Baseball Detroit Tigers Milwaukee Atlanta Braves Photo John Mchale Vintage Wow

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (807) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176277815892 BASEBALL DETROIT TIGERS MILWAUKEE ATLANTA BRAVES PHOTO JOHN MCHALE VINTAGE WOW. Brad Wilkerson June 24, 2003 Pittsburgh Pirates [228]. Beginning with the 2022 season, teams compete for the six playoff berths in their respective leagues. To secure a berth, a team must either win its division or capture a wild card spot by having one of the three best records among the non-winners in its entire league. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL PHOTO OF BASEBALL LEGEND JOHN MC HALE John Joseph McHale (September 21, 1921 – January 17, 2008) was an American professional baseball player and executive. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman for the Detroit Tigers during the 1940s, and later served as the general manager of the Tigers, Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves, and Montreal Expos. He was the first president and executive director of the Expos during their maiden years in the National League, and owned ten percent of the team. His son John McHale Jr. became an MLB executive vice president.

John Joseph McHale (September 21, 1921 – January 17, 2008) was an American professional baseball player and executive. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman for the Detroit Tigers during the 1940s, and later served as the general manager of the Tigers, Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves, and Montreal Expos. He was the first president and executive director of the Expos during their maiden years in the National League, and owned ten percent of the team. His son John McHale Jr. became an MLB executive vice president. Detroit Tigers' player and executive McHale was born in the city of Detroit, Michigan, and attended Detroit Catholic Central High School (Class of 1938) and the University of Notre Dame. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, and his weight was 200 pounds (91 kg). He signed with his hometown Tigers in 1941 and two years later made his first MLB appearance. In five seasons and 64 games with the Tigers (1943–45, 1947–48), McHale compiled a batting average of .193 with 22 hits. He was hitless in three at bats in the 1945 World Series, in which Detroit defeated the Chicago Cubs. Defensively, he recorded a .995 fielding percentage as a first baseman with only one error in 214 total chances. After the 1948 season, McHale, who had recently married a niece of team owner Walter Briggs Sr.,[1] retired from the field for a job in the Tiger front office as assistant farm system director. In 1953, he became director of minor league operations for the Tigers and was named general manager early in the 1957 season at the young age of 35. But after less than two full seasons, he was recruited by the defending NL champion Braves, where he succeeded John J. Quinn as general manager in January 1959. Three years later, he added the title of club president. Career in Milwaukee and Atlanta As it turned out, McHale presided over the slow decline of the Braves on the field. While superstar Hank Aaron was in the prime of his career, eventual Hall of Famers Warren Spahn and Eddie Mathews—along with Del Crandall, Lew Burdette, Joe Adcock and other stars of the Braves' 1957–58 NL championship clubs—aged and fell off in production. Meanwhile, the young players developed by the team's farm system could not pick up the slack. However, according to an April 8, 1963 article in Sports Illustrated, it was McHale himself who disposed of young talent and decimated the farm system: "With General Manager John McHale trading away brilliant young pitchers (Joey Jay and Juan Pizarro) and solid everyday performers like Billy Bruton and Joe Adcock, and then unloading over half the once fertile farm clubs, Bragan will have to depend on old Braves who may prefer peace to war."[2] As the Braves slipped into the middle ranks of the National League, attendance at Milwaukee County Stadium declined precipitously. In 1963, the club was sold to a group of Chicago-based investors. By 1964, the Braves were rumored (correctly) to be moving to Atlanta. In 1965, during their lame-duck season in Milwaukee, McHale was the figurehead for a supremely unpopular ownership. In 1966, the Atlanta Braves' first year, the club started slowly. McHale was replaced as general manager in mid-season by Paul Richards, a former Tiger teammate of McHale's and a legend in Georgia's capital since his days as playing manager of the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association from 1938 to 1942. After the season, McHale left the Braves to replace Lee MacPhail as the chief aide to Baseball Commissioner William Eckert. Candidacy for Baseball Commissioner In 1968, the year before the National League expanded to 12 teams, McHale was named president of the newly born Montreal Expos by their owner, Seagrams heir Charles Bronfman. A few weeks after McHale's appointment, Eckert was fired as commissioner and McHale emerged as a leading contender to succeed his former boss, along with executives Michael Burke of the New York Yankees and Chub Feeney of the San Francisco Giants. He had strong support in the American League, but NL owners—who wanted McHale's experienced hand turned toward the fledgling Expo franchise—intervened and McHale's candidacy was halted.[3] (The commissionership eventually went to National League attorney Bowie Kuhn). Founding president of the Montréal Expos Putting the commissioner election behind him, McHale focused on building the first MLB franchise located in Canada. While McHale concentrated on upper management responsibilities during his first decade with the Expos, he eventually assumed their general manager portfolio as well, and it was during his watch (as GM from 1978 to 1984) that the Expos achieved their only playoff appearance, in 1981. McHale resigned as general manager in favor of Murray Cook at the close of the 1984 season. He announced on September 5, 1986 becoming Expos deputy chairman upon his retirement as president and chief operating officer effective October 1. Claude Brochu succeeded him in both capacities. McHale remained as the team's chief executive officer until December 31, 1987.[4] McHale was also the last non-Hall of Fame member of the Hall's Veterans Committee, having been grandfathered in when the structure of the committee was updated in 2001.[5] He died in Stuart, Florida, at age 86. References  Costello, Rory, John McHale. Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project  Sports Illustrated Vault: Milwaukee Braves: A Great Team Grows Old Ungracefully  Baseball Guide for 1969, St. Louis: The Sporting News: 1969  Perley, Warren. "Liquor industry executive Claude Brochu was named Friday to...," United Press International (UPI), Friday, September 5, 1986. Retrieved March 14, 2023.  "Current List of Veterans Committee Members". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 15 February 2006. Retrieved 2 October 2018. Further reading Baseball Hall of Fame - 2008 Veterans Committee candidate profile via Wayback Machine Toronto Star Obituary 2008 Bloomberg Obituary 2008 External links Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet John McHale at Find a Grave Edit this at Wikidata Sporting positions Preceded by Walter Briggs Jr. Detroit Tigers General Manager 1957–1959 Succeeded by Rick Ferrell Preceded by John Quinn Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves General Manager 1959–1966 Succeeded by Paul Richards Preceded by Lou Perini Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves President 1961–1966 Succeeded by Bill Bartholomay Preceded by Franchise established Montreal Expos President 1968–1986 Succeeded by Claude Brochu Preceded by Charlie Fox Montreal Expos General Manager 1978–1984 Succeeded by Murray Cook Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization. One of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in the world. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball.[3][7][16][17] MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.[7] Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was founded in 1869. The first few decades of professional baseball saw rivalries between leagues, and players often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 was the dead-ball era, when home runs were rarely hit. Professional baseball survived the Black Sox Scandal, a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, then rose in popularity in the following decade. It survived the Great Depression and World War II. Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. The 1950s and 1960s saw the AL and NL add clubs; some moved around the country. Modern stadiums with artificial turf surfaces began to change the game in the 1970s and 1980s. Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s. In the mid-2000s, media reports disclosed the use of anabolic steroids among MLB players; a 2006–07 investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which found that many players had used steroids and other performance-enhancing substances, including at least one player from each team. Each team plays 162 games per season, and six teams in each league advance to a four-round postseason tournament that culminates in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903. The New York Yankees have the most championships with 27. The defending champions are the Houston Astros, who defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 World Series. MLB is the second-wealthiest professional sport league by revenue after the National Football League (NFL).[18][19][20] Baseball games are broadcast on television, radio, and the internet throughout North America and in several other countries. MLB has the highest total season attendance of any sports league in the world; in 2018, it drew more than 69.6 million spectators.[21] MLB also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises lower-tier teams affiliated with the major league clubs. MLB and the World Baseball Softball Confederation jointly manage the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Organizational structure MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution. This document has undergone several incarnations since its creation in 1876.[22] Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This is due in large part to the 1922 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, which held that baseball is not interstate commerce and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law; MLB is the only league that has such a status, and has not faced any competition since this case.[23][24] This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years.[25] The weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates.[25][26] There were several challenges to MLB's primacy in the sport, with notable attempts to establish competing leagues occurring during the late 1800s, from 1913 to 1915 with the short-lived Federal League, and in 1960 with the aborted Continental League.[25] The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, currently Rob Manfred. The deputy commissioner of baseball administration and chief legal officer is currently Dan Halem. There are seven other executives: executive vice president and general counsel, chief operations and strategy officer, chief communications officer, chief financial officer and senior advisor, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, chief revenue officer, and chief baseball development officer.[27][28] The multimedia branch of MLB is MLB Advanced Media, which is based in New York City. This branch oversees MLB.com and each of the 30 teams' websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, but it is under the same ownership group and revenue-sharing plan. MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media. MLB also owns 67 percent of MLB Network, with the other 33 percent split between several cable operators and satellite provider DirecTV.[29] It operates out of studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, and also has editorial independence from the league.[30] League organization In 1920, the weak National Commission, created to manage relationships between the two leagues, was replaced with the much more powerful Commissioner of Baseball, who had the power to make decisions for all of professional baseball unilaterally.[3] From 1901 to 1960, the American and National Leagues fielded eight teams apiece. In the 1960s, MLB expansion added eight teams, including the first non-U.S. team (the Montreal Expos). Two teams (the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays) were also added in the 1970s. From 1969 through 1993, each league consisted of an East and West Division. In 1993, the National League expanded with two teams, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies, to even up the number of teams in both leagues. A third division, the Central Division, was formed in each league in 1994. Until 1996, the two leagues met on the field only during the World Series and the All-Star Game. Regular-season interleague play was introduced in 1997.[31] In March 1995, two new franchises, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now known as the Tampa Bay Rays), were awarded by MLB, which began play in 1998. This addition brought the total number of franchises to 30. In early 1997, MLB decided to assign one new team to each league: Tampa Bay joined the AL and Arizona joined the NL. The original plan was to have an odd number of teams in each league (15 per league, with five in each division), but in order for every team to be able to play daily, this would have required interleague play to be scheduled throughout the entire season. However, it was unclear at the time if the interleague play would continue after the 1998 season, as it had to be approved by the players' union. For this and other reasons, it was decided that both leagues should continue to have an even number of teams, and therefore, one existing club would have to switch leagues. The Milwaukee Brewers agreed in November 1997 to move from the AL to the NL, thereby making the NL a 16-team league. At the same time, the Detroit Tigers agreed to move from the AL East to the AL Central (to replace Milwaukee), with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays joining the AL East.[32] Later, when the Houston Astros changed ownership prior to the 2013 season, the team moved from the NL Central to the AL West,[33][34] resulting in both leagues having three divisions of five teams each and allowing all teams to have a more balanced schedule.[34] Interleague play is now held throughout the season.[34] In 2000, the AL and NL were dissolved as legal entities, and MLB became a single, overall league de jure, similar to the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL)—albeit with two components called "leagues" instead of "conferences". The same rules and regulations are used in both leagues, with one former exception: the AL operated under the designated hitter (DH) rule, while the NL did not.[35][36] This difference in rules between leagues was unique to MLB, as the other major professional sports leagues in the U.S. and Canada have one set of rules for all teams.[citation needed] In 2020, the National League (NL) used the designated hitter (DH) rule for the first time.[37] As part of the settlement of the 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout, this change was made permanent thus making the rules in the two leagues identical.[35][38] Teams See also: Timeline of Major League Baseball BravesMarlinsMetsPhilliesNationalsCubsRedsBrewersPiratesCardinalsDiamondbacksRockiesDodgersPadresGiantsOriolesRed SoxYankeesRaysBlue JaysWhite SoxGuardiansTigersRoyalsTwinsAstrosAngelsAthleticsMarinersRangers Map all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap Download coordinates as: Division Team City Stadium Capacity Coordinates Founded Joined Ref American League East Baltimore Orioles Baltimore, Maryland Oriole Park at Camden Yards 45,971 39°17′2″N 76°37′18″W 1901* [39] Boston Red Sox Boston, Massachusetts Fenway Park 37,949 42°20′47″N 71°5′51″W 1901 [40] New York Yankees New York City, New York Yankee Stadium 47,309 40°49′45″N 73°55′35″W 1903 [41] Tampa Bay Rays St. Petersburg, Florida Tropicana Field 31,042 27°46′6″N 82°39′12″W 1998 [42] Toronto Blue Jays Toronto, Ontario Rogers Centre 41,500 43°38′29″N 79°23′21″W 1977 [43] Central Chicago White Sox Chicago, Illinois Guaranteed Rate Field 40,615 41°49′48″N 87°38′2″W 1901 [44] Cleveland Guardians Cleveland, Ohio Progressive Field 34,830 41°29′45″N 81°41′7″W 1901 [45] Detroit Tigers Detroit, Michigan Comerica Park 41,297 42°20′21″N 83°2′55″W 1901 [46] Kansas City Royals Kansas City, Missouri Kauffman Stadium 37,903 39°3′5″N 94°28′50″W 1969 [47] Minnesota Twins Minneapolis, Minnesota Target Field 38,871 44°58′54″N 93°16′42″W 1901* [48] West Houston Astros Houston, Texas Minute Maid Park 41,676 29°45′25″N 95°21′20″W 1962 (NL) 2013 (AL) [49] Los Angeles Angels Anaheim, California Angel Stadium 45,957 33°48′1″N 117°52′58″W 1961 [50] Oakland Athletics Oakland, California Oakland Coliseum 46,847 37°45′6″N 122°12′2″W 1901* [51] Seattle Mariners Seattle, Washington T-Mobile Park 47,943 47°35′29″N 122°19′57″W 1977 [52] Texas Rangers Arlington, Texas Globe Life Field 40,300 32°45′5″N 97°4′58″W 1961* [53] National League East Atlanta Braves Cumberland, Georgia Truist Park 41,500 33°53′24″N 84°28′4″W 1871* (NA) 1876 (NL) [54] Miami Marlins Miami, Florida LoanDepot Park 36,742 25°46′41″N 80°13′11″W 1993 [55] New York Mets New York City, New York Citi Field 41,922 40°45′25″N 73°50′45″W 1962 [56] Philadelphia Phillies Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Citizens Bank Park 43,651 39°54′21″N 75°9′59″W 1883 [57] Washington Nationals Washington, D.C. Nationals Park 41,313 38°52′22″N 77°0′27″W 1969* [58] Central Chicago Cubs Chicago, Illinois Wrigley Field 41,268 41°56′54″N 87°39′20″W 1870 (NA) 1876 (NL) [59] Cincinnati Reds Cincinnati, Ohio Great American Ball Park 42,319 39°5′51″N 84°30′24″W 1882 (AA) 1890 (NL) [60] Milwaukee Brewers Milwaukee, Wisconsin American Family Field 41,900 43°1′42″N 87°58′16″W 1969* (AL) 1998 (NL) [61] Pittsburgh Pirates Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania PNC Park 38,362 40°26′49″N 80°0′21″W 1882 (AA) 1887 (NL) [62] St. Louis Cardinals St. Louis, Missouri Busch Stadium 44,383 38°37′21″N 90°11′35″W 1882 (AA) 1892 (NL) [63] West Arizona Diamondbacks Phoenix, Arizona Chase Field 48,519 33°26′43″N 112°4′1″W 1998 [64] Colorado Rockies Denver, Colorado Coors Field 46,897 39°45′22″N 104°59′39″W 1993 [65] Los Angeles Dodgers Los Angeles, California Dodger Stadium 56,000 34°4′25″N 118°14′24″W 1884* (AA) 1890 (NL) [66] San Diego Padres San Diego, California Petco Park 42,445 32°42′26″N 117°9′24″W 1969 [67] San Francisco Giants San Francisco, California Oracle Park 41,915 37°46′43″N 122°23′21″W 1883* [68] An asterisk (*) denotes a relocation of a franchise. See respective team articles for more information. History Main article: History of baseball in the United States Founding In the 1860s, aided by soldiers playing the game in camp during the Civil War, "New York"-style baseball expanded into a national game and spawned baseball's first governing body, the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). The NABBP existed as an amateur league for 12 years. By 1867, more than 400 clubs were members. Most of the strongest clubs remained those based in the Northeastern United States. For professional baseball's founding year, MLB uses the year 1869—when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was established.[69] A schism developed between professional and amateur ballplayers after the founding of the Cincinnati club. The NABBP split into an amateur organization and a professional organization. The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, often known as the National Association (NA), was formed in 1871.[70] Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years.[71] The modern Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises trace their histories back to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in the 1870s.[72] In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (later known as the National League or NL) was established after the NA proved ineffective. The league placed its emphasis on clubs rather than on players. Clubs could now enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs. Clubs were required to play the full schedule of games instead of forfeiting scheduled games when the club was no longer in the running for the league championship, which happened frequently under the NA. A concerted effort was made to curb gambling on games, which was leaving the validity of results in doubt. The first game in the NL—on Saturday, April 22, 1876 (at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia)—is often pointed to as the beginning of MLB.[73] National League Baltimore Orioles, 1896 The early years of the NL were tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and a rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause", which restricted the free movement of players between clubs. Teams came and went; 1882 was the first season where the league's membership was the same as the preceding season's, and only four franchises survived to see 1900. Competitor leagues formed regularly and also disbanded regularly. The most successful was the American Association (1882–1891), sometimes called the "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators. For several years, the NL and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series—the first attempt at a World Series. The two leagues merged in 1892 as a single 12-team NL, but the NL dropped four teams after the 1899 season. This led to the formation of the American League in 1901 under AL president Ban Johnson, and the resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal disputes.[citation needed] The war between the AL and NL caused shock waves throughout the baseball world. At a meeting at the Leland Hotel in Chicago in 1901, the other baseball leagues negotiated a plan to maintain their independence. A new National Association was formed to oversee these minor leagues.[74] After 1902, the NL, AL, and NA signed a new National Agreement which tied independent contracts to the reserve-clause contracts. The agreement also set up a formal classification system for minor leagues, the forerunner of today's system that was refined by Branch Rickey.[75] Other recognized leagues Several other early defunct baseball leagues are officially considered major leagues, and their statistics and records are included with those of the two current major leagues. In 1969, the Special Baseball Records Committee of Major League Baseball officially recognized six major leagues: the National League, American League, American Association, Union Association (1884), Players' League (1890), and Federal League (1914–1915).[76] The status of the National Association as a major league has been a point of dispute among baseball researchers; while its statistics are not recognized by Major League Baseball, its statistics are included with those of other major leagues by some baseball reference websites, such as Retrosheet.[77] Some researchers, including Nate Silver, dispute the major-league status of the Union Association by pointing out that franchises came and went and that the St. Louis club was deliberately "stacked"; the St. Louis club was owned by the league's president and it was the only club that was close to major-league caliber.[78] In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced its recognition of seven leagues within Negro league baseball as major leagues,[79] and in 2021, baseball reference website Baseball-Reference.com began to include statistics from those seven leagues into their major-league statistics.[80] Dead-ball era Main article: Dead-ball era Cy Young, 1911 baseball card The period between 1900 and 1919 is commonly referred to as the "dead-ball era". Games of this era tended to be low-scoring and were often dominated by pitchers, such as Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Mordecai Brown, and Grover Cleveland Alexander. The term also accurately describes the condition of the baseball itself. The baseball used American rather than the modern Australian wool yarn and was not wound as tightly, affecting the distance that it would travel.[81] More significantly, balls were kept in play until they were mangled, soft and sometimes lopsided. During this era, a baseball cost three dollars, equal to $50.64 today (in inflation-adjusted USD), and owners were reluctant to purchase new balls. Fans were expected to throw back fouls and (rare) home runs. Baseballs also became stained with tobacco juice, grass, and mud, and sometimes the juice of licorice, which some players would chew for the purpose of discoloring the ball.[82] Also, pitchers could manipulate the ball through the use of the spitball. (In 1921 use of this pitch was restricted to a few pitchers with a grandfather clause.) Additionally, many ballparks had large dimensions, such as the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which was 560 feet (170 m) to the center field fence, and the Huntington Avenue Grounds of the Boston Red Sox, which was 635 feet (194 m) to the center field fence, thus home runs were rare, and "small ball" tactics such as singles, bunts, stolen bases, and the hit-and-run play dominated the strategies of the time.[83] Hitting methods like the Baltimore Chop were used to increase the number of infield singles.[84] On a successful Baltimore chop, the batter hits the ball forcefully into the ground, causing it to bounce so high that the batter reaches first base before the ball can be fielded and thrown to the first baseman.[85] The adoption of the foul strike rule in the early twentieth century quickly sent baseball from a high-scoring game to one where scoring runs became a struggle. Prior to the institution of this rule, foul balls were not counted as strikes: a batter could foul off any number of pitches with no strikes counted against him; this gave an enormous advantage to the batter. In 1901, the NL adopted the foul strike rule, and the AL followed suit in 1903.[86] After the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, baseball was rocked by allegations of a game fixing scheme known as the Black Sox Scandal. Eight players—"Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Claude "Lefty" Williams, George "Buck" Weaver, Arnold "Chick" Gandil, Fred McMullin, Charles "Swede" Risberg, and Oscar "Happy" Felsch—intentionally lost the World Series in exchange for a ring worth $100,000 ($1,712,780.35 in 2022 dollars).[87] Despite being acquitted, all were permanently banned from Major League Baseball.[88] Rise in popularity Baseball's popularity increased in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1920 season was notable for the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians. Chapman, who was struck in the head by a pitch and died a few hours later, became the only MLB player to die of an on-field injury,[89] a tragedy which led directly to both leagues requiring the placing into play new, white baseballs whenever a ball became scuffed or dirty, helping bring the "dead-ball" era to an end. The following year, the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance.[90] By the end of the 1930s, the team had appeared in 11 World Series, winning eight of them.[91] Yankees slugger Babe Ruth had set the single-season home run record in 1927, hitting 60 home runs; a few years earlier, Ruth had set the same record with 29 home runs.[92] Affected by the difficulties of the Great Depression, baseball's popularity had begun a downward turn in the early 1930s. By 1932, only two MLB teams turned a profit. Attendance had fallen, due at least in part to a 10% federal amusement tax added to baseball ticket prices. Baseball owners cut their rosters from 25 men to 23 men, and even the best players took pay cuts. Team executives were innovative in their attempts to survive, creating night games, broadcasting games live by radio, and rolling out promotions such as free admission for women. Throughout the period of the Great Depression, no MLB teams moved or folded.[93] World War II era The onset of World War II created a significant shortage of professional baseball players, as more than 500 men left MLB teams to serve in the military. Many of them played on service baseball teams that entertained military personnel in the US or in the Pacific. MLB teams of this time largely consisted of young men, older players, and those with a military classification of 4F, indicating mental, physical, or moral unsuitability for service. Men like Pete Gray, a one-armed outfielder, got the chance to advance to the major leagues. However, MLB rosters did not include any black players through the end of the war.[94] Black players, many of whom served in the war, were still restricted to playing Negro league baseball.[95] Wartime blackout restrictions, designed to keep outdoor lighting at low levels, caused another problem for baseball. These rules limited traveling and night games to the point that the 1942 season nearly had to be canceled.[95] On January 14, 1942, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote a letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and pleaded for the continuation of baseball during the war in hopes for a start of a new major league season. President Roosevelt responded, "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before."[96] With the approval of President Roosevelt, spring training began in 1942 with few repercussions. The war interrupted the careers of stars including Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio, but baseball clubs continued to field their teams.[97] Breaking the color barrier Main article: Baseball color line Jackie Robinson comic book, 1951 Branch Rickey, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, began making efforts to introduce a black baseball player to the previously all-white professional baseball leagues in the mid-1940s. He selected Jackie Robinson from a list of promising Negro league players. After obtaining a commitment from Robinson to "turn the other cheek" to any racial antagonism directed at him, Rickey agreed to sign him to a contract for $600 a month. In what was later referred to as "The Noble Experiment", Robinson was the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s, joining the Dodgers' farm club, the Montreal Royals, for the 1946 season.[98] The following year, the Dodgers called up Robinson to the major leagues. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons. Black baseball fans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning the Negro league teams that they had followed exclusively. Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspaper writers and white major league players. Manager Leo Durocher informed his team, "I don't care if he is yellow or black or has stripes like a fucking zebra. I'm his manager and I say he plays."[99] After a strike threat by some players, NL President Ford Frick and Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended. Robinson received significant encouragement from several major-league players, including Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese who said, "You can hate a man for many reasons. Color is not one of them."[100] That year, Robinson won the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award (separate NL and AL Rookie of the Year honors were not awarded until 1949).[101] Less than three months later, Larry Doby became the first African-American to break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians.[102] The next year, a number of other black players entered the major leagues. Satchel Paige was signed by the Indians and the Dodgers added star catcher Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe, who was later the first winner of the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching.[103] Women in baseball Main article: Women in baseball MLB banned the signing of women to contracts in 1952, but that ban was lifted in 1992.[104] There have been no female MLB players. Relocation and expansion Main article: Major League Baseball relocation of 1950s–1960s 1959 World Series action at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum From 1903 to 1953, the major leagues consisted of two eight-team leagues whose 16 teams were located in ten cities, all in the northeastern and midwestern United States: New York City had three teams and Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis each had two teams. St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city with a major league team. The longest possible road trip, from Boston to St. Louis, took about 24 hours by railroad. After a half-century of stability, starting in the 1950s, teams began to move out of cities with multiple teams into cities that had not had them before. In three consecutive years from 1953 to 1955, three teams moved to new cities: the Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves, the St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles, and the Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics. The 1958 Major League Baseball season was perhaps the pivotal season in making Major League Baseball a nationwide league. Walter O'Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, moved his team to Los Angeles, marking the first major league franchise on the West Coast.[105] Called "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era,"[106] O'Malley appeared on the cover of Time as a result of his efforts to move baseball to a more nationwide sport[107] O'Malley was also influential in persuading the rival New York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants. The Giants were already suffering from slumping attendance records at their aging ballpark, the Polo Grounds. Had the Dodgers moved out west alone, the St. Louis Cardinals—1,600 mi (2,575 km) away[108][109]—would have been the closest NL team. The joint move made West Coast road trips economical for visiting teams.[110] O'Malley invited San Francisco Mayor George Christopher to New York to meet with Giants owner Horace Stoneham.[110] Stoneham was considering moving the Giants to Minnesota,[111] but he was convinced to join O'Malley on the West Coast at the end of 1957. The meetings between Stoneham, Christopher and O'Malley occurred against the wishes of Ford Frick, the Commissioner of Baseball.[112] The dual moves were successful for both franchises—and for MLB.[105] The Dodgers set a single-game MLB attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans.[110] In 1961, the first Washington Senators franchise moved to Minneapolis–St. Paul to become the Minnesota Twins. Two new teams were added to the American League at the same time: the Los Angeles Angels (who soon moved from downtown L.A. to nearby Anaheim) and a new Washington Senators franchise. The NL added the Houston Astros and the New York Mets in 1962. The Astros (known as the "Colt .45s" during their first three seasons) became the first southern major league franchise since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899 and the first franchise to be located along the Gulf Coast. The Mets established a reputation for futility by going 40–120 during their first season of play in the nation's media capital—and by playing only a little better in subsequent campaigns—but in their eighth season (1969) the Mets became the first of the 1960s expansion teams to play in the postseason, culminating in a World Series title over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles. In 1966, the major leagues moved to the "Deep South" when the Braves moved to Atlanta. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics moved west to become the Oakland Athletics. In 1969, the American and National Leagues both added two expansion franchises. The American League added the Seattle Pilots (who became the Milwaukee Brewers after one disastrous season in Seattle) and the Kansas City Royals. The NL added the first Canadian franchise, the Montreal Expos, as well as the San Diego Padres. In 1972, the second Washington Senators moved to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to become the Texas Rangers. In 1977, baseball expanded again, adding a second Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays, as well as the Seattle Mariners. Subsequently, no new teams were added until the 1990s and no teams moved until 2005. Pitching dominance and rule changes Graph showing, by year, the average number of runs per MLB game By the late 1960s, the balance between pitching and hitting had swung in favor of the pitchers. In 1968—later nicknamed "the year of the pitcher"[113]—Boston Red Sox player Carl Yastrzemski won the American League batting title with an average of just .301, the lowest in the history of Major League Baseball.[114] Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games, making him the only pitcher to win 30 games in a season since Dizzy Dean in 1934.[115] St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Bob Gibson achieved an equally remarkable feat by allowing an ERA of just 1.12.[116] Following these pitching performances, in December 1968 the MLB Playing Rules Committee voted to reduce the strike zone from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits and lower the pitcher's mound from 15 to 10 inches, beginning in the 1969 season.[117] In 1973, the American League, which had been suffering from much lower attendance than the National League, sought to increase scoring even further by initiating the designated hitter (DH) rule.[118] New stadiums and artificial surfaces Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, as baseball expanded, NFL football had been surging in popularity, making it economical for many of these cities to build multi-purpose stadiums instead of single-purpose baseball fields. Because of climate and economic issues, many of these facilities had playing surfaces made from artificial turf, as well as the oval designs characteristic of stadiums designed to house both baseball and football.[119] This often resulted in baseball fields with relatively more foul territory than older stadiums. These characteristics changed the nature of professional baseball, putting a higher premium on speed and defense over home-run hitting power since the fields were often too big for teams to expect to hit many home runs and foul balls hit in the air could more easily be caught for outs.[citation needed] Teams began to be built around pitching—particularly their bullpens—and speed on the basepaths. Artificial surfaces meant balls traveled quicker and bounced higher, so it became easier to hit ground balls "in the hole" between the corner and middle infielders. Starting pitchers were no longer expected to throw complete games; it was enough for a starter to pitch 6–7 innings and turn the game over to the team's closer, a position which grew in importance over these decades. As stolen bases increased, home run totals dropped. After Willie Mays hit 52 home runs in 1965, only one player (George Foster) reached that mark until the 1990s.[citation needed] Scandals and a changing game During the 1980s, baseball experienced a number of significant changes the game had not seen in years. Home runs were on the decline throughout the decade, with players hitting only 40 home runs just 13 times and no one hitting more than 50 home runs in a season for the first time since the Dead-ball era (1900–1919).[120][121] The 1981 Major League Baseball strike from June 12 until July 31 forced the cancellation of 713 total games and resulted in a split-season format. In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, and in 1989 Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball as a result of betting on baseball games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Rose was the first person to receive a lifetime ban from baseball since 1943.[120][122] 1985 also saw the Pittsburgh drug trials which involved players who were called to testify before a grand jury in Pittsburgh related to cocaine trafficking. The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike from August 12, 1994, to April 25, 1995, caused the cancellation of over 900 games and the forfeit of the entire 1994 postseason.[123] Steroid era, further expansion and near contraction Mark McGwire was one of several central figures in baseball's steroids scandal Routinely in the late 1990s and early 2000s, baseball players hit 40 or 50 home runs in a season, a feat that was considered rare even in the 1980s. It has since become apparent that at least some of this power surge was a result of players using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. In 1993, the NL added the Florida Marlins in Miami and the Colorado Rockies in Denver. In 1998, the Brewers switched leagues by joining the National League, and two new teams were added: the NL's Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix and the AL's Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tampa Bay. After the 2001 season, the team owners voted in favor of contraction. Several MLB teams had been considered for elimination in early talks about contraction, but the Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins were the two teams that came closest to folding under the plan. Plans for MLB contraction were halted when the Twins landlord was awarded a court injunction that required the team to play its 2002 home games at their stadium. MLB owners agreed to hold off on reducing the league's size until at least 2006.[124] The Montreal Expos became the first franchise in over three decades to move when they became the Washington Nationals in 2005. This move left Canada with just one team, but it also returned baseball to Washington after a 33-year absence. This franchise shift, like many previous ones, involved baseball's return to a city that had been previously abandoned. Not counting the short-lived Federal League, Montreal is the only city to host an MLB franchise since 1901 that, as of December 2022, does not currently have a team. The modern game In recent years, with the advent of technologies such as Statcast and its use of Hawk-Eye starting in 2020[125] as well as with advanced statistics as provided by sites such as FanGraphs and Baseball Savant, MLB has evolved. With the ability to see precise movements of pitchers and batters, teams can assess the mechanics of a player and help them improve. Statcast also provides some features such as tracking the paths of most batted balls, tracking the speed of most batted balls, and tracking the exit velocity of most batted balls. Statcast has allowed for advanced defensive analytics that have not been possible before tracking of players due to how subjective fielding can be. The rate of teams using a defensive shift has gone up from 13.7% in 2016 to 33.6% in 2022 because advanced statistics support this as an effective way to stop hitters from getting hits.[126] Because the shift reduces the amount of balls in play that result in hits and MLB wishes to increase interest in baseball, MLB announced in September 2022 that extreme infield defensive shifts would be banned starting in 2023. In order to be compliant, there must be two fielders on each side of second base, and those fielders must have both of their feet on the infield dirt at the time the pitch is thrown. If this rule is not followed, the choice of an automatic ball or the outcome of the play is given to the batting team.[127] The game of baseball has also slowed down significantly due to an increased number of strikeouts and walks—two outcomes that generally take many pitches to complete—and an increased amount of time taken for a pitcher to pitch. In 2020, it took an average of three hours and six minutes to complete a 9 inning game, a number which has steadily ticked up for years.[128] Along with the restrictions on defensive shifts, MLB announced the introduction of a pitch clock for the 2023 season and beyond, which is something that has been an experiment in MiLB for a few years. The pitch clock starts at 15 seconds. By the time the clock reaches 10 seconds, the catcher must be in their crouch behind home plate. When the clock reaches 8 seconds, the batter must be in the batter's box and be "alert". Before the 15 second timer reaches 0 seconds, the pitcher must have started their "motion to pitch". If any of these deadlines are violated, the count of the batter will be increased by one ball if the defending team violated the pitch clock or one strike if it is the offensive team who violated the pitch clock. Additionally, in order to prevent circumventing these rules pickoffs and step-offs which reset the pitch clock are only allowed two times total per plate appearance and, if a pitcher attempts a third pickoff and fails to get the runner out, a balk will be called. Similarly, a batter is restricted to calling a timeout (an action which resets the pitch clock) just once per plate appearance.[127] In 2019, Major League Baseball opened an investigation into allegations that members of the 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros stole signs from opposing teams using technology during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. The Astros were found guilty in January 2020 and while no active players faced any repercussions due to an immunity agreement in exchange for testimony, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A. J. Hinch were suspended for the entire 2020 season. The Astros were fined the maximum allowable $5 million and forfeited their first- and second-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts.[129] The Boston Red Sox were also found guilty of stealing signs during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, with the latter season ending in a World Series victory.[130] Red Sox manager Alex Cora was suspended for a year and the team was fined with the loss of a second round draft pick in the 2020 draft as a result.[131] Uniforms Cleveland Indians throwback uniform Main articles: Major League Baseball uniforms and Baseball uniform A baseball uniform is a type of uniform worn by baseball players, and by some non-playing personnel, such as field managers and coaches. It is worn to indicate the person's role in the game and—through the use of logos, colors, and numbers—to identify the teams and their players, managers, and coaches.[132] Traditionally, home uniforms display the team name on the front, while away uniforms display the team's home location. In modern times, however, exceptions to this pattern have become common, with teams using their team name on both uniforms.[133] Most teams also have one or more alternate uniforms, usually consisting of the primary or secondary team color on the vest instead of the usual white or gray.[133] In the past few decades throwback uniforms have become popular.[134] The New York Knickerbockers were the first baseball team to use uniforms, taking the field on April 4, 1849, in pants made of blue wool, white flannel shirts (jerseys) and straw hats.[135][136][137] Caps and other types of headgear have been a part of baseball uniforms from the beginning.[138][139] Baseball teams often wore full-brimmed straw hats or no cap at all since there was no official rule regarding headgear.[140] Under the 1882 uniform rules, players on the same team wore uniforms of different colors and patterns that indicated which position they played. This rule was soon abandoned as impractical.[141] In the late 1880s, Detroit and Washington of the National League and Brooklyn of the American Association were the first to wear striped uniforms.[142] By the end of the 19th century, teams began the practice of having two different uniforms, one for when they played at home in their own baseball stadium and a different one for when they played away (on the road) at the other team's ballpark.[133] It became common to wear white pants with a white color vest at home and gray pants with a gray or solid (dark) colored vest when away.[133] By 1900, both home and away uniforms were standard across the major leagues.[143] In June 2021, MLB announced a long-term deal with cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which includes the FTX logo appearing on umpire uniforms during all games.[144] FTX is MLB's first-ever umpire uniform patch partner.[145] On November 11, 2022, FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. MLB removed the FTX patches from umpires' uniforms before the 2023 season.[146] Season structure Main articles: Major League Baseball schedule and List of Major League Baseball seasons Spring training Main article: Spring training A Grapefruit League game at the former Los Angeles Dodgers camp in Vero Beach, Florida Spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Teams hold training camps in the states of Arizona and Florida, where the early warm weather allows teams to practice and play without worrying about the late winter cold. Spring training allows new players to compete for roster and position spots and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play. The teams that hold spring training in Arizona are grouped into the Cactus League,[147] while teams that hold camp in Florida are known as the Grapefruit League.[148] Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warmer climates to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play, and spring training usually coincides with spring break for many college students. Autograph seekers also find greater access to players during spring training.[citation needed] Spring training typically lasts almost two months, starting in mid-February and running until just before the season-opening day, traditionally the first week of April. As pitchers benefit from a longer training period, pitchers and catchers begin spring training several days before the rest of the team.[149] Regular season Each team plays 162 games per season. A team's schedule is typically organized into three-game series, sets of consecutive games against the same opponent, with occasional two- or four-game series.[150] Postponed games or continuations of suspended games can result in an ad hoc one-game or five-game series. All games of a series are usually hosted by the same team and multiple series are typically grouped together. I.e, a team usually hosts several series in a row, called a homestand, and follows that by going on several road series in a row. Teams generally play games five to seven days per week. Most games are scheduled at night, although teams will often play day games on Opening Day, holidays, and for the last game of a series to allow teams extra time to travel to their next opponent. Sunday games are generally played during the afternoon, allowing teams to travel to their next destination prior to a Monday night game. In the current three-division structure, each team plays 19 games against each of its four divisional opponents. It plays one home series and one away series, amounting to six or seven games, against the 10 other teams in its league. A team also plays one of the divisions in the other league, rotating each year, with two opponents in a three-game home series, two in a three-game away series, and one with four games split between home and away. Furthermore, each team has an interleague "natural rival" (in many cases its counterpart in the same metro area) with which it plays two home games and two away games each year. With an odd number of teams in each league (15), it is necessary to have two teams participate in interleague play for most days in the season, except when two or more teams have a day off. Each team plays 20 interleague games throughout the season, usually with just one interleague game per day, but for one weekend in late May, all teams will participate in an interleague series. Before 2013, interleague play was structured differently: there would be one weekend in mid-May and another period consisting typically of the last two-thirds of June in which all teams played interleague games (save for two NL teams each day), and no interleague games were scheduled outside those dates. (Before 2013, season-long interleague play was not necessary, because each league had an even number of teams. In 2013, the Houston Astros moved to the American League, so that each league would have 15 teams.) Prior to the adoption of the universal designated hitter in 2022, whether the DH was in use depended on whether the home team was from the AL, where the DH was used, or the NL, where it was not. Starting with the 2023 season, the scheduling formula is set to change, with each team playing at least one series against every other team every year. Each team will play 14 games against teams in the same division, with one 3-game and one 4-game series at each park, six games against teams within the same league but in other divisions, with one 3-game series at each park, and one 3-game series against teams in the other league, alternating home teams each year, except for each team's designated interleague rival, which will continue to consist of two 2-game series at each of the teams' home parks. Beginning with the 2022 season, teams compete for the six playoff berths in their respective leagues. To secure a berth, a team must either win its division or capture a wild card spot by having one of the three best records among the non-winners in its entire league.[151] With the adoption of a third wild card, the former practice of breaking ties with an additional regular-season game, known as game 163, was dropped in favor of a tie-breaker formula. All-Star Game Main article: Major League Baseball All-Star Game President John F. Kennedy throwing out the first pitch at the 1962 All-Star Game at DC Stadium In early-to-mid July, just after the midway point of the season, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is held during a four-day break from the regular-season schedule. The All-Star Game features a team of players from the American League (AL)—led by the manager of the previous AL World Series team—and a team of players from the National League (NL), similarly managed, in an exhibition game. From 1959 to 1962, two games were held each season, one was held in July and one was held in August. The designated-hitter rule was used in the All-Star Game for the first time in 1989. Following games used a DH when the game was played in an AL ballpark. Since 2010, the DH rule has been in effect regardless of venue.[152] The first official All-Star Game was held as part of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, and was the idea of Arch Ward, then sports editor for The Chicago Tribune.[153] Initially intended to be a one-time event, its great success resulted in making the game an annual one. Ward's contribution was recognized by Major League Baseball in 1962 with the creation of the "Arch Ward Trophy", given to the All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player each year.[154] (In 1970, it was renamed the Commissioner's Trophy, until 1985, when the name change was reversed. In 2002, it was renamed the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award.)[citation needed] Beginning in 1947, the eight position players in each team's starting lineup have been voted into the game by fans.[153] The fan voting was discontinued after a 1957 ballot-box-stuffing scandal in Cincinnati: seven of the eight slots originally went to Reds players, two of whom were subsequently removed from the lineup to make room for Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Fan voting was reinstated in 1970 and has continued ever since, including Internet voting in recent years.[citation needed] The 2002 contest in Milwaukee controversially ended in an 11-inning tie when both managers ran out of pitchers. In response, starting in 2003 the league which wins the All-Star game received home-field advantage in the World Series: the league champion hosted the first two games at its own ballpark as well as the last two (if necessary). The National League did not win an All-Star game and thus gain a home-field advantage until 2010; it was able to overcome this disadvantage and win in three of the seven World Series from 2003 to 2009.[155][156] This was discontinued after the 2016 season.[citation needed] MLB All-Stars from both leagues have worn uniforms from their respective teams at the game with one exception. In the 1933 All-Star Game, the National League All-Star Team members wore special gray uniforms with "National League" written in navy blue letters across the front of the jersey.[157][158] On July 3, 2020, it was announced that the 2020 Major League Baseball All-Star Game scheduled to be held in Los Angeles would not be played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[159] As compensation, Los Angeles was awarded the next available All-Star Game in 2022.[160] Postseason Main article: Major League Baseball postseason World Series Records Team Number of Series won Last Series won Series played New York Yankees (AL) † 27 2009 40 St. Louis Cardinals (NL) 11 2011 19 Oakland Athletics (AL) † 9 1989 14 Boston Red Sox (AL) † 9 2018 13 San Francisco Giants (NL) † 8 2014 20 Los Angeles Dodgers (NL) † 7 2020 21 Cincinnati Reds (NL) 5 1990 9 Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) 5 1979 7 Detroit Tigers (AL) 4 1984 11 Atlanta Braves (NL) † 4 2021 10 Chicago Cubs (NL) 3 2016 11 Baltimore Orioles (AL) † 3 1983 7 Minnesota Twins (AL) † 3 1991 6 Chicago White Sox (AL) 3 2005 5 Philadelphia Phillies (NL) 2 2008 8 Cleveland Guardians (AL) † 2 1948 6 Houston Astros (NL to AL, 2013) † 2 [AL] 2022 5 (4 [AL], 1 [NL]) New York Mets (NL) 2 1986 5 Kansas City Royals (AL) 2 2015 4 Miami Marlins (NL) † 2 2003 2 Toronto Blue Jays (AL) 2 1993 2 Washington Nationals (NL) † 1 2019 1 Los Angeles Angels (AL) † 1 2002 1 Arizona Diamondbacks (NL) 1 2001 1 Tampa Bay Rays (AL) † 0 2 Texas Rangers (AL) † 0 2 San Diego Padres (NL) 0 2 Colorado Rockies (NL) 0 1 Milwaukee Brewers (AL to NL, 1998) † 0 1 [AL] ‡ Seattle Mariners (AL) 0 0 AL=American League NL=National League † Totals include a team's record in a previous city or under another name (see team article for details). ‡ Have not yet played in a World Series. More detail at World Series and List of World Series champions Source: MLB.com The regular season ends after the first Sunday in October (or the last Sunday in September), after which twelve teams enter the postseason playoffs. These twelve teams consist of the six division champions and six "wild-card" teams: the team with the best overall win–loss record in each of the six divisions, and the three teams in each league with the best records other than the division champions. Four rounds of series of games are played to determine the champion:[citation needed] Wild Card Series, a best of three games playoff between the lowest seeded division champion and three "wild-card teams", the higher seeds will host all three games American League Division Series and National League Division Series, each a best-of-five-games series. American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series, each a best-of-seven-games series played between the winning teams from the Division Series. The league champions are referred to as the pennant winners. World Series, a best-of-seven-games series played between the pennant winners of each league. Within each league, the division winners are the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 seeds, based on win–loss records. The team with the best record among non-division winners will be the first wildcard and the No. 4 seed. The team with the second-best record among non-division winners will be the second wildcard and the No. 5 seed. The team with the third-best record will the third wild card and the No 6. seed In the wildcard round, the No. 3 seed will host the No 6 seed and the No. 4 seed with host the No 5 seed with the higher team host all three games in the Wild Card Series . For the division series, the matchup will be the No. 1 seed against the winner of the No 3 and No 6 seed and the No. 2 seed against the winner of No 4 and No 5 seed, unlike the NFL there will be no reseeding [161] Since 2017, home-field advantage in the World Series is determined by regular-season records of the two league champions, replacing a system used for the prior 14 seasons where the champion of the league that won the All-Star Game would receive home-field advantage.[citation needed] Because each postseason series is split between the home fields of the two teams, the home-field advantage does not usually play a large role in the postseason unless the series goes to its maximum number of games, giving one team an additional game at home. However, the first two games of a postseason series are hosted by the same team. That team may have an increased chance of starting the series with two wins,[162] thereby gaining some momentum for the rest of the series.[163] International play See also: List of Major League Baseball games played outside the United States and Canada, MLB Japan All-Star Series, MLB Taiwan All-Star Series, and 2019 MLB London Series Since 1986 an All-Star team from MLB is sent to a biennial end-of-the-season tour of Japan, dubbed as MLB Japan All-Star Series, playing exhibition games in a best-of format against the All-Stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) or recently as of 2014 their national team Samurai Japan. In 2008, MLB played the MLB China Series in the People's Republic of China. It was a series of two spring-training games between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. The games were an effort to popularize baseball in China.[164] MLB played the MLB Taiwan All-Star Series in Taiwan in November 2011. It was a series of five exhibition games played by a team made up of MLB players called the MLB All-Stars and the Chinese Taipei national baseball team. The MLB All-Stars swept the series, five games to zero.[165] At the end of the 2011 season, it was announced that the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics would play their season openers in Japan.[166] In October 2013, Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune wrote that MLB was considering postseason all-star tours in Taiwan and Korea; baseball is increasing in popularity in both countries.[167] The Arizona Diamondbacks opened the 2014 season against Los Angeles Dodgers on March 22–23 in Australia.[168] The teams played each other at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, which has a seating capacity of 46,000. The two games represented the first MLB regular-season play held in that country. The games counted as home games for the Diamondbacks, so they played 79 home games at Chase Field.[169] In 2019, the Red Sox were the home team in a regular-season two-game series against the Yankees. The games, which were the first regular-season MLB games held in Europe, were played on June 29–30 at London Stadium with the Yankees winning both games.[170] Together with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB sponsors the World Baseball Classic, an international baseball tournament contested by national teams.[citation needed] Performance-enhancing drugs See also: Doping in baseball and List of Major League Baseball players suspended for performance-enhancing drugs Rafael Palmeiro (batter), one of the MLB players suspended for steroid use[171] In 1998, both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hit more home runs than the record of 61 set by Yankees right fielder Roger Maris in 1961. Barry Bonds topped the record in 2001 with 73 home runs. McGwire, Bonds, and Sosa became the subjects of speculation regarding the use of performance-enhancing substances. McGwire later admitted that he used a steroid hormone that was still legal in baseball during the 1998 season.[172] Baseball's original steroid testing policy, in effect from 2002 to 2005, provided for penalties ranging from a ten-game suspension for a first positive test to a one-year suspension for a fourth positive test. Players were tested at least once per year, with the chance that several players could be tested many times per year.[173] A 2006 book, Game of Shadows by San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, chronicled alleged extensive use of performance enhancers, including several types of steroids and growth hormone by baseball superstars Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell was appointed by Selig on March 30, 2006[174] to investigate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in MLB. The appointment was made after several influential members of the U.S. Congress made negative comments about both the effectiveness and honesty of MLB's drug policies and Commissioner Selig.[175] The day before the Mitchell Report was to be released in 2007, Selig said, "I haven't seen the report yet, but I'm proud I did it."[176][177] The report said that after mandatory random testing began in 2004, HGH treatment for athletic enhancement became popular among players, as HGH is not detectable in tests. It pointed out that HGH is likely a placebo with no performance-enhancing effects.[178] The report included substance use allegations against at least one player from each MLB team.[179] According to ESPN, some people questioned whether Mitchell's director role with the Boston Red Sox created a conflict of interest, especially because no "prime [Sox] players were in the report."[180] The report named several prominent Yankees who were parts of World Series clubs; there is a long-running and fierce Yankees–Red Sox rivalry. Former U.S. prosecutor John M. Dowd brought up Mitchell's conflict of interest,[181] but he later said that the former senator had done a good job.[182] Mitchell acknowledged that his "tight relationship with Major League Baseball left him open to criticism",[183] but he said that readers who examine the report closely "will not find any evidence of bias, of special treatment of the Red Sox".[183] On January 10, 2013, MLB and the players union reached an agreement to add random, in-season HGH testing. They also agreed to implement a new test to reveal the use of testosterone for the 2013 season.[184] The current MLB drug policy provides for an 80-game suspension for a first positive test, a 162-game suspension for a second positive test, and a lifetime suspension for a third positive test.[185] In 2009, allegations surfaced against Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for banned substances. In early April 2011, Ramirez retired from baseball rather than face a 100-game suspension for his second positive steroid test.[186] He would later unretire, having the suspension dropped to 50 games, and would serve those in 2012.[citation needed] Media coverage Television Main article: Major League Baseball on television See also: List of current Major League Baseball broadcasters Several networks televise baseball games, including Fox, ESPN, TBS, and MLB Network. Since 2008, Fox Sports has broadcast MLB games on Saturdays throughout the entire season; Fox previously only broadcast games from May to September.[187] Fox also holds rights to the All-Star Game each season. Fox also alternates League Championship Series broadcasts, broadcasting the American League Championship Series (ALCS) in odd-numbered years and the National League Championship Series (NLCS) in even-numbered years. Fox broadcasts all games of the World Series. ESPN continues to broadcast MLB games as well, beginning with national Opening Day coverage.[188] ESPN broadcasts Sunday Night Baseball and Baseball Tonight. ESPN also has rights to the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game each July.[177] TBS has aired Sunday afternoon regular season games (non-exclusive) nationally, but beginning in 2022 this will be replaced by Tuesday night games.[189][190] In 2007, TBS began its exclusive rights to any tiebreaker games that determine division or wild card champions. It also airs exclusive coverage of the Division Series round of the playoffs.[191] TBS carries the League Championship Series that are not included under Fox's television agreement; TBS shows the NLCS in odd-numbered years and the ALCS in even-numbered years.[192] In January 2009, MLB launched the MLB Network, featuring news and coverage from around the league, and airing 26 live games in the 2009 season.[193] Each team also has local broadcasts for all games not carried by Fox on Saturdays or ESPN on Sunday nights. These games are typically split between a local broadcast television station and a local or regional sports network (RSN), though some teams only air local games through RSNs or through their own team networks. As Canada only contains one team, Sportsnet broadcasts Toronto Blue Jays games nationally.[194] The channel is owned by Rogers Communications, who is also the parent company of the Blue Jays.[194] Sportsnet also televises Fox's Saturday afternoon games, the All-Star Game, playoff games, and the World Series.[194][195] In April 2011, TSN2 began carrying ESPN Sunday Night Baseball in Canada.[196] TVA Sports airs Blue Jays games in French.[197] Several MLB games are broadcast exclusively on Internet television. After a year of exclusive games on Facebook,[198] MLB partnered with YouTube to stream weekly games on the service beginning in the 2019 season, and extending until 2022.[199][200][201] In 2022, MLB made a deal with Apple Inc. to launch Friday Night Baseball on its Apple TV+ streaming service, and NBC Sports to broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, a package of early Sunday afternoon games on Peacock.[202][203] Blackout policy Main article: Major League Baseball blackout policy See also: Syndication exclusivity MLB blackout map in the United States Canadian regions subject to   Toronto Blue Jays exclusively   Shared with Seattle Mariners   Shared with Minnesota Twins   Shared with Boston Red Sox Note: Toronto Blue Jays territory covers all of Canada MLB has several blackout rules.[204] A local broadcaster has priority to televise games of the team in their market over national broadcasters if the game is not exclusive to the national broadcaster. A market that has a local team playing in a non-exclusive game will receive an alternative programming feed on the national broadcaster.[205] MLB's streaming internet video service is also subject to the same blackout rules.[206] Radio and Internet Main article: Major League Baseball on the radio ESPN Radio holds national broadcast rights and broadcasts Sunday Night Baseball weekly throughout the season in addition to all playoff games.[207] The rights to the World Series are exclusive to ESPN. In 2021, TUDN Radio picked up Spanish-language rights to MLB games, starting with that year's postseason.[208] In addition, each team employs its own announcers, who broadcast during the regular season. Most teams operate regional networks to cover their fan bases; some of these supposedly regional networks (such as the New York Yankees Radio Network) have a national reach with affiliates located across the United States.[209] Major League Baseball has an exclusive rights deal with XM Satellite Radio, which includes the channel MLB Network Radio and live play-by-play of all games.[210] Many teams also maintain a network of stations that broadcast their games in Spanish; as of 2022, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the only team that produces radio broadcasts in a third language, with selected games broadcast in Korean.[211] Both Canadian teams (the Montreal Expos before their move to Washington, DC in 2005, and the Toronto Blue Jays) have produced radio broadcasts in French.[212] MLB games are also broadcast live on the internet. All television and radio broadcasts of games are available via subscription to MLB.tv at Major League Baseball's website, MLB.com, and radio-only broadcasts are also available via subscription to MLB.com Gameday Audio.[213] Radio station affiliates are officially forbidden from streaming games through their Internet feeds. Blackout rules are still applied for live television broadcasts, but not radio broadcasts.[citation needed] International broadcasting ESPN Deportes televises many MLB games in Spanish throughout Latin America.[214] Wapa 2 airs games in Puerto Rico, including spring training games and most of the World Baseball Classic games involving the team from Puerto Rico.[215] In Brazil, ESPN Brasil has exclusive rights on TV (ESPN and ESPN2) and Internet (WatchESPN).[216][citation needed] Five in the United Kingdom previously screened MLB games, including the All-Star Game and the postseason games, on Sunday and Wednesday usually starting at 1 a.m. BST. Most recently, Johnny Gould and Josh Chetwynd presented MLB on Five on that station.[217] The channel covered baseball beginning on its opening night in 1997, but for financial reasons, the decision was made not to pick up MLB for the 2009 season.[218] BT Sport ESPN show live and recorded games several times a week—it is available with BT Sport and (on a subscriber-basis) Virgin Media in the UK.[219] ESPN America televised many games in the UK and dozens of other countries; in May 2013, ESPN announced that it would shut down the channel on July 31, 2013.[220][221] In Australia, MLB games are regularly shown on ESPN Australia (subscription).[222] In the Middle East, North Africa and France, MLB games are broadcast on beIN Sports channels.[223][224] In Germany MLB games will be broadcast from 2022 exclusively on Sport1 until 2026.[225] In Hungary, MLB games are broadcast on Sport1 as of 2020.[226] The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit as a member of the minor league Western League in 1894 and is the only Western League team still in its original city. They are also the oldest continuous one name, one city franchise in the AL.[6] Since their establishment as a major league franchise in 1901, the Tigers have won four World Series championships (1935, 1945, 1968, and 1984), 11 AL pennants (1907, 1908, 1909, 1934, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1968, 1984, 2006, 2012), and four AL Central division championships (2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014). They also won division titles in 1972, 1984, and 1987 as a member of the AL East. Since 2000, the Tigers have played their home games at Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit. The Tigers constructed Bennett Park at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue in Corktown just west of Downtown Detroit and began playing there in 1896. In 1912, the team moved into Navin Field, which was built on the same location. It was expanded in 1938 and renamed Briggs Stadium. It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961 and the Tigers played there until 1999. From 1901 to 2022, the Tigers' overall win–loss record is 9512–9407 (.503).[7] The franchise's best winning percentage was .656 in 1934, while its worst was .265 in 2003. Franchise history Main article: History of the Detroit Tigers Western League beginnings (1894–1900) 1900 Detroit Tigers team photo The franchise was founded as a member of the reorganized Western League in 1894.[8] 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.[9] In 1895, owner George Vanderbeck decided to build Bennett Park at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues, which would remain the team's base of operations for the next 104 seasons.[10][11] 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.[10][11] The Tigers played their first Western League game at Bennett Park on April 28, 1896, defeating the Columbus Senators 17–2.[10][11] At the end of the 1897 season, Rube Waddell was loaned to the team to gain professional experience. After being fined, Waddell left Detroit to pitch in Canada.[12] When the Western League renamed itself the American League for 1900, it was still a minor league, but the next year, it broke from the National Agreement and declared itself a major league, openly competing with the National League for players and for fans in four contested cities.[13][14][15] For a while, there were rumors of the team relocating to Pittsburgh. However, these rumors were put to rest when the two leagues made peace in 1903 when they signed a new National Agreement.[16] First Major League season (1901) Logo (1901 to 1902) The Tigers were established as a charter member of the now major league American League in 1901.[17] They played their first game as a major league team at home against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 25, 1901, with an estimated 10,000 fans at Bennett Park.[14][18] After entering the ninth inning behind 13–4, the team staged a dramatic comeback to win 14–13.[18] The team finished third in the eight-team league.[19] That initial season they were the first major league team to have a mascot—a red tiger on a dark background—on their ballcap. It was replaced by the letter "D" in 1903, and their iconic Olde English-style letterform appeared the following year.[20] The Cobb era (1905–1926) 1905 Ty Cobb in 1913 In 1905, the team acquired 18-year-old Ty Cobb, a fearless player who came to be regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. The addition of Cobb to an already talented team that included Sam Crawford, Hughie Jennings, Bill Donovan and George Mullin quickly yielded results.[21] 1907 American League Champions Main article: 1907 Detroit Tigers season Behind the hitting of outfielders Ty Cobb (.350) and Sam Crawford (.323), and the pitching of Bill Donovan and Ed Killian (25 wins each), the Tigers went 92–58 to win the AL pennant in 1907 by 1.5 games over the Philadelphia Athletics.[22][23] They moved on to their first World Series appearance against the Chicago Cubs.[24][25] Game 1 ended in a rare 3–3 tie, called due to darkness after 12 innings.[24][25] The Tigers scored only three runs in the succeeding four games, never scoring more than one run in a game, and lost the Series, 4–0.[24] 1908 American League Champions Main article: 1908 Detroit Tigers season 1908 World Series program The Tigers won the AL by just a half-game over the 90–64 Cleveland Naps with a 90–63 record.[26] Cobb hit .324, while Sam Crawford hit .311 with 7 home runs, which was enough to lead the league in the "dead ball" era.[27] The Cubs, however, would defeat the Tigers again in the 1908 World Series, this time in five games.[28] This would be the Cubs' last World Championship until 2016.[29] 1909 American League Champions Main article: 1909 Detroit Tigers season In 1909, Detroit posted a 98–54 season, winning the AL pennant by 3.5 games over the Athletics.[30] Ty Cobb won the batting triple crown in 1909, hitting .377 with 9 home runs (all inside-the-park) and 107 RBIs.[31][32] He also led the league with 76 stolen bases.[32] George Mullin was the pitching hero, going 29–8 with a 2.22 ERA, while fellow pitcher Ed Willett went 21–10.[33] Mullin's 11–0 start in 1909 was a Tigers record for 104 years, finally being broken by Max Scherzer's 13–0 start in 2013.[34][35][36] It was hoped that a new opponent in the 1909 Series, the Pittsburgh Pirates, would yield different results. The Tigers performed better in the Fall Classic, taking Pittsburgh to seven games, but they were blown out 8–0 in the decisive game at Bennett Park.[37] 1910–1914 The Tigers dropped to third place in the American League in 1910 with an 86–68 record.[38] They posted 89 wins in 1911 to finish second, but were still well behind a powerhouse Philadelphia Athletics team that won 101 games.[39] The team sunk to a dismal sixth place in both the 1912 and 1913 seasons.[40][41] A bright spot in 1912 was George Mullin pitching the franchise's first no-hitter in a 7–0 win over the St. Louis Browns on July 4, his 32nd birthday.[42] Cobb went into the stands in a May 15, 1912, game to attack a fan that was abusing him, and was suspended. Three days later, the Tigers protested the suspension by fielding a team of replacement players against the Philadelphia Athletics. They lost 24–2.[43] During this five-season stretch, Cobb posted batting averages of .383, .420, .409, .390 and .368, winning the AL batting title every year.[44] 1915 Main article: 1915 Detroit Tigers season In 1915, the Tigers won a then-club record 100 games, but narrowly lost the AL pennant to the Boston Red Sox, who won 101 games.[45] The 1915 Tigers were led by an outfield consisting of Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, and Bobby Veach that finished #1, #2, and #3 in RBIs and total bases.[46] Cobb also set a stolen base record with 96 steals in 1915 that stood until 1962, when it was broken by Maury Wills.[47] Baseball historian Bill James has ranked the 1915 Tigers outfield as the greatest in the history of baseball.[46] The only team in Tigers' history with a better winning percentage than the 1915 squad was the 1934 team that lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.[48] 1916–1920 The Tigers dropped to third place in 1916 with an 87–67 record, and would remain mired in the middle of the AL standings the rest of the decade, never winning more than 80 games.[49][50][51][52][53] In the late teens and into the 1920s, Cobb continued to be the marquee player, though he was pushed by budding star outfielder Harry Heilmann, who went on to hit .342 for his career.[54] Hughie Jennings left the Tigers after the 1920 season, having accumulated 1,131 wins as a manager.[55] This stood as a Tiger record until 1992, when it was broken by Sparky Anderson.[56] Cobb himself took over managerial duties in 1921, but during his six years at the helm, the Tigers topped out at 86 wins and never won a pennant.[57][58][59] 1921 Main article: 1921 Detroit Tigers season In 1921, the Tigers amassed 1,724 hits and a team batting average of .316, the highest team hit total and batting average in AL history.[60] That year, outfielders Harry Heilmann and Ty Cobb finished #1 and #2 in the American League batting race with batting averages of .394 and .389, respectively.[61] The downfall of the 1921 Tigers, however, was the absence of good pitching. The team ERA was 4.40.[62] Without pitching to support the offense, the 1921 Tigers finished in sixth place in the American League at 71–82, 27 games behind the New York Yankees.[63] On August 19, 1921, Cobb collected his 3,000th career hit off Elmer Myers of the Boston Red Sox. Aged 34 at the time, he is still the youngest player to reach that milestone, also reaching it in the fewest at-bats (8,093).[64][65] 1922–1926 The Tigers continued to field good teams during Ty Cobb's tenure as player-manager, finishing as high as second in 1923, but lack of quality pitching kept them from winning a pennant.[58][66] Harry Heilmann hit .403 in 1923, becoming the last AL player to top .400 until Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.[67] In 1925, Heilmann collected six hits in a season-ending doubleheader to win the batting title, finishing at .393 to Tris Speaker's .389.[68][69] Cobb announced his retirement in November 1926 after 22 seasons with the Tigers, though he would return to play two more seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics.[57][58] The Tigers break through (1927–1940) Hank Greenberg 1927–1933 Though the Tigers struggled with mediocre records in the seven years following Cobb's departure, they were building a solid foundation, adding slugging first baseman Hank Greenberg and pitchers Tommy Bridges and Schoolboy Rowe to a lineup that already included second baseman Charlie Gehringer.[70] In 1927, Harry Heilmann flirted with a .400 batting average all year, eventually finishing at .398 and winning his fourth AL batting title.[71] Following the 1933 season, the Tigers added perhaps the final piece of the puzzle, acquiring catcher Mickey Cochrane from the Philadelphia Athletics to serve as player-manager.[70] 1934 American League Champions Main article: 1934 Detroit Tigers season The Tigers won the 1934 AL pennant with a 101–53 record, at the time a team record for wins, and still the best win percentage (.656) in team history.[48] The Tigers infield (Hank Greenberg and Charlie Gehringer, along with shortstop Billy Rogell and third baseman Marv Owen) accumulated 462 runs during the season, with Gehringer (214 hits, .356 average) leading the way.[72][73] Schoolboy Rowe led a strong pitching staff, winning 16 straight decisions at one point of the season and finishing with a 24–8 record.[74] The Tigers would fall in the 1934 World Series in seven games to the "Gashouse Gang" St. Louis Cardinals.[70][75] After winning a tight battle in Game 5 with a 3–1 decision over Dizzy Dean, Detroit took a 3–2 series lead, but would lose the next two games at Navin Field (Tiger Stadium).[75] For the second time in a World Series Game 7, Detroit folded. St. Louis scored seven times in the third inning off starter Elden Auker and a pair of relievers, while Dean baffled the Tiger hitters en route to an 11–0 victory.[70][75][76][77] The final game was marred by an ugly incident. After spiking Tigers third baseman Marv Owen in the sixth inning, Cardinals left fielder Joe Medwick had to be removed from the game for his own safety by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis after being pelted with debris from angry fans in the large temporary bleacher section in left field.[70][75][76] 1935 World Series Champions Main article: 1935 Detroit Tigers season The Tigers 1935 lineup featured four future Hall of Famers (Hank Greenberg, Mickey Cochrane, Goose Goslin and Charlie Gehringer).[78] Although they did not challenge the 1934 team's 101 wins, their 93–58 record was good enough to give them the AL pennant by three games over the New York Yankees.[79] Greenberg was named AL MVP after hitting .328 and leading the league in home runs (36), extra-base hits (98) and RBIs (168).[80][81] Incredibly, Greenberg's RBI total was 48 higher than the next closest player (Lou Gehrig, with 120).[81] The Tigers also got strong contributions from Gehringer (.330), Cochrane (.319) and starting pitchers Tommy Bridges (21–10) and Elden Auker (18–7).[82] The Tigers finally won their first World Series, defeating the Chicago Cubs, 4–2. Game 6 concluded with Goslin's dramatic walk-off RBI single, scoring Cochrane for a 4–3 victory.[70] After owner Frank Navin died in the offseason, Walter Briggs Sr. took over control of the team.[83][84] 1936–1939 Despite being forecast to win the American League pennant again in 1936,[85] the Tigers fell to a distant second place behind the New York Yankees both that season and in 1937.[86][87] The team fell further down the standings with an 84–70 record in 1938 and an 81–73 record in 1939.[88][89] Hank Greenberg nevertheless provided some excitement for Tigers fans in 1938 by challenging the single-season home run record held by Babe Ruth (60). He went into the season's final weekend against the Cleveland Indians with 58 home runs, tied with Jimmie Foxx for the most by a right-handed batter at the time, but he failed to homer.[90][91][92] During the final week of the 1938 season, the Tigers presciently held out doubts about a pennant in 1939, but figured that 1940 would be their year.[93] 1940 American League Champions Main article: 1940 Detroit Tigers season In a tight three-team race, the 90–64 Tigers won the 1940 AL pennant by one game over the Cleveland Indians and two games over the New York Yankees.[94] Prior to the season, first baseman Hank Greenberg was persuaded to move to left field to make room for Rudy York, whom the Tigers had deemed no longer suitable to be their catcher.[95] The move proved successful. York hit .316 with 33 home runs and 134 RBIs. Greenberg batted .340 and slammed 41 home runs while driving in 150.[96] Greenberg won his second AL MVP award, becoming the first major leaguer to win the award at two different positions.[95] Charlie Gehringer batted .313 while collecting 101 walks (for a .428 on-base percentage) and scoring 108 runs.[96] Bobo Newsom was the ace of the Tiger pitching staff in 1940, going 21–5 with a 2.83 ERA.[96] An unlikely hero on the mound this season was 30-year-old rookie Floyd Giebell. Making just his third major league start on September 27, Giebell was called upon to pitch the pennant-clinching game against Bob Feller of the Indians. Feller surrendered just three hits, one being a 2-run homer by Rudy York, while Giebell blanked the Tribe for a 2–0 victory.[97][98] The Tigers lost the 1940 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds in seven games.[99][100] Despite a heroic effort by Bobo Newsom, the Tigers came up short in the deciding game, losing 2–1.[99][100] Newsom's father had died in a Cincinnati hotel room after watching his son win Game 1.[99][100] An inspired Newsom won Game 5 and pitched Game 7 on just one day's rest.[99][100] This was the third time the Tigers had lost a World Series in a deciding seventh game.[100] The war years (1941–1945) Hal Newhouser With Hank Greenberg serving in World War II for all or parts of the 1941–1944 seasons, the Tigers struggled to recapture the glory of 1940.[101] They finished no higher than fifth place in 1941–1943, but did manage a second-place finish in 1944, largely on the strength of pitchers Hal Newhouser and Dizzy Trout, who won 29 and 27 games, respectively.[102][103][104][105][106] Newhouser, who was 29–9 with a 2.22 ERA, won the first of his two consecutive AL MVP awards this season.[106][107] The Tigers were in first place as late as September 18, but would finish one game behind the St. Louis Browns for the AL pennant.[105][108] 1945 World Series Champions Main article: 1945 Detroit Tigers season With the end of World War II and the timely return of Hank Greenberg and others from the military, the Tigers won the AL pennant by just 1.5 games over the Washington Senators with an 88–65 record.[109][110] Virgil Trucks returned from the U.S. Navy in time to pitch 5+1⁄3 innings of 1-run ball in the pennant-clinching game, with starter Hal Newhouser pitching the final 3+2⁄3 innings in relief. Newhouser won the pitching triple crown, leading the AL in wins (25), ERA (1.81) and strikeouts (212).[111] He became the first pitcher in the history of the AL, and still the only pitcher as of 2022, to win the MVP Award in two consecutive seasons.[112] With Newhouser, Trucks and Dizzy Trout on the mound and Greenberg leading the offense, Detroit responded in a World Series Game 7 for the first time, staking Newhouser to a 5–0 lead before he threw a pitch en route to a 9–3 victory over the Cubs.[113][114] Because many stars had not yet returned from the military, some baseball scholars have deemed the 1945 World Series to be among the worst-played contests in World Series history. For example, prior to the World Series, Chicago sportswriter Warren Brown was asked who he liked, and he answered, "I don't think either one of them can win."[115] A long drought (1946–1967) 1946–1950 Following their World Series win in 1945, the Tigers continued to have winning records for the remainder of the decade, finishing second in the AL three times, but never winning the pennant.[116][117][118][119][120] Hal Newhouser had another outstanding season in 1946, again leading the league in wins (26) and ERA (1.94) while striking out a career-high 275 batters. He nearly won his third straight AL MVP award, finishing second to Ted Williams, who had led the Boston Red Sox to 104 wins (12 games ahead of the second-place Tigers). Also in 1946, the Tigers acquired George Kell, a third baseman who would become a 10-time all-star and Hall of Famer.[121][122] He batted over .300 in eight straight seasons (1946–53), and finished with a career .306 average.[121][122] Kell won the batting title in a very close race with Ted Williams in 1949, going 2-for-3 on the last day of the season to edge out the Red Sox slugger, .34291 to .34276.[121][122][123] The 1950 season was particularly frustrating, as the Tigers posted a 95–59 record for a .617 winning percentage, the fourth-best in team history at the time. However, they finished that season three games behind a strong New York Yankees team that went on to sweep the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.[120][124] 1951–1960 Over the next 10 years, the Tigers sank to the middle and lower ranks of the American League. The team had only three winning records over this span and never finished higher than fourth place.[125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134] The last place 1952 team went 50–104 (.325), which was the worst season in Tigers history until the 2003 team lost 119 games.[135][136] Despite the dismal season, starter Virgil Trucks threw two no-hitters in 1952, becoming only the third pitcher in major league history to accomplished this feat.[137] 1952 also saw Tiger first baseman Walt Dropo get a hit in 12 consecutive plate appearances over a three-game stretch from July 14 to July 15, tying a major league record set by Johnny Kling in 1902.[138] Team owner Walter Briggs Sr. died in 1952. His son Walter Briggs Jr. inherited the team, but he was forced to sell it in 1956 to broadcast media owners John Fetzer and Fred Knorr.[139][140][141] Notwithstanding Detroit's fall in the standings, the decade saw the debut of outfielder Al Kaline in 1953. One of the few major league players who never played a day in the minor leagues, he would hit over .300 nine times in his career. He also made 15 All-Star teams, won 10 Gold Gloves, and featured one of the league's best arms in right field. In 1955, the 20-year-old Kaline hit .340 to become the youngest-ever batting champion in major league history.[142] 1958 saw the Tigers become the second to last team to integrate their roster when Dominican player Ozzie Virgil Sr. joined the team. Only the Boston Red Sox trailed the Tigers in integrating their roster.[143][144] 1961 Main article: 1961 Detroit Tigers season As the American League expanded from 8 to 10 teams, Detroit began its slow ascent back to success with an outstanding 1961 campaign. The Tigers led the majors in runs scored and won 101 games, a whopping 30-game improvement over the 71–83 1960 team, but still finished eight games behind the Yankees.[145] This marked one of the few times in major league history that a team failed to reach the postseason despite winning 100 or more games, though it had happened once before to the Tigers in 1915.[145] First baseman Norm Cash won the batting title with a .361 average, while teammate Al Kaline finished second.[145][146] Cash never hit over .286 before or after the 1961 season, and would later say of the accomplishment: "It was a freak. Even at the time, I realized that."[147] Cash's plate heroics, which also included 41 home runs and 132 RBI, might have earned him MVP honors were it not for New York's Roger Maris bashing a then record 61 homers the same season.[145] Cash also drew 124 walks for a league-leading .487 on-base percentage.[146] Tigers outfielder Rocky Colavito actually bettered Cash's home run and RBI totals, with 45 and 140, respectively.[148] The 1961 club featured two non-white starters, Bill Bruton and Jake Wood, and later in the 1960s, black players such as Willie Horton, Earl Wilson, and Gates Brown would contribute to Detroit's rise in the standings.[149][150][151][152][153] 1962–1966 Hall of Fame member Al Kaline, nicknamed "Mr. Tiger" (1953–1974), was an 18× All-Star As a strong nucleus developed, Detroit repeatedly posted winning records throughout the 1960s. In 1963, pitchers Mickey Lolich and Denny McLain entered the rotation.[154][155] Outfielders Willie Horton (1963), Mickey Stanley (1964) and Jim Northrup (1964) would also come aboard around this time.[151][156][157] The team managed a third-place finish during a bizarre 1966 season, in which manager Chuck Dressen and acting manager Bob Swift were both forced to resign their posts because of health problems.[158][159][160] Thereafter, Frank Skaff took over the managerial reins until the end of the season.[161] Both Dressen and Swift died during the year; Dressen died of a heart attack in August, while Swift died of lung cancer in October.[159][160] Following the season, the Tigers hired Mayo Smith to be their new manager.[162] 1967 Main article: 1967 Detroit Tigers season In 1967, the Tigers were involved in one of the closest pennant races in history. Because of rainouts, the Tigers were forced to play back-to-back doubleheaders against the California Angels over the final two days of the season.[163][164] They needed to sweep the doubleheader on the last day of the season to force a one-game playoff with the Boston Red Sox.[163][164] The Tigers won the first game, but lost the second, giving the Red Sox the pennant with no playoff.[163][164] Detroit finished the season at 91–71, one game behind Boston.[165] Starter Earl Wilson, acquired the previous season from the Red Sox, led the Tigers (and the major leagues) with 22 wins and would form a strong 1–2–3 combination with Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich over the next few years.[152][166] 1968–1972 Glory in '68: 1968 World Series Champions Main article: 1968 Detroit Tigers season The Tigers finally returned to the World Series in 1968. The team grabbed first place from the Baltimore Orioles on May 10 and would not relinquish the position, clinching the pennant on September 17 and finishing with a 103–59 record.[167] In a year that was marked by dominant pitching, starter Denny McLain went 31–6 (with a 1.96 ERA), the first time a pitcher had won 30 or more games in a season since Dizzy Dean accomplished the feat in 1934; no pitcher has accomplished it since.[168] McLain won the AL MVP and Cy Young Award for his efforts.[169][170] 1968 World Series Main article: 1968 World Series 1968 World Series program and tickets for Games 4 and 5 at Tiger Stadium In the 1968 World Series, the Tigers met the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, led by starter Bob Gibson, who had posted a modern-era record 1.12 ERA during the regular season, and speedy outfielder Lou Brock.[168][171][172] This was the first time the Tigers and Cardinals had met in the World Series since 1934.[173] The series was predicated with a bold decision by manager Mayo Smith to play center fielder Mickey Stanley at shortstop, replacing the slick fielding but weak hitting of Ray Oyler.[174][175] Stanley had never played shortstop before, but was a Gold Glover in the outfield and an excellent athlete.[174] Smith played him at short for the final nine games of the regular season and all seven World Series games, with Oyler only appearing as a late-inning defensive replacement.[174][175] This allowed Smith to play an outfield of Willie Horton, Jim Northrup and Al Kaline in every game.[174][175] In Game 1, Gibson completely shut down the Detroit lineup, striking out a World Series record 17 batters en route to an easy 4–0 win.[176][177] However, due in no small part to pitcher Mickey Lolich's victories in Games 2 and 5, the Tigers climbed back into the World Series.[178] Many fans believe the turning point came in the fifth inning of Game 5, with the Tigers down three games to one, and trailing in the game, 3–2. Left fielder Willie Horton made a perfect throw to home plate to nail Lou Brock, who tried to score from second base standing up, as catcher Bill Freehan blocked the plate with his foot.[178][179] The Tigers came back with three runs in the seventh to win that game, 5–3, and stay alive.[178][179] The Cardinals would not threaten to score the rest of this game, and scored only two more meaningless runs over the remainder of the series. In Game 6, McLain ensured a Game 7 by notching his only win of the World Series, a 13–1 blowout, despite pitching on only two days' rest.[178] Mickey Lolich was the 1968 World Series MVP In Game 7 at Busch Memorial Stadium, Lolich, also pitching on two days' rest, faced Gibson.[173] Both men pitched brilliantly, putting zeros up on the scoreboard for much of the game.[173] In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cardinals looked primed to take the lead as Lou Brock singled to lead off the inning, only to be promptly picked off by Lolich.[173] One out later, Curt Flood followed with another single, and was also picked off by Lolich.[173] In the top of the seventh, an exhausted Gibson finally cracked, giving up two-out singles to Norm Cash and Willie Horton.[173] Jim Northrup then struck the decisive blow, lashing a triple to center field over the head of Flood, who appeared to misjudge how hard the ball was hit.[173] That scored both Cash and Horton; Northrup himself was then brought home by a Bill Freehan double.[173] Detroit added an insurance run in the ninth.[173] A ninth-inning solo home run by Mike Shannon was all the Cardinals could muster against Lolich as the Tigers took the game, 4–1, and the World Series, 4–3.[173][178] The Tigers became only the third team to ever win the World Series after being down 3–1.[173] For his three victories that propelled the Tigers to the championship, Lolich was named the World Series Most Valuable Player.[173][178] As of 2022, Lolich is the last pitcher to have three complete-game victories in a single World Series.[154][173] 1969–1971 1969 saw further expansion as both leagues realigned into two divisions of six teams, and the Tigers were placed in the American League East.[180][181] That year, Detroit failed to defend its title, despite Denny McLain having another outstanding season with a 24–9 campaign, earning him his second straight Cy Young Award (co-winner with Baltimore's Mike Cuellar).[182] The Tigers' 90 wins placed them a distant second in the division to a very strong Baltimore Orioles team, which had won 109 games.[181][183] The Tigers suffered a disappointing 1970 season, finishing fourth in the AL East with a 79–83 record.[184] Following the season, Mayo Smith was let go and was replaced by Billy Martin.[185][186][187] In a playing career that was primarily spent with the New York Yankees, Martin played his final games with the Minnesota Twins and stayed in that organization after his retirement.[187] He managed the Twins to an AL West Division title in 1969, but was fired after that season due to rocky relationships with his players, which included a legendary fight with pitcher Dave Boswell in an alley behind Detroit's Lindell AC sports bar.[187][188] Also during the offseason, Denny McLain, who had been suspended three times and had a 3–5 record, was part of an eight-player deal with the Washington Senators in what would turn out to be a heist for Detroit.[189][190][191][192] The Tigers acquired pitcher Joe Coleman, shortstop Eddie Brinkman and third baseman Aurelio Rodríguez.[189][191][192] Martin's Tigers posted 91 wins in 1971. However, they had to settle for a second-place finish behind the Orioles, who won 101 games to take their third straight AL East Division crown.[193] The season was highlighted by Mickey Lolich's 308 strikeouts, which led the AL and is still the single-season record in franchise history.[154] Lolich also won 25 games and posted a 2.92 ERA while throwing an incredible 376 innings and completing 29 of his 45 starts.[194][195] Coleman paid immediate dividends for Detroit, winning 20 games,[194] while McLain went 10–22 for the Senators and was out of baseball by the following season.[190][191][196] 1972 AL East Champions Main article: 1972 Detroit Tigers season Joe Coleman, Eddie Brinkman and Aurelio Rodríguez all played critical roles in 1972, when the Tigers captured their first AL East division title.[191][197] Oddities of the schedule due to an early season strike allowed the 86–70 Tigers to win the division by just 1⁄2 game.[197][198] Brinkman was named Tiger of the Year by the Detroit Baseball Writers, despite a .203 batting average, as he committed just 7 errors in 728 chances (.990 fielding percentage). He also had a streak of 72 games and 331 chances without an error during the season, both AL records for a shortstop.[199] Mickey Lolich was his steady self for the Tigers, winning 22 games with a sparkling 2.50 ERA, while Coleman won 19 and had a 2.80 ERA.[198] Starter Woodie Fryman, acquired on August 2, was the final piece of the puzzle as he went 10–3 over the last two months of the regular season and posted a minuscule 2.06 ERA.[200] Fryman was also the winning pitcher in the division-clinching game against the Boston Red Sox, a 3–1 victory on October 3.[200][201] 1972 ALCS Main article: 1972 American League Championship Series In the 1972 American League Championship Series, Detroit faced the American League West division champion Oakland Athletics, who had become steadily competitive ever since the 1969 realignment.[202] In Game 1 of the ALCS in Oakland, Mickey Lolich, the hero of '68, took the hill and allowed just one run over nine innings. The Athletics' ace, Catfish Hunter, matched Lolich, surrendering only a solo home run to Norm Cash, and the game went into extra innings.[202] Al Kaline hit a solo homer to break a 1–1 tie in the top of the 11th inning, only to be charged with a throwing error on Gonzalo Márquez's game-tying single in the bottom half of the frame that allowed Gene Tenace to score the winning run.[202] Blue Moon Odom shut down Detroit 5–0 in Game 2.[202] The end of Game 2 was marred by an ugly incident in which Tigers reliever Lerrin LaGrow hit A's shortstop and leadoff hitter Bert Campaneris on the ankle with a pitch. An angered Campaneris threw the bat at LaGrow, and LaGrow ducked just in time for the bat to sail over his head. Both benches cleared, and though no punches were thrown, both LaGrow and Campaneris were suspended for the remainder of the series. It was widely believed that Martin had ordered the pitch that hit Campaneris, who had three hits, two stolen bases and two runs scored in the game.[202][203] As the series shifted to Detroit, the Tigers caught their stride. Joe Coleman held the A's scoreless on seven hits in Game 3, striking out 14 batters in a 3–0 victory for the Tigers.[202][204] Game 4 was another pitchers' duel between Hunter and Lolich, resulting again in a 1–1 tie at the end of nine innings. Oakland scored two runs in the top of the 10th and put the Tigers down to their last three outs.[202] Detroit pushed two runs across the plate to tie the game before Jim Northrup came through in the clutch again. His single off Dave Hamilton scored Gates Brown to give the Tigers a 4–3 win and even the series at two games apiece.[202] A first-inning run on an RBI ground out from Bill Freehan, set up by a Gene Tenace passed ball that allowed Dick McAuliffe to reach third, gave Detroit an early lead in the deciding fifth and final game in Detroit.[202] Reggie Jackson's steal of home in the second inning tied it up, though Jackson was injured in a collision with Freehan and had to leave the game.[202] Tenace's two-out single to left field plated George Hendrick to give Oakland a 2–1 lead in the fourth inning. The run was controversial to many Tigers fans, as Hendrick was ruled safe at first base two batters prior to the Tenace hit. Hendrick appeared to be out by two steps on a grounder to short, but umpire John Rice ruled that Norm Cash pulled his foot off first base. Replays and photos, however, show that Cash did not pull his foot.[157][202] Thanks to that play and four innings of scoreless relief from Vida Blue, the A's took the AL pennant and a spot in the World Series.[202] A slow decline (1973–1978) Willie Horton (1963–1977) had his No. 23 retired by the club The 1973 season saw the Tigers drop to third place in the division, with an 85–77 record.[205] Joe Coleman posted another 23 wins, but the other Tiger starters had subpar seasons.[206] Willie Horton hit .316, but injuries limited him to just 111 games.[151] Jim Northrup posted the best batting average of his career (.307) but was inexplicably limited to part-time duty (119 games played), which Northrup attributed to an ongoing feud with Billy Martin that had actually started in the 1972 ALCS. Northrup even proclaimed to the press that Martin "took the fun out of the game."[157] Martin did not survive the 1973 season as manager. He was fired that September after ordering his pitchers to throw spitballs (and telling the press that he did so) in protest of opposing Cleveland Indians pitcher Gaylord Perry, whom Martin was convinced was doing the same.[187][207] Third base coach Joe Schultz served as interim manager for the remainder of the season.[207] A bright spot for the Tigers in 1973 was relief pitcher John Hiller, who marked his first full season since suffering a heart attack in 1971 by collecting a league-leading 38 saves and posting a brilliant 1.44 ERA.[208] Hiller's saves total would stand as a Tiger record until 2000, when it was broken by Todd Jones' 42 saves (Jones' record would later be broken by José Valverde's 49 saves in 2011).[208][209][210] After the season, the Tigers hired Ralph Houk to be their new manager. Houk served in that capacity for five full seasons, through the end of the 1978 season.[211] The roster of players who played under Houk were mostly aging veterans from the 1960s, whose performance had slipped from their peak years.[212] The Tigers did not have a winning season from 1974 to 1977, and their 57 wins in the 1975 season was the team's lowest since 1952.[213][214][215][216] Perhaps the biggest signal of decline for the Tigers was the retirement of Kaline following the 1974 season, after he notched his 3,000th career hit.[217][218] Kaline finished with 3,007 hits and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1980.[219][220] 1976: The Year of The Bird Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, 1976 AL Rookie of the Year Main article: 1976 Detroit Tigers season Tiger fans were provided a glimmer of hope when 21-year-old rookie Mark Fidrych made his debut in 1976.[221] Fidrych, known as "The Bird", was a colorful character known for talking to the baseball and other eccentricities.[221] During a game against the Yankees, Graig Nettles responded to Fidrych's antics by talking to his bat. After making an out, he later lamented that his Japanese-made bat did not understand him.[222] Fidrych entered the All-Star break at 9–2 with a 1.78 ERA, and was the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game played that year in Philadelphia to celebrate the American Bicentennial.[221] He finished the season with a record of 19–9 and an American League-leading ERA of 2.34.[221] Fidrych, the AL Rookie of the Year, was one of the few bright spots that year with the Tigers finishing next to last in the AL East in 1976.[215][221] Aurelio Rodríguez won the Gold Glove Award in 1976 at third base, snapping a streak in which Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson had won it for 16 consecutive seasons.[223] 1977–1978 Injuries to his knee, and later his arm, drastically limited Fidrych's appearances in 1977–78.[221] Perhaps more important, however, was the talent coming up through the Tigers farm system at the time. Jack Morris, Lance Parrish, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker all made their debuts in 1977, and would help the team to 88 wins in 1978, the only winning season under Houk.[224][225] The "Bless You Boys" era (1979–1987) Houk's immediate successor as Tigers manager in 1979 was Les Moss, but Moss would only last until June of that year.[226] From June 14, 1979, until the end of the 1995 season, the team was managed by George "Sparky" Anderson, one of baseball's winningest managers and winner of two World Series rings as manager of the Cincinnati Reds during their peak as The Big Red Machine.[227] When Anderson joined the Tigers in 1979 and assessed the team's young talent, he boldly predicted that it would be a pennant winner within five years.[228] Acerbic sports anchor Al Ackerman initiated the phrase "Bless You Boys". Originally used as a sarcastic remark, Ackerman's phrase would take on a new meaning in 1984.[229][230] The Roar of '84: 1984 World Series Champions Sparky Anderson was the manager of the Tigers from 1979 to 1995 Main article: 1984 Detroit Tigers season As in 1968, the Tigers' next World Series season would be preceded by a disappointing second-place finish, as the 1983 Tigers won 92 games to finish six games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.[231] The first major news of the 1984 season actually came in late 1983, when broadcasting magnate John Fetzer, who had owned the Tigers since 1957, sold the team to Domino's Pizza founder and CEO Tom Monaghan for $53 million.[232][233] The 1984 team got off to a 9–0 start highlighted by Jack Morris tossing a nationally televised no-hitter against Chicago in the fourth game of the season.[234][235] They stayed hot for most of the year, posting a 35–5 record over their first forty games and cruising to a franchise-record 104 victories.[236] The Tigers led the division from opening day until the end of the regular season and finished a staggering 15 games ahead of the second-place Toronto Blue Jays.[236] Closer Willie Hernández, acquired from the 1983 NL champion Philadelphia Phillies in the offseason, won both the Cy Young Award and AL MVP, a rarity for a relief pitcher.[237] 1984 ALCS Main article: 1984 American League Championship Series The Tigers faced the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series. In Game 1, Alan Trammell, Lance Parrish and Larry Herndon went deep to crush the Royals 8–1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium).[238] In Game 2, the Tigers scored twice in the 11th inning when Johnny Grubb doubled off Royals closer Dan Quisenberry en route to a 5–3 victory.[239][240] The Tigers completed the sweep at Tiger Stadium in Game 3. Marty Castillo's third-inning RBI fielder's choice would be all the help Detroit would need. Milt Wilcox outdueled Charlie Leibrandt, and after Hernandez got Darryl Motley to pop out to preserve the 1–0 win, the Tigers were returning to the World Series.[239][241] 1984 World Series Main article: 1984 World Series In the NLCS, the San Diego Padres rallied from losing the first two games to overcome the Chicago Cubs and prevent a fifth Cubs-Tigers series. The Tigers would open the 1984 World Series on the road in San Diego.[242] In Game 1, Larry Herndon hit a two-run home run that gave the Tigers a 3–2 lead.[243] Jack Morris pitched a complete game with 2 runs on 8 hits, and Detroit drew first blood.[243][244] The Padres evened the series the next night despite pitcher Ed Whitson being chased after pitching 2⁄3 of an inning and giving up three runs on five Tiger hits.[243][245] Tigers starter Dan Petry exited the game after 4+1⁄3 innings when Kurt Bevacqua's three-run homer gave San Diego a 5–3 lead they would not relinquish.[243][245] When the series shifted to the Motor City, the Tigers took command. In Game 3, a two-out rally in the second inning, highlighted by Marty Castillo's 2-run homer, led to four runs and the yanking of Padres starter Tim Lollar after 1+2⁄3 innings.[243][246] The Padres never recovered, losing 5–2.[243][246] Eric Show continued the parade of bad outings in Game 4, getting bounced after 2+2⁄3 innings after giving up a pair of 2-run homers to World Series MVP Alan Trammell in his first two at-bats. Trammell's homers held up with the help of another Morris complete game, and the Tigers' 4–2 win gave them a commanding lead in the series.[243][247] Kirk Gibson, a Michigan State alumni, hit the clinching home run in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series In Game 5, Kirk Gibson's two-run shot in the first inning would be the beginning of another early end for the Padres' starter Mark Thurmond.[243][248][249] Although the Padres would pull back even at 3–3, chasing Petry in the fourth inning in the process, the Tigers retook the lead on a Rusty Kuntz sacrifice fly (actually a pop-out to retreating second baseman Alan Wiggins that the speedy Gibson was able to score on), and then went up 5–3 on a solo homer by Parrish.[243][248][249] Gibson came to bat in the eighth inning with runners on second and third and the Tigers clinging to a 5–4 lead.[243][248][249] A "Sounds of the Game" video made during the Series by MLB Productions captured this moment, and has been played on TV a number of times since then. Padres manager Dick Williams was shown in the dugout flashing four fingers, ordering an intentional walk, before San Diego reliever Goose Gossage summoned him to the mound. Sparky Anderson was seen and heard yelling to Gibson, "He don't want to walk you!", and making a swing-the-bat gesture.[250] As Anderson had suspected, Gossage threw a 1–0 fastball on the inside corner, and Gibson was ready. He launched the pitch into Tiger Stadium's right field upper deck for a three-run homer, giving the Tigers a four-run lead and effectively clinching the game and the series.[243][248][249][251] Aurelio López pitched 2+1⁄3 innings of relief and retired all seven batters he faced, earning the win. Despite allowing a rare run in the top of the 8th inning, Willie Hernández got the save as Tony Gwynn flew out to Larry Herndon to end the game, sending Detroit into a wild victory celebration.[243][248][249] 1984 World Series MVP, Alan Trammell (SS) The Tigers led their division wire-to-wire, from opening day and every day thereafter, culminating in the World Series championship. This had not been done in the major leagues since the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers.[252] With the win, Anderson became the first manager to win the World Series in both leagues.[253] 1987 AL East Champions Main article: 1987 Detroit Tigers season After a pair of third-place finishes in 1985 and 1986,[254][255] the 1987 Tigers faced lowered expectations – which seemed to be confirmed by an 11–19 start to the season.[256] However, the team hit its stride thereafter and gradually gained ground on its AL East rivals.[256] This charge was fueled in part by the acquisition of pitcher Doyle Alexander from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for minor league pitcher John Smoltz. Alexander started 11 games for the Tigers, posting a 9–0 record and a 1.53 ERA. Smoltz, a Michigan native, went on to have a long and productive career, mostly with the Braves, and was ultimately inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.[256][257] Despite the Tigers' great season, they entered September neck-and-neck with the Toronto Blue Jays. The two teams would square off in seven hard-fought games during the final two weeks of the season. All seven games were decided by one run, and in the first six of the seven games, the winning run was scored in the final inning of play. At Exhibition Stadium, the Tigers dropped three in a row to the Blue Jays before winning a dramatic extra-inning showdown.[256] The Tigers entered the final week of the 1987 season 2.5 games behind.[256] After a series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Tigers returned home trailing by a game and swept the Blue Jays.[256] Detroit clinched the division in a 1–0 victory over Toronto in front of 51,000 fans at Tiger Stadium on October 4. Frank Tanana went all nine innings for the complete-game shutout, and outfielder Larry Herndon gave the Tigers their lone run on a second-inning home run. Detroit finished the season two games ahead of Toronto, securing the best record in the majors (98–64).[256][258] In what would prove to be their last postseason appearance until 2006, the Tigers were upset in the 1987 American League Championship Series by the 85–77 Minnesota Twins (who in turn won the World Series that year) 4–1.[256][258][259] The Twins clinched the series in Game 5 at Tiger Stadium, 9–5.[260] A new approach (1988–1995) Despite their 1987 division title victory, the Tigers proved unable to build on their success. The team lost Kirk Gibson to free agency in the offseason, but still spent much of 1988 in first place in the AL East. A late season slump left the team in second place at 88–74, one game behind the Boston Red Sox.[261][262] Cecil Fielder in 1996 In 1989, the team collapsed to a 59–103 record, worst in the majors.[263][264] The franchise then attempted to rebuild using a power-hitting approach, with sluggers Cecil Fielder, Rob Deer and Mickey Tettleton joining Trammell and Whitaker in the lineup (fitting for the team with the most 200+ home run seasons in baseball history).[265] In 1990, Fielder led the American League with 51 home runs (becoming the first player to hit 50 since George Foster in 1977, and the first AL player since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961), and finished second in the voting for AL MVP.[266][267][268] He hit 44 home runs and collected 132 RBI in 1991, again finishing second in the AL MVP balloting.[269] Behind the hitting of Fielder and others, the Tigers improved by 20 wins in 1990 (79–83), and posted a winning record in 1991 (84–78).[270][271] However, the team lacked quality pitching, despite Bill Gullickson's 20 wins in 1991, and its core of key players began to age, setting the franchise up for decline.[272] Their minor league system was largely barren of talent as well, producing only a few everyday players during the 1990s.[273][274][275] Adding insult to injury, the Tigers and radio station WJR announced in December 1990 that they were not renewing the contract of long-time Hall of Fame play-by play announcer Ernie Harwell, and that the 1991 season would be Harwell's last with the team.[276] The announcement was met with resounding protests from fans, both in Michigan and around the baseball world.[277] 1992 saw the Tigers win only 75 games, with Fielder being one of the few bright spots as he won the AL RBI title for a third straight season (124).[278][279] In August 1992, the franchise was sold to Mike Ilitch, the President and CEO of Little Caesars Pizza who also owned the Detroit Red Wings.[280] One of Ilitch's first moves as the new owner was to rehire Ernie Harwell.[281] Late in the season, Sparky Anderson won his 1,132nd game as a Tiger manager, passing Hughie Jennings for the most all-time wins in franchise history.[56] The team also responded with an 85–77 season in 1993, but it would be their last winning season for a number of years.[282][283] On October 2, 1995, manager Sparky Anderson chose to not only end his career with the Tigers, but retire from baseball altogether.[284] Randy Smith era (1996–2002) From 1994 to 2005, the Tigers did not post a winning record, the longest sub-.500 stretch in franchise history.[282][283][285] In 1996, the Tigers lost a then-team record 109 games, under new general manager Randy Smith.[285][286][287] The only team in the majors to have a longer stretch without a winning season during this time were the Pittsburgh Pirates, who did not have a winning record in the years spanning 1993 to 2012.[288] The Tigers' best record over this span was 79–83, recorded in 1997 and 2000.[285] In 1998, the Tigers moved from the AL East, where they had been since the divisions were created in 1969, to the AL Central as part of a realignment necessitated by the addition of the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[289][290][291] The entrance sign of Comerica Park In 2000, the team left Tiger Stadium in favor of Comerica Park.[292] Soon after it opened, Comerica Park drew criticism for its deep dimensions, which made it difficult to hit home runs; the distance to left-center field (395 ft), in particular, was seen as unfair to hitters. This led to the nickname "Comerica National Park."[293] The team made a successful bid to bring in slugger Juan González from the Texas Rangers for the inaugural season at Comerica Park.[294] After four consecutive seasons of no fewer than 39 home runs, González only hit 22 homers in 2000. He cited Comerica Park's dimensions as a major reason why he turned down a multiyear contract extension.[295] In 2003, the franchise largely quieted the criticism by moving in the left-center fence to 370 feet (110 m), taking the flagpole in that area out of play, a feature carried over from Tiger Stadium.[296] In 2005, the team moved the bullpens to the vacant area beyond the left field fence and filled the previous location with seats.[297] In late 2001, Dave Dombrowski, former general manager of the 1997 World Series champion Florida Marlins, was hired as team president.[298] In 2002, the Tigers started the season 0–6, prompting Dombrowski to fire the unpopular Smith, as well as manager Phil Garner. Dombrowski then took over as general manager and named bench coach Luis Pujols to finish the season as interim manager.[299][300] The team finished 55–106. After the season was over, Pujols was let go.[301] Most losses in American League history (2003) Main article: 2003 Detroit Tigers season Dave Dombrowski hired popular former shortstop Alan Trammell to manage the team in 2003.[302] With fellow 1984 teammates Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish on the coaching staff, the rebuilding process began.[136] On August 30, 2003, the Tigers' defeat at the hands of the Chicago White Sox caused them to join the 1962 New York Mets, who were a first year expansion team, as the only modern MLB teams to lose 100 games before September.[303] They avoided tying the 1962 Mets' modern MLB record of 120 losses only by winning five of their last six games of the season, including three out of four against the Minnesota Twins, who had already clinched the AL Central and were resting their stars.[136][304] Mike Maroth went 9–21, becoming the first pitcher to lose 20 games in more than 20 years.[305] Maroth, Jeremy Bonderman (6–19), and Nate Cornejo (6–17) were the top three pitchers in losses in the entire major leagues, the first time in history that this had occurred.[306][307] (The 1952 Tigers had the top three losers in the AL, but not the major leagues.)[308] The Tigers finished 43–119, the worst record in franchise history.[136][304][307] This eclipsed the previous AL record of 117 losses set by the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics.[309] While the 2003 Tigers rank as the third worst team in major league history based on total losses, they fare slightly better based on winning percentage. Their .265 win percentage is the majors' sixth-worst since 1900.[306] Further information: List of worst Major League Baseball season records § Modern era (1900–present) Rebuilding the franchise (2004–2006) After the embarrassing 2003 season, the Tigers vowed to make changes.[304][310] Under Dave Dombrowski, the franchise demonstrated a willingness to sign marquee free agents.[311] In 2004, the team signed or traded for several talented but high-risk veterans, such as Fernando Viña, Rondell White, Iván Rodríguez, Ugueth Urbina, and Carlos Guillén, and the gamble paid off.[312][313][314][315][316] The 2004 Tigers finished 72–90, a 29-game improvement over the previous season.[136][317][318] This was the largest improvement in the AL since the Baltimore Orioles had a 33-game improvement from 1988 to 1989.[318] Prior to the 2005 season, the Tigers spent a large sum for two prized free agents, Troy Percival and Magglio Ordóñez.[319][320] On June 8, 2005, the Tigers traded pitcher Ugueth Urbina and infielder Ramón Martínez to the Philadelphia Phillies for Plácido Polanco.[321] The Tigers stayed on the fringes of contention for the AL wild card for the first four months of the season, but then faded badly, finishing 71–91.[318][322] The collapse was perceived as being due both to injuries and to a lack of player unity; Rodríguez in particular was disgruntled, taking a leave of absence during the season to deal with a difficult divorce.[318][323] Trammell, though popular with the fans, took part of the blame for the poor clubhouse atmosphere and lack of continued improvement, and he was fired at the end of the season.[318] A highlight of the 2005 campaign was Detroit's hosting of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, its first since 1971.[324] In the Home Run Derby, Rodríguez finished second, losing to the Phillies' Bobby Abreu.[325] In October 2005, Jim Leyland, who managed Dombrowski's 1997 World Series champion Florida Marlins, replaced Trammell as manager; two months later, in response to Troy Percival's arm problems, closer Todd Jones, who had spent five seasons in Detroit (1997–2001), signed a two-year deal to return to the Tigers.[326][327] Veteran left-hander Kenny Rogers also joined the Tigers from the Texas Rangers in late 2005.[327] The return of the Tigers: 2006 American League Champions Magglio Ordóñez hit a walk-off home run to clinch the 2006 AL pennant Main article: 2006 Detroit Tigers season After years of futility, the 2006 season showed signs of hope. The impressive rookie campaigns of eventual AL Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander, centerfielder Curtis Granderson, and flamethrowing relief pitcher Joel Zumaya, coupled with a well-publicized early-season tirade by Leyland, helped the team explode and quickly rise to the top of the AL Central.[136][283] The team reached a high point when they were 40 games over .500, but a second half swoon started to raise questions about the team's staying power.[108][283] On August 27, a 7–1 victory over the Cleveland Indians gave the Tigers their 82nd victory and their first winning season since 1993.[283][328][329] On September 24, the Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 11–4 to clinch their first playoff berth since 1987.[330][331] A division title seemed inevitable. All that was required was one win in the final five games of the season, which included three games against the Royals, whom the Tigers had manhandled much of the season. However, the Tigers lost all five games to finish 95–67, and the division title went to the 96–66 Minnesota Twins. The Tigers instead settled for the AL wild card.[332] The playoffs saw the Tigers beat the heavily favored New York Yankees 3–1 in the ALDS and sweep the Oakland Athletics in the 2006 ALCS, thanks to a walk-off home run in Game 4 by right fielder Magglio Ordóñez.[333][334] They advanced to the World Series, where they lost to the underdog St. Louis Cardinals in five games.[335] Falling short (2007–2010) Curtis Granderson in 2007 2007 Main article: 2007 Detroit Tigers season During the offseason, the Tigers traded for outfielder Gary Sheffield, who had been a part of the 1997 World Series champion Florida Marlins managed by Jim Leyland.[336] In addition to acquisitions, Dombrowski developed a productive farm system. Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya, the most notable rookie contributors to the 2006 team, were followed by Andrew Miller, who was drafted in 2006 and called up early in the 2007 campaign, and minor leaguer Cameron Maybin, an athletic five-tool outfielder ranked #6 in Baseball America's 2007 Top 100 Prospects.[337] On June 12, Verlander threw the Tigers' first no-hitter since 1984 (Jack Morris) and the first in Comerica Park history, in a 4–0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.[338] The Tigers had the best record in baseball in late July, but lost a few players to injuries and started to play poorly in the second half.[339][340][341][342] The Tigers were officially eliminated from playoff competition on September 26, 2007, when the New York Yankees clinched a wild card berth.[343][344] The Tigers, at 88–74, finished second in the AL Central.[345] Magglio Ordóñez captured the AL batting title in 2007 with a .363 average, becoming the first Tiger to win it since Norm Cash did so in 1961.[346] 2008 Main article: 2008 Detroit Tigers season Justin Verlander, June 2008 Going into the 2008 season, the franchise traded for prominent talent in Édgar Rentería (from the Atlanta Braves) and Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis (from the Florida Marlins).[347][348] However, the Tigers, who now boasted the second-highest team payroll in the majors at over $138 million,[349] began the regular season by losing seven straight games.[350] The Tigers climbed back, and at the midway point of the season, they were 42–40.[351] In the end, the team finished miserably, slumping to a 74–88 record.[352] Justin Verlander finished with his worst season as a pro, as he went 11–17 with a 4.84 ERA.[353] The Tigers also lost closer Todd Jones to retirement on September 25, 2008.[354] Despite the disappointing season, the team set an attendance record in 2008, drawing 3,202,654 customers to Comerica Park.[355] 2009 Main article: 2009 Detroit Tigers season Going into the 2009 season, the Tigers acquired starter Edwin Jackson from the 2008 AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays, and called up rookie and former #1 draft pick Rick Porcello.[356][357] Jackson was outstanding in the first half, making his first All-Star team, while Porcello was solid most of the year, posting a 14–9 record with a 3.96 ERA and displaying grit and maturity beyond his 20 years of age.[357][358] Justin Verlander bounced back from an off 2008 to win 19 games. He posted a 3.45 ERA and led the AL in strikeouts (269) to finish third in the AL Cy Young balloting.[359][360][361] Fernando Rodney assumed the closer role in spring training, replacing the retired Todd Jones.[362] Rodney responded with 37 saves in 38 tries, while Bobby Seay, Fu-Te Ni, Brandon Lyon, and Ryan Perry shored up the middle relief that plagued the team in 2007 and 2008.[359][363][364][365][366] Despite the improvements, the Tigers once again found themselves struggling to hold a lead in the AL Central. The team entered September with a 7-game lead in the division, but wound up tied with the Minnesota Twins at 86 wins by the final day of the regular season.[367][368] The season ended on October 6 with a 6–5 loss in 12 innings to the Twins in the tie-breaker game, leaving the Tigers with an 86–77 record.[368][369] The Tigers spent 146 days of the 2009 season in first place, but became the first team in Major League history to lose a three-game lead with four games left to play.[368][370] 2010 Main article: 2010 Detroit Tigers season Alex Avila, March 2010 Entering 2010, the Tigers parted ways with Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson as part of a three-way trade with the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks; in return they picked up outfield prospect Austin Jackson and pitchers Phil Coke, Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth.[371] Jackson made the Tigers opening day roster, and was American League Rookie of the Month for April.[372] 2010 also saw the debut of Brennan Boesch, who was named the AL Rookie of the Month for May and June.[373][374] At the All-Star break, the Tigers were a half-game out of first place in the AL Central, behind the Chicago White Sox.[375] However, a slow start after the break and injuries to three key players sent the Tigers into yet another second half tailspin.[376][377][378] The Tigers finished the season in third place with an 81–81 record, 13 games back of the division-winning Minnesota Twins.[378][379] While playing outstanding baseball at home, the Tigers were just 29–52 on the road.[380] Among the season highlights were Miguel Cabrera hitting .328 with 38 home runs and an AL-best 126 RBI, earning the AL Silver Slugger Award at first base and finishing second in the AL MVP race (earning 5 of 28 first-place votes).[381][382] Jackson (.293 average, 103 runs, 181 hits, 27 stolen bases) finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.[383][384] Justin Verlander enjoyed another strong season (18–9 record, 3.37 ERA, 219 strikeouts).[383] The near-perfect game Main article: Armando Galarraga's near-perfect game On June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga was pitching a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians with 2 outs in the top of the ninth inning when first-base umpire Jim Joyce made a controversial call, ruling Jason Donald safe at first. Video replay showed he was out.[385][386] A tearful Joyce later said, "I just cost that kid a perfect game. I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay."[386] Galarraga would later tell reporters that Joyce apologized to him directly and gave him a hug.[385] The next day, with Joyce umpiring home plate, Galarraga brought out the lineup card and the two shook hands.[387] Despite nationwide support for overturning the call, which included supportive statements from the Governor of Michigan and the White House, commissioner Bud Selig let the call stand. However, he said he would look into expanding instant replay in the future.[388] Division winners (2011–2014) 2011: First AL Central Championship Main article: 2011 Detroit Tigers season The Tigers returned much of their roster from 2010, while adding relief pitcher Joaquín Benoit, catcher/DH Victor Martinez, and starting pitcher Brad Penny.[389][390][391] On May 7, Verlander took a perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays into the 8th inning. After a walk to J. P. Arencibia, Verlander coaxed a double-play grounder and went on to the 9th inning to complete his second career no-hitter by facing the minimum 27 batters. It was the seventh no-hitter in Tigers history.[392] On August 27, Verlander defeated the Minnesota Twins, 6–4, to become the first Tiger since Bill Gullickson in 1991 to win 20 games in a season. Verlander also became the first major league pitcher since Curt Schilling in 2002 to reach 20 wins before the end of August.[393] In May, the Tigers were as many as eight games back of the first place Cleveland Indians. However, they would start to play better.[394][395] The Tigers sent five players to the 2011 All-Star Game.[396] Catcher Alex Avila was voted in as a starter, while Justin Verlander, José Valverde and Miguel Cabrera were added as reserves.[396] Verlander was unavailable to play in the All-Star Game due to the rule where starting pitchers who play the Sunday beforehand are ineligible.[397] Shortstop Jhonny Peralta was later added to the All-Star team when the Yankees' Derek Jeter was unable to play due to injury.[396][398] As a three-way battle for the division title developed between the Tigers, Indians, and Chicago White Sox, the Tigers put together an 18–10 record in August to begin to pull away.[395][399] Starter Doug Fister, who was acquired at the trade deadline, provided an immediate spark, going 8–1 over the final two months of the season with a sparkling 1.79 ERA.[400][401] After a loss on September 1, the Tigers reeled off a 12-game winning streak to put any thoughts of another late-season collapse to rest. The streak consisted of four consecutive three-game sweeps over their AL Central Division rivals. It was the Tigers' longest winning streak since the 1934 team won 14 straight.[402] On September 16, the Tigers clinched the AL Central Division title with a 3–1 win over the Oakland Athletics. It was their first AL Central title since joining the division in 1998, and first division title of any kind since 1987.[394][395] Members of the 2011 Tigers won multiple statistical awards in 2011. Verlander won the pitching triple crown, leading the AL in wins (24), ERA (2.40) and strikeouts (250). On November 15, Verlander was a unanimous selection for the AL Cy Young Award.[403] In a much closer vote six days later, Verlander also won AL MVP, becoming the first pitcher to do so since Dennis Eckersley in 1992.[404] Valverde was the AL saves leader with 49 (in 49 save opportunities), winning the 2011 MLB Delivery Man of the Year Award.[210] Cabrera won the AL batting title with a .344 average, while also leading the AL in on-base percentage (.448) and doubles (48).[405][406] The Tigers beat the New York Yankees by a score of 3–2 in Game 5 of the ALDS, winning the series 3–2.[407] They advanced to the ALCS, but they lost to the defending AL Champion Texas Rangers, 4–2.[408] 2012: American League Champions Main article: 2012 Detroit Tigers season In 2012, Miguel Cabrera became the first Major League player to win the Triple Crown in 45 years. Delmon Young (left) and Prince Fielder (right) in 2012 In 2012, the Tigers looked to defend their 2011 AL Central Division title, with the hopes of earning a second consecutive playoff appearance. On January 24, the Tigers signed free agent All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder to a 9-year, $214 million contract.[409] The move came shortly after the Tigers learned that Víctor Martínez had torn his anterior cruciate ligament during offseason training in Lakeland, Florida, and would likely miss the entire 2012 season.[410] Miguel Cabrera moved back to his original position of third base, leading to the eventual release of veteran Brandon Inge on April 26.[411] On July 23, the Tigers acquired veteran second baseman Omar Infante, who played for Detroit in 2003–07, and starting pitcher Aníbal Sánchez from the Miami Marlins in exchange for starting pitcher Jacob Turner and two other minor leaguers.[412] At the midway point of the 2012 season, the Tigers were three games under .500 (39–42).[413] The team played much better in the second half and, after a fierce battle down the stretch with the Chicago White Sox, the Tigers clinched the AL Central division title on October 1 with a 6–3 win against the Kansas City Royals.[414] Coupled with the Tigers' division title in 2011, it marked the first back-to-back divisional titles in team history, and first back-to-back postseason appearances since 1934–35.[415] The Tigers concluded the season with an 88–74 record.[416] On the final day of the season, Cabrera earned the Triple Crown in batting, leading the AL in batting average (.330), home runs (44), and runs batted in (139). No player had accomplished this feat since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.[417] On the mound, starters Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer finished first and second among the American League strikeout leaders, with 239 and 231, respectively.[418] Verlander (17–8, 2.64 ERA) finished second in the Cy Young Award balloting to David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays.[419] In the American League Division Series, the Tigers defeated the Oakland Athletics, 3–2, earning their second straight trip to the American League Championship Series.[420] The Tigers completed a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees in the ALCS to win their 11th AL pennant and earn a trip to the World Series.[421] In the World Series, the Tigers were swept by the San Francisco Giants.[422] On November 15, 2012, Cabrera was named AL MVP.[423] 2013: American League title defense Main article: 2013 Detroit Tigers season The Tigers entered the 2013 season looking to defend their 2012 AL pennant. Key acquisitions in the offseason included signing free agent outfielder Torii Hunter to a two-year, $26 million contract,[424] while also signing their 2012 trade deadline acquisition, pitcher Aníbal Sánchez, to a five-year, $80 million deal.[425] The Tigers also signed free agent catcher Brayan Peña to a one-year contract.[426] Moreover, ace starter Justin Verlander signed a $180 million contract extension.[427] The Tigers placed six players on the 2013 American League All-Star team: Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Jhonny Peralta, Torii Hunter, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.[428] On September 25, the Tigers clinched their third consecutive AL Central Division title.[429] Tigers pitchers struck out 1,428 batters during the regular season, breaking the record of 1,404 held by the 2003 Chicago Cubs.[430] Cabrera (.348 average, 44 HR, 139 RBI) was voted the AL MVP for the second straight season,[431] while Scherzer (21–3, 2.90 ERA, 240 strikeouts) won the AL Cy Young Award.[432] The Tigers played the Oakland Athletics for the second straight year in the ALDS, and defeated the A's, 3–2.[433] The Tigers set a record by striking out 57 Oakland batters in the ALDS.[434] With his Game 5 gem, Verlander ran his postseason scoreless streak against Oakland to 30 innings.[435] The Tigers advanced to their third straight ALCS, where they played the Boston Red Sox for the first ever time in the postseason.[436] The Tigers would be defeated in six games.[437] 2014: Changes at the top Main article: 2014 Detroit Tigers season Jim Leyland, manager from 2006 to 2013 Jim Leyland stepped down from his managerial position after eight years with Detroit,[438] and the Tigers hired Brad Ausmus as Leyland's successor.[439] On November 20, 2013, the Tigers traded Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers for three time All-Star second baseman Ian Kinsler plus cash considerations with regard to Fielder's remaining contract amount.[440] The Tigers later traded starting pitcher Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals for infielder Steve Lombardozzi Jr. and pitchers Ian Krol and Robbie Ray.[441] In an effort to improve a bullpen that often struggled in 2013, the Tigers signed veteran closer Joe Nathan to a two-year, $20 million contract, with a club option for 2016,[442] and later signed Joba Chamberlain to a one-year, $2.5 million deal.[443] On May 2, 2014, a month into the season, with the bullpen having a combined 5.37 ERA, which was 29th out of 30 in MLB, the Tigers signed free agent reliever Joel Hanrahan to a one-year contract.[444] However, he never came off the disabled list to pitch for the team.[445] The team further bolstered the bullpen near the MLB trading deadline, dealing pitchers Corey Knebel and Jake Thompson to the Texas Rangers in exchange for former All-Star closer Joakim Soria on July 23.[446] On July 31, with just hours left before the end of the non-waiver trade deadline, the Tigers traded pitcher Drew Smyly and shortstop Willy Adames to the Tampa Bay Rays, and Austin Jackson to the Seattle Mariners in a three-team deal to acquire pitcher David Price from the Rays.[447] With the acquisition of Price, the Tigers became the first team in major league history with three consecutive Cy Young Award winners in its starting rotation.[448] On September 28, the last day of the regular season, Price pitched a 3–0 gem against the Minnesota Twins, and the Tigers clinched their fourth consecutive AL Central Division title.[449] The 90–72 Tigers finished one game ahead of the Kansas City Royals.[450] The Tigers faced the Baltimore Orioles in the 2014 American League Division Series, where they were swept, 3–0.[451] J. D. Martinez became the first player in franchise history to hit home runs in his first two career postseason games. Both were part of back-to-back homers, with Víctor Martínez and Nick Castellanos in Games 1 and 2, respectively.[452] 2015: Mid-season Reboot Main article: 2015 Detroit Tigers season Brad Ausmus continued to manage the Tigers for a second season. Free agents Max Scherzer and Torii Hunter left for other teams at the end of the year, while Rick Porcello, Eugenio Suárez, Robbie Ray, and prospect Devon Travis were all lost through trades. On the receiving end, the Tigers traded for slugger Yoenis Céspedes, relief pitcher Alex Wilson, speedy outfielder Anthony Gose and starting pitchers Alfredo Simón and Shane Greene.[453][454][455][456][457] After winning the first six games of the year in record-breaking fashion, the season slowly went downhill for the Tigers.[458] Inconsistent pitching, division rivals outperforming expectations, and injuries to multiple players, including Joe Nathan, who only appeared in one game, Victor Martínez, and career first stints on the disabled list for Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera, sent the team below the .500 mark as the trade deadline came and the decision was made to "reboot" the team.[459][460] Within a two-day span in late July, the Tigers traded David Price, Joakim Soria and Cespedes, receiving six well regarded prospects in return, including Daniel Norris and Michael Fulmer.[461] On August 4, longtime general manager Dave Dombrowski was released by the team, with assistant GM Al Avila being promoted to general manager and president of baseball operations.[462] Despite difficulties, the Tigers still ended up sending four players to the 2015 MLB All-Star Game: Miguel Cabrera received his 10th career All-Star selection and the starting nod, but could not play due to injury; David Price received his 5th career selection as well as the credit for the win for the American League; and J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias both received their first career All-Star selections.[463][464] The Tigers ended the season in last place in the AL Central Division with a record of 74–87.[465] The pitching staff was one of the worst in MLB, ending 27th in ERA, 28th in FIP, and 27th in WHIP.[466] However, the team also ended with a team batting average of .270, the best in MLB,[467] while Miguel Cabrera finished with the highest player batting average in the AL and MLB (.338), earning his fourth batting title in five years.[468] 2016 Main article: 2016 Detroit Tigers season Brad Ausmus and the Tigers entered the 2016 season with new pitching coach Rich Dubee and 9 out of 25 members of the 2015 roster being replaced through trades and free agency. Prominent additions included two highly sought free agents, starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann and outfielder Justin Upton, as well as players acquired through trades: outfielder Cameron Maybin, and the veteran closer Francisco Rodriguez, who led a totally revamped bullpen.[469] The Tigers lost two 2016 draft picks due to free agent compensation but, because of their bottom-ten finish in 2015, they kept their first round pick.[470] Key veteran losses include catcher Alex Avila and outfielder Rajai Davis, who both signed free agent deals with other teams in the division.[471][472] The Tigers finished the season with a record of 86–75, eight games behind the first place Cleveland Indians.[473] Detroit was the final team to fall out of contention for a wild card spot, losing Saturday and Sunday games to the Atlanta Braves, while the two teams they were chasing, Baltimore and Toronto, got needed wins.[474][475] Pitcher Michael Fulmer, acquired from the New York Mets organization in 2015, won the 2016 AL Rookie of the Year Award.[476] Rebuilding (2017–present) 2017 Main article: 2017 Detroit Tigers season Mike Ilitch, the Tigers owner since 1992, died at the age of 87 on February 10, 2017.[477] The team remains in an Ilitch family trust, under the leadership of Mike's son, Christopher Ilitch.[478][479] Like the Detroit Red Wings, the Tigers honored their owner in multiple ways, the most prominent being a "Mr. I" uniform patch.[480] After a disappointing record through the All-Star break, the Tigers began committing to a rebuild, trading J. D. Martinez,[481] Alex Avila and Justin Wilson in July,[482] plus Justin Upton and Justin Verlander in August.[483][484] On September 22, the Tigers announced that the team would not extend manager Brad Ausmus' contract past the 2017 season, ending his four-year tenure as manager. Under the management of Ausmus, the Tigers had a record of 314–332 (.486 winning percentage) and won one AL Central division title in 2014.[485] The Tigers went 6–24 in September, ending the season in a tie for the worst record in MLB with the San Francisco Giants. However, due to a tiebreaker, the Tigers were awarded the number one overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft.[486] 2018 Main article: 2018 Detroit Tigers season On October 20, 2017, the Tigers announced that Ron Gardenhire and the team had reached a three-year agreement for the former Minnesota Twins skipper to succeed Brad Ausmus as the team's manager.[487] While rebuilding with young players, the team also lost slugger Miguel Cabrera and expected ace pitcher Michael Fulmer to extensive stints on the disabled list.[488][489] This led the team to the same 64–98 record as the previous year, the fifth worst record in MLB, but still good for third place in a very weak AL Central division.[490][491][492] 2019 Main article: 2019 Detroit Tigers season Significant changes to the 2019 season opening roster include the departure of José Iglesias, and the one-year signings of the middle infield tandem of Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison, both formerly of the Pittsburgh Pirates.[493][494][495] On March 19, it was announced that Michael Fulmer would undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2019 season.[496] The Tigers finished the season with a 47–114 record, the worst in all of Major League Baseball, and their second worst season in franchise history after their 43–119 record in 2003.[497] The 2019 Tigers tied the 1939 St. Louis Browns for the most home losses (59) during a season in the modern era.[498] 2020 Main article: 2020 Detroit Tigers season On April 6, Al Kaline died at the age of 85. Kaline had been affiliated with the team for 67 years, most recently as an executive.[499] The Tigers wore a No. 6 patch to honor him.[500] In the shortened 60-game season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tigers remained in playoff contention heading into September.[501] On September 19, manager Ron Gardenhire announced his retirement from baseball effective immediately, citing health concerns. Bench coach Lloyd McClendon was named interim manager for the remainder of the season.[502] The Tigers ultimately faded down the stretch, finishing with a 23–35 record.[503] 2021 Main article: 2021 Detroit Tigers season On October 30, 2020, the Tigers hired A. J. Hinch as manager.[504][505] On May 18, 2021, Spencer Turnbull pitched the eighth no-hitter in Tigers history against the Seattle Mariners. Turnbull became the first Tigers player to throw a no-hitter since Justin Verlander on May 7, 2011.[506] The Tigers finished the season with a 77–85 record.[507] This outperformed preseason predictions for the team, most of which said the Tigers would finish last.[508][509][510] 2022 Main article: 2022 Detroit Tigers season On August 10, 2022, the Tigers fired Al Avila as general manager.[511] On September 19, 2022, the Tigers hired Scott Harris as president of baseball operations.[512] The Tigers finished the season with a 66–96 record and had one of the worst offense in the league.[513] On October 25, 2022, the Tigers hired Rob Metzler as vice president and assistant general manager.[514] Best seasons in Detroit Tigers history Best seasons in Detroit Tigers history Rank Year Wins Losses Win %   Finish 1 1934 101 53 .656 Lost 1934 World Series to Cardinals 2 1915 100 54 .649 2nd in AL behind Red Sox 3 1909 98 54 .645 Lost 1909 World Series to Pirates 4 1984 104 58 .642 Won 1984 World Series over Padres 5 1968 103 59 .636 Won 1968 World Series over Cardinals 6 1961 101 61 .623 2nd in AL behind Yankees 7 1950 95 59 .617 2nd in AL behind Yankees 8 1935 93 58 .616 Won 1935 World Series over Cubs 9 1907 92 58 .613 Lost 1907 World Series to Cubs 10 1987 98 64 .605 Lost 1987 ALCS to Twins Worst seasons in Detroit Tigers history Worst seasons in Detroit Tigers history Rank Year Wins Losses Win % 1 2003 43 119 .265 2 2019 47 114 .292 3 1952 50 104 .325 4 1996 53 109 .327 5 2002 55 106 .342 6 1975 57 102 .358 7 1989 59 103 .364 8 1902 52 83 .385 9 1953 60 94 .390 10 2017 and 2018 64 98 .395 Payroll Total team payroll[515] Year Amount 2007 $93,880,369 2008 $137,685,196 2009 $115,085,145 2010 $122,864,928 2011 $105,700,231 2012 $138,800,000 2013 $151,420,000 2014 $172,571,526 2015 $172,282,250 2016 $180,855,981 2017 $180,250,600 2018 $111,286,000 2019 $104,581,900 2020 $43,164,880 (60-game season) 2021 $85,648,945 Nickname Tiger Stadium, home of the Tigers from 1912 to 1999, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues in the Corktown district of Detroit There are various legends about how the Tigers got their nickname.[516][517] One involves the striped socks they wore.[516][517][518] George Stallings, the team's manager, took credit for the name. However, the earliest known use of it appeared in the Detroit Free Press on April 16, 1895, a year prior to Stallings joining the team.[516][517][519] In the book A Place for Summer: A Narrative History of Tiger Stadium, Richard Bak states that the name originated from the Detroit Light Guard military unit, who were known as "The Tigers". They had played significant roles in certain Civil War battles and in the 1898 Spanish–American War. Upon entry into the majors, the ballclub sought and received formal permission from the Light Guard to use its trademark. From that day forth, the team has been known as the Tigers.[516][517] Rivalries Chicago White Sox Main article: Tigers–White Sox rivalry The series between the Tigers and Chicago White Sox is one of the oldest active rivalries in the league today. Both teams joined the American League in 1901 after being charter members of the original Western League. Both have actively played one another annually for over 120 seasons. As is often the case between professional sports teams located Chicago or Detroit, there usually exists a rivalry as such with the Bulls–Pistons rivalry of the NBA, the Blackhawks–Red Wings rivalry of the NHL, and the Bears–Lions rivalry of the NFL.[520] Despite playing one another for over 2,200 games, both teams have yet to meet in the postseason.[521][522] Divisional The Tigers also maintain divisional rivalries with the Cleveland Guardians, the Kansas City Royals, and the Minnesota Twins.[523][524][525] The rivalry with Cleveland came to a head when the Tigers played at Progressive Field on August 7, 2013, with the teams first and second in the AL Central standings. Many Tigers fans who made the short trip to Cleveland started several "Let's go Tigers!" chants while the game was tied in the 9th inning. Cleveland fans countered with a "Detroit's bankrupt!" chant, in reference to the city's 2013 bankruptcy. Footage of the game from SportsTime Ohio that had the chants clearly audible quickly went viral, with many baseball fans on social media criticizing Cleveland fans for the chant due to the circumstances of Detroit's financial situation.[526] The Tigers ended up defeating Cleveland 6–5 in 14 innings.[527] Other teams The Tigers have a holdover rivalry with the Toronto Blue Jays due to when the Tigers competed in the AL East.[528] Additionally, the Tigers have had some rivalries with NL teams that they have faced repeatedly in the World Series, such as the Chicago Cubs (four times) and St. Louis Cardinals (three times).[529][530] In interleague play, the Pittsburgh Pirates are the Tigers' "natural rival."[531] Fanbase There are numerous Tigers fans along the Lake Erie region throughout the state of Michigan, northwestern Ohio, southwestern Ontario, as well as a small fan base in and around the Erie, Pennsylvania area, due in part to Detroit's proximity to these regions as well as the presence of the Tigers' Double-A affiliate Erie SeaWolves in northwestern Pennsylvania.[532][533][534][535][536] The Tigers have their Triple-A affiliate Toledo Mud Hens in Toledo, Ohio in addition to their Double-A affiliate in Erie.[537] The cities of Windsor and Sarnia, Ontario, have large fan bases of loyal Tigers fans.[533][534] The Tigers continue to develop a strong and long line of baseball fans in Ontario; the majority of baseball fans in southwestern Ontario are considered Tigers loyalists.[533][534] Home attendance Tigers opening day 2007; view from section 324 at Comerica Park Comerica Park Home attendance at Comerica Park[538] Year Total attendance Game average League rank 2000 2,438,617 30,106 7th 2001 1,921,305 23,720 9th 2002 1,503,623 18,795 12th 2003 1,368,245 16,892 13th 2004 1,917,004 23,667 9th 2005 2,024,431 24,993 10th 2006 2,595,937 32,049 5th 2007 3,047,133 32,719 3rd 2008 3,202,645 39,539 3rd 2009 2,567,165 31,693 4th 2010 2,461,237 30,386 6th 2011 2,642,045 32,618 6th 2012 3,028,033 37,383 5th 2013 3,083,397 38,067 3rd 2014 2,917,209 36,015 4th 2015 2,726,048 33,655 5th 2016 2,493,859 31,173 7th 2017 2,321,599 28,662 7th 2018 1,856,970 22,926 10th 2019 1,501,430 18,536 12th 2020 N/A (COVID-19 pandemic) N/A N/A 2021 1,102,623 13,612 11th 2022 1,575,544 19,214 10th Rally cry During the 1968 season, the team was cheered on by the phrase, "Go Get 'Em, Tigers", which was made popular by a song of the same name written and recorded by Artie Fields.[539] "Sock it to 'em, Tigers!" was also a popular phrase during this time.[540][541] During the 1984 World Series championship run, the team was cheered on to the cry, "Bless You Boys," a phrase coined by sportscaster Al Ackerman.[229][230][542] In 2005, the team began using the phrase "Who's Your Tiger?" as its slogan.[543] During the 2006 season, a rally cry caught on in the Tigers' dugout. In a June game against the New York Yankees, Tigers pitcher Nate Robertson was featured in an in-game interview with FSN Detroit. During the interview, Robertson began to stuff Big League Chew bubble gum into his mouth. The Tigers would spark a rally, in which they came back to tie the game. As a result, the phrase "Gum Time" became popular.[544][545] Additionally, the chant of a local man, the late James Van Horn, who patrolled the streets around Comerica Park yelling out "Eat 'Em Up Tigers! Eat 'Em Up!", was very popular.[546] In 2009, the team used the phrase "Always a Tiger" as its slogan.[547] In 2011, the slogan was switched back to "Who's Your Tiger?"[543] During the 2018 season, a rally cry caught on with both players and fans. In a May game against them Los Angeles Angels, a goose appeared on the field during a second rain delay. After a few minutes, it left the field only to fly into the scoreboard. The goose was unharmed. When the game resumed, the Tigers scored five runs in the sixth inning and won the game, 6–1. As a result, the goose was referred to as the "Rally Goose" and the phrase became popular.[548][549] Uniforms and logos Primary logo 2016–present Cap logo 1924–present. It is orange for road games. Logo used on the home jersey until 2018. It was also the primary logo prior to 2016. See also: Major League Baseball § MLB uniforms Outfielder Ron LeFlore wearing the traditional Tigers home uniform with navy blue piping down the front and an Old English "D" on the left chest The Tigers have worn essentially the same home uniform since 1934 — solid white jersey with navy blue piping down the front and an Old English "D" on the left chest, white pants, navy blue hat with a white letter D in the blackletter or textur/textualis typeface associated with Middle and Early Modern English and popularly referred to as "Old English" even though it was not used for that language.[550][551] On the Tigers' road uniforms, the D on their hats is orange and a script "Detroit" appears across the jersey. A version of the team's blackletter D was first seen on Tigers uniforms in 1904, after using a simple block D in 1903. The blackletter D appeared frequently after that until being established in 1934.[550][551] In 1960, the Tigers changed their uniform to read "Tigers" in script form, but the change only lasted one season before the traditional uniform was reinstated.[551][552] The Tigers used to have different versions of the Old English D on the cap and jersey.[550][553] In 2018, the Tigers changed the classic curved logo on their home uniforms to match that of the sharp-cornered hat logo; additionally, the logo on the cap was enlarged.[550][554][555] In 2019, the Tigers reverted to the smaller logo on the cap, but kept the cap curved 'D' on the home jerseys.[556] In 2023, the Tigers entered into a uniform sponsorship deal with Michigan-based supermarket chain Meijer. The patch, which is located on either sleeve depending on the player's handedness, matches the colors of the team's uniforms.[557] Unique characteristics of the Tigers uniforms: The Tigers are the only team in Major League Baseball to have a color on their road uniforms that is not on their home uniforms (orange). The Tigers first added orange to their road uniform in 1903, but it was not until 1972 that the Tigers made orange an accent color on their road uniforms full-time. The Tigers also wore the "orange D" navy caps at home during the late 1940s through the 1950s.[558][559][560] The Tigers' uniforms have more belt loops than those of any other team, owing to the fact that their uniform pants do not feature the wide "tunnel" loops that appear on most baseball pants.[561] Alternate jerseys: In 1995, the Tigers introduced a solid navy blue alternate jersey, which featured the team's primary logo at the time, a tiger stepping through the D, on the chest. It was worn for one home game.[562] The Tigers wear the throwback jerseys of the Detroit Stars for their annual Negro Leagues Tribute Game in order to pay tribute to the Negro leagues players and their contributions to the game of baseball.[563] The Tigers wear a white and navy blue home jersey with "Tigres" across the chest for their annual "¡Fiesta Tigres!" game to recognize and honor the contributions of Hispanic and Latino players and coaches to the game of baseball.[564] Like all of MLB, the Tigers wore a highly stylized and brightly colored jersey for Players Weekend. In the inaugural games from August 25–27, 2017, their away jerseys were grey with bright orange with "Tigers" on the chest, the orange cap had a tiger instead of the Old English "D" on it. Players were also encouraged to use nicknames on the back of their jerseys.[565] In the 2018 season, the Tigers wore a blue jersey with orange sleeves that said "Tigers" on the chest, with an orange cap that had a tiger on it.[566] Baseball Hall of Famers Detroit Tigers Hall of Famers Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Detroit Tigers Sparky Anderson1[567] Earl Averill[568] Ed Barrow[569] Jim Bunning2[570] Ty Cobb[571] Mickey Cochrane3[572] Sam Crawford[573] Larry Doby[574] Billy Evans[575] Rick Ferrell[576] Charlie Gehringer[577] Joe Gordon[578] Goose Goslin[579] Hank Greenberg[580] Bucky Harris[581] Harry Heilmann[582] Whitey Herzog[583] Waite Hoyt[584] Hughie Jennings4[585] Al Kaline[219] George Kell[586] Heinie Manush5[587] Eddie Mathews[588] Jack Morris[589] Hal Newhouser[590] Iván Rodríguez[591] Al Simmons[592] Sam Thompson[593] Alan Trammell[594] Players and managers listed in bold are depicted on their Hall of Fame plaques wearing a Tigers cap insignia. 1Although Sparky Anderson is depicted on his Hall of Fame plaque wearing a Cincinnati Reds cap insignia, the Hall recognizes the Tigers as his primary team.[567] 2Although Jim Bunning is depicted on his Hall of Fame plaque wearing a Philadelphia Phillies cap insignia, the Hall recognizes the Tigers as his primary team.[570] 3Although Mickey Cochrane is depicted on his Hall of Fame plaque wearing a Tigers cap insignia, the Hall recognizes the Philadelphia Athletics as his primary team.[572] 4Although Hughie Jennings is depicted on his Hall of Fame plaque wearing a Tigers cap insignia, the Hall recognizes the Baltimore Orioles as his primary team.[585] 5Although Heinie Manush is depicted on his Hall of Fame plaque wearing a Tigers cap insignia, the Hall recognizes the Washington Senators as his primary team.[587] Ford C. Frick Award recipients Detroit Tigers Ford C. Frick Award recipients Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Ernie Harwell[595] Names in bold received the award based primarily on their work as broadcasters for the Tigers. Michigan Sports Hall of Fame Mickey Cochrane Sam Crawford Charlie Gehringer Harry Heilmann George Kell Lou Whitaker Main article: Michigan Sports Hall of Fame Detroit Tigers in the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame[596] No. Name Position Tenure Notes — Frank Navin Owner 1908–1935 Born in Adrian. — Walter Briggs Sr. Owner 1919–1935 Born in Ypsilanti. — John Fetzer Owner 1961–1983 — Mike Ilitch Owner 1992–2017 Born and raised in Detroit. — Marian Ilitch Owner 1992 Born and raised in Dearborn. — Jim Campbell Executive 1962–1983 1978–1990 1990–1992 — Ty Tyson Broadcaster 1927-1942 — Paul Carey Broadcaster 1973–1991 Born and raised in Mount Pleasant. — Ernie Harwell Broadcaster 1960–1991 1993–2002 — Van Patrick Broadcaster 1949, 1952–1959 — Ray Lane Broadcaster 1967–1972, 1999-2003 — Frank Beckmann Broadcaster 1995-2003 — Ty Cobb CF Manager 1905–1926 1921–1926 — Sam Crawford OF 1903–1917 — Wish Egan P 1902 Born and raised in Evart. — Harry Heilmann RF/1B Broadcaster 1914 1916–1929 — Hughie Jennings IF Manager 1907, 1909–1910, 1912, 1918 1907–1920 — Heinie Manush LF 1923–1927 — George Mullin P 1902–1913 1 Lou Whitaker 2B 1977–1995 2 Charlie Gehringer 2B GM 1924–1942 1951–1953 Grew up near Fowlerville. Attended the University of Michigan. 3 Mickey Cochrane C Manager 1934–1937 1934–1938 3 Dick McAuliffe 2B/SS 1960–1973 3 Alan Trammell SS Coach Manager 1977–1996 1999 2003–2005 4 Goose Goslin LF 1934–1937 4 Rudy York 1B 1934, 1937–1945 4 Charlie Maxwell LF 1955–1962 Born in Lawton. Attended Western Michigan University. 5 Hank Greenberg 1B 1930, 1933–1941 1945–1946 5, 20 Vic Wertz RF/1B 1947–1952 1961–1963 5 Jim Northrup OF 1964–1974 Born in Breckenridge. Attended Alma College. 6 Al Kaline RF Broadcaster 1953–1974 7 Billy Rogell SS 1930–1939 7, 26 Harvey Kuenn OF/SS 1952–1959 7 Rick Leach OF/1B 1981–1983 Born in Ann Arbor. Attended the University of Michigan. 10 Tommy Bridges P 1930–1943 1945–1946 10 Jim Leyland Manager 2006–2013 11 Sparky Anderson Manager 1979–1995 11 Bill Freehan C 1961, 1963–1976 Born and raised in Detroit. Attended the University of Michigan. 13 Lance Parrish C 1977–1986 14 Schoolboy Rowe P 1933–1942 14, 15 Jim Bunning P 1955–1963 Elected mainly for his performance with Philadelphia Phillies. 15, 21 George Kell 3B Broadcaster 1946–1952 1959–1963 1965–1996 16 Hal Newhouser P 1939–1953 Born and raised in Detroit. 17 Denny McLain P 1963–1970 18 John Hiller P 1965–1970 1972–1980 20 Billy Pierce P 1945, 1948 Elected mainly for his performance with Chicago White Sox. Born in Detroit and grew up in Highland Park. 21 Barney McCosky OF 1939–1942, 1946 Grew up in Detroit. 21, 30 Don Lund OF 1949, 1952–1954 Born and raised in Detroit. Attended the University of Michigan. 21 Willie Hernandez P 1984–1989 22 Virgil Trucks P 1941–1952, 1956 23 Willie Horton LF/DH 1963–1977 Born and raised in Detroit. Attended Detroit Northwestern High School. 23 Kirk Gibson OF Coach Broadcaster 1979–1987 1993–1995 2003–2005 Born in Pontiac. Grew up in Waterford and attended Michigan State University. 24 Mickey Stanley CF 1964–1978 Grew up in Grand Rapids. 25 Norm Cash 1B Broadcaster 1960–1974 26 Gates Brown LF Coach 1963–1975 1978–1984 26 Frank Tanana P 1985–1992 Grew up in Detroit. 29 Mickey Lolich P 1963–1975 47 Jack Morris P Broadcaster 1977–1990 The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1871, as the Boston Red Stockings. The club was known by various names until the franchise settled on the Boston Braves in 1912. The Braves are the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in America.[7][b] After 81 seasons and one World Series title in Boston, the club moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1953. With a roster of star players such as Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, and Warren Spahn, the Milwaukee Braves won the World Series in 1957. Despite the team's success, fan attendance declined. The club's owners moved the team to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1966. The Braves did not find much success in Atlanta until 1991. From 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful teams in baseball, winning an unprecedented 14 consecutive division titles,[8][9][10] making an MLB record eight consecutive National League Championship Series appearances, and producing one of the greatest pitching rotations in the history of baseball including Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine. The Braves are one of the two remaining National League charter franchises that debuted in 1876. The club has won an MLB record 23 divisional titles, 18 National League pennants, and four World Series championships. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities. At the end of the 2022 season, the Braves' overall win–loss record is 10,921–10,818 (.502).[11] History Main article: History of the Atlanta Braves Boston (1871–1952) Main article: Boston Braves (baseball) 1871–1913 King Kelly cigarette card (Goodwin & Company, 1888) The Cincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. Player-manager Harry Wright, with brother George and two other Cincinnati players, then went to Boston, Massachusetts at the invitation of Boston Red Stockings founder Ivers Whitney Adams to form the nucleus of the Boston Red Stockings, a charter member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP).[7] The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports.[7] The only other team that has been organized as long, the Chicago Cubs, did not play for the two years following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Two young players hired away from the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois, turned out to be the biggest stars during the NAPBBP years: pitcher Al Spalding, founder of Spalding sporting goods, and second baseman Ross Barnes. Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, and Spalding, the Red Stockings dominated the National Association, winning four of that league's five championships. The team became one of the National League's charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the "Red Caps" (as a new Cincinnati Red Stockings club was another charter member). Boston Beaneaters team photo, 1890 The Boston Red Caps played in the first game in the history of the National League, on Saturday, April 22, 1876, defeating the Philadelphia Athletics, 6–5.[12][13][14] Although somewhat stripped of talent in the National League's inaugural year, Boston bounced back to win the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters were one of the league's dominant teams during the 19th century, winning a total of eight pennants. For most of that time, their manager was Frank Selee. Boston came to be called the Beaneaters in 1883 while retaining red as the team color. The 1898 team finished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century. Stars of those 1890s Beaneater teams included the "Heavenly Twins", Hugh Duffy and Tommy McCarthy, as well as "Slidin'" Billy Hamilton. The team was decimated when the American League's new Boston entry set up shop in 1901. Many of the Beaneaters' stars jumped to the new team, which offered contracts that the Beaneaters' owners did not even bother to match. They only managed one winning season from 1900 to 1913 and lost 100 games five times. In 1907, the Beaneaters temporarily eliminated the last bit of red from their stockings because their manager thought the red dye could cause wounds to become infected, as noted in The Sporting News Baseball Guide in the 1940s.[15] The American League club's owner, Charles Taylor, wasted little time in adopting Red Sox as his team's first official nickname. Up to that point they had been called by the generic "Americans". Media-driven nickname changes to the Doves in 1907 and the Rustlers in 1911 did nothing to change the National League club's luck. The team became the Braves for the first time before the 1912 season.[15] The president of the club, John M. Ward named the club after the owner, James Gaffney.[15] Gaffney was called one of the "braves" of New York City's political machine, Tammany Hall, which used an Native American chief as their symbol.[15][16] 1914: Miracle Main article: 1914 Boston Braves season A program from the 1914 World Series, featuring Braves manager George Stallings (left). Baseball Magazine cover, 1914 (right). Two years later, the Braves put together one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history. After a dismal 4–18 start, the Braves seemed to be on pace for a last-place finish. On July 4, 1914, the Braves lost both games of a doubleheader to the Brooklyn Dodgers. The consecutive losses put their record at 26–40 and the Braves were in last place, 15 games behind the league-leading New York Giants, who had won the previous three league pennants. After a day off, the Braves started to put together a hot streak, and from July 6 through September 5, the Braves went 41–12.[17] On September 7 and 8, the Braves took two of three games from the New York Giants and moved into first place. The Braves tore through September and early October, closing with 25 wins against six losses, while the Giants went 16–16.[18] They were the only team, under the old eight-team league format, to win a pennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July. They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12.[19] Despite their amazing comeback, the Braves entered the World Series as a heavy underdog to Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's. Nevertheless, the Braves swept the Athletics—the first unqualified sweep in the young history of the modern World Series (the 1907 Series had one tied game) to win the world championship. Meanwhile, Johnny Evers won the Chalmers Award. The Braves played the World Series (as well as the last few games of the 1914 season) at Fenway Park, since their normal home, the South End Grounds, was too small. However, the Braves' success inspired owner Gaffney to build a modern park, Braves Field, which opened in August 1915. It was the largest park in the majors at the time, with 40,000 seats and a very spacious outfield. The park was novel for its time; public transportation brought fans right to the park. 1915–1953 After contending for most of 1915 and 1916, the Braves only twice posted winning records from 1917 to 1932. The lone highlight of those years came when Judge Emil Fuchs bought the team in 1923 to bring his longtime friend, pitching great Christy Mathewson, back into the game. However, Mathewson died in 1925, leaving Fuchs in control of the team. Fuchs was committed to building a winner, but the damage from the years prior to his arrival took some time to overcome. The Braves finally managed to be competitive in 1933 and 1934 under manager Bill McKechnie, but Fuchs' revenue was severely depleted due to the Great Depression. Looking for a way to get more fans and more money, Fuchs worked out a deal with the New York Yankees to acquire Babe Ruth, who had started his career with the Red Sox. Fuchs made Ruth team vice president, and promised him a share of the profits. He was also granted the title of assistant manager, and was to be consulted on all of the Braves' deals. Fuchs even suggested that Ruth, who had long had his heart set on managing, could take over as manager once McKechnie stepped down—perhaps as early as 1936.[20] At first, it appeared that Ruth was the final piece the team needed in 1935. On opening day, he had a hand in all of the Braves' runs in a 4–2 win over the Giants. However, that proved to be the only time the Braves were over .500 all year. Events went downhill quickly. While Ruth could still hit, he could do little else. He could not run, and his fielding was so terrible that three of the Braves' pitchers threatened to go on strike if Ruth were in the lineup. It soon became obvious that he was vice president and assistant manager in name only and Fuchs' promise of a share of team profits was hot air. In fact, Ruth discovered that Fuchs expected him to invest some of his money in the team.[20] Seeing a franchise in complete disarray, Ruth retired on June 1—only six days after he clouted what turned out to be the last three home runs of his career. He had wanted to quit as early as May 12, but Fuchs wanted him to hang on so he could play in every National League park.[20] The Braves finished 38–115, the worst season in franchise history. Their .248 winning percentage is the second-worst in the modern era and the second-worst in National League history (ahead of the 1899 Cleveland Spiders with a .130 winning percentage). Fuchs lost control of the team in August 1935,[20] and the new owners tried to change the team's image by renaming it the Boston Bees. This did little to change the team's fortunes. After five uneven years, a new owner, construction magnate Lou Perini, changed the nickname back to the Braves. He immediately set about rebuilding the team. World War II slowed things down a little, but the team rode the pitching of Warren Spahn to impressive seasons in 1946 and 1947. Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn In 1948, the team won the pennant, behind the pitching of Spahn and Johnny Sain, who won 39 games between them. The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September, Boston Post writer Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair: First we'll use Spahn then we'll use Sain Then an off day followed by rain Back will come Spahn followed by Sain And followed we hope by two days of rain. The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain", entered the baseball vocabulary. However, in the 1948 season, the Braves had the same overall winning percentage as in games that Spahn and Sain started. The 1948 World Series, which the Braves lost in six games to the Indians, turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston. In 1950, Sam Jethroe became the team's first African American player, making his major league debut on April 18. Amid four mediocre seasons, attendance steadily dwindled until, on March 13, 1953, Perini, who had recently bought out his original partners, announced he was moving the team to Milwaukee, where the Braves had their top farm club, the Brewers. Milwaukee had long been a possible target for relocation. Bill Veeck had tried to return his St. Louis Browns there earlier the same year (Milwaukee was the original home of that franchise), but his proposal had been voted down by the other American League owners. Milwaukee (1953–1965) See also: History of the Atlanta Braves § Milwaukee The Milwaukee Braves cap logo Milwaukee went wild over the Braves, drawing a then-NL record 1.8 million fans. The Braves finished 92–62 in their first season in Milwaukee. The success of the relocated team showed that baseball could succeed in new markets, and the Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns, Brooklyn Dodgers, and New York Giants left their hometowns within the next five years. As the 1950s progressed, the reinvigorated Braves became increasingly competitive. Sluggers Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron drove the offense (they hit a combined 1,226 home runs as Braves, with 850 of those coming while the franchise was in Milwaukee and 863 coming while they were teammates), often aided by another power hitter, Joe Adcock, while Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, and Bob Buhl anchored the rotation. The 1956 Braves finished second, only one game behind the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1957, the Braves celebrated their first pennant in nine years spearheaded by Aaron's MVP season, as he led the National League in both home runs and RBI. Perhaps the most memorable of his 44 round-trippers that season came on September 23, a two-run walk-off home run that gave the Braves a 4–2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and clinched the League championship. The team then went on to its first World Series win in over 40 years, defeating the powerful New York Yankees of Berra, Mantle, and Ford in seven games. One-time Yankee Burdette, the Series MVP, threw three complete-game victories against his former team, giving up only two earned runs. In 1958, the Braves again won the National League pennant and jumped out to a three games to one lead in the World Series against the New York Yankees once more, thanks in part to the strength of Spahn's and Burdette's pitching. But the Yankees stormed back to take the last three games, in large part to World Series MVP Bob Turley's pitching. Hank Aaron The 1959 season saw the Braves finish the season in a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers, both with 86–68 records. Many residents of Chicago and Milwaukee were hoping for a Sox-Braves Series, as the cities are only about 75 miles (121 km) apart, but it was not to be because Milwaukee fell in a best-of-3 playoff with two straight losses to the Dodgers. The Dodgers would go on to defeat the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. The next six years were up-and-down for the Braves. The 1960 season featured two no-hitters by Burdette and Spahn, and Milwaukee finished seven games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates, who went on to win the World Series that year, in second place, one year after the Braves were on the winning end of the 13-inning near-perfect game of Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix. The 1961 season saw a drop in the standings for the Braves down to fourth, despite Spahn recording his 300th victory and pitching another no-hitter that year. Aaron hit 45 home runs in 1962, a Milwaukee career high for him, but this did not translate into wins for the Braves, as they finished fifth. The next season, Aaron again hit 44 home runs and notched 130 RBI, and 42-year-old Warren Spahn was once again the ace of the staff, going 23–7. However, none of the other Braves produced at that level, and the team finished in the "second division", for the first time in its short history in Milwaukee. The Braves were mediocre as the 1960s began, with an inflated win total fed by the expansion New York Mets and Houston Colt .45s. To this day, the Milwaukee Braves are the only major league team that played more than one season and never had a losing record. Perini sold the Braves to a Chicago-based group led by William Bartholomay in 1962. Almost immediately Bartholomay started shopping the Braves to a larger television market. Keen to attract them, the fast-growing city of Atlanta, led by Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. constructed a new $18 million, 52,000-seat ballpark in less than one year, Atlanta Stadium, which was officially opened in 1965 in hopes of luring an existing major league baseball and/or NFL/AFL team. After the city failed to lure the Kansas City A's to Atlanta (the A's ultimately moved to Oakland in 1968), the Braves announced their intention to move to Atlanta for the 1965 season. However, an injunction filed in Wisconsin kept the Braves in Milwaukee for one final year. In 1966, the Braves completed the move to Atlanta. Eddie Mathews is the only Braves player to have played for the organization in all three cities that they have been based in. Mathews played with the Braves for their last season in Boston, the team's entire tenure in Milwaukee, and their first season in Atlanta. Atlanta (1966–present) 1966–1974 The fence over which Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run still exists outside of Center Parc Stadium. The Braves were a .500 team in their first few years in Atlanta; 85–77 in 1966, 77–85 in 1967, and 81–81 in 1968. The 1967 season was the Braves' first losing season since 1952, their last year in Boston. In 1969, with the onset of divisional play, the Braves won the first-ever National League West Division title, before being swept by the "Miracle Mets" in the National League Championship Series. They would not be a factor during the next decade, posting only two winning seasons between 1970 and 1981 – in some cases, fielding teams as bad as the worst Boston teams. In the meantime, fans had to be satisfied with the achievements of Hank Aaron. In the relatively hitter-friendly confines and higher-than-average altitude of Atlanta Stadium ("The Launching Pad"), he actually increased his offensive production. Atlanta also produced batting champions in Rico Carty (in 1970) and Ralph Garr (in 1974). In the shadow of Aaron's historical home run pursuit, was that three Atlanta sluggers hit 40 or more home runs in 1973 – Darrell Evans and Davey Johnson along with Aaron. By the end of the 1973 season, Aaron had hit 713 home runs, one short of Ruth's record. Throughout the winter he received racially motivated death threats, but stood up well under the pressure. On April 4, opening day of the next season, he hit No.714 in Cincinnati, and on April 8, in front of his home fans and a national television audience, he finally beat Ruth's mark with a home run to left-center field off left-hander Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Aaron spent most of his career as a Milwaukee and Atlanta Brave before being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers on November 2, 1974. Ted Turner era 1976–1977: Ted Turner buys the team Media magnate Ted Turner purchased the team in 1976, and played a large role in the team's operation. In 1976, the team was purchased by media magnate Ted Turner, owner of superstation WTBS, as a means to keep the team (and one of his main programming staples) in Atlanta. The financially strapped Turner used money already paid to the team for their broadcast rights as a down-payment. It was then that Atlanta Stadium was renamed Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. Turner quickly gained a reputation as a quirky, hands-on baseball owner. On May 11, 1977, Turner appointed himself manager, but because MLB passed a rule in the 1950s barring managers from holding a financial stake in their teams, Turner was ordered to relinquish that position after one game (the Braves lost 2–1 to the Pittsburgh Pirates to bring their losing streak to 17 games). Turner used the Braves as a major programming draw for his fledgling cable network, making the Braves the first franchise to have a nationwide audience and fan base. WTBS marketed the team as "The Atlanta Braves: America's Team", a nickname that still sticks in some areas of the country, especially the South. Among other things, in 1976 Turner suggested the nickname "Channel" for pitcher Andy Messersmith and jersey number 17, in order to promote the television station that aired Braves games. Major League Baseball quickly nixed the idea. 1978–1990 After three straight losing seasons, Bobby Cox was hired for his first stint as manager for the 1978 season.[21] He promoted 22-year-old slugger Dale Murphy into the starting lineup. Murphy hit 77 home runs over the next three seasons, but he struggled on defense, unable to adeptly play either catcher or first base. In 1980, Murphy was moved to center field and demonstrated excellent range and throwing ability, while the Braves earned their first winning season since 1974. Cox was fired after the 1981 season and replaced with Joe Torre, under whose leadership the Braves attained their first divisional title since 1969. Strong performances from Bob Horner, Chris Chambliss, pitcher Phil Niekro, and short relief pitcher Gene Garber helped the Braves, but no Brave was more acclaimed than Murphy, who won both a Most Valuable Player and a Gold Glove award. Murphy also won an MVP award the following season, but the Braves began a period of decline that defined the team throughout the 1980s. Murphy, excelling in defense, hitting, and running, was consistently recognized as one of the league's best players, but the Braves averaged only 65 wins per season between 1985 and 1990. Their lowest point came in 1988, when they lost 106 games. The 1986 season saw the return of Bobby Cox as general manager. Also in 1986, the team stopped using their Native American-themed mascot, Chief Noc-A-Homa. 1991–1994: From worst to first Tom Glavine John Smoltz Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz combined for six Cy Young Awards during their time in the Braves pitching rotation From 1991 to 2005 the Braves were one of the most consistently winning teams in baseball.[22] The Braves won a record 14 straight division titles, five National League pennants, and one World Series title in 1995. Bobby Cox returned to the dugout as manager in the middle of the 1990 season, replacing Russ Nixon. The Braves finished the year with the worst record in baseball, at 65–97. They traded Dale Murphy to the Philadelphia Phillies after it was clear he was becoming a less dominant player. Pitching coach Leo Mazzone began developing young pitchers Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, and John Smoltz into future stars. That same year, the Braves used the number one overall pick in the 1990 MLB draft to select Chipper Jones, who became one of the best hitters in team history.[23] Perhaps the Braves' most important move was not on the field, but in the front office. Immediately after the season, John Schuerholz was hired away from the Kansas City Royals as general manager. The following season, Glavine, Avery, and Smoltz would be recognized as the best young pitchers in the league, winning 52 games among them. Meanwhile, behind position players David Justice, Ron Gant and unexpected league Most Valuable Player and batting champion Terry Pendleton, the Braves overcame a 39–40 start, winning 55 of their final 83 games over the last three months of the season and edging the Los Angeles Dodgers by one game in one of baseball's more memorable playoff races. The "Worst to First" Braves, who had not won a divisional title since 1982, captivated the city of Atlanta and the entire southeast during their improbable run to the flag. They defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in a very tightly contested seven-game NLCS only to lose the World Series, also in seven games, to the Minnesota Twins. The series, considered by many to be one of the greatest ever, was the first time a team that had finished last in its division one year went to the World Series the next; both the Twins and Braves accomplished the feat. Despite the 1991 World Series loss, the Braves' success would continue. In 1992, the Braves returned to the NLCS and once again defeated the Pirates in seven games, culminating in a dramatic game seven win. Francisco Cabrera's two-out single that scored David Justice and Sid Bream capped a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the Braves a 3–2 victory. It was the first time in post-season history that the tying and winning runs had scored on a single play in the ninth inning. The Braves lost the World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays, however. In 1993, the Braves signed Cy Young Award winning pitcher Greg Maddux from the Chicago Cubs, leading many baseball insiders to declare the team's pitching staff the best in baseball.[24] The 1993 team posted a franchise-best 104 wins after a dramatic pennant race with the San Francisco Giants, who won 103 games.[25] The Braves needed a stunning 55–19 finish to edge out the Giants, who led the Braves by nine games in the standings as late as August 11. However, the Braves fell in the NLCS to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. In 1994, in a realignment of the National League's divisions following the 1993 expansion, the Braves moved to the Eastern Division.[26] This realignment was the main cause of the team's heated rivalry with the New York Mets during the mid-to-late 1990s.[27][28][29] The player's strike cut short the 1994 season, prior to the division championships, with the Braves six games behind the Montreal Expos with 48 games left to play. 1995–2005: World Series champs and 14 straight division titles The Braves returned strong the following strike-shortened (144 games instead of the customary 162) year and beat the Cleveland Indians in the 1995 World Series.[30] This squelched claims by many Braves critics that they were the "Buffalo Bills of Baseball" (January 1996 issue of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly). With this World Series victory, the Braves became the first team in Major League Baseball to win world championships in three different cities. With their strong pitching as a constant, the Braves appeared in the 1996 and 1999 World Series, losing both to the New York Yankees, managed by Joe Torre, a former Braves manager.[28] In October 1996, Time Warner acquired Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System and all of its assets, including its cable channels and the Atlanta Braves. Over the next few years, Ted Turner's presence as the owner of the team would diminish. A 95–67 record in 2000 produced a ninth consecutive division title. However, a sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series prevented the Braves from reaching the NL Championship Series.[28] The 1995 World Series Commissioner's Trophy on display in the Ivan Allen Jr. Braves Museum and Hall of Fame at Turner Field They had a streak of 14 division titles from 1991 to 2005, three in the Western Division and eleven in the Eastern, interrupted only in 1994 when the strike ended the season early. Pitching was not the only constant in the Braves organization —Cox was the Braves' manager, while Schuerholz remained the team's GM until after the 2007 season when he was promoted to team president. Terry Pendleton finished his playing career elsewhere but returned to the Braves system as the hitting coach. Liberty Media era Liberty Media buys the team In December 2005, team owner Time Warner, which inherited the Braves after purchasing Turner Broadcasting System in 1996, announced it was placing the team for sale.[31][32] Liberty Media began negotiations to purchase the team. In February 2007, after more than a year of negotiations, Time Warner agreed to a deal to sell the Braves to Liberty Media, which owned a large amount of stock in Time Warner, pending approval by 75 percent of MLB owners and the Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig. The deal included the exchange of the Braves, valued in the deal at $450 million, a hobbyist magazine publishing company, and $980 million cash, for 68.5 million shares of Time Warner stock held by Liberty, worth approximately $1.48 billion. Team President Terry McGuirk anticipated no change in the front office structure, personnel, or day-to-day operations of the Braves, and Liberty did not participate in day-to-day operations.[33] On May 16, 2007, Major League Baseball's owners approved the sale.[34][35] The Braves are one of only two Major League Baseball teams under majority corporate ownership (and the only NL team with this distinction); the other team is the Toronto Blue Jays (owned by Canadian media conglomerate Rogers Communications). 2010: Cox's final season Main article: 2010 Atlanta Braves season Braves manager Bobby Cox retired in 2010 after 25 years of management The 2010 Braves' season featured an attempt to reclaim a postseason berth for the first time since 2005. The Braves were once again skippered by Bobby Cox, in his 25th and final season managing the team. The Braves started the 2010 season slowly and had a nine-game losing streak in April. Then they had a nine-game winning streak from May 26 through June 3, the Braves longest since 2000 when they won 16 in a row. On May 31, the Atlanta Braves defeated the then-first place Philadelphia Phillies at Turner Field to take sole possession of first place in the National League East standings, a position they had maintained through the middle of August.[36] The last time the Atlanta Braves led the NL East on August 1 was in 2005. On July 13, 2010, at the 2010 MLB All-Star Game in Anaheim, Braves catcher Brian McCann was awarded the All-Star Game MVP Award for his clutch two-out, three-run double in the seventh inning to give the National League its first win in the All-Star Game since 1996.[37] He became the first Brave to win the All-Star Game MVP Award since Fred McGriff did so in 1994. The Braves made two deals before the trade deadline to acquire Álex González, Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth from the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals, giving up shortstop Yunel Escobar, pitchers Jo-Jo Reyes and Jesse Chavez, outfielder Gregor Blanco and three minor leaguers.[38][39] On August 18, 2010, they traded three pitching prospects for first baseman Derrek Lee from the Chicago Cubs.[40] On August 22, 2010, against the Chicago Cubs, Mike Minor struck out 12 batters across 6 innings; an Atlanta Braves single game rookie strikeout record.[41] The Braves dropped to second in the NL East in early September, but won the NL Wild Card. They lost to the San Francisco Giants in the National League Division Series in four games. Every game of the series was determined by one run. After the series-clinching victory for the Giants in Game 4, Bobby Cox was given a standing ovation by the fans, also by players and coaches of both the Braves and Giants. 2012: Chipper's last season Chipper Jones salutes the crowd at Turner Field prior to his final regular-season game on September 30, 2012. Jones announced he would retire after 19 seasons with the Braves In 2012, the Braves began their 138th season after an upsetting end to the 2011 season. On March 22, the Braves announced that third baseman Chipper Jones would retire following the 2012 season after 19 Major League seasons with the team.[42] The Braves also lost many key players through trades or free agency, including pitcher Derek Lowe, shortstop Alex González, and outfielder Nate McLouth. To compensate for this, the team went on to receive many key players such as outfielder Michael Bourn, along with shortstops Tyler Pastornicky and Andrelton Simmons. Washington ended up winning their first division title in franchise history, but the Braves remained in first place of the NL wild-card race. Keeping with a new MLB rule for the 2012 season, the top two wild card teams in each league must play each other in a playoff game before entering into the Division Series. The Braves played the St. Louis Cardinals in the first-ever Wild Card Game. The Braves lost the game 6–3, ending their season. 2017: Front office changes After the 2016 season was over the Braves promoted interim manager Brian Snitker to full-time manager. On October 2, 2017, John Coppolella resigned as general manager of the Braves amid a Major League Baseball investigation into Atlanta's international signings, having committed what the Braves termed "a breach of MLB rules regarding the international player market".[43] On November 13, 2017, the Braves announced Alex Anthopoulos as the new general manager and executive vice president.[44] John Hart was removed as team president and assumed a senior adviser role with the organization.[44] Truist Park prior to its first regular-season game Braves chairman Terry McGuirk apologized to fans "on behalf of the entire Braves family" for the scandal.[44] McGuirk described Anthopoulos as "a man of integrity" and that "he will operate in a way that will make all of our Braves fans proud."[44] On November 17, 2017, the Braves announced that John Hart had stepped down as senior advisor for the organization.[45] Hart said in a statement that "with the hiring of Alex Anthopoulos as general manager, this organization is in great hands."[45] MLB investigation and penalties On November 21, 2017, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the findings of the MLB investigation into Atlanta's international signings.[46] Manfred ruled that the Braves must forfeit 13 international prospects, including highly touted Kevin Maitan, an infielder from Venezuela who signed for $4.25 million in 2016.[46] The team also forfeited a third-round draft pick in the 2018 draft. Former Braves general manager John Coppolella was placed on baseball's permanently ineligible list.[46] Additionally, the Braves shall be prohibited from signing any international player for more than $10,000 during the 2019–20 signing period and their international signing bonus pool for the 2020–21 signing period will be reduced by 50%.[46] 2018–2022: Return to NL East dominance and World Series title In 2018 the Braves began a new streak of NL East division titles, when they went 90–72. The Braves also introduced a new mascot named Blooper on January 27, 2018 at the Atlanta Braves fan fest.[47] Blooper succeeded the Braves' "Homer of the Brave" mascot after he went into retirement.[48] In 2019, their 97–65 record was their best since 2003. However, in neither season did the Braves advance past the Division Series. In the 2020 National League Championship Series against the Dodgers, the Braves led 3–1 before the Dodgers came back to win the series and advance to the World Series.[49] The Braves returned to the NLCS in 2021 after beating the Milwaukee Brewers 3–1 in the 2021 NLDS on the heels of a Freddie Freeman game-winning home run in the bottom of the 8th inning in Game 4. With the score tied at 4, Freeman delivered a blast to left center field to give the Braves a 5–4 lead headed to the top of the 9th. After allowing a lead off single to Eduardo Escobar, Will Smith subsequently retired the side in order to secure the Braves berth in the NLCS.[50] On October 23, 2021, the Braves defeated the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, a rematch of the 2020 NLCS, in six games to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1999, thereby securing their first pennant in 22 years. They defeated the Houston Astros in six games to win their fourth World Series title.[51] For a full season-by-season list, see List of Atlanta Braves seasons. Logos From 1945 to 1955 the Braves primary logo consisted of the head of an Native American warrior.[52] From 1956 to 1965 it was a laughing Native American with a mohawk and one feather in his hair.[53] When the Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966, the "Braves" script was added underneath the laughing Native American.[54] In 1985, the Braves made a small script change to the logo.[54] The Braves modern logo debuted in 1987.[54] The modern logo is the word "Braves" in cursive with a tomahawk below it.[54] In 2018, the Braves made a subtle color change to the primary logo.[54] World Series championships President Joe Biden hosts the 2021 World Series Champion Atlanta Braves, Monday, September 26, 2022, in the East Room of the White House. Over the 120 years since the inception of the World Series (118 total World Series played), the Braves franchise has won a total of four World Series Championships, with at least one in each of the three cities they have played in. Season Manager Opponent Series Score Record 1914 (Boston) George Stallings Philadelphia Athletics 4–0 94–59 1957 (Milwaukee) Fred Haney New York Yankees 4–3 95–59 1995 (Atlanta) Bobby Cox Cleveland Indians 4–2 90–54 2021 (Atlanta) Brian Snitker Houston Astros 4–2 88–73 Total World Series championships: 4 Uniforms Main article: History of the Atlanta Braves Home uniform (1987–present), worn by Ozzie Albies. Road uniform (1987–present), worn by Matt Olson. The all-navy cap was paired with this uniform since 2009. Alternate red home uniform with "tomahawk A" cap (2005–2013), worn by Gregor Blanco. A similar design was unveiled in 2019 without the white piping. Alternate road uniform (2019–present), worn by Ronald Acuña. The Braves updated their uniform set in 1987, returning to buttoned uniforms and belted pants. This design returned to the classic look they wore in the 1950s. For the 2023 season the Braves have four uniform combinations. The white home uniform features red and navy piping, the "Braves" script and tomahawk in front, and radially arched (vertically arched until 2005; sewn into a nameplate until 2012) navy letters and red numbers with navy trim at the back. The gray road uniforms are identical to the white home uniforms save for the "Atlanta" script in front.[55] Initially, the cap worn with both uniforms is the red-brimmed navy cap with the script "A" in front. In 2008, an all-navy cap was introduced and became the primary road cap the following season. The Braves alternate navy blue road jerseys features red lettering, a red tomahawk and silver piping. Unlike the home uniforms, which are worn based on a schedule, the road uniforms are chosen on game day by the starting pitcher. However, they are also subject to Major League Baseball rules requiring the road team to wear uniforms that contrast with the uniforms worn by the home team. Due to this rule, the gray uniforms are worn when the home team chooses to wear navy blue, and sometimes when the home team chooses to wear black. For home games the Braves also have two alternate uniforms. The team has a Friday night red alternate home uniform. The uniform features navy piping, navy "Braves" script and tomahawk in front, and white letters and navy numbers with white trim at the back. It was paired with the Braves normal home cap. For Saturday games, the Braves wear the City Connect uniforms in honor of Hank Aaron.[56] The jersey is inspired by the 1974 Braves home uniform and is reimagined with "The A" emblazoned across the chest. The cap features the "A" logo and bears the colors of the 1974 uniform. Ballparks Truist Park Main article: Truist Park The Atlanta Braves home ballpark has been Truist Park since 2017. Truist Park is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Atlanta in the unincorporated community of Cumberland, in Cobb County, Georgia.[57] The team played its home games at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1996, and at Turner Field from 1997 to 2016. The Braves opened Truist Park on April 14, 2017, with a four-game sweep of the San Diego Padres.[58] The park received positive reviews. Woody Studenmund of the Hardball Times called the park a "gem" saying that he was impressed with "the compact beauty of the stadium and its exciting approach to combining baseball, business and social activities."[59] J.J. Cooper of Baseball America praised the "excellent sight lines for pretty much every seat."[60] CoolToday Park Main article: CoolToday Park Since 2019, the Braves have played spring training games at CoolToday Park in North Port, Florida.[61][62] The ballpark opened on March 24, 2019, with the Braves' 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.[63][64] The Braves left Champion Stadium, their previous Spring Training home near Orlando to reduce travel times and to get closer to other teams' facilities.[65] CoolToday Park also serves as the Braves' year round rehabilitation facility.[66] Home attendance Turner Field Home Attendance at Turner Field[67] Year Total Attendance Game Average Stadium Capacity by % Major League Rank by # Major League Rank by % 1997 3,464,488 42,771 1998 3,360,860 41,492 1999 3,284,897 40,554 2000 3,234,304 39,930 2001 2,823,530 34,858 69.6% 12th 15th 2002 2,603,484 32,142 64.2% 13th 14th 2003 2,401,084 30,393 60.7% 10th 14th 2004 2,327,565 29,399 58.7% 16th 21st 2005 2,521,167 31,126 62.9% 16th 19th 2006 2,550,524 31,488 63.6% 14th 16th 2007 2,745,207 33,891 67.7% 14th 16th 2008 2,532,834 31,270 62.4% 14th 19th 2009 2,373,631 29,304 58.5% 15th 17th 2010 2,510,119 30,989 61.9% 13th 17th 2011 2,372,940 30,037 60.4% 15th 20th 2012 2,420,171 29,879 60.1% 15th 21st 2013 2,548,679 31,465 63.3% 13th 21st 2014 2,354,305 29,065 58.4% 18th 23rd 2015 2,001,392 25,017 50.3% 24th 28th 2016 2,020,914 24,949 50.3% 22nd 28th Truist Park Home Attendance at Truist Park[67] Year Total Attendance Game Average Stadium Capacity by % Major League Rank by # Major League Rank by % 2017 2,505,252 30,929 75.3% 13th 10th 2018 2,555,781 31,552 76.8% 12th 10th 2019 2,654,920 32,776 79.8% 12th 10th 2020 0* 0* NA NA NA 2021 2,300,247 29,490 71.8% 2nd NA 2022 3,129,931 38,641 94.0% 4th NA (*) – There were no fans allowed in any MLB stadium in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Major rivalries New York Mets Main article: Braves–Mets rivalry The Braves–Mets rivalry is a rivalry between the two teams, featuring the Braves and the New York Mets as they both play in the National League East.[27] Although their first major confrontation occurred when the Mets swept the Braves in the 1969 NLCS, en route to their first World Series championship, the first playoff series won by an expansion team (also the first playoff appearance by an expansion team), the rivalry did not become especially heated until the 1994 season when division realignment put both the Mets and the Braves in the NL East division.[26][68] During this time the Braves became one of the most dominant teams in professional baseball, earning 14 straight division titles through 2005, including five World Series berths, and one World Series championship during the 1995 season. The rivalry remained heated through the early 2000s. Philadelphia Phillies While their rivalry with the Philadelphia Phillies lacks the history and hatred of the Mets, it has been the more important one in the last decade. Between 1993 and 2013, the two teams reigned almost exclusively as NL East champions, the exceptions being in 2006, when the Mets won their first division title since 1988 (no division titles were awarded in 1994 due to the player's strike), and in 2012, when the Washington Nationals claimed their first division title since 1981 when playing as the Montreal Expos. The Phillies 1993 championship was also part of a four-year reign of exclusive division championships by the Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates, their in-state rivals.[69] While rivalries are generally characterized by mutual hatred, the Braves and Phillies deeply respect each other. Each game played (18 games in 2011) is vastly important between these two NL East giants, but at the end of the day, they are very similar organizations.[70] Overall, the Braves have five more National League East division titles than the Phillies, the Braves having won 16 times since 1995, and holding it for 11 consecutive years from 1995 through 2005. (The Braves also have five NL West titles from 1969 through 1993.) Nationwide fanbase In addition to having strong fan support in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the state of Georgia, the Braves are often referred to as "America's Team" in reference to the team's games being broadcast nationally on TBS from the 1970s until 2007, giving the team a nationwide fan base.[71] The Braves boast heavy support within the Southeastern United States particularly in states such as Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.[72][73] Tomahawk chop Main article: Atlanta Braves tomahawk chop and name controversy The Atlanta Braves encouraged fans to gesture with the "Tomahawk Chop", distributing foam tomahawks at games and other events. The tomahawk chop was adopted by fans of the Atlanta Braves in 1991.[74] Carolyn King, the Braves organist, had played the "tomahawk song" during most at bats for a few seasons, but it finally caught on with Braves fans when the team started winning.[75][76] The usage of foam tomahawks led to criticism from Native American groups that it was "demeaning" to them and called for them to be banned.[76] In response, the Braves' public relations director said that it was "a proud expression of unification and family".[76] King, who did not understand the sociopolitical ramifications, approached one of the Native American chiefs who were protesting.[77] The chief told her that leaving her job as an organist would not change anything and that if she left "they'll find someone else to play."[77] The controversy has persisted since and became national news again during the 2019 National League Division Series.[78] During the series, St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher and Cherokee Nation member, Ryan Helsley was asked about the chop and chant. Helsley said he found the fans' chanting and arm-motions insulting and that the chop depicts natives "in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren't intellectual."[78] The relief pitcher's comments prompted the Braves to stop handing out foam tomahawks, playing the chop music or showing the chop graphic when the series returned to Atlanta for Game 5.[78] The Braves released a statement saying they would "continue to evaluate how we activate elements of our brand, as well as the overall in-game experience" and that they would continue a "dialogue with those in the Native American community after the postseason concludes."[78] The heads of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Cherokee Nation both publicly condemned the chop and chant.[78] During the off-season, the Braves met with the National Congress of American Indians to start discussing a path forward.[79] In July 2020, the team faced mounting pressure to change their name after the Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins announced they were discussing brand change.[79] The Braves released a statement announcing that discussions were still ongoing about the chop, but the team name would not be changed.[80] Achievements Awards Main article: Atlanta Braves award winners and league leaders Team records Main article: List of Atlanta Braves team records Team captains Eddie Mathews 1966-67[81] Hank Aaron 1969-74[81] Bob Horner 1982–1986[82] Dale Murphy 1987–1990[83] Retired numbers See also: List of Major League Baseball retired numbers The Braves have retired eleven numbers in the history of the franchise, including most recently Andruw Jones’ number 25 in 2023, Chipper Jones' number 10 in 2013, John Smoltz's number 29 in 2012, Bobby Cox's number 6 in 2011, Tom Glavine's number 47 in 2010, and Greg Maddux's number 31 in 2009. Additionally, Hank Aaron's 44, Dale Murphy's 3, Phil Niekro's 35, Eddie Mathews' 41, Warren Spahn's 21 and Jackie Robinson's 42, which is retired for all of baseball with the exception of Jackie Robinson Day, have also been retired.[84] The color and design of the retired numbers reflect the uniform design at the time the person was on the team, excluding Robinson.[85] Dale Murphy OF Retired June 13, 1994 Bobby Cox Mgr Retired August 12, 2011 Chipper Jones 3B Retired June 28, 2013 Warren Spahn P Retired December 11, 1965 Andruw Jones OF Retired September 9, 2023 John Smoltz P Retired June 8, 2012 Greg Maddux P Retired July 17, 2009 Phil Niekro P Retired August 6, 1984 Eddie Mathews 3B Retired July 26, 1969 Hank Aaron RF Retired April 15, 1977 Tom Glavine P Retired August 6, 2010 Jackie Robinson All MLB Honored April 15, 1997 Of the ten Braves whose numbers have been retired, all who are eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame have been elected with the exception of Murphy. On April 3, 2023, the Braves announced that they will retire number 25 in honor of former centerfielder Andruw Jones on September 9.[86] Baseball Hall of Famers Main article: List of members of the Baseball Hall of Fame Bobby Cox Chipper Jones Phil Niekro Atlanta Braves Hall of Famers Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Boston Braves Earl Averill Dave Bancroft Dan Brouthers John Clarkson * Jimmy Collins Hugh Duffy * Johnny Evers Burleigh Grimes Billy Hamilton Billy Herman Rogers Hornsby Joe Kelley King Kelly Ernie Lombardi Rabbit Maranville * Rube Marquard Tommy McCarthy * Bill McKechnie Joe Medwick Kid Nichols * Jim O'Rourke Charley Radbourn Babe Ruth Frank Selee * Al Simmons George Sisler Billy Southworth Casey Stengel Ed Walsh Lloyd Waner Paul Waner Deacon White Vic Willis * George Wright * Harry Wright Cy Young Milwaukee Braves Eddie Mathews *[87] Red Schoendienst Enos Slaughter Warren Spahn * Hank Aaron * Atlanta Braves Hank Aaron[88] † Orlando Cepeda[89] Bobby Cox *[90] Tom Glavine *[91] Chipper Jones *[92] Greg Maddux *[93] Fred McGriff *[94] Phil Niekro * Gaylord Perry John Schuerholz Ted Simmons[95] John Smoltz *[96] Bruce Sutter Joe Torre[97] Hoyt Wilhelm Players and managers listed in bold are depicted on their Hall of Fame plaques wearing a Braves cap insignia. * Boston / Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves listed as primary team according to the Hall of Fame † Hank Aaron chose to represent the Atlanta Braves on his HOF cap insignia, but the HOF lists the Milwaukee Braves as his primary team P Greg Maddux, Hall of Famer Ford C. Frick Award recipients (broadcasters) Atlanta Braves Ford C. Frick Award recipients Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Milo Hamilton Names in bold received the award based primarily on their work as broadcasters for the Braves. Braves Hall of Fame 2× MVP Dale Murphy, outfielder 3B Eddie Mathews, Hall of Famer Main article: Ivan Allen Jr. Braves Museum and Hall of Fame Braves Hall of Fame wall at Truist Park Key Year Year inducted Bold Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame † Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as a Brave Bold Recipient of the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award Braves Hall of Fame Year No. Name Position(s) Tenure 1999 21 Warren Spahn† P 1942, 1946–1964 35 Phil Niekro† P 1964–1983, 1987 41 Eddie Mathews† 3B Manager 1952–1966 1972–1974 44 Hank Aaron† RF 1954–1974 2000 — Ted Turner Owner/President 1976–1996 3 Dale Murphy OF 1976–1990 2001 32 Ernie Johnson Sr. P Broadcaster 1950, 1952–1958 1962–1999 2002 28, 33 Johnny Sain P Coach 1942, 1946–1951 1977, 1985–1986 — Bill Bartholomay Owner/President 1962–1976 2003 1, 23 Del Crandall C 1949–1963 2004 — Pete Van Wieren Broadcaster 1976–2008 — Kid Nichols† P 1890–1901 1 Tommy Holmes OF Manager 1942–1951 1951–1952 — Skip Caray Broadcaster 1976–2008 2005 — Paul Snyder Executive 1973–2007 — Herman Long SS 1890–1902 2006 — Bill Lucas GM 1976–1979 11, 48 Ralph Garr OF 1968–1975 2007 23 David Justice OF 1989–1996 2009 31 Greg Maddux[98] P 1993–2003 2010 47 Tom Glavine†[99] P 1987–2002, 2008 2011 6 Bobby Cox†[100][101][102] Manager 1978–1981, 1990–2010 2012 29 John Smoltz†[103] P 1988–1999, 2001–2008 2013 10 Chipper Jones†[104] 3B/LF 1993–2012 2014 8 Javy López C 1992–2003 1 Rabbit Maranville† SS/2B 1912–1920 1929–1933, 1935 — Dave Pursley Trainer 1961–2002 2015 — Don Sutton Broadcaster 1989–2006, 2009–2020 2016 25 Andruw Jones CF 1996–2007 — John Schuerholz Executive 1990–2016 2018 15 Tim Hudson P 2005–2013 — Joe Simpson Broadcaster 1992–present 2019 — Hugh Duffy OF 1892–1900 5, 9 Terry Pendleton 3B Coach 1991–1994, 1996 2002–2017 2022[105] 9 Joe Adcock 1B/OF 1953–1962 54 Leo Mazzone Coach 1990–2005 9, 15 Joe Torre C/1B/3B Manager 1960–1968 1982–1984 2023[106] 25, 43, 77 Rico Carty LF 1963–1972 — Fred Tenney 1B 1894–1907, 1911 Roster Atlanta Braves rostervte Active roster Inactive roster Coaches/Other Pitchers Starting rotation 55 Bryce Elder 54 Max Fried 50 Charlie Morton 99 Spencer Strider 30 Kyle Wright Bullpen 45 Brad Hand 77 Joe Jiménez 38 Pierce Johnson 33 A. J. Minter 65 Jared Shuster 53 Jackson Stephens 51 Michael Tonkin 22 Kirby Yates Closer(s) 26 Raisel Iglesias Catchers 16 Travis d'Arnaud 12 Sean Murphy Infielders  1 Ozzie Albies 11 Orlando Arcia 15 Nicky Lopez 28 Matt Olson 27 Austin Riley 67 Luke Williams Outfielders 13 Ronald Acuña Jr. 23 Michael Harris II 17 Kevin Pillar  8 Eddie Rosario 73 Forrest Wall Designated hitters 20 Marcell Ozuna Pitchers 36 Ian Anderson 46 Dylan Dodd 71 Ben Heller 52 Dylan Lee 32 Collin McHugh  62 AJ Smith-Shawver 64 Darius Vines 72 Allan Winans Catchers 48 Chadwick Tromp Infielders 18 Vaughn Grissom 24 Braden Shewmake -- Andrew Velazquez Manager 43 Brian Snitker Coaches 57 Sal Fasano (catching coach) 58 Drew French (bullpen) 10 Chipper Jones (hitting consultant) 39 Rick Kranitz (pitching) 97 Jimmy Leo (bullpen catcher) 70 Bobby Magallanes (assistant hitting) 95 Eddie Pérez (assistant) 98 Tomás Pérez (batting practice pitcher) 34 Kevin Seitzer (hitting) 37 Ron Washington (third base)  4 Walt Weiss (bench) 96 José Yepez (bullpen catcher)  2 Eric Young Sr. (first base) 60-day injured list  9 Ehire Adrianza 49 Kolby Allard 61 Nick Anderson 60 Jesse Chavez 56 Yonny Chirinos 75 Daysbel Hernández 14 Sam Hilliard 68 Tyler Matzek 40 Michael Soroka 19 Huascar Ynoa 28 active, 12 inactive  7-, 10-, or 15-day injured list # Personal leave Roster and coaches updated September 13, 2023 Transactions • Depth chart → All MLB rosters Minor league affiliates Main article: List of Atlanta Braves minor league affiliates The Atlanta Braves farm system consists of six minor league affiliates.[107] Level Team League Location Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers International League Lawrenceville, Georgia Double-A Mississippi Braves Southern League Pearl, Mississippi High-A Rome Braves South Atlantic League Rome, Georgia Single-A Augusta GreenJackets Carolina League North Augusta, South Carolina Rookie FCL Braves Florida Complex League North Port, Florida DSL Braves Dominican Summer League Boca Chica, Santo Domingo Radio and television Main articles: List of Atlanta Braves broadcasters, Braves TBS Baseball, and Atlanta Braves Radio Network The Braves regional games are exclusively broadcast on Bally Sports Southeast. Brandon Gaudin is the play-by-play announcer for Bally Sports Southeast.[108] Gaudin is joined in the booth primarily by Jeff Francoeur. Tom Glavine will join the broadcast for 35 to 40 games.[109] Peter Moylan and Nick Green will also appear in the booth for select games as in-game analysts.[110] John Smoltz will also join the booth for two series at the end of the 2023 regular season.[111] The radio broadcast team is led by the tandem of play-by-play announcer Ben Ingram and analyst Joe Simpson. They work the bulk of the games, with Jim Powell joining Simpson or Ingram throughout the season. Braves games are broadcast across Georgia and seven other states on at least 172 radio affiliates, including flagship station 680 The Fan in Atlanta and stations as far away as Richmond, Virginia; Louisville, Kentucky; and the US Virgin Islands. The games are carried on at least 82 radio stations in Georgia.[112] References The Montreal Expos (French: Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (NL) East division from 1969 until 2004. Following the 2004 season, the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C., and became the Washington Nationals. Immediately after the minor league Triple-A Montreal Royals folded in 1960, political leaders in Montreal sought an MLB franchise, and when the National League evaluated expansion candidates for the 1969 season, it awarded a team to Montreal. Named after the Expo 67 World's Fair, the Expos originally played at Jarry Park Stadium before moving to Olympic Stadium in 1977. The Expos failed to post a winning record in any of the franchise’s first 10 seasons. The team won its only division title in the strike-shortened 1981 season, but lost the 1981 National League Championship Series (NLCS) to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team was sold in 1991 by its majority, founding owner, Charles Bronfman, to a consortium headed by Claude Brochu. Felipe Alou was promoted to the team's field manager in 1992, becoming MLB's first Dominican-born manager. He led the team to four winning seasons, including 1994, where the Expos had the best record in baseball before a players' strike ended the season. Alou became the Expos leader in games managed (1,409). The aftermath of the 1994 strike initiated a downward spiral as the Expos chose to sell off their best players, and attendance and interest in the team declined. Following a failed attempt to disband the Expos, Major League Baseball purchased the team prior to the 2002 season after the club failed to secure funding for a new ballpark. In their final two seasons, the team played 22 home games each year at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. On September 29, 2004, MLB announced the franchise would relocate to Washington, D.C., for the 2005 season,[5] and the Expos played their final home game in Montreal. The Expos posted an all-time record of 2,753 wins, 2,943 losses and 4 ties during their 36 years in Montreal. Vladimir Guerrero led the franchise in both home runs and batting average, and Steve Rogers in wins and strikeouts. Three pitchers threw four no-hitters: Bill Stoneman (twice), Charlie Lea, and Dennis Martínez, who pitched the 13th official perfect game in Major League Baseball history. The Expos retired four numbers in Montreal, and nine former members have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, with Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Tim Raines' plaques depicting them with Expos caps. History Founding (1960–1968) Professional baseball in Montreal dates back to 1890 when teams briefly played in the International Association. A second attempt at hosting a pro team failed in 1895. The Montreal Royals of the Eastern League were subsequently founded in 1897 and played 20 seasons.[6] The Royals were revived in 1928 and were purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1939 to serve as one of their Triple-A affiliates.[7] Under Dodgers' management, the Royals won seven International League championships and three Junior World Series titles between 1941 and 1958.[8] In 1946, Jackie Robinson joined the Royals and led the team to a Junior World Series title in advance of his breaking baseball's colour barrier one year later.[9] By the late 1950s, the Royals' championship years were past, and faced with declining attendance, the team was sold and relocated following the 1960 season as the Dodgers reduced the number of teams they maintained at the AAA level.[10] Almost immediately upon the Royals' demise, Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau and city executive committee chairman Gerry Snyder began their campaign for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team.[10] The city, which had previously been considered a leading candidate to acquire the St. Louis Browns if the team had relocated in 1933,[11] was too late to submit its candidacy for a team as part of the National League's (NL) 1962 expansion but presented its bid to the league's owners at the winter meetings in 1967.[12] Aiding Montreal's bid was the fact that Walter O'Malley, who owned the Dodgers and formerly oversaw the Montreal Royals, was the chairman of the NL's expansion committee.[13] On May 27, 1968, National League president Warren Giles announced the league would add expansion teams in San Diego and Montreal at a cost of US$10 million each.[14] With the franchise secured, Snyder built an ownership group of six partners led by financier Jean-Louis Lévesque and Seagram heir Charles Bronfman. Lévesque was originally tapped as chairman and the public face of the ownership group since he was a francophone. However, he bowed out, and Bronfman took over as chairman.[15] The new group was faced with the immediate problem of finding a suitable facility in which to play for at least two years.[16] Drapeau had promised the NL that a domed stadium–thought to be a must due to Montreal's cold weather in April, October and sometimes September–would be built by 1971.[14] However, Snyder's successor as executive committee chairman, Lucien Saulnier, told Bronfman that Drapeau could not make such a guarantee on his own authority. As 1968 dragged on without movement from the city on a facility, Bronfman and his group threatened to walk away. While they had more than enough money between them to pay the first installment of the expansion fee, they wanted assurances that a park would be built before proceeding any further with the effort.[17] Delorimier Stadium, which hosted the Royals, was rejected even as a temporary facility; it could not be expanded beyond its 20,000-seat capacity because it was in a residential area. The Autostade, home of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes, was ruled out due to the prohibitive cost of expanding it and adding a dome,[18] as well as doubts that the city even had the right to make the needed renovations to the federally-owned facility.[19] By August 1968, the NL owners had grown increasingly concerned about the unresolved stadium question, putting the franchise's future in doubt. There were rumours of awarding the franchise to Buffalo, New York instead, whose War Memorial Stadium was ready to host a team.[20] League president Warren Giles was reassured of Montreal's viability when shown a 3,000-seat community field in the centrally located Jarry Park that Drapeau proposed expanding to 30,000 seats as a temporary home for the Expos, at a cost of over C$1 million.[19] Several options for a team name were considered: "Royals" was a popular option with fans in honour of the minor-league Royals, but the name had already been taken by the Kansas City Royals. Other names considered included "Voyageurs" and "Nationals".[21] The team settled on "Expos", a name with the same spelling in French and English, in recognition of the recently concluded Expo 67 World's Fair.[21] Less than a year after the city was awarded a team, the Expos took to the field to begin the 1969 season.[22] Jarry Park years (1969–1976) Fans watch a game from the third base line; the scoreboard is visible beyond the right field wall. A game at Jarry Park, 1969 With Gene Mauch as their inaugural manager, the Expos made their debut on April 8, 1969: an 11–10 victory over the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.[23] The team played its first home game—and the first Major League game outside the United States—on April 14; it was an 8–7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals before 29,184 fans at Jarry Park Stadium.[24] Three days later, on April 17, in just the team's ninth game played in their history up to that point, Bill Stoneman pitched the first no-hitter in Expos history with a 7–0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.[25] The excitement of the early-season heroics quickly gave way to the realities of being an expansion team as the Expos struggled for much of their inaugural season.[26] Montreal tied their expansion cousins, the San Diego Padres for the worst record in the NL with a record of 52–110 (.321).[27] The team fared little better in the following seasons; the Expos went 73–89 in 1970 and 71–90 in 1971.[28] The team's best player, and first star, in its early seasons was Rusty Staub. Acquired from the Houston Astros in a trade prior to the Expos' inaugural season,[26] he led the Expos with 30 home runs in 1970 and, owing to his red hair, was nicknamed Le Grand Orange.[29] Staub was Montreal's lone representative at the All-Star Game in the team's first three seasons, and endeared himself to the local fans by learning French.[30] Also popular was pitcher Claude Raymond, who completed his major league career with Montreal in 1972 and was the team's first French-Canadian star.[29] Pitcher Carl Morton, who posted an 18–11 record in 1970, was the first player in franchise history to be named National League Rookie of the Year.[31] Bill Stoneman threw his second no-hitter, and the first pitched outside the United States, in a 7–0 win over the New York Mets in Montreal on October 2, 1972.[32] The team failed to post a winning season in its first ten years and finished fifth or sixth in the six-team NL East eight times.[28] Attendance declined as the initial excitement of having a team wore off. It recovered briefly in 1973 as the Expos mounted an unsuccessful charge at the NL East pennant, before declining sharply in 1974 and beyond.[33] By 1976, attendance had dropped to just over 600,000 fans over the course of the season, less than half of what the Expos drew in their inaugural season.[29] The on-field performance was not the only concern for the Expos. Jarry Park was only intended to serve as a temporary home until 1971 at the latest.[34] Even allowing for this, it left much to be desired as a baseball venue. The grandstands were completely exposed to the elements, forcing the Expos to postpone a number of early-season games. Additionally, the sun set directly in the face of first basemen, forcing delays. Due to numerous delays and cost overruns with its intended replacement, Olympic Stadium, the Expos were forced to stay in Jarry through 1976.[35] The team's future was also placed in doubt following an angry speech by Bronfman in which he threatened to relocate his family and the Seagram company outside Quebec if the separatist Parti Québécois (PQ) won a majority government in the 1976 Quebec election.[36] The Parti Québécois did win the election; however, Bronfman and the Expos remained in Quebec.[37] The Big O and Blue Monday (1977–1981) For the 1977 season, the Expos moved into their new ballpark, Olympic Stadium, six years later than originally scheduled.[38] For a time in the 1976–77 offseason, however, it appeared that the Expos would have to play at least the early part of the season at Jarry Park due to delays in securing a lease for Olympic Stadium. The team broke off negotiations not long after the PQ's landslide victory in the 1976 provincial election. Negotiations dragged out through the winter, leading the Expos to begin selling 1977 season tickets under the assumption they would have to play at Jarry. However, an agreement was finally reached in early 1977.[34] A total of 57,592 fans attended Montreal's opening day 7–2 loss to Philadelphia.[39] The new facility was a significant upgrade, although weather-related issues created by Montreal's harsh climate persisted until the stadium's roof was installed in 1987. Over the years, the stadium became notorious for its poor playing conditions. Players were frequently at risk for injury due to thin padding on the outfield fences, as well as the original artificial turf that remained in place for over two decades. Ultimately, the park became viewed as a white elephant.[40] On the field, the Expos continued to fare poorly; the team won 75 games in 1977, and 76 in 1978.[28] Though the losing seasons mounted, the Expos built a solid core of players, led by Gary Carter, who went on to become one of baseball's best hitting catchers,[41] pitcher Steve Rogers and outfielders Andre Dawson and Tim Raines.[29] They supplemented their young roster with veteran acquisitions such as future Hall of Famer Tony Pérez,[42] and in 1977, the Expos also hired Dick Williams as the team's manager. Williams had developed a reputation for nurturing young talent; he had managed a young Boston Red Sox team to the American League pennant in 1967 and the Oakland Athletics to back-to-back World Series titles in 1972 and 1973.[43] In 1979, Montreal had its first winning season in franchise history; in mid-July, the Expos led the NL East by 6.5 games,[44] before finishing second to the Pittsburgh Pirates by two games with a 95–65 record.[28] The fans responded: Montreal drew two million fans for the first time in franchise history and it was the first of five consecutive seasons that the team was in the top-four of National League attendance.[45] Though they won five fewer games in 1980, the Expos finished merely one game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the division lead.[46] In both seasons, the Expos were in the hunt for the division title into the last weekend of the season before losing to the ultimate World Series champion.[47] Baseball hat and home jersey worn by the Montreal Expos players from 1969 to 1991. In 1981, Charlie Lea pitched the third no-hitter in franchise history. He defeated the San Francisco Giants by a 4–0 score on May 10, 1981.[48] The Expos were in third place in the NL East with a 30–25 record when the season was halted for two months by a players' strike. By the time the strike ended, 713 games had been lost and could not possibly be made up. Major League Baseball chose to adopt a split-season schedule, which gave the Expos a fresh start in the second half of the season.[49] With the team languishing near the .500 mark in post-strike play, the club fired Williams and replaced him with scouting director Jim Fanning. The team continued to struggle, though, and had a 19–19 record with 15 games left to play.[50] Montreal won 11 of the remaining games and finished in first place, a 1⁄2 game ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates, thereby qualifying for the franchise's first post-season berth.[51][52] Terry Francona caught the final out – a fly ball hit by Dave Kingman – to seal a 5–4 victory over the New York Mets in the clinching game.[51] In the 1981 National League Division Series, the Expos faced the first-half winners, the defending world champion Phillies. Montreal won the first two games, at Olympic Stadium, by identical 3–1 scores before dropping the following two games in Philadelphia. In the deciding fifth game, Montreal's Steve Rogers faced Steve Carlton in a pitchers' duel. Rogers pitched a complete-game shutout as Montreal advanced to the 1981 National League Championship Series with a 3–0 win.[53] Facing the Los Angeles Dodgers, Montreal split the first two games of the best-of-five series in Los Angeles before returning home for the final three games. Montreal won game three, but failed in their first attempt to close out the series by losing game four and set up a deciding fifth game.[54] The deciding game, postponed by a day due to rain, was played October 19, 1981, in near-freezing temperatures.[55] The game was tied at 1 entering the ninth inning when Fanning opted to have his top starter, Steve Rogers, come out of the bullpen to pitch. Rogers retired the first two batters before facing Rick Monday.[56] What followed was the defining moment in Expos history: on a 3–1 count, Rogers hung a sinking fastball that Monday hit over the centrefield fence for the game-winning and series-clinching home run.[57] The moment, and game, became known to Expos fans as "Blue Monday".[58] The dramatic loss was a bitter defeat for a franchise who by that time had been adopted as Canada's most popular baseball team.[59] "The team of the '80s" (1982–1988) Close-up view of Galarraga as he poses. Andrés Galarraga, pictured here in 2002, also played with the Expos from 1985 to 1991. By the end of the 1979 season, the Expos had earned a reputation for having one of the strongest player development systems in baseball; the team had stockpiled young talent throughout its roster including four starting pitchers below the age of 23, and was hailed as "the team of the '80s".[57] When Montreal hosted the 1982 Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 13, 1982, Expos fans voted four of their own into the starting lineup: Carter, Dawson, Raines and Rogers, while Al Oliver was named as a reserve. It was only the second time since 1969 the host team had four starters.[60] The National League claimed a 4–1 victory in front of 59,057 fans in the first All-Star Game held outside the United States; Rogers was the winning pitcher.[61] Baseball historian and author Jonah Keri argued in his book Up, Up and Away that "no one at the stadium could know it then, but baseball in Montreal peaked that night at the Big O."[62] The Expos were widely predicted to win the NL East in 1982; Sports Illustrated, Baseball Digest and The Sporting News were among the publications that favoured Montreal.[63] However, the team disappointed. Montreal finished third in the division with 86 wins.[57] The Expos replaced Fanning with Bill Virdon in 1983, and under their new manager, led the division in mid-July.[64] However, the team faded down the stretch and finished with an 82–80 record.[57] The Expos won more games between 1979 and 1983 than any other team in the NL East, but had only one postseason appearance to show for it.[65] Hoping to turn the team's fortunes around, the Expos signed 42-year-old veteran Pete Rose, who was second all-time in base hits to Ty Cobb, to a one-year contract in 1984.[66] Rose reached a career milestone in Montreal's home opener by recording the 4,000th hit of his career in a 5–1 victory over Philadelphia on April 13.[67] Though players and management had praised the acquisition of Rose and predicted he would help the team win the division, he was ineffective for Montreal. Rose batted only .259 and failed to hit a home run in 95 games before he was traded back to his original team, Cincinnati,[68] and Montreal finished with a losing record on the season.[57] Montreal's failed 1984 season resulted in a 31 percent decrease in attendance at the same time salaries were escalating throughout baseball.[69] As a consequence, the Expos completed a major trade following the season, sending Gary Carter to the New York Mets on December 10, 1984, in exchange for four players.[70] In trading Carter, the Expos gave up a team icon who, like Rusty Staub before him, endeared himself to the fans by learning French and being one of the most accessible players on the team.[69] The trade came one year after Bronfman had called the seven-year, US$12.6 million contract Carter signed in 1981 "the biggest mistake he had made in his life".[71] The economics of Major League Baseball also resulted in the departure of Andre Dawson following the 1986 season. Throughout that off-season, MLB owners colluded at the behest of Commissioner Peter Ueberroth to drive salaries for free agents down. Dawson, who should have been one of the most valuable free agents on the market that year, discovered that not only was there little interest in signing him, but that the Expos were publicly commenting about his knee problems in an effort to further drive interest down.[72] Angered by these actions, Dawson walked into the Chicago Cubs' training camp with a signed, blank contract. The Cubs agreed to sign Dawson to a one-year, $500,000 contract, less than half of his previous salary.[73][74] Dawson hit 49 home runs and drove in 137 runs in 1987, attaining the honour of NL Most Valuable Player.[75] Tim Raines was also affected by collusion: after receiving no offer worth more than the $1.5 million he earned in 1986, Raines returned to the Expos on a three-year, $5 million contract.[75] He had one of the best seasons of his career in 1987, leading the NL with 123 runs (in 139 games), stealing 50 bases, batting .330 and hitting 18 home runs.[76] He was also named the most valuable player of the 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, as he drove in the game's only two runs with a triple in the 13th inning.[77] Raines was ultimately traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1990.[78] "El Presidente, El Perfecto!" (1989–1993) A St. Louis runner breaks from first base as the Expos pitcher throws to the plate. The Expos, wearing their powder blue road uniforms, face the St. Louis Cardinals in 1991 On the field, the Expos won just four games more than they lost between 1986 and 1991 as the organization set about rebuilding its development system and acquiring a new generation of players.[79] The team struggled to attract free agents to Montreal,[80] and Bronfman had grown disillusioned with both the business of baseball and the challenge of drawing fans to Olympic Stadium for a middling ball club.[81] He hoped to take one more chance at winning a title, however, and in 1989, the Expos made a push for a division title by acquiring starting pitcher and pending free agent Mark Langston from the Seattle Mariners.[81] The price would ultimately prove to be a high one as the Expos gave up future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson and two other pitchers.[82] The trade helped propel the Expos to first place in the NL East by the All-Star break. They held the top spot into August before Langston and the team collapsed.[83] The Expos finished fourth in the division with an 81–81 record,[84] and Langston left Montreal as a free agent.[85] Bronfman grew increasingly uneasy about the reckless spending of his fellow team owners, increased strife with the players, and overall direction of MLB.[86] According to then-team president Claude Brochu, the team's late-season decline in 1989 proved too much for Bronfman, who asked him to seek a buyer for the team.[87] Bronfman hoped to sell the team for around $50 million, but both he and Brochu found it impossible to find a local businessman willing to take primary ownership of the team.[81] Groups from American cities were interested, however. One group offered to buy the club for $135 million and relocate it to Miami; however, Bronfman viewed a relocation as a last resort.[88] Robert E. Rich Jr. offered to buy the club for $100 million and relocate it to Buffalo at their recently built Pilot Field, but received the same response.[89] Instead, Brochu opted to lead a group himself. The city and the province agreed to fund $33 million of the $100 million sales price Bronfman had settled on,[90] after which he and partner Jacques Ménard convinced 11 other Canadian businesses and businessmen—such as Bell Canada, Desjardins Group, the Jean Coutu Group and Loblaw Companies—to buy minority stakes. The sale was completed on November 29, 1990.[91] However, many of the investors Brochu cajoled into joining the partnership made it clear that they considered their investments to be the equivalent of charitable donations, and were not interested in providing additional funding.[92] With a new ownership group in place, the Expos traded Tim Raines to the Chicago White Sox in a five-player deal.[93] General manager David Dombrowski fired manager Buck Rodgers, who had managed the team since 1985, after the team started the 1991 season with a 20–29 record,[94] replacing him with Tom Runnells.[95] Mark Gardner pitched nine no-hit innings in a July 26, 1991 game before losing 1–0 in the 10th inning to the Los Angeles Dodgers.[96] Two days later, also in Los Angeles, Dennis Martínez achieved a rare feat, throwing the 13th official perfect game in Major League Baseball history (based on MLB's 1991 redefinition of a perfect game), winning 2–0.[97] Dave Van Horne's iconic call of "El Presidente, El Perfecto!" following the final out became a hallmark of Expos lore.[98] Martinez's catcher, Ron Hassey, also caught Len Barker's perfect game ten years earlier and remains the only player to catch two perfect games in MLB history.[99] The euphoria of the pitching feats did not last, as the Expos were rendered homeless for the final month of the season after a 50-ton beam collapsed from Olympic Stadium's structure and fell nine metres onto a public concourse hours before a motocross event on September 13.[100] The Expos hinted that they would have to open the 1992 season elsewhere unless Olympic Stadium was certified safe. While the stadium itself was given a clean bill of health by engineers in November, it took longer to get one for the roof since it had been badly ripped in a June windstorm. Ultimately, it was decided to keep the roof closed at all times; it had only been opened 88 times in a little more than four years and could not be used in winds greater than 25 mph.[34] The Expos finished 1991 with a 71–90 record, sixth in the NL East, and drew fewer than one million fans for the first time since 1976.[101] However, the foundation of the Expos' future was establishing their places in MLB: Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom and Delino DeShields had made their debuts the season prior,[102] and the team acquired Moisés Alou in a trade with Pittsburgh.[103] Moises' father Felipe, who had been a long time employee of the Expos, was promoted to manager during the 1992 season and became the first native of the Dominican Republic to manage a Major League Baseball team.[104] In 1993, DeShields was sent to Los Angeles in exchange for Pedro Martínez; the deal was initially pilloried by the Montreal Gazette and other local publications as a move designed to save money rather than improve the ball club.[82][105] Nonetheless, the Expos improved on the field; they won 87 games in 1992, 94 in 1993 and finished second in the NL East both seasons.[101] 1994 and the players' strike "Most of my career, you'd go to the park that night, and hope you were going to win it. In '94, we pretty much knew were going to win it. Losing wasn't part of the equation. After the [All-Star] break, we played the Braves and beat 'em again. I remember leaving Atlanta, and we were just laughing. Like, 'This is our competition?!'" —Larry Walker's retrospective of the 1994 Expos.[106] The Expos were recognized as having a strong team entering the 1994 season, but their hopes of winning the division were significantly impacted by realignment, as the three-time defending West Division champion Atlanta Braves were shifted to the East.[107] Atlanta opened the season with 13 wins in 14 games, and quickly opened up an 8+1⁄2-game lead on Montreal.[108] By late June, the Expos had moved to 2+1⁄2 games back when they hosted the Braves. Montreal won two out of three games in the series, including a late-game victory in the opener over future-Hall-of-Fame pitcher Greg Maddux that the players viewed as the turning point of their season.[109] Montreal then embarked on a west coast road trip in which they won the final five games and entered the All-Star break in first place.[110] The Expos pulled away from the Braves after the break; between July 18 and August 11, Montreal won 20 games and lost only three.[106] For the second time in team history, five players were named all-stars: Moisés Alou, Wil Cordero, Darrin Fletcher, Marquis Grissom and Ken Hill.[111] An offense led by Marquis Grissom, Moises Alou, Larry Walker and Wil Cordero scored more than 5 runs per game. With a record of 74–40, on pace for a 106-win season as the pitching staff with Butch Henry, Ken Hill, Jeff Fassero and a young Pedro Martinez put up the National League's best ERA. The Expos had the best record in baseball on the morning of August 12, when MLB's players went on strike.[112] The season began without a collective bargaining agreement as MLB's owners could not agree on how to share revenue between teams. Many teams were unwilling to agree to revenue sharing unless a salary cap was put in place, something which the Major League Baseball Players' Association (MLBPA) adamantly opposed. Unable to come to an agreement, the owners attempted to unilaterally force their system into effect, prompting the players to walk out. Most of the players believed they would be back on the field by Labour Day (celebrated on the same date in the U.S. as Labor Day) at the latest.[113] On September 14, following a month of fruitless negotiations, the remainder of the season was cancelled.[114] The franchise would never reach the playoffs as the Expos again. From Brochu's perspective, a salary cap was not a major concern for the Expos as they could not afford to spend the maximum value of any negotiated cap. But when the strike ended eight months later, by the order of United States federal judge Sonia Sotomayor, the failure to implement strong revenue sharing was a major blow to the Expos.[115] The team had already built a reputation as a penny-pinching organization (Larry Walker once complained in the media that the team asked the players to buy their own vitamins),[116] with the second-lowest payroll in MLB in 1994.[117] Following the strike, the team initiated a fire sale of players: Ken Hill, John Wetteland and Marquis Grissom were traded while Larry Walker was allowed to leave as a free agent. Moisés Alou, Pedro Martínez and Mel Rojas would eventually follow.[118] In his book, My Turn At Bat, Brochu argued that the fire sale was the only viable option, since his partners in the ownership group were not interested in financing the team's losses. Brochu estimated that had he tried to keep the 1994 team together, the Expos would have lost $25 million in 1995, which would have pushed the franchise to the edge of bankruptcy. He claimed that he would have certainly kept Hill, Wetteland, Grissom and Walker had the partners been willing to put up the money necessary to keep them in Montreal.[119] When Brochu told general manager Kevin Malone that Hill, Wetteland, Grissom and Walker all had to go, Malone tried to persuade Brochu to keep at least one of them. It was to no avail; Brochu told Malone that they all had to be off the roster by the deadline for salary arbitration—even though this made it all but impossible to get any leverage in possible deals. As a result, the Expos got almost nothing in return.[120] Decline (1995–2000) The strike and ensuing fire sale left fans in Montreal livid.[121] The Expos finished last in the NL East in 1995, and average game attendance fell by nearly 26%, from 24,543 to 18,189. Interest in the Expos continued to decline in the years that followed;[118] they would never average more than 20,000 fans per game in a season again during their tenure in Montreal.[122] While noting the Atlanta Braves went on to win 11 consecutive NL East titles following the strike, Jonah Keri expressed the viewpoint of the fans as it related to Brochu and the team's owners: "Expos fans couldn't help but wonder if that could have been them celebrating every year ... had Brochu convinced the team's cheapskate owners to spend a few damn dollars, or taken a leap of faith that short-term financial pain would lead to long-term success."[123] The media, meanwhile, had taken to calling the Expos a "Triple-A team" as the team seemed to enter a period where they would develop players only to move them on to other organizations.[124] In spite of a sharp decline in attendance, Brochu claimed the Expos turned a small profit in 1995. While ticket sales increased in other markets in the seasons following the strike, though, Montreal's fan base continued to erode.[125] Even with the loss of most of their best players, the Expos were competitive in 1996, achieving second place in the NL East with an 88–74 record. The team fared poorly in the following five seasons, however, finishing with a losing record in each year and no higher than fourth in the division.[101] Individually, Pedro Martínez became the first native of the Dominican Republic—and only Expo—to win the National League Cy Young Award. He won the award in 1997 after recording an 18–7 record with an earned run average (ERA) of 1.90.[126] One week after he was announced as the NL Cy Young winner, Martínez was traded to the Boston Red Sox as part of another salary purge.[127] As the 1990s wore on, interest in the Expos dwindled to the point that they were barely part of Montreal's sports landscape. Alou recalled in the latter part of the decade, an old friend of his who owned a team in the Dominican Republic came to Montreal for a visit and couldn't find any downtown store that sold Expos caps, nor did he see anyone wearing an Expos cap during his weeklong stay in the city. When he took a taxi to a game at Olympic Stadium, the driver couldn't find the entrance, and there were no signs anywhere touting games. According to Alou's friend, with such lackluster marketing, it was no surprise that the Expos couldn't attract any fans.[128] Keri later wrote that the Expos would not have been in this position had a better-financed "champion" with the resources and the patience to shepherd the team through the 1990s bought the team.[129] Brochu attempted to convince his partners that the only long-term solution to keep the Expos in Montreal was to replace Olympic Stadium. In addition to being poorly located—far from population centres, restaurants, and bars—fans perceived it as cavernous and unsafe. Additionally, free agents were letting it be known they were not willing to play for the Expos because of Olympic Stadium's poor playing conditions.[130] A proposed 35,000-seat downtown facility, to be called Labatt Park, was announced in 1997 with a budgeted cost of $250 million and an anticipated opening date of 2001. It would have been a retro-classic park with a facade reminiscent of historic Bonaventure Station. According to a Montreal Gazette editorial supporting the new park, Brochu's threat to move the team unless Olympic Stadium was replaced was "simple logic." Brochu sought $150 million in funding from the provincial government, but Premier Lucien Bouchard refused, saying he could not authorize public funding for a stadium when the province was being forced to close hospitals and had still not paid the Olympic Stadium debt.[131] Many members of the consortium instead favoured selling the team.[132] Hoping to pressure a sale, some members began to feed anonymous tips to the French press to make internal discord between Brochu and his partners public.[133] Attendance continued to fall, decreasing by 39 percent in 1998 to an average of 11,295 spectators per game.[134] It was the first of five consecutive seasons in which Montreal drew fewer than one million fans.[101] One of the few bright spots of this time was the blossoming of Vladimir Guerrero into a star; he made four consecutive All-Star Games from 1999 to 2002, each time as the Expos' sole representative. Guerrero would eventually be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018. By 1999, the partners publicly began to question Brochu's fitness to lead the organization and he was criticized by the media.[135] Brochu was also accused of having a secret deal with MLB commissioner Bud Selig to relocate the Expos to Washington, D. C., charges he denied in a spring press conference held to answer the accusations of his partners.[136] Brochu's rebuttals fell on deaf ears as fans sided with the consortium's smear campaign against Brochu.[137] He was ultimately replaced as managing general partner by American art dealer Jeffrey Loria, who was initially hailed as the franchise's saviour.[138] Loria had originally bid for the team in 1991, but Brochu and Ménard had balked at his demand for controlling interest.[139] Failed contraction and relocation (2001–2004) Close-up view of Minaya as he stands on the field. Omar Minaya was the first Latin American-born general manager in MLB history. When Loria took control, he let it be known that Brochu's low-budget approach—or as he called it, "business as usual"—was over.[140] He promised to rebuild the Expos with "a winning attitude and winning players" in an effort to bring the team back to where it had been only six years earlier.[141] To that end, he drafted a new partnership agreement that gave him the right to call for cash investments in exchange for team equity—an option that had been unavailable to Brochu. Most of the minority partners, though, continued to treat their participation as a public-relations gesture and remained uninterested in investing additional money. When Loria issued a cash call in May 2000, the only other partners to increase their contributions were Coutu, Loblaw, and Stephen Bronfman. Rather than contribute more money, the minority partners proposed trading Guererro. Loria instantly vetoed this suggestion.[142] As Loria increased his own financial contribution over the next two years, most of the other partners failed to do likewise, which resulted in Loria raising his share in the franchise to 92 percent.[143][144][145] Speaking in retrospect, one of the minority partners, Mark Routtenberg, said that he was both "fooled" and "used" by Loria, and called him a carpetbagger.[146] The team payroll for 2000 increased to $33 million, nearly double the $17.9 million from the previous season. However, Loria's options for rebuilding the team were somewhat limited. Even with the team's renewed willingness to spend more on talent, most elite players were reluctant to play in Montreal, given the franchise's uncertain future and Olympic Stadium's poor playing conditions. As a result, most of the increased payroll came from the signings of free agent pitchers Graeme Lloyd and Hideki Irabu, as well as a three-way trade with the Rangers and Blue Jays that brought Rangers first baseman Lee Stevens to Montreal. These moves failed to translate into on-field success: Lloyd missed the entire season due to arthroscopic surgery, Irabu posted a 7.24 ERA, and Stevens only batted .265. The Expos lost 95 games. Interest in the team continued to decline, as both fans and businesses were unwilling to lend their support to a noncompetitive team.[147] Loria continued to pursue the construction of a new ballpark. He sought support from Major League Baseball, the Quebec government, and architectural firm HOK Sport for a cheaper and re-designed version of Labatt Park that eschewed the retro-classic concept in favour of a more modern design with curved contours and glass. HOK and MLB both thought Loria's proposed design was structurally unsound. More seriously, although Loria had been led to believe that Ménard had convinced the provincial government to contribute funding, in reality no agreement had been reached.[148] To bolster the team's finances, Loria tried to renegotiate the Expos' broadcasting deals, which were far less valuable than that of any other team. He broke off negotiations with The Sports Network, the largest English-language cable sports network in Canada, when it only offered the Expos $5,000 per game. Even allowing for the Expos' greatly reduced home territory compared to that of the Blue Jays (see below), TSN's offer was still a pittance compared to the $200,000 it paid the Blue Jays at the time. Loria had similar issues with prospective radio partners; the only interested parties would only air Expos games as part of a brokerage agreement in which the team paid for the airtime. The Alouettes and Canadiens had similar arrangements, which was considered highly unusual for the time.[149] Although the team continued its French radio coverage on the Telemedia network—whose flagship, CKAC, had carried the Expos since 1973—the Expos were unable to reach an agreement for English radio broadcasts. This resulted in the end of the Expos' longtime run on CIQC (formerly CFCF), which had been the Expos' English radio outlet for all but four years of their existence. No television coverage was available in either language. This left English-speaking fans relying on Internet audiocasts. Local fans accused Loria and his stepson, David Samson, of sabotage. In truth, though, according to longtime Montreal sportscaster Mitch Melnick, there was no anglophone radio for the 2000 season "because nobody wanted to pay for it."[150] Years later, Samson said that he had initially hoped that if the Expos got off to a hot start, local broadcasters would initiate new negotiations, but further discussions never materialized.[149] Dave Van Horne, the team's English-language play-by-play announcer since the team's inception, left at the season's end to work for the Florida Marlins.[151] In 2001, the Expos drew only 642,748 fans, one of the smallest totals in MLB in decades.[101][152] The minority partners, whose interest was now reduced to a combined seven percent, became convinced that Loria had planned his moves to force them out. When pleas to Selig and MLB officials fell on deaf ears, the group became convinced that Selig and Loria had conspired to force the Expos out of Montreal.[153] At the same time, MLB took steps to vote on contraction of the leagues, with the Expos and the Minnesota Twins slated for elimination.[154] On November 6, 2001, MLB's owners voted 28–2 in favour of contraction, with only the Expos and Twins opposed.[155] Initial plans called for the Expos and Twins to play a lame-duck season in 2002 before their franchises were revoked. Both teams were saved following a legal challenge filed in Minnesota that forced MLB to honour the Twins' lease with the Metrodome, as well as challenges by the MLBPA.[156] As MLB was unable to find another candidate team to eliminate, the immediate threat for the Expos diminished, as MLB needed to keep an even number of teams to maintain its schedule.[157] Shortly afterward, Loria sold the Expos to MLB and used the money he received from the sale to purchase the Florida Marlins from John Henry, who had recently purchased the Boston Red Sox.[144] As a result of the transaction, Loria turned a significant profit on his initial $16 million investment – MLB bought the Expos from him for $120 million and gave him a $38.5 million interest free loan to complete the purchase of the Marlins.[155] Following the sale, Loria took virtually everything of value with him to Miami, including the Expos' computers and scouting reports.[158] His departure also marked the final end of the proposed Labatt Park, though any realistic chance of the park being built ended when the Bouchard government repeated its previous refusal to commit any public money to the project.[159] MLB formed Expos Baseball L.P., a partnership of the other 29 clubs, to operate the team. It appointed former Anaheim Angels president Tony Tavares as team president to oversee business operations and oversee a future move of the team,[160][161] and Mets assistant general manager Omar Minaya as vice-president, general manager and operating head of the franchise.[160] MLB's chief disciplinarian Frank Robinson was appointed as the team's manager. Minaya, the first Latino general manager in baseball history, inherited a difficult situation. He was hired only 72 hours before the start of spring training, and there were only six other employees in baseball operations; most of the others had either followed Loria to the Marlins or taken jobs with other clubs.[162] As the Expos began what many assumed at the time to be their final season in 2002, the mood in the Olympic Stadium for the home opener – a victory over the Marlins – was ugly. Montreal's home opener drew 34,000 fans, many of which came not only to say "goodbye" to the franchise, but also to express their disgust and anger at Loria.[163] Loria's minority partners, who had gone from collectively owning 76 percent of the Expos to less than seven percent of the Marlins, filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit against Major League Baseball, Selig and Loria. The partners contended that Loria and the commissioner's office had conspired to deprive them of their shares by issuing cash calls, and thus deliberately undermined the franchise's future in Montreal.[164] The partners were ultimately unsuccessful in their suit, as it was dismissed in 2005 after an arbitration panel rejected their claims.[165] On the field, the 2002 Expos exceeded expectations and were in playoff contention for much of the season. As they were owned by the other teams, including their direct competitors, the Expos did not have any flexibility to increase their payroll for a last-ditch post season drive.[166] Operating under the belief that the Expos were playing their last season in Montreal, Minaya completed a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Indians in late June to make a final run at bringing post-season success to the city, acquiring Bartolo Colón, one of baseball's top pitchers, in exchange for several star prospects and without increasing payroll. Remembering how the Seattle Mariners had revived a stalled bid for what became Safeco Field with a playoff run in 1995, Minaya believed that if the Expos made the playoffs, the renewed public and private sector support would lead to a viable owner stepping forward who would keep the team in Montreal.[167] Minaya made several smaller moves, but the team lost its early-season momentum; they went seven games under .500 in July and August. The Expos finished with an 83–79 record – their first winning season since 1996 – but finished second in the NL East, 19 games out of both the division lead and the wild card.[167] The Expos franchise was saved by a new collective bargaining agreement between the owners and players that forbade contraction until at least 2006. Speculation of contraction was replaced by rumours of relocation, as it was obvious MLB did not intend to keep the team in Montreal.[168][169] While MLB was not ready to relocate the Expos right away, in 2003 it sought to increase revenues by having the team play 22 of its 81 home games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[170] The Expos again found themselves in contention for the playoffs: on August 29, the team was tied with four other clubs for the National League Wild Card spot.[171] When MLB's rosters expanded on September 1, Selig announced that the Expos would not be recalling any additional players from the minor leagues: the other owners had decided against spending a few extra thousand dollars, a small fraction of the team's $35 million payroll, to bolster the team.[172] Several players, including relief pitcher Eric Knott, were sent back to the minors due to budget constraints. The team faded again, finishing 18 games out of first in the East and eight games out of the wild card spot.[173] Later, Minaya said that the denial of the September call-ups was "a message to the players" and "a momentum killer."[174] Keri later wrote that MLB's refusal to authorize the September call-ups eroded what goodwill the Expos still had among the Montreal fanbase. After the season, Guererro was lost to free agency, while staff ace Javier Vázquez was traded to the Yankees.[173] The final season of the Montreal Expos came in 2004, and was again split between Montreal and San Juan.[173] The team never recovered from an April win–loss record of 5–19, and finished the season with a 67–95 record, the second-worst record in the National League. On September 29, 2004, Major League Baseball announced that the franchise would relocate to Washington, D.C., for the 2005 season.[5] That same night, the team played its final game in Montreal: a 9–1 loss to the Florida Marlins before 31,395 fans.[175] The team then played its final games as the Expos on the road, ending on October 3 against the New York Mets, the team they had faced in the franchise's inaugural game in 1969.[176] In the Expos' last-ever game, the New York Mets defeated Montreal 8–1 at Shea Stadium. Jamey Carroll scored the last Expos run and Endy Chávez became the final Expos batter in history when he grounded out in the top of the ninth to end the game. The team ended their 36-year run with an all-time record of 2,753 wins, 2,943 losses and 4 ties.[176] The last active former Montreal Expos player in the major leagues was Bartolo Colón, who played his last MLB game with the Texas Rangers in 2018. The Nationals won the 2019 World Series, the franchise's first title in its 51 seasons, under manager Dave Martinez, who had played with the Expos from 1988 to 1991.[177] A sparse crowd watches during pre-game warmups. Panoramic view taken prior to an Expos game at Olympic Stadium in 2004. Team identity The Expos logo consists of the stylized letters "eb", which stands for "Expos Baseball". When taken as a whole, the logo forms a large "M", representing "Montreal".[178] In 1972, the Telemedia radio network brought in Jacques Doucet and Claude Raymond to serve as the Expos' French language broadcast team. They were asked by the Carling O'Keefe brewery, the title sponsor for the French-language broadcasts, to create a French language glossary of baseball terminology. Previously, particularly in the Montreal Royals days, French broadcasters would use English for baseball concepts that didn't have a French equivalent. Through their efforts, a French language baseball lexicon was created: words like "home run" became "coup de circuit" and "hit" became "coup sûr". A knuckleball became "balle papillon", literally "butterfly ball".[179] Uniforms The Expos' original uniforms featured the team logo above the word "expos" in lowercase letters on the left chest, and blue rounded serif numbers on the right chest. White served as the home uniform base, while powder blue served as the road uniform base. Both designs were worn with a tricolour cap that had a white crown, blue brim and back panel, and red side panels, with the Expos logo in front. The original design endured a few slight changes over the years, such as a change to red letters on the road uniform, and the addition of shoulder and side stripes.[180] In 1992, the Expos overhauled their design. On the home uniform, blue pinstripes were added and a script "Expos" in blue with red trim was emblazoned in front. On the road uniform, grey became the base colour, and featured "Montreal" in red script letters with blue and white trim. A blue fleur-de-lis was also added above the road uniform script. Both designs featured the team logo on the left sleeve and left chest numbers below the script, and were worn with an all-blue cap featuring the Expos logo in front.[180] Youppi! Youppi!, a big, bright orange furry mascot, interacts with a fan inside Montreal Olympic Stadium. Youppi! prior to a game Main article: Youppi! The Expos introduced their first mascot during the 1978 season. Called "Souki", the mascot resembled Mr. Met with a futuristic looking uniform but was met with such a negative reaction that the team immediately retired it after one season; Souki was once attacked by a father of children frightened by it.[181] Seeking a replacement, the Expos found a design for a mascot similar to the Phillie Phanatic in the inventory of an American mascot company that had gone bankrupt.[182] The mascot was designed by Bonnie Erickson, who created the Phanatic as well as several Muppets characters, including Miss Piggy.[181] The team named the new mascot "Youppi!", which is French for "Yippee!"[181] Unlike Souki, Youppi! was immediately popular with fans upon its introduction in 1979, particularly children, and the mascot became a fixture at children's hospitals during its 25 years as the Expos mascot.[182] Youppi! made history in 1989 when he became the first mascot in Major League history to be ejected from a ballgame.[183] The incident occurred during the 11th inning of a game against Los Angeles when Youppi was dancing and parading on top of the Dodgers' dugout. LA's manager, Tommy Lasorda complained to the umpires who ordered the mascot out of the game.[181] Youppi! was eventually allowed to return with the condition that he remain away from the Dodgers' dugout. The game was also the longest in Expos history as Los Angeles won 1–0 in 22 innings.[184] The relocation of the Expos to Washington left Youppi! in limbo. Several organizations expressed interest in taking over the character, including other Montreal sports teams. After a year in storage, the mascot was sold to the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens claim Youppi! is the first mascot in professional sports to change leagues; he made his re-debut with the Canadiens on October 18, 2005.[185] Relationship with the Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays joined the American League as an expansion franchise in 1977, and one year later met the Expos for the first time in an exhibition contest, the first of an annual series that became known as the Pearson Cup.[186] The Expos won that first game, 5–4, in front of 20,221 fans on June 29.[187] Eight annual exhibitions (except for 1981, due to the strike) were played between 1978 and 1986, as each team won three games, with two contests ending as ties.[188] The teams did not meet again until 1997: With the advent of interleague play that year the first regular season meetings were held between the two ballclubs.[189] The games boosted attendance in both Montreal and Toronto, but the two teams failed to develop a serious rivalry.[190] A fan holds a sign that reads "BRING BACK EXPOS". A fan calls for a return of the Expos during the Jays-Reds exhibition series at Olympic Stadium in 2015. John McHale, then president of the Expos, was a strong proponent of adding a second Canadian Major League team, in Toronto.[191] The Expos remained Canada's most popular team until their mid-1980s downturn coincided with the Blue Jays' rise, culminating in the Jays' first American League East division championship, in 1985.[192] At the same time, the Blue Jays grew perturbed that the Expos were able to air their games in several markets in southern Ontario—such as Windsor, Belleville, and Toronto itself. The Jays lobbied MLB to designate southern Ontario as their exclusive home television territory. Bronfman opposed the request, as he feared that shutting the Expos out of Canada's largest and most lucrative television market would limit the team's fan base. As a part of the territorial changes, MLB allowed the Expos to air 15 games in the Jays' television market for free, and purchase the rights to air additional games. For the remainder of their existence, the Expos only had full broadcast rights in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.[193] The loss of viewership in southern Ontario diminished the Expos' ability to attract sponsors and corporate partners. Indeed, Keri later wrote that the Expos miscalculated when they considered the Blue Jays an ally rather than a potential threat, and missed a chance to cement their right to air their games across Canada. Keri added that the loss of this revenue stream, along with "many other poor business decisions" over the years, made it difficult for the Expos to be viable in Montreal.[194] Longtime Expos play-by-play broadcaster Dave Van Horne later argued that the loss of badly-needed corporate support "really started a long, downward spiral" for the team.[195] Regardless of their disagreements over television rights, when the Blue Jays reached the 1992 World Series, the team honoured Bronfman's contributions in bringing Major League Baseball to the country by having him throw the ceremonial first pitch for the first World Series game played in Canada.[196] However, and while Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey again acknowledged the Expos' role in his own team's existence, Godfrey nonetheless voted with the other teams to support contracting the Expos in 2001 and relocating them in 2004: "I know if it wasn't for the success of the Expos in those early years there would not be major-league baseball in Toronto. That wasn't an emotional or a baseball vote. It was a business decision."[197] The Blue Jays' failure to stand with their fellow Canadian team offended many Expos fans.[198] Ten years after the Expos relocated to Washington, a two-game exhibition series between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets was held at the Olympic Stadium to conclude the spring training schedule prior to the 2014 season. For the Blue Jays, the series was intended, in part, to increase the team's following in Quebec.[199] For others, the goal was to demonstrate that Montreal had an interest in returning to Major League Baseball.[200] Former Expos player Warren Cromartie, who leads the Montreal Baseball Project, was among the organizers.[201] The series was a success: A combined 96,350 fans, frequently chanting "Lets go Expos!" and "We want baseball!", attended the two games.[200] The Blue Jays returned for a two-game series in 2015, against the Cincinnati Reds, which was attended by a combined total of 96,545 fans.[202] The success of the series' bolstered the Montreal Baseball Project's efforts: retiring commissioner Bud Selig was impressed by the fans in 2014 and said the city would be an "excellent candidate" for a new team.[203] His replacement, Rob Manfred, echoed those comments in 2015.[204] Olympic Stadium again hosted two spring training games prior to the beginning of the 2016 season between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox, with a combined attendance of over 106,000 fans. Since 2014, the Blue Jays have made it an annual tradition to host two spring training games in Montreal before the start of each season.[205] In 2018, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays - whose father, Vladimir Guerrero, starred for the Expos in the 1990s - hit a game-winning home run against the St. Louis Cardinals in an exhibition game, to the delight of the Montreal crowd.[206] Players See also: Montreal Expos Player of the Year Retired numbers Further information: Washington Nationals § Retired numbers See also: List of Major League Baseball retired numbers A banner hanging at Montreal's main hockey arena celebrating the Expos and the four retired numbers. Expos banner hanging at the Bell Centre Gary Carter C 1974–84 & 1992 Andre Dawson RF/CF 1976–86 Rusty Staub RF 1969–71 & 1979 Tim Raines LF 1979–90 & 2001 Jackie Robinson 2B Retired 1997 National Baseball Hall of Fame Expos Hall of Famers No. Inductee Position Tenure Inducted 8 Gary Carter C 1974–84, 1992 2003 10, 24 Andre Dawson OF 1976–86 2010 30, 32 Tim Raines OF 1979–90, 2001 2017 23 Dick Williams Manager 1977–81 2008 24 Tony Pérez 1B 1977–79 2000 27 Vladimir Guerrero RF 1996–2003 2018 51, 57 Randy Johnson P 1988–89 2015 37, 45 Pedro Martínez P 1994–97 2015 20 Frank Robinson Manager 2002–2004 1982 49 Lee Smith P 1997 2019 33 Larry Walker OF 1989–94 2020 Inductees listed in bold are depicted on their Hall of Fame plaques wearing Expos cap insignia. Nine people who represented the Expos organization have subsequently gone on to gain election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Gary Carter was inducted in 2003 and was the first player whose Hall of Fame plaque depicted him with an Expos cap. The Hall's choice for his plaque logo followed initial statements by Carter that he preferred to be enshrined as a New York Met, with whom he won the 1986 World Series. He accepted the Hall's decision with grace, stating: "The fact I played 11 years in Montreal and the fact that the majority of my statistics and accomplishments were achieved there, it would be wrong, probably, to do it any other way."[207] Andre Dawson became the second depicted as an Expos player when he was elected in 2010. Although he had played the majority of his 21-year career with Montreal, Dawson also preferred his plaque to display a different logo: when the decision was made, he publicly expressed his disappointment, saying it was "a little gut-wrenching" to find out he would not go in as a Chicago Cub.[208] Dawson's reluctance to be enshrined as an Expos player stemmed, in part, from the breakdown of his relationship with the team during MLB's collusion scandal of 1986–87, when he claims the team not only "threw him out" of Montreal, but tried to prevent other teams from signing him as a free agent.[209] The third player with an Expos logo on his Hall of Fame plaque is Tim Raines, who was inducted in 2017, his final year of eligibility.[210] On January 24, 2018, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced Vladimir Guerrero as an inductee into the Hall of Fame. Guerrero played eight of his 16 seasons with the Expos, being named to the MLB All-Star Game three times and winning the Silver Slugger Award three times while with the team. Nearly half of his career 2,590 hits were with Montreal (1,215), while having 234 of his 449 home runs and 702 of his 1,496 RBIs with the Expos in 1,004 games. Guerrero announced his Hall of Fame plaque will display him wearing an Angels cap.[211] For the five other inductees, their time in Montreal played lesser roles in their careers. Manager Dick Williams was a member of the Expos between 1977 and 1981 as part of a 21-year managerial career in which he took three different teams to the World Series.[212] Tony Pérez played three years with the Expos but was primarily known for being a member of Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine" teams of the 1970s.[213] Pitchers Pedro Martínez (1994–97) and Randy Johnson (1988–89), who both played in Montreal early in their careers but spent the majority of their playing days elsewhere, were both elected to the Hall in 2015.[214] Frank Robinson managed the team from 2002 to 2006 (spanning the franchise's move to Washington), but was elected based on his accomplishments as a player, including being the first player to win Most Valuable Player honours in both the AL and NL, a triple crown in 1966, and a rookie-record of 38 home runs while winning the NL Rookie of the Year award.[215] Longtime broadcaster Dave Van Horne was named the recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award in 2011.[216] The award is presented by the National Baseball Hall of Fame to honour broadcasters who make "major contributions to baseball". When the Washington Nationals unveiled their "Ring of Honor" at Nationals Park in 2010, the franchise recognized its roots in Montreal. The ring was created to honour Hall-of-Fame players associated with Washington, D.C., baseball or the Montreal-Washington franchise, later expanded to include anyone who has made a significant contribution to the game of baseball in Washington, D.C. Two Expos players – Gary Carter and Andre Dawson – were named among the inaugural members.[217] Frank Robinson was added to the Ring of Honor in 2015,[218] as was Tim Raines in 2017.[219] Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Main article: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Expos in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame No. Inductee Position Tenure Notes 48 Felipe Alou OF/1B Manager 1973, 1992–2001 — Charles Bronfman Owner 1969–1990 Born in Montreal, attended McGill University 8 Gary Carter C 1974–1984, 1992 — Murray Cook Executive 1984–1987 Born in Sackville, New Brunswick 13, 37 Rhéal Cormier P 1996–1997 Born in Moncton, New Brunswick 10 Andre Dawson RF/CF 1976–1986 — Jacques Doucet Broadcaster 1972–2004 Born in Montreal 29 Rob Ducey OF 2001 Born in Toronto 6, 7 Jim Fanning GM Manager 1969–1976 1981–1982, 1984 27 Vladimir Guerrero RF 1996–2003 32 Dennis Martínez P 1986–1993 37, 45 Pedro Martínez P 1994–1997 Elected mainly on his performance with Boston Red Sox — John McHale President GM 1969–1986 1978–1984 30 Tim Raines LF 1979–1990, 2001 16 Claude Raymond P 1969–1971 Born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec 45 Steve Rogers P 1973–1985 3, 25, 59 Matt Stairs OF/1B 1992–1993 Born in St. John, New Brunswick, grew up in Fredericton, New Brunswick 10 Rusty Staub RF 1969–1971, 1979 — Dave Van Horne Broadcaster 1969–2000 33 Larry Walker OF 1989–1994 Elected mainly on his performance with Colorado Rockies, born in Maple Ridge, British Columbia 29, 58 Tim Wallach 3B 1980–1992 Montreal Expos Hall of Fame The team created the Montreal Expos Hall of Fame to celebrate the franchise's 25th season in 1993. Charles Bronfman was inducted as its inaugural member. In a pre-game ceremony on August 14, 1993, a circular patch on the right field wall was unveiled with Bronfman's name, the number 83 (which he used to wear during spring training), and the words "FONDATEUR / FOUNDER".[220] A total of 23 people were honoured by the club.[221] Key Bold Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame † Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as an Expo Bold Recipient of the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award Montreal Expos Hall of Fame No. Inductee Position Tenure Inducted — Charles Bronfman Owner 1969–1990 1993 8 Gary Carter† C 1974–1984, 1992 1993 10 Rusty Staub RF 1969–1971, 1979 1993 4 Gene Mauch Manager 1969–1975 1994 16 Claude Raymond P 1969–1971 1994 45 Steve Rogers P 1973–1985 1994 35 Woodie Fryman P 1975–1976,1978-1983 1995 — Jean-Pierre Roy Broadcaster 1969–1984 1995 26 Bill Stoneman P 1969–1973 1995 49 Warren Cromartie OF/1B 1974–1983 1996 33 Ron Hunt 2B 1971–1974 1996 15, 50 Larry Parrish 3B/RF 1974–1981 1996 10 Andre Dawson† RF/CF 1976–1986 1997 34 Bill Gullickson P 1979–1985 1997 31, 41 Jeff Reardon P 1981–1986 1997 — John McHale President GM 1969–1986 1978–1984 1997 44, 54 Tim Burke P 1985–1991 1998 4 Chris Speier SS 1977–1984 1998 29, 58 Tim Wallach 3B 1980–1992 1998 6, 7 Jim Fanning GM Manager 1969–1976 1981–1982, 1984 2000 30 Tim Raines† LF 1979–1990, 2001 2000 — Dave Van Horne Broadcaster 1969–2000 2001 — Jacques Doucet Broadcaster 1972–2004 2003 Expos records The players listed here represent the statistical leaders for the franchise's time in Montreal only. For the record holders of the franchise overall, see List of Washington Nationals team records. Batting Statistic Player Total Ref. Games played Tim Wallach 1,767 [222] Hits Tim Wallach 1,694 [222] Home runs Vladimir Guerrero 234 [222] Runs batted in Tim Wallach 905 [222] Stolen bases Tim Raines 635 [222] Batting average Vladimir Guerrero .323 [223] Pitching Statistic Player Total Ref. Games Tim Burke 525 [224] Wins Steve Rogers 158 [224] Saves Jeff Reardon 152 [224] Strikeouts Steve Rogers 1,621 [224] Complete games Steve Rogers 129 [224] Earned Run Average min. 500 innings Tim Burke 2.61 [224] No-hitters and cycles Three pitchers in Expos history threw no-hitters. Bill Stoneman threw the first during the team's inaugural 1969 season.[25] He threw a second no-hitter in 1972.[32] Charlie Lea threw the third, nine years later in 1981.[48] A decade after that, on July 28, 1991, Dennis Martínez threw the 13th official perfect game in Major League Baseball history.[97] Two other pitchers threw no-hitters in shortened games which, after a 1992 rule change, were no longer recognized by MLB as official no-hitters.[225] David Palmer pitched a perfect five innings in a rain-shortened game against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 22, 1984.[226] Pascual Pérez threw a five-inning no-hitter on September 24, 1988, against the Philadelphia Phillies.[227] Six batters hit for the cycle in Montreal's history. Tim Foli was the first to do it in 1976, and Vladimir Guerrero was the last to do so, in 2003.[228] No-hitters Player Date Opponent Ref. Bill Stoneman April 17, 1969 Philadelphia Phillies [25] October 2, 1972 New York Mets [32] Charlie Lea May 10, 1981 San Francisco Giants [48] Dennis Martínez (Perfect game) July 28, 1991 Los Angeles Dodgers [97] Cycles Player Date Opponent Ref. Tim Foli April 21–22, 1976 Chicago Cubs [228] Chris Speier July 20, 1978 Atlanta Braves [228] Tim Raines August 16, 1987 Pittsburgh Pirates [228] Rondell White June 11, 1995 San Francisco Giants [228] Brad Wilkerson June 24, 2003 Pittsburgh Pirates [228] Vladimir Guerrero September 14, 2003 New York Mets [228]

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