Detroit Tigers Team History

The current Detroit club was a charter member when the Western League reorganized for the 1894 season. They originally played at Boulevard Park, sometimes called League Park. It was located on East Lafayette, then called Champlain Street, between Helen and East Grand Boulevard, near Belle Isle. In 1895, owner George Vanderbeck decided to build Bennett Park at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues, which would remain their base of operations for the next 104 seasons. The first game at the corner was an exhibition on April 13, 1896. The team, now occasionally called the “Tigers”, beat a local semi-pro team, known as the Athletics, by a score of 30-3.

The 1935 World Series featured the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs, with the Tigers winning in six games for their first championship in five Series appearances.

The 1945 World Series matched the American League Detroit Tigers against the National League Chicago Cubs. The Tigers won the Series, four games to three, giving them their second championship and first since 1935.

The 1968 World Series featured the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals against the Detroit Tigers, with the Tigers winning in seven games for their first championship since 1945, and the third in their history. The Tigers came back from a 3-1 deficit to win three in a row, largely on the arm of MVP Mickey Lolich, who won three complete games in a single World Series, a feat that has not been duplicated since. In his third appearance in the Series, Lolich had to pitch after only two days rest in the deciding Game 7, because regular-season 31-game winner Denny McLain was moved up to game 6 also on two days rest. In Game 5, the Tigers hopes for the title would have been very much in jeopardy had Bill Freehan not tagged out Lou Brock in a home plate collision when Brock elected not to slide and went in standing up.

The 1984 World Series began on October 9 and ended on October 14, 1984. The American League champion Detroit Tigers played against the National League champion San Diego Padres, with the Tigers winning the series four games to one. This was the first World Series that Peter Ueberroth presided over as commissioner. Ueberroth began his tenure on October 1, succeeding Bowie Kuhn. Ueberroth had been elected as Kuhn’s successor prior to the 1984 season, but did not take over until the postseason as he was serving as the chairman of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which ran from July 28 through August 12.x

Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992 from fellow pizza magnate Tom Monaghan the founder of Domino’s Pizza for baseball was a sport that he had played as a youth. Under his ownership, the Tigers logged losing records in twelve out of thirteen seasons before their turnaround in 2006.

After acquiring the team, Ilitch clearly expressed interest in moving the struggling team to a new ballpark. In 2000, his expectations were realized when the team moved from Tiger Stadium into the newly built Comerica Park. He financed approximately 60% of the $350 million facility; the taxpayers of the greater Detroit-Wayne County and federal grants covered the balance. Various Ilitch Holdings, Inc., enterprises manage and operate Comerica Park and its concessions.

Comerica Park is an open-air ballpark located in Downtown Detroit. It serves as the home of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball, replacing historic Tiger Stadium in 2000.

The park is named after Comerica Bank, which was founded in Detroit and was based there when the park opened. Comerica’s headquarters have since been moved to Dallas, though the bank still retains a large presence in Detroit. The stadium’s seating capacity is 41,255. There is a Detroit People Mover station about a block from the stadium (at Grand Circus Park). Comerica Park sits on the original site of the Detroit College of Law.