Detroit Tigers: Top 10 Hall of Famers in Franchise History

Courtesy of talkativegeek.com

Major League Baseball is inducting four of the greatest players of the last generation into the Hall of Fame this Sunday: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio. 

More from Motor City Bengals

• Detroit Tigers: Victor Reyes finding ways to get the job done
• The Detroit Tigers must cut their losses and release Jonathan Schoop
• Detroit Tigers: Garrett Hill’s new role and changed delivery are excellent
• Detroit Tigers: Joe Jiménez has rebounded in 2022
• Detroit Tigers: Is it finally time to move the fences in at Comerica Park?

In honor of the celebration, MCB thought it fitting to take a look back at the best Hall of Fame players in Detroit Tigers history.

Of course, there are plenty to choose from just based on the fact the Detroit Tigers have been around for over 120 years. Including managers, 24 former Tigers are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Click next to find out the top 10:

Courtesy of vallejomueseum.blogspot.com

Ty Cobb (1905-1928)

Cobb is one of the best players baseball has ever seen.

In his 24-year career, Cobb had 4,189 hits, 2,244 runs, 1,933 RBI, 295 triples and 897 stolen bases. To this day, Cobb is still second all-time in hits, second in runs scored, second in triples, fourth in stolen bases and eighth in RBI.

Nicknamed “The Georgia Peach”, he led the Tigers to three AL Pennants in 1907, 1908, and 1909. Cobb won the league batting title a record 11 times and hit over .400 in a season twice. His career batting average of .366 is still the best of all-time.

In 1909, Cobb won the Triple Crown, hitting .377 with a whopping nine home runs and 107 RBI.  He also led the league with 76 stolen bases that season. Cobb is the only player in history to win the Triple Crown and lead the league in stolen bases the same year.

That, however, wasn’t even his best season.

That was 1911 when Cobb hit .420 with eight home runs, 127 RBI, 147 runs, 83 stolen bases and won his only AL MVP award. Cobb was part of baseball’s first Hall of Fame class in 1936.

Courtesy of Horsehide Trivia

Sam Crawford (1899-1917)

Crawford might as well be nicknamed Mr. Triple.

He led the league in triples six times and hit a career-high 26 triples in 1914. He finished second in the MVP voting that season as he also hit .314 with 56 extra-base hits, 104 RBI and 74 runs.

Crawford still owns the career record with 309 triples, which will probably never be broken. He is the only player to have more triples than Cobb. Crawford also finished just shy of the 3,000 hit club with 2,961.

Like Cobb, Crawford was a member the three AL Pennant teams from 1907-1909. Crawford was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1957.

Courtesy of Michpics

Charlie Gehringer (1924-1942)

Unlike the three previous names, Gehringer played his entire career with the Tigers. He is still second in hits, third in runs scored and fourth in RBI in Detroit Tigers history.

His best season came in 1937 where he hit .371 with 55 extra-base hits and 96 RBI, winning the AL MVP award.

Gehringer, however, is remembered most for his heroics in the 1935 World Series. He hit .375 with three doubles and four RBI to help the Tigers win their first World Series.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1949.

Courtesy of thebaseballpage.com

Mickey Cochrane (1925-1937)

Cochrane only played four seasons in Detroit, but in that short span, he won the AL MVP and helped the Tigers win their first World Series. That’s enough to be one of the top 10 Detroit Tigers Hall of Famers.

He won that MVP during his first season in Detroit in 1934. The catcher hit .320 with 34 extra-base hits and 75 RBI in 129 games.

Unfortunately, he hit just .214 against the Cardinals in the World Series that season, and the Tigers lost in seven games.

But in 1935, he hit .319 with 41 extra-base hits and 46 RBI, and then Detroit beat the Chicago Cubs to capture the World Series in six games.

With the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers, Cochrane won five AL Pennants, three World Series and two AL MVP awards. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1947.

Courtesy of Hankgreenberg.net

Hank Greenberg (1930-1941, 1945-1947)

If not for missing three years of his prime due to World War II, Greenberg would be mentioned as one of the best hitters of all-time rather than the best overlooked one.

He hit .313 with 331 home runs, 1,274 RBI, and 1,046 runs in just 13 seasons. Greenberg also finished his career with an incredible .605 slugging percentage.

Greenberg’s best years were 1935-1940, and he won two AL MVP awards during that time frame. He earned the first one in 1935, batting .328 with a league-leading 37 home runs and 168 RBI in 1935. In 1940, he hit .340 and, again, led the league with 41 homers and 150 RBI, winning his second MVP award.

In 1937 and 1938, however, Greenberg nearly broke two historic records. In 1937, Greenberg finished with 184 RBI, which was seven shy of Hack Wilson‘s record for most in a season. The following year, Greenberg took a serious run at Babe Ruth‘s home run record, finishing just shy with 58 bombs.

He also helped the Detroit Tigers win four AL Pennants and two World Series Championships in 1935 and 1945. Greenberg was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1956.

Courtesy of blog.detroitathletic.com

Hal Newhouser (1939-1955)

Before Denny McLain and Justin Verlander were even born, Newhouser was building a Hall of Fame resume by winning AL MVP awards as a starting pitcher.

From 1944-1948, he led the league in victories four times and ERA twice.

Newhouser won his first MVP award in 1944 with a 29-9 record, 2.22 ERA and 187 strikeouts in 312 1/3 innings pitched.

The following year, Newhouser was even better, winning the MVP award again. In 1945, he led the American League with 25 victories, a 1.81 ERA, 212 strikeouts and 313 1/3 innings.

Since 1945, only six other pitchers, Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, Doc Gooden, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Justin Verlander have been able to repeat that feat.

Newhouser was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.

Al Kaline (1953-1974)

There is no question that Kaline, who was nicknamed “Mr. Tiger”, is the greatest living Detroit Tiger. He played 22 seasons all with Detroit and played more games in a Tigers uniform, 2,834, than anyone else.

Kaline finished with 3,007 hits, 1,582 RBI, 972 extra-base hits and 4,852 total bases. “Mr. Tiger” is only second to “The Georgia Peach” in all four of those categories.

But no member of the Tigers has more home runs than Kaline’s 399. He hit 27 bombs in 1955 when he won the batting title with a .340 average. Kaline also had 102 RBI that season, finishing second in MVP voting.

Kaline was great with the glove too, capturing 10 gold glove awards in the outfield.

Like Greenberg and Gehringer, Kaline was also a postseason hero. He hit .379 with two home runs and eight RBI in the seven-game 1968 World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Kaline was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980.

Courtesy of aberdeensports.net (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon, File)

Sparky Anderson (1970-1995)

Anderson managed the Tigers from 1979 to 1995 and went 1,331-1,248 in his 17 years at the helm.

Tigers fans will always remember his best season, which came in 1984, when he led Detroit to a mark of 104-58. That record was 15 games better than everyone else in the American League.

Detroit made quick work of the AL Western Division Champion Kansas City Royals, sweeping them in three games, in the AL Championship Series. Then, the Tigers beat the San Diego Padres in five games to win their first World Series title since 1968.

Anderson took Detroit to the playoffs again in 1987, but lost to the Minnesota Twins in five games.

Still, Anderson was the first manager to win the World Series in both leagues. He won two World Series titles with the Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and 1976. Only Tony La Russa has been able to repeat that feat since then.

Anderson also won the AL Manager of the Year award in 1985 and 1987. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.

Ernie Howell and George Kell

Alright, so we will make the list 11 guys. Howell and Kell were the voice of the Detroit Tigers from the late 1950’s to the mid-1990’s.

Kell actually played 15 years with five different clubs in the American League, including the Tigers, but he joined the Detroit broadcast team in 1959. Harwell joined the crew in 1960, and the two shared TV and radio duties through 1963. After 1965, Harwell stricting did radio while Kell did television.

Harwell was eventually paired with Paul Carey in 1973 to form the longest-lasting radio team in Detroit Tigers history. Tigers fans can remember listening to Harwell and Carey on the radio until 1991. After one season with the Angels in 1992, Harwell returned to the Tigers and continued broadcasting until 2002. Meanwhile, Kell worked with Ray Lane, Larry Osterman and Al Kaline on television until he retired from broadcasting in 1996.

Detroit fans loved both broadcasters despite the two having very different styles. Kell had a relaxed, easygoing voice, greeting viewers by saying “Good EVE-ning, everyone.” In contrast, Harwell would say “Hiya, Tigers fans!” to start his broadcasts.

Kell was actually a 10-time All-Star during his playing career and won the AL batting title in 1949.  Interestingly, he holds the record for fewest strikeouts in a single season for a batting champion. Kell was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.

Harwell was inducted two years earlier in 1981.

Next: Fantasy Baseball: Detroit Tigers Daily Picks & Stacks 7/24