Detroit Tigers News: The Best of the Tigers and more

In a world without the novel coronavirus pandemic, this week would have featured season home opening games for many teams cross Major League Baseball, including the Detroit Tigers who were scheduled to face the Kansas City Royals on Monday to kick off a two-game series at Comerica Park.

As we all know, we are not currently living in that timeline. Amateur and professional sports in the United States and across the world have postponed or canceled their events due to the worsening COVID-19 crisis — including Wimbledon’s The Championships 2020. In lieu of live sports, many in the media have turned to video game simulations and other creative approaches to fill the sports void. Today, we will take a look at some of the top Tigers of all time to help quench our collective baseball thirst.

Five top first basemen in Tigers history

Jason Beck over at MLB.com is currently running a poll on his Twitter account asking fans who they think the best Tigers first baseman in history was.

While Beck has the poll open for public opinion, he offered his own top-five list with some very well-thought explanations for his hierarchy. Predictably, Hall of Famer and war hero Hank Greenberg took the top spot, followed by Miguel Cabrera, Norm Cash, Cecil Fielder and Rudy York to round out the five. While the Tigers have had some amazing talent at the first sack over the years, it seems to be mostly concentrated among these five names.

The best names in Detroit Tigers history

Cody Stavenhagen over at The Athletic put together his 26-man roster filled with the all-time best baseball names from Detroit Tigers history. While there are some familiar names among those listed, there are many more that have been obscured by the passage of time. Among the best are shortstop Coot Veal, outfielder Baby Doll Jacobson and pitcher Boom-Boom Beck. Sadly, Rusty Kuntz only made the honorable mention list.

Was the 1984 team the best ever?

Yahoo! Sports is currently running a fan-vote tournament to determine the best MLB team of all time, and the No. 7 seed 1984 Tigers so far have made it through the first round after defeating the No. 10 seed 2004 Boston Red Sox. Detroit faces the 2016 Cubs with the No. 2 seed in the next round, and if they advance will face the winner of the sixth-seeded 1998 New York Yankees and the third-seeded 1975 Cincinnati Reds.

Be sure to click the link above and get in your vote for the ‘84 Bless You Boys team!

The best hitter of the last generation?

Both Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera have legitimate claims to the “best hitter of their generation” title, having put up Hall of Fame-level production over the course of their careers. In this short video, the two pick their choices.

A sign of the times

April Fools done right

What’s your 1800s baseball name?

Base hits

• Minor league players to receive pay during coronavirus shutdown: Eligible minor league players will receive $400 per week until play resumes.
• Four more Tigers pitching prospects who could rise in 2020: They just missed our top 30 list, but all are worth your attention whenever baseball begins again.
• Best-loved Detroit Tigers bracket: Round One, part three: Classic heroes and the team’s current ace make up the third bracket.

Around the horn

As MLB ponders post-virus season, players worry about health. Could baseball exist if everyone involved in the game were required adhere to social distancing guidelines? Dr. James Andrews suspends Tommy John surgeries at his offices. StubHub stops issuing refunds after mass cancellations of events. Why the next few months are going to be a disastrous professional period for sportswriters. Rockies fan promoting “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” singalong — from home — on opening day.

Baseball is awesome