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The 1920s Detroit Tiger Almanac shows great players and great hitters...
   
...but not quite enough to win. The 1920s Almanac shows us a period where Detroit had its usual more-than-fair share of mashers, old and young, but the pitching isn't quite enough to beat some of the legendary teams of the golden era... teams such as Murderers Row and Connie Mack's dominant Philadelphia A's of the late '20s and early '30s.
Baseball had changed and changed a lot during the 20s... all the way from a pitch and putt affair to homers and runs and an entire league batting .300... pitching was at a premium and the Tigers usually had less than their fair share of it.
| Year | Finish | W | L | Pct | GB | Manager | Attendance | |
| 1920 | Seventh | 61 | 93 | 396 | 37 | Hughie Jennings | 579,650 | |
| 1921 | Sixth | 71 | 82 | 464 | 27 | Ty Cobb | 661,527 | |
| 1922 | Third | 79 | 75 | 513 | 15 | Ty Cobb | 861,206 | |
| 1923 | Second | 83 | 71 | 539 | 16 | Ty Cobb | 911,377 | |
| 1924 | Third | 86 | 68 | 558 | 6 | Ty Cobb | 1,015,136 | |
| 1925 | Fourth | 81 | 73 | 526 | 16½ | Ty Cobb | 820,766 | |
| 1926 | Sixth | 79 | 75 | 513 | 12 | Ty Cobb | 711,914 | |
| 1927 | Fourth | 82 | 71 | 536 | 27½ | George Moriarty | 773,716 | |
| 1928 | Sixth | 68 | 86 | 442 | 33 | George Moriarty | 474,323 | |
| 1929 | Sixth | 70 | 84 | 455 | 36 | Bucky Harris | 869,318 | |
| 1920s | | 760 | 778 | 491 | 226 | | 7,678,933 | |
| Avg | | 76 | 78 | 491 | 23 | | 767,893 |
These are booming times for the city of Detroit... the auto industry is thriving and population is booming. The Tiger bats are also booming, but the pitching is consistently poor... which costs them any chance to win a pennant.
 1920(61-93)Bobby Veach jumps in power to 11 home runs and hits .307... Bobby is an easygoing country boy from Kentucky and Cobb does his best to turn Harry Heilmann, his best friend on the team against him believing a rivalry will spark Veach toward even better numbers
Second Baseman Ralph Young has his best batting average to date- .291, even though he's never hit above .263 before. Young is only 5'5" and is able to draw walks which has kept him in Detroit's lineup at the keystone position since 1915
...and Cobb, hits .334, his lowest since his sophomore year with only 15 steals... his nemesis Babe Ruth hits 54 home runs- unheard of- to really start the change in the way baseball is played... Cobb, not surprisingly, resents Ruth and this new style of play and carries bitterness toward the Bambino for years
The Almanac says:
Hughie Jennings' last season at the Tiger helm, is pretty much a nightmare- some say Ee-Yah's judgement is affected by alcoholism- but the team starts at 0-13 and never recovers. Only a truly horrible Athletics ballclub, which lost 106 games, keeps them out of the dungeon. Bobby Veach
Chicago Daily News negatives collection, SDN-063343, Courtesy Chicago Historical Society | |
1921(71-82)The Almanac says:
This is the masher team of all time...the entire team hits .316... again, they hit .316 as a team, but still finish well under .500. No pitcher has a winning record- Howard Ehmke was closest at 13-14.
1922(79-75)Johnny Bassler has his breakthrough year... hits .323 and is a fine defensive reciever. Bassler has almost no power, though... hits .304 lifetime, but with only 1 home run!
Slug Heilmann has his best power year with 21 dingers
Cobb bats a contested .401... seems he is credited with a hit when the league office accepts a writer's stats for the day as opposed to the official scorer's. When the mistake is uncovered, the league office rules that the hit should stand, even though the writer acknowledges that he goofed... still .401 is waay off the lead as George Sisler hits .420!
The Almanac says:
Another big bat year... the team average is still about .300, but weak pitching again does in the boys. Even though they're within 4 games of the lead in early August, they play under .500 the rest of the way.
1923(83-71) |
Harry Heilmann
Harry Heilmann wins his odd-year batting title, hitting .403 with good power- 18 homers. Slug likes to have a good time... he was known to drive his roadster down the steps of a local speakeasy and up to the bar!
Bobby Veach winds up his fine Detroit career, batting .321 in limited play. He's sold to Boston and plays just 2 more years.
Attendance keeps climbing... it's well over 900,000
The Almanac says:
Typical Detroit team of this era... another team batting average of .300, and a second place finish, but the Tigers never seriously threaten as they finish 16 games behind the Evil Empire. | | | |
1924(86-68)Earl Whitehill leads the staff in wins with a 17-9 record. Earl's got a temper... he's been known to tell off teammates, even Cobb himself, but is most famous for being the husband of the Sun Maid Raisins girl, Violet Geissinger
Cobb, slowing down at age 37 hits .338... and steals home twice!
Attendance goes over a million... almost unheard of in this era... the only other team to break that barrier is the Yankees, playing in a much bigger city!
The Almanac says:
The club finds itself in the middle of a 3 team race with the Yankees and Senators! An exciting summer in Detroit... Johnny Bassler and Heilmann both hit .346 and shortstop Johnny Rigney drives in 93 runs, but it isn't quite enough.
1925(81-73)Hooks Dauss leads the club in wins with 16, his last good season
Infielder Red Wingo hits .370... he's never hit higher than .287 in a full season, before or after 1925!
Harry Heilmann resumes his every other year pattern, winning the batting tile at .393
The Almanac says:
Despite leading the league in scoring and batting over .300 as a team... again... an 8-22 start pretty much ends the season early as the team limps home 16½ lengths behind the Senators. The highlight of the year is on June 17 in New York as the Tigers score 13 runs in the 6th inning and paste the Bronx Bunglers 19-1!
1926(79-75)It's the end of an era as Ty Cobb finishes his last year in Detroit, playing about half time but still batting .339. After the Peach announces his retirement, rumors come to light alleging that he and Tris Speaker had conspired to fix a game in 1919. The commissioners office exonerates both stars and declares them free agents. Cobb then signs with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics and finishes his career there two seasons later.
Hooks Dauss retires at age 36 due to a heart condition. Hooks wins 222 games in his 15 year career... a Tiger record which still stands!
Second Baseman Charlie Gehringer begins his Hall of Fame career in the Motor City... a local lad from Fowlerville- wonder if he's ever been in the Bloated Goat Saloon?
The Almanac says:
As usual with Cobb at the helm, this team hits and doesn't pitch... which isn't surprising given that Ty always claimed to know very little about hurling. This team was never in contention, hanging around the .500 mark for most of the season.  Ty Cobb
Chicago Daily News negatives collection, SDN-059494, Courtesy Chicago Historical Society | |
1927(82-71) |
Bob Fothergil
Chicago Daily News negatives collection, SDN-063344
Courtesy Chicago Historical Society Bob "Fats" Fothergill battles weight his entire life... he's listed at 230, but is really nowhere near that, he has a great year in '27, hitting .359 with 114 ribeyes. Bob is a great athlete who once did a total mid air flip at home plate, finishing out a home run... but he dies young in 1938 of a stroke... only 41 years old
Harry Heilmann does it again- another odd-year batting title at .398. He comes into the season ending doubleheader trailing Al "Bucketfoot" Simmons by 1 point and promptly goes 4 for 5. He elects to play the 2nd game, even though he's got the title clinched and goes 3 for 4!
Young Charlie Gehringer gives us a real preview by batting .317. He'll put together a lifetime average of .320 and be named baseball's greatest second baseman in 1969.
The Almanac says:
George Moriarty is everything Ty Cobb was not. The new Tiger skipper is congenial and popular... he'd played for the team in 1914 and '15, but the change isn't nearly enough to compete with the famous 1927 Yankees. Even after a 13 game winning streak in August, they're still a dozen games down... and they follow that win streak with an 8 game losing streak! | | | |
1928(68-86)Charlie Gehringer continues to improve and hits .320. In contrast to Cobb, Charlie's known as a perfect gentleman... he attends Mass everyday!
Harry Heilmann's average drops 70 points and he still bats .328... and drives in over a hundred again
Attendance goes in the dumper... it's down 300,000 to less than half a million... these are pre-war numbers
The Almanac says:
With a pitching staff 2nd worst in the league and an attack no better than 4th, the Tigers put together one dismal 1928 season... it costs Moriarty his job after just 2 years as Detroit field boss.
1929(70-84) | 
Harry Heilmann
Chicago Daily News negatives collection, SDN-060578
Courtesy Chicago Historical Society It's Harry Heilmann's last year as a Tiger... Slug hits 15 home runs, 120 ribbies and bats .344. He's sold to Cincinnati after the season and has one more productive year before arthritis forces him to quit. He'll be back, though, as a legendary Tiger announcer!
First Baseman Dale Alexander hits 25 home runs and bats over .340 as a rookie, but his glove is iron. Ironically, when he begins to field better a few years later, he loses his batting stroke!
Bucky Harris takes over as manager... he's only 32 years old, but this is his 6th year at a major league helm... he won 2 pennants with the Senators back in the '20s and he'll be back in the distant future to manage the Tigers again.
The Almanac says:
New manager, Bucky Harris sees his team lead the league in almost every hitting category, but - guess what?- finish dead last in most pitching departments. Also a lousy fielding team, finishing last in most leather categories... a certain recipe for a losing record. | | | |
Continue on to the THRILLING '30s!
Go back to the TITANIC Teens!
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