Detroit Tigers All-Time 25-Man Roster
We continue our offseason project with a look at the Detroit Tigers all-time 25-man roster.
The Detroit Tigers came into existence when the American League was created to rival the older National League in 1901. They are one of four charter members of the American League who still play in their original city, along with the Red Sox, White Sox, and Indians. In the first season of the league, the Tigers finished third out of eight teams.
The Tigers signed Ty Cobb in 1905 and would become the best team in the American League two years later. They won the pennant three years in a row from 1907 to 1909, but lost the World Series all three years. After that early success it would take another 25 years before the Tigers made it back to the World Series. They went to back-to-back Fall Classics in 1934 and 1935. They lost the first but finally earned their first World Series championship in 1935. These were the Tigers of Charlie Gehringer and Hank Greenberg.
The 1940s saw the Tigers make the World Series twice. They lost in seven games to the Cincinnati Reds in 1940, then won their second championship with a World Series victory over the Chicago Cubs in 1945. Little did Chicago Cubs fans know that they would be waiting another 70 years before they would finally win a World Series.
The 1950s were not good for Tigers fans. They finished second in 1950, then never finished higher than fourth in an eight-team league until 1961. It all started to come together again in the late 1960s. With Bill Freehan, Norm Cash, Dick McAuliffe, and Al Kaline on the roster, the 1968 Tigers beat the Bob Gibson-led St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. The team would make it back to the playoffs four years later but lost in the ALCS to the Oakland Athletics.
The winningest team in Detroit Tigers history was the 1984 squad that started the year 35-5 and finished with 104 wins. They continued their run with a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Tigers in the ALCS and won four of five against the San Diego Padres for their fourth World Series title.
That 1984 team was so good, it seemed they would rule the American League for years to come. Instead, they won just 84 games the following year and 87 the year after that and missed the playoffs both years. They got back to the playoffs in 1987, but lost the ALCS to the Minnesota Twins, then went 18 years without a playoff berth.
Since 2006, the Tigers have been in the playoffs five times and the World Series twice. Unfortunately, they lost both times. The Cardinals beat them four games to one in 2006 and the Giants swept them in 2012. In their long history, the Tigers have been to the World Series 11 times but have won just four World Series titles.
Their most recent run of playoff teams has been under the ownership of Mike Ilitch, who purchased the team in 1992. Under his ownership, the team has been more than willing to pay for premium talent, like Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Justin Upton, and Victor Martinez, in the hopes of winning the championship. Sadly, Ilitch died on February 10 at the age of 87 before he could get a World Series title.
The Detroit Tigers all-time 25-man roster has a mix of players from throughout their history. Here is the Detroit Tigers all-time 25-man roster.