June 20th in Tigers and mlb history:
1911: Ty Cobb breaks the American League hitting streak record with an infield single against Cleveland's Willie Mitchell. It is Cobb's 30th straight game with a hit. He adds two stolen bases to help Detroit win 8 - 3.
1914: The Tigers lose the services of Ty Cobb when he breaks his thumb in a fight with a butcher's clerk. Cobb will be out until August 13th.
1934: The Tigers score three in the 11th to defeat the Senators 13 - 10. Ex-Tiger Heinie Manush, leading the American League in hitting, has four hits and two homers as Washington collects 17 hits. The Tigers get three-hit efforts each from Marv Owen, Mickey Cochrane, Charlie Gehringer and Hank Greenberg who also includes a homer. Elden Auker is the winner over Tommy Thomas.
1956 - At Detroit's Briggs Stadium, Mickey Mantle poles two Billy Hoeft pitches into the right CF bleachers, something no other player had done since the bleachers were built in the late 1930s. New York wins, 7 - 4.
1961 - Al Kaline plays 3B for the first time in his career. His two hits and two RBIs lead the Tigers to a 5 - 4 win over the Senators. Kaline will return to his customary spot in RF where he is already known as the pre-eminent rightfielder in the history of the AL and play 3B just once more in his career in 1965.
1965: In the opener of two in Kansas City, the Tigers rally from an 8-run deficit in the 2nd inning to win 12 - 8. Al Kaline collects his 1,000th RBI with a 2-run single. Detroit loses the 2nd game to snap their 8-game win streak.
1970 - Brooks Robinson's 2,000th major league hit is a big one - a 3-run homer off Washington's Joe Coleman in the 5th inning. The drive snaps a 2 - 2 tie, and the Orioles hang on for a 5 - 4 victory.
1984: At Detroit, Yankee reliever Jose Rijo falls to 1-7 when he serves up a 2-out three-run homer to Howard Johnson in the 13th inning. Detroit wins 9 - 6. Alan Trammell, Lance Parrish and Chet Lemon also hit homers for the Tigers, who draw their 3rd straight 40,000+ crowd.
1994: In a defeat to the Indians, the Tigers' string of 25 straight games of hitting a home run ends. The streak tied the major league record set by the 1941 New York Yankees.
2000 - Seven different Tigers hit homers in Detroit?s 18-6 rout of the Blue Jays at Toronto?s SkyDome. The homers come from Juan Encarnacion, Tony Clark (2), Juan Gonzalez, Bobby Higginson, Deivi Cruz, Robert Fick, and Rich Becker. It?s just the fourth time in MLB history that as many as seven players hit homers in a game for one team.
2007 - Magglio Ordonez goes 3-for-4 in the Tigers victory over the Nationals to push his batting average to .383, his high point in an incredible season. Ordonez will finish at .363 to win the batting title, and his 54 doubles also leads the American League.
Tigers players birthdays:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Win_Mercer
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mercewi01.shtml?redir
Win Mercer 1902.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jim_Delahanty
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/delahji01.shtml?redir
Jim Delahanty 1909-1912.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grovech01.shtml
Charlie Grover 1913.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bakopa01.shtml
Paul Bako 1998.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/seaybo01.shtml
Bobby Seay 2006-2009.
from baseball reference
