The newsletter spends several months examining the greatness of the past. It focuses on 50 baseball clubs in history (collectively the best 50), which is determined by my new book The best team in baseball. We reached 19th on the Detroit Tigers’ all-time roster in 1968.
Here is a quick boilerplate note attached to each story I have in this series:
I compiled the best 50 by analyzing 2,544 major league teams from 1903 to 2024. (The historical percentile for a given club is the percentage of its other 2,543 teams.)
Please refer to my book to explain my TS calculations. The book also offers a separate breakdown of the best and worst clubs every decade, along with a comprehensive overview of the best 50 (including a position-by-position lineup and more information than you will find in this newsletter), and a similar summary of the 10 worst teams of all time.
Now enter today’s profile.
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Team: Detroit Tigers in 1968
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Team Score: 88.413 points
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Ranking History: 19 of 2,544
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Historical percentile: 99.29%
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Seasonal record: 103-59 (.636)
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Season position: No. 1 in the American League
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Final identity: World Champion
Tigers let the American League skate their hands in 1967. They took a single game lead at the end of September 16 but made a leaps and bounds with a record of 6-7 in the remaining 13 games. Their consolation prize is second with the Minnesota twins.
This error was not repeated in 1968. Detroit grabbed permanent control of the first place on May 10 and extended its AL lead to 9.5 games in the All-Star Game. The rest of the season is easy.
Lots of credit Denny McLainthe starting rotation is the ace. McLain won his 20th victory on July 27 and steamed to 31-6 by the end of the year. He is the first pitcher to win 30 wins since Dizzy Dean 1934. Since then, no one has equaled his feat.
The brave McLean often brags, despite his same enthusiasm for his teammates. He predicted in the spring: “No one will be close to us.” “We should win this with six to seven games.” The final profit was 12 games.
Get a complete low in 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
The Cardinals entered the World Championship as the defending world champion and they were determined to repeat. St. Louis won three of his first four games and led the seventh inning 3-2. There are only nine outs between the card and another title.
Detroit right fielder Al Kaline Single ran a pair of runs and won the victory from failure. His blow brought a new life to the Tigers, who roared and won the last two games, 13-1 and 4-1, and won the World Series trophy.
Denny McLain suffered two losses in the series. staff Mickey Lodge Covering three wins for him, all complete games. Karin and another outfielder, Jim Northrupleads Detroit with eight RBIS.
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Denny McLain became the unrivalled star of the Tigers in 1968. His 31 wins surpassed the runner-up in the American League. McLain quickly worked on the mound, an efficient style his teammates appreciated. They weren’t that crazy about his ego. “Frank Sinatra deserves nothing, nor do I,” McLean said. Although no one was fooled, sometimes he tried to become diplomatic. “Don’t be humble, Danny. Just be yourself,” the pitcher Joe Sparma A shout.
Mickey Lolich calls himself “the idol of beer drinkers” and is a reliable partner in the spin. Lolich was 17-9 in a spirit of freedom, and even McLain believed he should be detained. “That’s bad, the good Lord didn’t give him the ability to think more about the mound.”
Hard nose catcher Bill Freehan The weird pitcher in Detroit can win the gold gloves. Left fielder Willie Houghton Exploded 36 home runs, the club’s best total and ranked second in the league. Freehan and First Baseman Standardize cash 25 home runs per person.
Future Hall of Fame member Al Kaline reached a milestone in April 1968, competing in his 2,000th game. However, the right fielder was separated by a fractured arm in May. Replacement Jim Northrup performed well. Northrup declared: “RBI is more important than batting average.
