This newsletter has devoted several months to an examination of past greatness. We’ve broken down history’s top 50 ballclubs — collectively known as the Best 50 — as determined by my new book, Baseball’s Best (and Worst) Teams. And now we’ve reached the end of the line, No. 1 on the all-time list, the 1984 Detroit Tigers.
Here’s a quick boilerplate explanation that I have appended to every story in this series:
I compiled the Best 50 by analyzing 2,544 major-league teams from 1903 to 2024. Those clubs have been ranked by their team scores (TS), which are plotted on a 100-point scale. (A given club’s all-time percentile is the percentage of the other 2,543 teams that it outperformed.)
See my book for an explanation of my TS calculations. The book also offers separate breakdowns of the best and worst clubs for every decade and franchise, comprehensive profiles of the Best 50 (including position-by-position lineups and much more information than you’ll find in this newsletter), and similar summaries of the 10 worst teams of all time.
Now on to today’s profile.
-
Team: 1984 Detroit Tigers
-
Team score: 98.987 points
-
All-time rank: 1 of 2,544
-
All-time percentile: 100.00%
-
Season record: 104-58 (.642)
-
Season position: First place in American League East
-
Final status: World champion
Baltimore won the world championship in 1983, and many pundits anticipated a repeat. The Sporting News surveyed 165 sportswriters prior to the 1984 season. A majority (96) predicted that the Orioles would again reign over the American League East, and a plurality (42) envisioned a second straight World Series triumph.
Both forecasts immediately went haywire. Baltimore stumbled to a 7-13 record out of the gate, while Detroit shot into first place. The Tigers won 35 of their first 40 games, establishing an 8.5-game lead by May 24. The AL East race, for all intents and purposes, was over.
Detroit’s pace inevitably cooled, and critics began to squawk. “All I hear is that if the Tigers hadn’t gotten off to a 35-5 start, they wouldn’t have won,” snapped manager Sparky Anderson. “I always thought the season lasted 162 games. Don’t the first 40 count?”
They did, of course. Anderson’s crew, unfazed by the naysayers, led the division from wire to wire, finishing with a 15-game lead.
Get the complete lowdown on the 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
The Tigers served notice at the beginning of the American League Championship Series, pounding 14 hits (including three homers) in an 8-1 shellacking of the Kansas City Royals. The next two games were closer, though Detroit secured a sweep.
The World Series appeared to be more evenly matched, with the Tigers and San Diego Padres splitting the first two contests. “I think this is going to go seven games,” Sparky Anderson said nervously. But his Tigers rolled from there, notching consecutive victories by scores of 5-2, 4-2, and 8-4.
Pitcher Jack Morris nailed down two of Detroit’s four wins, holding the Padres to four runs in 18 innings. Shortstop Alan Trammell was the club’s hottest World Series hitter, going nine-for-20 with a pair of home runs, cementing the ’84 Tigers’ status as the greatest team of all time.
A new installment will arrive in your email each Tuesday and Friday morning
Roger Craig knew all about high-quality teams. He earned World Series rings as a pitcher with the 1955 and 1959 Dodgers and the 1964 Cardinals. And he served as the pitching coach for the 1984 Tigers, whom he willingly stacked against the great clubs of the past. “We had a balanced team,” Craig said. “At every position, we had maybe not a superstar, but a good ballplayer.”
Balance was indeed the key. No Detroit batter hit 35 home runs or drove home 100 runs, yet the club led the majors in homers (187) and runs scored (5.12 per game). No Tigers pitcher finished among the American League’s 10 ERA leaders, yet the staff’s collective ERA (3.49) was the league’s best.
“Whitaker and Trammell, they’re the key to our ballclub,” said Sparky Anderson. Second baseman Lou Whitaker rapped 161 hits, a total exceeded by only one teammate, shortstop Alan Trammell (174). Both infielders earned Gold Gloves for defensive excellence, as did catcher Lance Parrish. The latter also led the Tigers with 33 homers and 98 runs batted in. A pair of hard-nosed outfielders, Kirk Gibson and Chet Lemon, blended power with speed. Each hit at least 20 homers, and Gibson’s 29 stolen bases topped the team.
Fiery starter Jack Morris notched a staff-high 19 victories, highlighted by a no-hitter against the White Sox. But Detroit’s true pitching star was Willie Hernandez, a reliever acquired in a spring-training deal with Philadelphia. Hernandez appeared in 80 games, registered 32 saves, and posted a 1.92 ERA. Sparky Anderson said he did two things after the Tigers clinched the World Series. “First I thanked God,” he said. “Then I thanked Hernandez.”