Best Tiger moment of each decade

[Tyrus]

What's your vote for the best Tiger moment of each decade? I'm talking about a singular moment, not a great season (like Kaline's '55 campaign), or a series of moments (like the 1987 pennant race).

Here's my list:

1900s: Sept. 31, 1907, Ty Cobb hits a home run off Rube Waddell in the 9th inning to cap an incredible comeback during a tight pennant race. The Tigers were losing to Connie Mack's A's 7-1 going into the 7th inning. But the Tigers continued to peck and claw at the lead, and then in the 9th Cobb hit a two-run dinger off the great Waddell to tie it up (and, according to legend, the homer knocked Mack off the bench). The game lasts 17 innings, ending in a tie and a good ol' Philadelphia riot.

(a close second: April 25, 1901: Tigers rally for 10 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win their first big-league game).


1910s: April 20, 1912: Navin Field opens.

1920s: Oct. 2, 1927: Harry Heilmann wins the batting title on the last day of the season by hammering seven hits in nine plate appearances in a doubleheader to nose out A's Hall of Fame outfielder Al Simmons.

1930s: Oct. 7, 1935: Goose Goslin lofts a hit over the Cub infield, Mickey Cochrane races home, jumps up and down on home plate, and the Tigers win their first World Championship.

1940s: Sept. 27, 1940: Unknown rookie Floyd Giebell outduels Bob Feller to win the pennant.

(Close second: Sept. 31, 1945: Hank Greenberg, fresh from serving in World War II, wins the pennant with a grand slam).

1950s: June 23, 1950: Hoot Evers hits a dramatic two-run homer to win one of the most dramatic Tiger games ever, 10-9. The Yankees bolted to a 6-0 lead, but four Detroit dingers in the 4th inning -- including a Dizzy Trout grand slam -- gave the Tigers an 8-6 lead. Then the Yanks came back, and were leading 9-8 in the bottom of the 9th when Hoot Evers blasted a two-run shot to ice the win for the Tigers. All runs for each team were scored on dingers: The Yanks hit six, and the Tigers five.

1960s: October 10, 1968: Bill Freehan leaps into Mickey Lolich's arms to cap one of the greatest World Series comebacks ever.

(Close second: October 7, 1968: Willie Horton throws out Lou Brock in Game Five of the Series).

1970s: June 28, 1976: With a national television audience looking on, Mark Fidrych introduces America to the antics of The Bird, dispatching the soon-to-be AL Champ Yankees with ease.

1980s: October 14, 1984: Gibby at the plate. Gossage on the mound. Dick Williams holds up four fingers. Gossage shakes his head. "He don't wanna walk you," Sparky says. Gibby grits his teeth and steps back into the batter's box...

1990s: October 3, 1990: Cecil Fielder becomes only the 11th player to hit 50 home runs when he blasts two at Yankee Stadium.

2000s: October 14, 2006: Magglio Ordonez hits an epic home run to launch the Tigers into the World Series.


Any disagreements? I'd love to hear your greatest Tiger moments by decade.

[estrepe1]

For a while there I wondered if we would have a worthy moment in this decade. The Magglio moment definitely belongs though.

Imagine if Fielder had hit those 50 one year earlier. What would the moment from the 1990's be? The Fick grandslam in the last game at Tiger Stadium?

[Johnny Mac]

cecil hit one out of tiger stadium, was that in the 90's?

thats what i would have picked given estrepe scenario

[squid]

1900's, the 10 run comeback in the 9th would be espn instant classic today.
1920's, no argument, but didn't Simmons sit out the last day just to win the batting title?
1970's, although it wasn't a Tiger, Reggie Jackson's All Star Homer off the light pole.
1990's, Cecils over the roof shot, unfortunately, for lack of anything else is my pick.

I know it wasn't a Tiger moment, but it lives in baseball lore.

[lordstanley]

Great thread!

1970s- Absolutely no argument with the Fidrych game, it was the last day of school, I had my birthday party in the lower deck in left at that game with a bunch of family and friends since I would turn 9 years old two days later, "he's shaking the policeman's hand", curtain calls in his socks, etc. but a second place to ...

Kaline's 3,000th hit. If it had been at home, it might have pushed the Fidrych game to 2nd.

[DaYooperASBDT]

1980's - have to go with Gibby vs. Gossage, but the 1987 final game shutout by Frank Tanana, to clinch the division on the last day, was incredible. Maybe that would win the Greatest Game of the 1980's ???

1968 - Northrup had a really key hit, IIRC. Hard to pick from that Series.

1940's - I would give Greenberg's slam the nod.

1915 - Tigers win their 100th game, for the first time in franchise history, bet
that drew some Ee-yah's out of Hughie Jennings, eh?

[Tyrus]

For a while there I wondered if we would have a worthy moment in this decade. The Magglio moment definitely belongs though.

Imagine if Fielder had hit those 50 one year earlier. What would the moment from the 1990's be? The Fick grandslam in the last game at Tiger Stadium?


Yep, that would be my vote. In fact, it's a close second to the Cecil dingers...and, now that you mention it, Fick's rooftop job may even be a better moment! I had totally forgot about that one.

[DTroppens]

Tyrus,
We did this a looooong time ago and when I used to really emphasize the Tigers best games ever I could rattle off them really fast. A few that can go on there.

Here are a few games I noticed you were missing right away, but your list looks pretty darn good. These are the only two that I think should bump your top pick (or two picks in some cases)


1972 - Game 4 of ALCS - almost a repeat of Game #4 of the 1968 World Series. This is a treasure people somehow forget. My second favorite game to listen to.

1999 - Last game at Tiger Stadium with the post game festivities and Fick's homer.

[lordstanley]

1980's - have to go with Gibby vs. Gossage, but the 1987 final game shutout by Frank Tanana, to clinch the division on the last day, was incredible. Maybe that would win the Greatest Game of the 1980's ???



Yes, the Tanana game was great but, lol, in my mind it wasn't even the greatest game of that weekend. I think the Saturday game when Tram won it in the 12th by slapping a grounder through the legs of Manny Lee was the high point of that race and as suspenseful as any sporting event I can remember except Game 6 of Wings-Avs in '97. The Friday night game with all those DPs and the Tigers clawing back from an early 3-run deficit wasn't shabby either. By Sunday I felt we had it locked up. Safe to say the regular- season Greatest Series of the 1980s.

[Tyrus]

Yes, the Tanana game was great but, lol, in my mind it wasn't even the greatest game of that weekend. I think the Saturday game when Tram won it in the 12th by slapping a grounder through the legs of Manny Lee was the high point of that race and as suspenseful as any sporting event I can remember except Game 6 of Wings-Avs in '97. The Friday night game with all those DPs and the Tigers clawing back from an early 3-run deficit wasn't shabby either. By Sunday I felt we had it locked up. Safe to say the regular- season Greatest Series of the 1980s.


No question. The rest of the country seems to have forgotten all about those wonderful 7 games, all of which were decided by one run!

If that would have been Yankees/Bosox, we'd never hear the end of that series. But because it was Tigers/Jays, the ESPN-heads totally forgot about it.

[Tyrus]

Tyrus,
We did this a looooong time ago and when I used to really emphasize the Tigers best games ever I could rattle off them really fast. A few that can go on there.

Here are a few games I noticed you were missing right away, but your list looks pretty darn good. These are the only two that I think should bump your top pick (or two picks in some cases)


1972 - Game 4 of ALCS - almost a repeat of Game #4 of the 1968 World Series. This is a treasure people somehow forget. My second favorite game to listen to.

1999 - Last game at Tiger Stadium with the post game festivities and Fick's homer.


I think the Bird game is a brighter highlight for the '70s than the ALCS game, IMO.

Re: Fick's homer: I think I'm going to switch my vote from the Cecil homers to the 1999 blast. It totally slipped my mind.

[DTroppens]

I'll thumbwrestle you for the 1970s game Tyrus.

Seriously I think you could've picked a few Bird games. The Monday night one just happened to be on network TV so the nation saw it. I have some tapes of his games he pitched and it was like that even a bit late in games on the road. I think the ALCS game crushes that one to be honest. You should listen to it. It was a great game. It pumps me up listening to it. I have the Bird game on TV and radio. It's cool, but it doesn't match the ALCS game, even with the Oakland announcers doing the game.

That was a pretty good list though. Did you do that off the top of your head?