Meet the Tigers B aseball fans love to trace the history of their game The Detroit DDettrroiitt Tigers have been making history for more than 100 years ars In fact some of baseball’s best hitters fielders and pitchers s have worn the big D on their caps The Detroit players understand that they are links to the past They respect the records and accomplishments of the old-timers They also believe that some day future Tigers will look back at the example they have set It is one of the reasons they give their best effort whenever they step on the field a This book tells the story of the Tigers They believe that a winning team starts with a winning attitude Add some star players ayers a few hard-working teammates plus a smart manager and you have the recipe for a championship The Tigers congratulate Justin Verlander after a victory He reminds many fans of old-time Detroit stars 5
Glory Days I n 1901 the American League AL played its first season Among the eight teams that made up the league were the Detroit Tigers Fans in the city were very happy to have a new team A club called the Detroit Wolverines had been champions in the National League NL during the 1800s but they went out of business after the 1888 season From 1894 to 1900 Detroit was home to a team in the minor leagues but it just wasn’t the same as watching big-league baseball The Tigers finished no higher than third until 1907 That year Hughie Jennings became the manager and Ty Cobb won his first of 11 batting championships Jennings and Cobb were joined by Sam Crawford the AL’s top power hitter The three helped Detroit win the pennant each year from 1907 to 1909 The Tigers were fun to watch in their early years but they did not win another pennant until the 1930s That team was led by catcher 6
LEFT Ty Cobb RIGHT Mickey Cochrane Mickey Cochrane who was also the manager His lineup starred some of the best hitters in history including the G-Men Hank Greenberg Charlie Gehringer and Goose Goslin The Tigers captured the pennant in 1934 and 1935 They beat the Chicago Cubs in the 1935 World Series for their first championship The Tigers won the pennant again in 1940 and 1945 The 1945 club starred pitcher Hal Newhouser He led the team to its second championship that fall During the 1950s the Tigers found more young players for their lineup Jim Bunning and Frank Lary were the stars of a strong pitching staff Harvey Kuenn and Al Kaline helped form a dangerous batting order Kaline went straight from high school to the big leagues and won 7
