Re: 1984 Tigers
Yeah 1984 was the first year I started watching baseball and reading the newspapers and stuff, so I remember the Tigers run well. They were clearly thought to be the best team. And the champion was a lot more preordained back then, with only two teams from each league making the postseason, one of the AL teams being 80-82 Royals from the "AL Less".
Great rotation with Morris and Petry (wins were respected a lot more back then). Great bullpen. Willie Hernandez and his screwball were hyped as untouchable, and you also had Aurelio Lopez, although I don't remember him. (Wow, I just looked, Willie was the MVP? I forgot that) Trammel and Whitaker were thought to be comparable to any all-time duo, Gibson in the outfield and Parrish behind the plate both got MVP votes.
As a side note, Darrell Evans 1985 was an awesome Strat-o-matic hitter.
I think they aren't talked about more because a different team was winning the AL each season, so it was a one year thing and not a dynasty. Detroit finished third place the next year and I don't remember them even being in the pennant race.
|