|  The Detroit Tiger are a Major League Baseball team based in Detroit , Michigan . The team came into existence in 1901. The tigers played their first game as a major league team in the American League in April, 1901 at Bennett Park. Led by the legendary Ty Cobb, Detroit won three AL pennants in the early 1900s. There are various legends about how the Tigers got their nickname. One has to do with the orange stripes they wore on their black stockings. It is the only team to wear a symbol of their nickname on their uniform. He tigers became a charted member of AL in 1901 but placed no better than third until 1907, when the first manager Hugh Jennings directed them to the first of three consecutive pennants. Detroit again achieved the AL champion in 1908 and 1909.
The addition of Cobb to an already talented team that included Sam Crawford, Hughie Jennings, Bill Donovan, and George Mullin quickly yielded results, as the Tigers won three consecutive American League Championships from 1907-09. In 1911, Cobb put together one of the most remarkable seasons in baseball history. He topped the AL in batting, RBIs, runs, hits, doubles, triples, and stolen bases. The Tigers did not win another league championship until 1934, finishing as high as second only three times from 1910 to 1933. In the year 1935 the tigers won their first World Series despite coming up short in these series each time. First baseman Hank Greenberg captured the first of four home run titles in 1935 and second baseman Charlie Gehringer had an outstanding season. Detroit was AL champion again in 1940, before losing to the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. The tigers defeated Chicago in 7 games in the year 1945. In 1968 the tigers won 103 games and claimed the AL Pennant by 12 games over the Baltimore Orioles. In the World Series the Tigers faced the St. Louis Cardinals who were trying to claim their 2nd Consecutive World Championship. Denny McLain won both the Cy Young and MVP in 1968. After a second-place finish in 1971, the Tigers captured the American League East title in 1972.
In 1984 the team started out at a record 35-5 pace and cruised to a franchise-record 104 victories. Outfielders Kirk Gibson and Chet Lemon, catcher Lance Parrish, shortstop Alan Trammell, and second baseman Lou Whitaker powered the team to a 104-58 win-loss record. Pitchers Jack Morris and Dan Petry anchored the pitching staff, and  relief pitcher Willie Hernandez won both the Cy Young Award and the MVP award. Trammell and Anderson led the team to another Eastern Division title in 1987 and Anderson won his second AL manager of the year award. The Tigers last winning season came in 1993, and only twice since then have they even finished within 5 games of .500 (1997 and 2000). In 1996, the Tigers lost a then-team record 109 games. In 2003, the Tigers shattered that mark of futility, by losing a remarkable 119 games. In 2004, the team signed or traded for several talented but high-risk veterans, such as Ivan Rodriguez, Ugueth Urbina, Rondell White, and Carlos Guillen, and the gamble paid off. The '04 Tigers had a 29 game improvement over the previous season, one of the greatest improvements in baseball history.
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