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Who are the top Detroit Tigers of all time? Here is our top 10 countdown:
10. Justin Verlander: starting off his Tigers career as AL Rookie of the Year, Verlander earned six All-Star selections and notably won the Cy Young, MVP and Pitching Triple Crown trifecta during the 2011 season.
9. Lou Whitaker: forming a terrific double-play duo with Alan Trammell for nearly two decades, Whitaker was Rookie of the Year in 1978 and went on to make five All-Star teams and win three Gold Gloves and four Silver Sluggers at second base while leading the team to the 1984 World Series.
8. Alan Trammell: one half of a terrific double-play duo for the Tigers for nearly two decades (along with Whitaker), Trammell was a 6x All-Star, 3x Silver Slugger, and 4x Gold Glover who had over 2,300 career hits and was World Series MVP in 1984.
7. Hal Newhouser: a 4x 20-game winner, Newhouser made six All-Star teams during the 1940s and won two straight MVP awards and ERA titles over a three-year span, highlighted by the Pitching Triple Crown and a World Series title with the Tigers in 1945.
6. Harry Heilmann: a career .342 hitter, Heilmann won four batting titles with Detroit (hitting .390+ each time, including a career-best .403 in 1923) and finished top-five for MVP in five consecutive seasons during the 1920s.
5. Charlie Gehringer: playing his entire career with Detroit, Gehringer made the first six All-Star Games, led the team to a World Series in 1935, and accumulated close to 3,000 career hits while winning the AL batting title and MVP with a career-high .371 batting average in 1937.
4. Miguel Cabrera: the first player to win the Triple Crown in 45 years (doing so in 2012), Cabrera is a back-to-back MVP winner and 4x batting champion who has made seven All-Star teams and won five Silver Sluggers with Detroit; moreover, he is a career .300+ hitter who is closing in on the magical milestones of both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs for his career.
3. Hank Greenberg: the first Jewish superstar across American team sports, Greenberg missed three seasons for military service during World War II, but was one of the top sluggers in baseball throughout the 1930s and 1940s – a 2x MVP, he hit a career-high 58 home runs in 1938 and also had three seasons with 150+ runs batted in while winning two World Series titles with the Tigers.
2. Al Kaline: known as “Mr. Tiger”, Kaline could do it all during his 22 years with the franchise: 3,007 career hits, 399 home runs, 18 All-Star selections, a batting title, 10 Gold Gloves, nine top-10 MVP finishes, and an integral part of the 1968 World Series-winning squad.
1. Ty Cobb: until Pete Rose came along, Cobb owned both the highest career batting average (.366) and most career hits (4,189) in baseball history, winning an MVP and a record 12 batting titles in the process; he also led the league in stolen bases 6x (including a career-high 96 in 1915) en route to 897 career stolen bases, played a strong center field, and despite playing most of his career in the dead-ball era, was considered one of the elite power hitters of the time, as evidenced by his Triple Crown in 1909.
Agree/Disagree? As always, debate/discuss, and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Note: All statistics as of time of publication.
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Countdown 102: Top 10 Philadelphia 76ers of All Time
