MLB's Greatest Teams | The 1984 Detroit Tigers

The 1984 Detroit Tigers were one of the greatest teams ever to play the game of baseball starting the season 9-0 and overall 35-5 after 40 games was an outstanding and staggering start to the season. The Detroit Tigers of 1984 went wire to wire to capture the American League division title the first since 1972. Relief Pitcher Willie Hernandez was the American League MVP and Cy Young Award Winner becoming the 3rd player in major league history along with Sandy Koufax and Denny McLain to win the Cy Young Award, MVP and World Series title capping the hat trick of a sweeping success with 32 saves.

The Tigers finished the season with a record of 104-58. This team didn’t have a whole bunch of Hall of Famers in the starting batting lineup except Shortstop Alan Trammell who batted .314 which was 5th best in the American League. Trammell won MVP of the 1984 World Series batting .450 with 6 RBIs including 2 home runs against the San Diego Padres.

The other Hall of Famer was Pitcher Jack Morris who pitched a no hitter in April overall finishing with a record of 19-11 in the regular season including 2 complete games. The player that was known as the Big Wheel was Catcher Lance Parrish led the Tigers with 33 home runs and 98 RBIs Second Baseman Lou Whitaker hit .289 with 25 doubles and 161 hits. Even Howard John’s nicknamed HoJo was a starting third baseman.

Johnson hit 12 home runs and drove in 50 RBIs. Johnson would eventually be traded to the New York Mets less than 2 months after the World Series. Other standouts from the team was Outfielder Kirk Gibson who hit a 3 run home run in the 1984 World Series which became the iconic symbol of the Tigers’ 1984 season off of Relief Pitcher Goose Gossage from The San Diego Padres in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Johnson hit 12 home runs and drove in 50 RBIs. Johnson would eventually be traded to the New York Mets less than 2 months after the World Series. Other standouts from the team was Outfielder Kirk Gibson who hit a 3 run home run in the 1984 World Series which became the iconic symbol of the Tigers’ 1984 season off of Relief Pitcher Goose Gossage from The San Diego Padres in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Finally the third Hall of Famer from this legendary squadron was Manager Sparky Anderson who became the first manager in 1984 to win the World Series in 2 different leagues: American League and National League with the Cincinnati Reds winning World Series in 1975 and 1976 along with the 1984 World Series championship with the Detroit Tigers.

There was no wild card in 1984 in MLB so the Detroit Tigers played in the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals winning 3 games to none in a sweep with Kirk Gibson winning MVP of the American League Championship Series. Then in the World Series against the San Diego Padres winning 4 games to 1. Alan Trammell won MVP hitting .450 having 9 hits in 20 at bats along with 2 homers and 6 RBIS.

Everything clicked in 1984 for the Detroit Tigers capturing their 4th World Series title in franchise history.