Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
For me it was 1961. The damn Yankees had used the rest of the A.L. for doormats for decades. During the fifties they won every year but two. Our Tigers were fair sometimes, not so fair others. In 1960 they finished in sixth place out of 8 teams.
But in '61 they brought up a rookie Jake Woods, traded Frank Bolling for Billy Bruton and could always rely on the Yankee-killer Frank Lary.
Anyway that year they went head to head with the hated Yankees. Down to the wire they went, neck to neck. Late in September they were tied for first place with NY. The Yanks came to town for a night game. We went to the game along with 54,000 other fans. We got there late so we had to sit in the third deck, for the only time ever. They hadn't used this deck in years. There were only two rows of seats, everyone with an excellent view. The crowd was so jazzed up you could feel old Tiger Stadium swaying way up there.
Whitey Ford started for NY, Hank Aguirre for us. Aguirre was about the worst hitting pitcher around. One year he hit .061. He usually got a few bloop singles a season.
They had Maris & Mantle, we had Cash and Colavito. The Yanks led 1-0 in about the seventh when the Tigs got a man on third. Ford walked TWO guys to get to Aguirre. He came up batting left handed!, of all things. Guess he figured he couldn't do any worse than right handed.
He lunged and hit a soft fly between the fielders for two runs!! 2-1 Tigers!! The place went nuts. Aguirre made the lead hold up and the Tigers were still in the thick of the pennant race. It was easily the most exciting game I have ever witnessed.
I grew up in Denver and Colorado Springs in the late 50's-mid 60's. As a 10 year old, I just loved baseball but there were several players I loved so I would follow the clubs; Mays (Giants), Mantle (Yankees), Musial (Cardinals), Koufax (Dodgers) and Kaline (Tigers). The Denver Bears were the AAA farm club with Detroit from '60-'62 and I went to 7 to 10 games a year as a kid. I remember Jake Wood well, good player! During those years I saw players with the Bears club who eventually led the Tigers to that '68 World Series win; among them Dick McAuliffe, Mickey Lolich, Don Wert, Gates Brown, and one of the great Tigers in that era, Mickey Lolich.
I remember that year well, too. The Tigers won 101 games yet finished 2nd in the American League, as the Yankees had a season that ranks with the best of the best, winning 109 games. That year Norm Cash hit 45 homers IIRC, their big pitchers back then were Jim Bunning, Frank Lary, and Don Mossi. Frank Aguirre? Heh, heh. Some say he was the worst hitter in the history of the bigs, I would guess there might be a few out there that could argue that point though!
I have several I'd like to post, I know the OP is just calling for your favorite. Good thread, am looking forward to the responses here.
Last edited by DOUBLE H; 02-20-2013 at 06:23 PM..
Reason: correction, spelling
Wow, you brought up some good old names! Don Mossi - a sportswriter described him as looking like a cab going down the street with the doors open. Cash was also batting champion at .361 tho he admitted to using a corked bat that entire year. I worked at a shop where he was a bearing salesman after he retired. He was always gracious, smiling, and took it as a compliment when asked for his autograph. Plus you couldn't throw a ball past him at first.
Mickey Lolich was often seen around Utica, MI, where he had a donut shop (figures). Him, Kaline and McLain were at lost of openings, car shows, etc.
You have some great memories of the future Tigers. Thanks for your post & rejogging the old memory cells!
Saw Warren Spahn match up against Robin Roberts in Milwaukee. You don't get aces like that meeting each other very often. Roberts pitched a one-hitter, there was no warning track in those days, and Del Ennis shied away from the left field fence and let Del Crandall's catchable ball carom off the wall. for the only hit. April 29, 1954.
for me it was the 1965 B.A.A. Championship in which our team the East Twins lost against the West Bloomington Yankees. I don't remamber anything from the game, other than we had red t-shirts and I think they had yellow. But one of the parents took us out for ice cream after the game which was nice.
I grew up in Denver and Colorado Springs in the late 50's-mid 60's. As a 10 year old, I just loved baseball but there were several players I loved so I would follow the clubs; Mays (Giants), Mantle (Yankees), Musial (Cardinals), Koufax (Dodgers) and Kaline (Tigers). The Denver Bears were the AAA farm club with Detroit from '60-'62 and I went to 7 to 10 games a year as a kid. I remember Jake Wood well, good player! During those years I saw players with the Bears club who eventually led the Tigers to that '68 World Series win; among them Dick McAuliffe, Mickey Lolich, Don Wert, Gates Brown, and one of the great Tigers in that era, Mickey Lolich.
I remember that year well, too. The Tigers won 101 games yet finished 2nd in the American League, as the Yankees had a season that ranks with the best of the best, winning 109 games. That year Norm Cash hit 45 homers IIRC, their big pitchers back then were Jim Bunning, Frank Lary, and Don Mossi. Frank Aguirre? Heh, heh. Some say he was the worst hitter in the history of the bigs, I would guess there might be a few out there that could argue that point though!
I have several I'd like to post, I know the OP is just calling for your favorite. Good thread, am looking forward to the responses here.
The infamous Al Kaline. The Tigers picked him up right out of high school and he never played a game in the minors.
You can tell that I'm a Tigers fan.....
Just some quick thoughts....y'all can do some research on the interwebby ifya wish to get more detail....
1984:
Jack Morris pitched a no-hitter for Detroit.
In April.
Tiger fans just knew it was gonna be a good year.
1984 again:
World Series....Tigers vs. Padres
Goose Gossage OWNED Kirk Gibson. Up until then. Gibby blasted a dinger into the right field seats at Tiger Stadium. The crowd went nutz, and Gibby doing the fist pump while taking his homerun trot.
Rick Monday of the Cubs. Some fool decided to burn Old Glory in center field. Mr. Monday promptly extinguished it. That game was in the '70's....saw it again on YouTube a couple of years ago. I was just a kid watching it on WGN back then. The producer ordered the camera man to pan away from the scene, so I didn't actually see it "live".
Wow, you brought up some good old names! Don Mossi - a sportswriter described him as looking like a cab going down the street with the doors open. Cash was also batting champion at .361 tho he admitted to using a corked bat that entire year. I worked at a shop where he was a bearing salesman after he retired. He was always gracious, smiling, and took it as a compliment when asked for his autograph. Plus you couldn't throw a ball past him at first.
Mickey Lolich was often seen around Utica, MI, where he had a donut shop (figures). Him, Kaline and McLain were at lost of openings, car shows, etc.
You have some great memories of the future Tigers. Thanks for your post & rejogging the old memory cells!
I went to high school with Mickey Stanley's daughters. They were awfully cute and damn good athletes.
In the 80s my dad took me to a double header when you used to get 2 games for the price of 1. Well, Mr. Tony Gwynn put on a hitting clinic. Then in 89 or 90 I got to catch one of Gwynn's 5 for 5 games.
I got go to game 3 of the 1998 World Series. Too bad the Padres were on the losing end to the Yankees.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
