Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers Baseball Club, Inc. operates a Major League Baseball team that is a charter member of the American League, making it one of the longest-lived in the game. The team's many historical highlights include the tenures of legendary players Ty Cobb, active from 1905-26, as well as Hank Greenberg and Charlie Gehringer in the 1930s and 1940s, Al Kaline and Willie Horton in the 1960s and 1970s, and Lou Whitaker, Allen Trammell, and Cecil Fielder in the 1980s and 1990s, along with World Series wins in 1934, 1945, 1968, and 1984. In 2000. the team began play at a new stadium in downtown Detroit named Comerica Park. The Tigers have been owned since 1992 by Mike Ilitch, founder and owner of Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc. and owner of the National Hockey League Detroit Red Wings.

The birth of the Detroit Tigers dates to 1901, when baseball entrepreneur Ban Johnson sought teams around the United States to participate in his newly-created American League. Using as their basis nine players from Detroit's existing Western League team, County Sheriff James Burns and manager George "Tweedy" Stallings formed the Tigers, who took their moniker from a nickname Stallings' previous team had been given by a local sportswriter. In addition to the nine carry-overs, additional players were obtained from disbanded National League teams (the N.L. having recently shrunk from 12 to eight clubs).