Ty Cobb, Bobby Veach and Sam Crawford comprised one of the best outfields in baseball history.
This is my second installment in my series of Detroit Tigers All Star Teams by decade. The first post is found below:
In each decade, I select nine position players, one for each position in the field plus one other hitter. This ninth player could be a designated hitter, a multiple position player who didn’t fit neatly into one position and/or the best hitter who didn’t get selected as a position player. I refer to this final hitter as the utility player. Then I select five pitchers: four starters and one reliever. In earlier decades when relievers were not frequently used, it will just be the fifth best starting pitcher.
Some further general rules are as follows:
- A player must have played at least half of his games with the Tigers at a given position or played that position more than any other position. In rare cases, I might cheat a little bit if none of the players qualifying at a given position are any good at all and there is a superior player who played a good number of games at that position.
- A player must have played at least two full seasons with the Tigers, preferably at the assigned position.
- Only games played with the Tigers are considered.
- If a player played other positions with the Tigers besides his assigned position, his hitting performance in those games does count.
Many statistics and sometimes, especially for fielding evaluation, anecdotal information will be considered. Some of the key measures are listed in the link above for 1901-1909.
After winning three consecutive American League pennants from 1907-1909, the Tigers dropped to third place in 1910 and won no titles during 1910-1919. They did come close in 1915 when they 100 games finishing second one game behind the Boston Red Sox. The Tigers’ second decade featured an impressive group of outfielders which powered them to the top of the league offensively most seasons. Unfortunately, they lacked pitching to go with it.
Table 1: Tigers All Star Position Players: 1910-1919
Pos |
Player |
From |
To |
G |
PA |
WAR |
ABR |
OPS+ |
C |
Oscar Stanage |
1910 |
1919 |
937 |
3,311 |
4 |
-120 |
68 |
1B |
George Burns |
1914 |
1917 |
496 |
1,956 |
6 |
1 |
101 |
2B |
Jim Delahanty |
1910 |
1912 |
329 |
1,395 |
7 |
54 |
130 |
SS |
Donie Bush |
1910 |
1919 |
1,449 |
6,590 |
31 |
-21 |
91 |
3B |
Ossie Vitt |
1912 |
1918 |
767 |
3,275 |
13 |
-33 |
86 |
LF |
Bobby Veach |
1912 |
1919 |
1,031 |
4,388 |
30 |
158 |
134 |
CF |
Ty Cobb |
1910 |
1919 |
1,334 |
5,815 |
84 |
560 |
192 |
RF |
Sam Crawford |
1910 |
1917 |
1,076 |
4,473 |
30 |
204 |
143 |
UT |
Harry Heilmann |
1914 |
1919 |
573 |
2,280 |
11 |
58 |
125 |
Table 2: Tigers All Star Pitchers: 1910-1919
Pos |
Player |
From |
To |
G |
IP |
WAR |
PR |
ERA+ |
SP |
Hooks Dauss |
1912 |
1919 |
269 |
1,869 |
21 |
5 |
101 |
SP |
Harry Coveleski |
1914 |
1918 |
157 |
1,023 |
16 |
50 |
123 |
SP |
Bernie Boland |
1915 |
1919 |
198 |
1,017 |
14 |
4 |
96 |
SP |
Jean Dubuc |
1912 |
1916 |
184 |
1,145 |
9 |
-9 |
98 |
RP |
Ed Willett |
1910 |
1913 |
146 |
982 |
9 |
-8 |
99 |