1972 detroit tigers

this post covers the 1972 detroit tigers and cards numbered 71 to 79 in the set. here are the fronts:

and backs:

so, upper deck skipped 1971, saving us from yet another grouping of that great orioles team but also denying us our first look at the pirates (how cool would it have been to see the likes of dock ellis, al oliver, manny sanguillen, and vic davalillo in this set? the answer is very very cool).  alas, we'll have to wait a few years to see pittsburgh in the set.  other possibilities from 1971 would have been the a's (we will see plenty of them) and the giants (thankfully they are completely omitted from the set).

what team is this?:  1972 detroit tigers

why this team?:  the tigers won the american league east in 1972 with an 86-80 record.  they finished a half-game ahead of the boston red sox thanks to the fact that they played one more game as a result of the player strike that delayed the start of the season and wiped out a different number of games for different teams.  if you look at the final standings that year, you'll see that not every team played the same number of games.  that's pretty fundamental, one would think.  the tigers wound up losing the 1972 american league championship series to the a's in 5 games.

which players are featured?:  it's a repeat cast from the 1968 detroit tigers team (which makes sense from a set checklist point of view) sans denny mclain who was out of detroit by the time 1972 rolled around.  that means we get al kaline, bill freehand, dick mcauliffe, jim northrup, john hiller, mickey lolich, mickey stanley, and willie horton.

why these players?:  in addition to from ed brinkman, these were the surviving everyday players from the 1972 tigers team.  mickey lolich was the ace, and john hiller a key bullpen cog, although chuck seelbach would have made sense to have been included.

al kaline was 37 during the 1972 season.  he played in 106 games and hit .313 in just over 300 plate appearances.  he managed to hit 10 homers, the last of which started the scoring in the first game of the crucial season ending three game set against the second place red sox.  kaline finished 24th in the league mvp voting and hit .263 with a solo home run in the alcs against the a's.  that solo shot came in the top of the 11th inning of game 1 to give the tigers a lead.  unfortunately, they were unable to hang on and lost the game in the bottom of the inning.

bill freehan was named to the american league all-star team for the 9th straight year in 1972.  in the game, he started at catcher and was 0 for 1 with a walk and a run before being replaced by carlton fisk.  during the regular season, freehan hit .262 and slugged 10 homers in 111 games played.  behind the plate, he threw out 37% of the would-be base stealers who ran against him, but made an uncharacteristic 8 errors in  105 games as a catcher.  freehan hit .250 with a homer and three rbi in the alcs.

dick mcauliffe hit .240 with 8 homers and 30 rbi in 1972.  his home run total was the lowest since his rookie season of 1961. the tigers' primary second baseman also hit a solo shot in the alcs.

jim northrup also saw his home run total drop to 8 in 1972.  northrup actually had his power numbers drop across the board, slugging just .362 with just 25 extra base hits in 134 games played.  he hit .357 in the alcs, but had no extra base hits and just one rbi in the 5 game series.

john hiller triumphantly returned to the big leagues in 1972 after sitting out the 1971 season due to the health concerns.  he pitched in just 24 games but had 3 saves and a 2.03 era.  all three of his decisions came in his only three starts of the season - two losses and a complete game 5-hitter for the win.  hiller pitched in 3 games of the alcs, earning the win in game 4 and posting a perfect 0.00 era in 3.1 innings of work.

mickey lolich went 22-14 for detroit in 1972.  his 2.50 era was almost half a run lower than his era from the previous year when he won 25 games.  although his strikeout numbers were down, he still k'd 250 batters, good for second in the league behind nolan ryan.  as an aside, if mickey lolich didn't retire and miss the 1977 season before returning to the big leagues in 1978, would he have tallied the 168 strikeouts he ultimately needed to reach 3000? and, if so, is mickey lolich in the hall of fame?  back to 1972 - lolich made the all-star team that year and pitched 2 innings of scoreless ball in relief of the game's starter, jim palmer.  he also finished fourth in the league cy young voting and made 2 starts in the alcs.  in game 1, he pitched 10 innings and allowed just one run before he was sent out for the 11th inning with a one run lead.  he gave up back to back hits to start the inning and was relieved.  the a's scored twice and lolich got the loss.  he returned in game 4 and held the a's to a single run in 9 innings of work, but was replaced as the game went to extra innings and didn't get the win when the tigers eventually won in 11.

mickey stanley played center field for the tigers in 142 games during the 1972 season.  he hit .234 with 14 homers and 55 rbi.  he made only one start in the alcs, but appeared in four of the five games, hitting .333 with 2 singles in 6 at bats.

willie horton appeared in 108 games for detroit in 1972 as the tigers continued to work three players (horton, kaline, and northrup) across two positions (right and left field).  like the rest, horton's numbers dipped (11/36/.231) although i don't know if that was due to playing time or the strike or just some fine 1972 pitching.  in the alcs, horton was held to just one hit in 10 official at bats.

the stadium on the back is...?:  "the corner", also known as "old" tiger stadium.  it opened in 1912 (as navin stadium) and was the home to the tigers through the 1999 season.

did upper deck get it right?:  well, they tried i suppose.  i think that this is the first instance of a team being featured simply because of the checklist.  all of these players were part of the 1968 tiger team (definitely timeless) and so were already in the set.  so, it was easy for upper deck to have them sign some more cards.

as for the players, i think these are the right guys to be featured although hiller wasn't with the team the full season, and joe coleman and chuck seelbach would have been worthy additions to the set.

the photos are a mixed bag.  kaline is too young in his photo for it to have been from 1972, and freehan is sporting the anniversary patch that was worn in 1969, as is horton.  john hiller is also sporting the away grays that were last worn in 1971.  as for the rest, they are wearing the away jersey that was first donned by tiger players in 1972, so they could be legit, although i would guess that the northrup and stanley images are from later in the 70's.  not helping is the guy lurking in the background of northrup's photo.  that's long time tiger coach (and former dodger) dick tracewski.  he coached for the tigers from 1972-1995, so we can't narrow the timing of the photo down that way.

is this team timeless?:  although 1972 was the final postseason appearance for each of these players, i don't see much of a reason to include them in the set.  not timeless.

1968 detroit tigers

this post covers the 1968 detroit tigers and cards number 25 to 33 in the set. here are the fronts:

and backs:

it's the largest team representation we've seen so far, with 9 players in the set.  plus two memorable moments cards - another first in the set.
 what team is this: 1968 detroit tigers

why this team?: they were the world champions! the tigers won 103 games in 1968 and beat the cardinals, another 'timeless team' in the fall classic 4 games to 3 after trailing in the series 3 games to 1.

which players are featured?: al kaline, bill freehan, denny mclain, dick mcauliffe, jim northrup, john hiller, mickey lolich, mickey stanley, willie horton

why these players?:  you can't think about the tigers without al kaline coming to mind, and the majority of the other the players featured were big parts of the 1968 championship run. let's take a deeper look.

al kaline had been named to the american league all-star team 13 straight years heading into 1968, and he had won a gold glove in 10 of those seasons.  unfortunately, kaline was able to play in only 102 games for the tigers that year, hitting .287 with 10 homers and 53 rbi. he was healthy for the postseason, however, and torched the cardinals in the world series to the tune of 2/8/.379.  he was also named the recipient of the lou gehrig award in 1968.

bill freehan won a gold glove, finished 2nd in the league mvp voting, and was named to the all-star team in 1968.  he pounded 25 homers and drove in 83 runs while throwing out 37% of the would-be basestealers that ran against him.  he tanked offensively in the world series, managing just 2 singles in 28 at bats for an average of .083, but he made a big play at the plate in game 5 tagging out lou brock to hold the cardinals' lead to just one run and squelch a potential rally.

denny mclain was the american league's pitcher in the year of the pitcher.  he won 31 games (a fact the memorable moments card celebrates) and won both the cy young and mvp awards.  in addition to his 31 wins, mclain led the league with 41 starts, an astonishing 336 innings pitched, and 28 complete games.  his 1.96 era, however, was only good enough for fourth in the league.  fourth!  in his first postseason, mclain was just 1-2, losing games 1 and 4 before bouncing back to win game 6 with a complete game on 2 days rest.

dick mcauliffe was the tigers' primary second baseman who led the league with 95 runs scored in 1968.  he finished 7th in the league's mvp voting, and contributed a homer and 3 rbi to detroit's offensive output in the world series.

it's funny about jim northrup.  his card from the 1968 team is in the blog header because when i was building the set, the last two cards i needed were both jim northrup cards.  for some reason, there were none available on sportlots or comc.  i think i wound up going through the beckett marketplace to score them.  anyway, northrup hit 21 homers and drove in a career-high 90 runs for the tigers during the regular season.  in the world series, he hit just .250 but had 2 homers (including a grand slam in the tigers' series record 10 run outburst in the 3rd inning of game 6), 8 rbi and a huge triple in game 7.  that hit broke a scoreless tie in the 7th inning and may or may not have been made possible by a curt flood misplay.

john hiller split the regular season between the bullpen and the starting rotation, putting up a record of 9-6 with 2 saves.  of his 39 appearances, 12 came as starts, and he threw 4 complete games with 1 being a shutout.  for the world series, however, hiller was used exclusively out of the bullpen.  he appeared in 2 games against the cardinals (both were tiger losses) and gave up 3 runs in his 2+ innings of work. 

mickey lolich was 17-9 in the regular season with a 3.19 era and 8 complete games in 32 starts.  he made 3 starts in the world series, and pitched a complete game each time.  he won games 2, 5, and 7, outdueling bob gibson on 2 days' rest in the clincher.  at the plate, lolich hit a home run in game 2 which proved to be the game winner.  for his efforts, lolich was named the series mvp, as we learn from his memorable moments card. 

mickey stanley had never played shortstop in his major league career prior to 1968, but that's where he played in the world series.  during the regular season, stanley was part of a 4-player outfield rotation with kaline, northrup, and willie horton.  in the postseason, manager mayo smith wanted all four bats in the lineup so he benched regular shortstop ray oyler in favor of stanley.  stanley had made just a handful of appearances at short in the regular season, a season in which he won a gold glove for his outfield play.  he did make a couple of errors in the world series, but they didn't amount to anything, while his .214 average in the series makes one wonder if smith's gamble really made a difference.

willie horton was an all-star left fielder for the tigers in 1968, leading the club with 36 homers.  he hit one more home run in the world series where he posted an ops of 1.013.  horton got the assist on the game 5 putout of lou brock at home plate that may have saved the tigers' season.

the stadium on the back is...?:   "the corner", also known as "old" tiger stadium.  it opened in 1912 (as navin stadium) and was the home to the tigers through the 1999 season.

did upper deck get it right?: there is no doubt that the 1968 tigers were a great team. they were the last of the 'pure' world champions, meaning the last to win the world series prior to the expansion of the postseason due to divisional play.  and, as i mentioned before, i think the players all make sense, although perhaps the checklist could have been pared down a little bit.  as for the photos, upper deck could have done better.

al kaline's photo is from the 1950's, as the tigers didn't use the script 'detroit' on their away grays in the 1960's.  the rest of the team, except for dick mcauliffe and mickey stanley, are appropriate with the block lettering on their away jerseys.  mickey lolich, however, appears to be sporting longer sideburns than one would expect from most ballplayers in 1968.  as far as mcauliffe and stanley go, their photos are from 1972 at the earliest, which is when detroit went to the pullover away jerseys with a touch of orange.

is this team timeless?:  yes.  they claim the last 30-game winner, a 100+ win season, and were only the third team in history to rebound from a 3-1 deficit in the world series.