1984 Detroit Tigers season
The team won its first Division title since 1972, their first American League championship since 1968 (and ninth overall) and the franchise's fourth (and most recent) World series.
Detroit relief pitcher Willie Hernández won the Cy Young Award and was chosen as the American League Most Valuable Player.
Parrish was the starting catcher for the American League All Star team and won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards in 1984.
Dave Bergman was acquired from the Giants (via the Phillies) in March 1984 and became the Tigers' principal first baseman, playing 114 games at the position.
Though his batting numbers were much lower in 1984 (.289 average, 25 doubles and 161 hits), he was selected as the starting second baseman for the American League All Star team and won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards in 1984.
In 1984, manager Sparky Anderson searched for the right third baseman, as five different players appeared in 19 or more games at the position that season: 108 by Howard Johnson, 68 by Brookens, 33 by Marty Castillo, 20 by Bárbaro Garbey, and 19 by Darrell Evans.
In the 1984 World Series, Sparky Anderson gave the third base job to Marty Castillo, and HoJo had only 1 pinch-hit at bat.
The image of Kirk Gibson with his arms raised above his head after hitting a 3-run home run in the 1984 World Series has become the iconic symbol of the Tigers' 1984 season.
One of the best defensive outfielders in baseball, Lemon had 427 putouts in 1984 with a .995 fielding percentage; his 3.09 Range factor rating was far above the league average of 2.17.
Lemon also contributed to the team's offensive output with a .287 batting average, 20 home runs, 34 doubles, 76 RBIs, and a.495 slugging percentage.
He allowed 96 hits and only 6 home runs while throwing an incredible 140+1⁄3 innings out of the bullpen, and finished the season with a stellar 1.92 ERA.
With 32 saves and 68 games finished, Hernandez won the Cy Young Award and was voted the American League's Most Valuable Player.
Almost lost in the World Series Game 5 hitting heroics of Kirk Gibson was Lopez earning the win with 2+1⁄3 innings of scoreless relief, in which he didn't allow a baserunner.
Slick-fielding outfielder Rusty Kuntz played in 84 games, primarily as a late-inning defensive replacement, and hit .286 in 140 at-bats—easily the best offensive season of his major league career.
Kuntz's sacrifice fly in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the 1984 World Series broke a 4-4 tie and turned out to be the game-winning and Series-clinching RBI.
In 1984, Castillo appeared in 70 games as a third baseman and backup catcher, and came through in the clutch at several key moments, including: scoring 3 runs to secure a win on August 26; hitting a home run to beat the Yankees on September 23; collecting the game-winning, pennant clinching RBI in Game 3 of the ALCS, a 1–0 victory; catching the ball at third base for the final out of the ALCS; hitting .333 with a .455 on-base percentage and a .667 slugging percentage in the World Series; hitting a two-run home run in Game 3 of the World Series; and scoring in Game 5 when Kirk Gibson hit his 3-run home run off Goose Gossage.
Dan Petry pitched 7 innings and gave up 2 runs, but a rare blown save by Willie Hernández cost him a victory.
Johnny Grubb hit a double off Dan Quisenberry in the 11th inning to drive in Darrell Evans and Ruppert Jones.
Marty Castillo batted in Chet Lemon for the game's only run, as the Tigers completed a 3-game sweep and advanced to the World Series.
In Game 4, Alan Trammell hit a pair of 2-run home runs to account for all of Detroit's offense as the Tigers beat Eric Show, 4–2.
Padres manager Dick Williams called on Goose Gossage to walk Kirk Gibson and set up a possible double play.
One writer described the press reaction to the post-game violence as follows: The final AP report read: "34 arrests, one dead, dozens injured."
Few of those arrested had attended the game, but the pictures of burning police cars and taxis appeared in national newspapers and magazines.
A photograph of seventeen-year-old Kenneth (Bubba) Helms, an eighth-grade dropout from Lincoln Park, in front of a burning police car, became the image of Detroit's celebration.
= Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Sparky Anderson Kirk Gibson Willie Hernández Chet Lemon Jack Morris Lance Parrish Alan Trammell Lou Whitaker The following members of the 1984 Detroit Tigers are among the top 100 of all time at their position (in fact, they are all in the top 50), as ranked by The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001: Not one of the players named above have been elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and any eligibility to be elected as a player by the BBWAA has expired.
