There are other factors you can of course consider, but you’ll be left to do that research on your own. Starting at first base you have five choices, mine are in bold:
First Base
Dale Alexander 1929 .343, 25, 137, 110, 5
Miguel Cabrera 2009 .336, 28, 84, 84, 4
Norm Cash 1961 .361, 41, 132, 119, 11
Cecil Fielder 1990 .277, 51, 132, 104, 0
Hank Greenberg 1937 .337, 40, 183, 137, 8
A tough call right out of the chute, although personally I find it hard to ignore the 183 runs driven in by Hank Greenberg in 1937. He’s my choice here, with the dazzling 1961 campaign of Norm Cash in second place. I was glad to see Dale Alexander represented, a long forgotten slugger to many fans. While he played only five big league seasons, he won the 1932 AL batting race by hitting .367 and retired with a career .331 mark. 1929 was his rookie season, one of the more impressive freshman campaigns in Tigers history.
Second Base
Damion Easley 1998 .271, 27, 100, 84, 15
Charlie Gehringer 1937 .371, 14, 96, 133, 11
Placido Polanco 2007 .341, 9, 67, 105, 7
Lou Whitaker 1983 .320, 12, 72, 94, 17
Three of your four choices in this category come from recent memory. While I was a child of the Sweet Lou era, I had to go with the 1937 season of Charlie Gehringer. The hall of fame second basemen won the batting title that year with his .371 mark, en route to being named the league MVP. He finished in the top 10 in voting for that honor seven straight seasons and was arguably the best second sacker of his era.
Third Base
Ray Boone 1955 .284, 20, 116, 61, 1
Travis Fryman 1997 .274, 22, 102, 90, 16
George Kell 1950 .340, 8, 101, 114, 3
Marty McManus 1930 .320, 9, 89, 74, 23
Marv Owen 1934 .317, 8, 96, 79, 3
Dean Palmer 1999 .263, 38, 100, 92, 3
George Kell led the AL in hits, doubles, games played and at-bats in 1950 – his .340 batting average was second to Billy Goodman of the Red Sox. How he managed to drive in and score more than 100 runs with only eight dingers is impressive to say the least. He finished fourth in MVP voting and made the All-Star team, one of 10 times in his career he did so. The 1930 season of Marty McManus would have been my second choice of those offered.
Shortstop
Donie Bush 1917 .281, 0, 24, 112, 34
Carlos Guillen 2004 .318, 20, 97, 97, 12
Billy Rogell 1934 .296, 3, 100, 114, 13
Alan Trammell 1987 .343 28 105 109 21
With all due respect to the outstanding 2004 campaign of Carlos Guillen, this one was easy, at least for me. Tram led the Tigers to the post-season, was robbed of the MVP (which went to George Bell of the Blue Jays), and posted career best numbers in hits, home runs, RBI’s and batting average. He was simply unstoppable that year.
Catcher
Mickey Cochrane 1934 .320, 2, 76, 74, 8
Bill Freehan 1964 .300, 18, 80, 69, 5
Matt Nokes 1987 .289, 32, 87, 69, 2
Lance Parrish 1983 .269, 27, 114, 80, 1
Ivan Rodriguez 2004 .334, 19, 86, 72, 7
Mickey Tettleton 1991 .263, 31, 89, 85, 3
Rudy York 1937 .307, 35, 103, 72, 3
I’ve been a catcher my entire baseball life, and having six options here made this one even tougher. How do I choose between the Big Wheel, Pudge, Bill Freehan? The outstanding rookie year of Matt Nokes? The power of Mickey Tettleton? Rudy York finally won out for me. He is the third player from the 1937 team to win my vote. Matt Nokes 32 long balls are still a record for a catcher in his rookie season, and deserve much praise. The .334 average posted by Ivan Rodriguez in 2004 was sizzling. Each of these guys are worthy of thought, but for me I could not ignore the combination of power and precision Rudy York put up some 72 years ago.
Designated Hitter
Willie Horton 1975 .275, 25, 92, 62, 1
Gary Sheffield 2007 .265, 25, 75, 107, 22
Randall Simon 2002 .301, 19, 82, 51, 0
Rusty Staub 1978 .273, 24, 121, 75, 3
Champ Summers 1980 .297, 17, 60, 61, 4
Dmitri Young 2003 .297, 29, 85, 78, 2
I waffled between 2007 Gary Sheffield and 1978 Rusty Staub for a while, but finally chose the big red head here. 121 RBI’s was the best of any contender listed, and for me driving in runs is the paramount task at hand for a DH. Although I didn’t select them, it was good to be reminded of Champ Summers, DY, Willie Horton and Randall Simon. Each were impressive in their own way, for at least a season.
Outfield
Ty Cobb 1911 .420, 8, 127, 147, 83
Rocky Colavito 1961 .290, 45, 140, 129, 1
Sam Crawford 1914 .314, 8, 104, 74, 25
Kirk Gibson 1984 .282, 27, 91, 92, 29
Goose Goslin 1936 .315, 24, 125, 122, 14
Curtis Granderson 2007 .302, 23, 74, 122, 26
Harry Heilmann 1923 .403, 18, 115, 121, 9
Bobby Higginson 2000 .300, 30, 102, 104, 15
Al Kaline 1955 .340, 27, 102, 121, 6
Harvey Kuenn 1959 .353, 9, 71, 99, 7
Ron LeFlore 1978 .297, 12, 62, 126, 68
Heinie Manush 1926 .378, 14, 86, 95, 11
Magglio Ordonez 2007 .363, 28, 139, 117, 4
Bobby Veach 1921 .338, 16, 128, 110, 14
Gee Walker 1936 .353, 12, 93, 105, 17
Vic Wertz 1950 .308, 27, 123, 99, 0
Al Wingo 1925 .370, 5, 68, 104, 14
You have to choose three. Good luck with that. This may be one of those questions where there is no wrong answer. Forced to widdle this list down to three I went with 1911 Cobb, 1923 Heilmann and 1961 Colavito. I made the argument to myself for many others, but finally stood pat with an outfield I can easily live with.
Regardless of what you’re looking for, you can find it above. The combination of power and speed is well represented by Curtis Granderson, Kirk Gibson, Goose Goslin and others. If straight batting average is your thing you have two .400 + hitters and five other options with an average above .350. Ty Cobb and Ron LeFlore each boasted piles of steals and runs scored. In terms of raw power you have eight choices with 20 or more home runs.
I could wrestle with this one all day, but I felt Cobb and Heilmann were almost gimme’s. Having two guys with batting averages of .420 and .403 respectively is pretty darn good. The choice between 1961 Rocky Colavito and 1955 Al Kaline, amongst others, was very difficult. With all due respect to Mr. Tiger, who would certainly be on my all time career team, the 45 bombs, 140 RBI’s and 129 runs scored by Colavito in 1961 were simply spectacular. Everyone remembers Norm Cash for his batting title that year, but many forget how dominant the Rock was at the dish that season.
For giggles sake, this is the lineup I would field with the players chosen:
1 – 1911 Ty Cobb
2 – 1937 Gehringer
3 – 1923 Heilmann
4 – 1937 Greenberg
5 – 1961 Colavito
6 – 1987 Trammell
7 – 1950 Kell
8 – 1937 York
9 – 1978 Staub
Big thanks to Ron for opening the door to this great debate, and to MLB for allowing us all to easily view past and current greats alongside one another in such a format. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject, your picks, your lineups, your arguments for players both chosen and not. If you feel someone or some season was not mentioned, pass that along too.
Once again you can view the Tigers ballot here.
Have a question or a comment? Leave your thoughts below or drop me a line at jelletlambie@gmail.com
Tags: 1911 ty cobb, 1923 harry heilmann, 1937 charlie gehringer, 1937 hank greenberg, 1937 rudy york, 1950 george kell, 1961 rocky colavito, 1978 rusty staub, 1987 alan trammell, all time tigers team, detroit tigers all time 9, greatest detroit tigers seasons
By John Parent on Sep 10, 2009
Good stuff going on with this discussion, thanks for pointing me to it. I like many of your choices, but I have to think that Magglio’s ‘07 season puts him on the squad ahead of Heilmann, and DY’s ‘03 season as well.
DY lead the team in almost every offensive stat that season. Plus it was ‘03 and considering how historically bad that team was, it makes his season that much more impressive.
By jelletlambie on Sep 10, 2009
Your point about DY putting up those kind of numbers on a horrific team are well taken. I hadn’t considered that aspect at the time, but on second thought you may be right. It would have been scary to see what he could have done that year if he was surrounded by major league talent.
By Patrick Hayes on Sep 10, 2009
I still can’t believe how good Easley’s numbers were in 98.
By Curly on Sep 10, 2009
You can really have some fun with this. What’s neat is that you can work with some other teams as well. For example, I’m going to stroll over to the Yankees’ site. See you in a few hours.
By Anthony on Sep 11, 2009
What’s also interesting about DY’s 2003 season is that, according to Bill James, he was solely responsible for 19 of the Tiger’s 43 victories, or more than 44 percent, which is by far the greatest win-share percentage ever.