The Detroit Tigers have four World Series titles in the franchise’s history. Some of Tigers fans have never witnessed a World Series Title, others remember the ’84 Bless You Boys. There are even some of us who remember the ’68 Championship.
The Detroit Tigers are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1968 World Championship. The Tigers came back from a 3-1 deficit, winning with the help of Mickey Lolich. The Tigers are rebuilding so an extra emphasis on the 50th anniversary wouldn’t surprise me at all. But that made me wonder, which World Series title is actually the best in Tigers history?
1968 saw the Tigers come back from a 3-1 deficit behind a complete three-game performance from Mickey Lolich. No one has repeated that since. Randy Johnson came close in 2001 but he only started in two of his three wins.
1984 is more well known amongst the younger fans. That season adopted the catchphrase ‘Bless You Boys’ and Sparky Anderson used the phrase as the title to his published diary about the ’84 season. What about the other two seasons? Where do those rank on this list? After all ’35 saw the first World Series win in the current franchise. I say current franchise because the Detroit Wolverines won a World Series title in 1887. Almost fifty years before the first Tigers World Series and fourteen years before the founding of the Tigers.
To rank this list we are going to rate the impact of the win on Detroit. We aren’t concerned with wins or dominance. The greater the impact the win had on the city the higher on the list. You’re more than welcome to disagree with this list.