April 26 in Tigers and mlb history:

1900: Centerfielder Hack Wilson was born. 2X NL RBI leader, 4X NL home run leader.
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1901: After two days of rain at Columbia Park, 10,547 fans witness the Philadelphia Athletics of Connie Mack make the their American League debut, losing to the visiting Washington Senators, 5 - 1.

1903: Dale "Moose" Alexander is born in Greeneville, Tenn. Tigers outfielder, 1929-32. His .343 batting average in 1929 remains a Tigers rookie record.

1902: At Sportsman's Park, Addie Joss of the Cleveland Bronchos pitches a one-hit shutout in his major league debut, beating the hometown St. Louis Browns, 3 - 0. The lone hit is a scratch single by Jesse Burkett.

1904: Ty Cobb, making his pro baseball debut at the age of seventeen, hits a home run and double for the Augusta Tourists in the South Atlantic League.
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1906: Ty Cobb hits an RBI triple in the bottom of the 8th to give the Tigers a 3-2 win over Cleveland.
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1917: Virgil Trucks is born in Birmingham, Alabama. Tigers pitcher, 1941-52 & '56. Threw two no-hitters in 1952. Died in 2013 at age 95.

1931: At Griffith Stadium, a walk to Lyn Lary is followed by a Lou Gehrig home run, a smash which clears the fence, but bounces back into the hands of Senators center fielder Harry Rice. The baserunner Lary thinks the ball has been caught on the fly for the third out and returns to the dugout without crossing home plate; Gehrig, running with his head down, is ruled out for passing a runner in front of him, costing the Yankees a possible victory (they lose by two runs),
the 1931 home run crown (he ties Babe Ruth with 46) and two RBI to add to his record-setting 184 for the season.

1939: Hank Greenberg hits two game-tying home runs off the Browns' Bobo Newsom, and scores the winning run in the 10th on a single by Billy Rogell. The Tigers will acquire Newsom two weeks later.

1951: The Detroit Tigers selected Gene Bearden off waivers from the Washington Senators.

1954: The Detroit Tigers purchased George Zuverink from the Cincinnati Redlegs.

1955: 20 year old Al Kaline hits the first of his 6 career walkoff homers in front of a sparse crowd of 1,319 fans in a 3 - 2 Win over the orioles.

1957: Spike Briggs is forced out of the Tigers front office, ending a connection with the Briggs family dating back to 1919.
Briggs Stadium will be re-named Tiger Stadium in 1961.
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1959: Sadaharu Oh hits the first home run of his Nippon Pro Baseball career. Oh will go on to hit 868 home runs during his stellar career in Japan, setting a record for the most documented home runs in professional baseball history.

1961: At Tiger Stadium, Roger Maris hits his first home run of the season off Paul Foytack, and Mickey Mantle adds home runs from both sides of the plate for the eighth time in his career as New York defeat Detroit. Chico Fernandez goes 4-for-5 with a double & 3 RBIs. Rocky Colavito: 2-for-3 with a home run.
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1969: The Baseball Records Committee decides to give Babe Ruth credit for one more home run during his career for a total of 715. The committee rules that one of Ruth's home runs had been incorrectly ruled a triple. The committee will later reverse its decision, returning Ruth to a total of 714 home runs.

1980: Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies sets a modern day National League record by pitching his sixth career one-hitter. Carlton shuts out his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals, 7 - 0.

1982: Boston Red Sox rookie Wade Boggs collects his first major league hit when he singles against Rich Dotson of the Chicago White Sox. Boston wins, 3 - 2. Boggs will go on to win five American League batting championships.

1984: Tigers beat the Rangers 7-5 to improve to 16-1.

1990: Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan ties Bob Feller's major league record by hurling his 12th career one-hitter. Ryan strikes out 16 batters in shutting down the Chicago White Sox, 1 - 0. The only hit allowed is Ron Kittle's 2nd-inning check-swing single to right field. The victory is the 293rd in Ryan's career.
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1995: A number of Major League Baseball teams open their season, reduced to 144 games because of the strike.

1995: the Tigers beat the Angels 5-4 in their return from the strike. Rudy Pemberton went 3-4. Juan Samuel hit a 3-run homer in the 4th. Cecil Fielder added some much needed insurance with a 2-run shot in the 8th.

1996: The Detroit Tigers signed Mike Walker as a free agent.

2010: Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the 9th to give the Tigers an 8-6 win in Texas.
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2012: The Tigers release longtime franchise player Brandon Inge, aka 'Check Swing Cringe'.

2013: Anibal Sanchez sets a new Tigers record by striking out 17 batters in 8 innings in beating the Braves, 10 - 0. Mickey Lolich held the previous record with 16. Sanchez strikes out out the side in the 8th to set the record, but having thrown 121 pitches, is not allowed to go out in the 9th to attempt to tie the all-time record of 20.
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2018: Boston's Public Improvement Commission accedes to a demand spearheaded by Red Sox owner John Henry to rename Tom Yawkey Way, the street on which Fenway Park and the team's corporate address is located. Tom Yawkey's reputation has been badly damaged due to his central role in keeping the Red Sox from integrating until every other major league team had done so. The street will now revert to its former name, Jersey Street. The move is not without controversy, as the "Yawkey Foundations", set up by the late owner's estate, have provided millions to civic improvement projects in and around the city.

2019: All eyes are turned on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who makes his major league debut with the Blue Jays against the Athletics. With his illustrious father, Vladimir Guerrero, watching from the stands, he starts the winning rally in the 9th by leading off the inning with a double off Yusmeiro Petit for his first major league hit, and is then replaced by a pinch-runner. Two outs later, Brandon Drury hits a two-run walk-off homer to give Toronto a 4 - 2 win.

2022: A U.S. District Court judge in New York, NY orders the unsealing of a letter from Commissioner Rob Manfred to the New York Yankees which reveals that the Bronx Bombers were fined $100,000 in 2017 for violating rules on the use of the dugout phone in the two previous seasons, using the video room to decode the opposite team's signs and relay their findings in real time to players on the field. Immediately after sending the letter, Manfred informed all teams that the use of electronics to steal signs was strictly prohibited and would be severely punished, an admonition that the Houston Astros blatantly ignored. The Yankees had tried to keep the embarrassing missive under wraps, after fantasy baseball players suing MLB for allowing sign-stealing to affect the outcome of games had demanded that its contents be released as relevant to the case. While the plaintiffs lost their case, the Yankees appealed the original judge's order that the letter be disclosed, but lost their final appeal of that decision the previous week.

Tigers players birthdays:

Dale Alexander 1929-1932.

Virgil Trucks 1941-1943, 1945-1952, 1956.

Felipe Lira 1995-1997, 1999.

Nomar Mazara 2021.

Tigers players who passed away:

Hack Simmons 1910.

Yats Wuestling 1929-1930.

Baseball Reference

FIVE FOR FRIDAY.
Totally Tigers

There seems to be some debate about how good the Detroit Tigers really are this year and how far they can go.
Some point to the much better start this season and current record that shows the team playing above .500. Others claim the improvement seen at the end of last year is proof of better play.
On the other end, some say the AL Central standings are misleading. Others use offensive stats to show that this team is still a work in progress.

So what is the best way to evaluate the Tigers’ performance and chances for a higher finish to the 2024 season?
It all has to do with stats and where they rank in MLB that will give us a better and more accurate way to evaluate. This team has to be compared with the other 29 franchises (or at the very least, the other 4 teams in the AL Central) in order to put a proper context to their play.
Here are the top 5 rankings fans need to watch throughout the year………

Al Kaline and Gordie Howe.
“Gordie`s one of a kind. Of course, his nickname, Mr. Hockey, is exactly what he is. Other than the fact he was a great, great, great hockey player, he is one of the great people that I’ve ever run into in sports. Our friendship has gone back a long ways. We lived at one time close to each other.”
Business partners Al Kaline & Gordie Howe.

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