Most Tiger fans under age 50 cannot remember when the Tigers did not
have a relatively stable first base situation. Oh, sure, there was a bit of
uncertainty for a couple years both before and after Jason Thompson filled
the slot from 1976 through 1979, but by and large, from 1960 on the Tigers
moved rather seamlessly from Norm Cash to Thompson, to Darrell Evans, to
Cecil Fielder, and finally to Tony Clark, all good, steady ballplayers.
Thus, many fans are surprised to learn that for the first twenty years of
the Tigers' existence, competently filling the first base slot was the
team's biggest problem.

Early Tiger first basemen are, for the most part, are totally
forgetable bunch, save for some fine nicknames. They include Frank "Pop"
Dillon (1901-02; played just 312 games in majors between 1899 and 1905);
Lewis "Sport" McAllister (played about 30 games at 1B in each of '01 and
'02, and also played catcher, OF, SS, and 3B for Detroit; played a total of
418 ML games with 3 teams between 1896 and 1903); Erve "Dutch" Beck (41
games for Detroit in 1902, with a career total of 232 games for 4 teams
between 1899-1902); Charlie Carr (1903-04; played with 6 teams in 3 major
leagues - NL, AL, Federal - for a total of 7 seasons between 1898 and 1914;
later signed Rube Marquard to his first pro contract); Monte Beville (played
28 games at 1B and 33 at catcher for the Tigers in 1904, the last of his two
ML seasons); and Chris "Pinky" Lindsey, also known as "Chris Crab,"
(1905-06, his only two ML seasons).

The Tigers' first first baseman of any note was Claude Rossman, who
was purchased from Cleveland after the 1906 season and played first base on
the 1907 and 1908 pennant winners. Rossman was pretty good - he batted 5th,
right after Cobb and Crawford, and the Tigers were far and away the best
offensive team in the league. In 1907 he hit .277, in a league in which the
league BA was just .247. His 69 RBI were good for 6th in the league, which
you might say was relatively poor, given that he had Cobb & Crawford ahead
of him, but when you figure that Cobb was 1st and Crawford 4th in the league
in RBI, you realize that maybe there weren't many men left on base in front
of Rossman. In 1908, Rossman's .294 BA was good for 6th in the league, and
his .418 slugging percentage was 4th best. He was 5th in RBI (Cobb &
Crawford were 1-2), second in doubles (tied with Crawford, behind Cobb), and
3rd in total bases (behind you know who). But Rossman's career fizzled
fast. In 1909, he was hitting a respectable .261 through 82 games (vs.
final league average of .244). His slugging was way down, to .310, just
above the league, but he wasn't having a terrible season. Anyway, perhaps
the Tigers knew something - in early August they traded him to St. Louis for
a much older journeyman first baseman named Tom Jones. Rossman played just
2 more games that year after the trade, and never played in the majors
again. I don't know what happened to him. If it was an injury, it didn't
end his career in pro ball - in 1911 he hit .354 for one of the great minor
league teams, the Minneapolis Millers - but for whatever reason he never got
back to the show. 

After Rossman, it was back to a new first baseman every year. Tom
Jones had been St. Louis's regular 1B for 5 and 1/2 years before his trade
to Detroit, but he had never done anything special. He had never hit above
.252, nor slugged above .315, nor drawn 35 walks in a season, figures which
weren't very good even in those low offense days. The Tigers used him for
the rest of 1909 (he started all 7 WS games) and in 1910, when he hit
.255/.303, after which he never saw action in the majors again. In 1911 Jim
Delahanty, of the great baseball Delahanty family, played first for most of
the year, and had one of his bigger years, hitting .339 with 94 RBI (5th in
league) as offense briefly exploded. Delahanty's regular position was
second base, however, and he was back there in 1912. Rookie Del "Sheriff"
Gainor also played 70 games at first in 1911, hitting .302. In 1912, the
Tigers' regular third baseman and future manager, George Moriarty, shifted
over to play 71 games at first, with Gainor slumping to .240 but picking up
most of the rest of the playing time. Gainor then played more regularly in
1913, hitting .267. 

Finally, in 1914, 21 year old rookie George Burns briefly stabilized
the position once again for Detroit. Not that Tioga George, as he was
called, was anything special with Detroit, but he was OK. He was the
regular first baseman for four years, 1914-1917. At a time when offense was
still quite precious and league BAs in the .240 range, Burns hit .291 in
1914 and . 286 in 1916. He slumped to .226 in 1917 and was sold to New York
after the season as part of a three way deal with Philadelphia. Sadly for
the Tigers, Burns immediately blossomed into a pretty good hitter, leading
the league in hits in 1918 while batting .352 (2nd to Cobb) and slugging
.467 (3rd behind Ruth and Cobb). He was also 2nd in RBI and 3rd in HRs.
Burns would finish his career with over 2000 hits, hitting as high as .361
for Cleveland in 1921 and in 1926 he hit 64 doubles, still the second
highest total in league history. He also hit .358 that year.

Burns' departure left the Tigers with a hole at first. Young Harry
Heilman who had played 30 games at first base in 1916 and another 27 in
1917, led the team by playing 37 games at first in 1918 (a shortened 126
game schedule). The rest of the games were scattered among several players.
Heilman was a good player by 1918, but was not yet the monster player he
would become. In 1919-20 Heilman became the full time first baseman, and
began to emerge as a star, hitting .320 in 1919 with a .477 slugging
percentage, and finishing in the top 5 in the league in RBI, total bases,
and triples. But first base was not Heilman's natural position, and after a
solid 1920 season (.309) Heilman was finally moved to the outfield, and
quickly became one of the games biggest stars.

The man who finally stabilized the Tigers' first base situation was
one of Ernie Harwell's favorite old-timers, Lu Blue. Before we discuss
Blue, however, let's digress a moment.

Ever since the 1930s, when Hank Greenberg, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx,
and Hal Trosky terrorized the American League, the prototypical first
baseman has been the lumbering slugger, epitomized today by players such as
Frank Thomas, Mo Vaughn, Cecil Fielder, and Tino Martinez. There is,
however, another type of first baseman, the mobile, high average hitter with
doubles power, represented by players such as Keith Hernandez and Mark Grace
at its best, Wally Joyner down a few pegs, or Tim Hyers at the margins of
major league ball. Prior to the 1930s, however, it was this latter model
which was recognized as the protypical first baseman, represented by players
such as Hal Chase, George Sisler, and Frank Chance.

Lu Blue was this latter type of player - a flashy glove, little
power, high average hitter. For 7 seasons, 1921 through 1927, he was the
Tigers' regular first baseman. He was a comparable player, in his time, I
think, to Wally Joyner today. Blue topped the .300 batting mark five times
while hitting .287 over his career. In his best year, 1928, he hit 14 home
runs, good for 6th in the league, but he was never a serious power threat.
Blue's averages also have to be considered in the context of his time. In
1924, when he hit a career best .311, the league BA was .290, and the last
place Chicago White Sox alone had 5 regulars with higher BAs than Blue
(Blue's BA was only 4th on the Tigers, behind Heilman, Johnny Bassler, and
Cobb). Blue however, also walked a lot - 80 to 90 times a year while with
the Tigers, and after the Tigers traded him away he twice drew more than 125
walks in a season. Couple a good average and plenty of walks with batting
in front of Cobb and Heilman, and Blue average 96 runs scored per year while
with Detroit, including 131 runs (2nd to Sisler in the league) in 1922. And
I assume that Blue was a very good fielder - Hank Greenberg specifically
names him as an example of a good fielding first baseman as Greenberg was
coming up to the majors, and late in his career Blue was able to keep
playing regularly in his mid-30s (quite old for the time) even when his
batting averages dropped below .250. His fielding percentages weren't all
that great, but he was regularly at or near the top of the league in chances
per game, which may indicate good range. 

Blue slumped to a then career-low .260 average in 1927, and after
the season the Tigers shipped he and former batting champ (and future HoFer)
Heinie Manush, also coming off a poor year, to St. Louis. In return the
Tigers got aging pitcher Elam Vangilder (perhaps the most famous product of
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, before the rise of controversial talk radio king
Rush Limbaugh), aging shortstop Chick Galloway, and outfielder Harry Rice.
The plan was to replace Blue with third year man Johnny Neun, who, in
part-time play, had hit .298 in 1926 and .324 in 1927. But Neun failed
miserably, hitting just .213, and for much of the 1928 season Bill Sweeney
filled in, hitting .252 with no power. 

In 1929, however, the Tigers came up with a fine rookie first
baseman, Dale "Moose" Alexander. When I was a kid, I knew of "Moose"
because he was the answer to the trivia question, "Who was the only player
to lead the league in hitting while playing for two teams." I knew,
therefore, that Alexander had hit .367 while playing for Detroit and Boston
in 1932. But it was disappointing to learn that Alexander was traded early
in 1932, after hitting just .250 for Detroit, and won the batting crown by
hitting .372 at Boston. And Alexander was never mentioned with other
old-time Tiger batting champs, Cobb, Heilman, and Manush. 

The career of Dale Alexander is like a firework that shoots off with
a blaze, then fades, only to have one more quick, bright colored pop just
when you think it's over. Then it quickly fizzles out, and disappears. The
1932 batting title was that last little pop. As a rookie in 1929, Alexander
hit .343/25/137. He was 7th in the league in batting, and 5th in both home
runs and slugging (.580), behind Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, and Al Simmons, pretty
good company. He was 5th in doubles with 43, just behind Gehringer and
Manush, and 4th in triples with 15, pretty good for a guy called "Moose."
He was 1st in hits, second in total bases, and third in RBI. In each of
these categories as well, the men surrounding him are first rank Hall of
Famers: Ruth, Simmons, Heilman, Gehrig, Gehringer and Foxx. He scored 110
runs.

Alexander's 1930 dimmed a bit, but not so much that the casual
observer would notice. His triple crown stats were .325/20/135. He slugged
.507, and added 33 doubles. Not quite up to his rookie year, but not bad at
all for facing the sophomore jinx. In 1931, however, Alexander lost his
power. He kept hitting for average (.325), but his home runs turned into
doubles, with the result that he was second in the league with 47 doubles,
but slumped to just 3 home runs and a .445 slugging average. After his
afore-mentioned slow start in 1932, he was traded to Boston with Roy Johnson
for Earl Webb, who had hit a record 67 doubles in 1931. After winning the
batting title with in '32, Alexander's average slipped to just .281 in 1933
(the league average was .277) with a .380 slugging average (vs. .404 for the
league). Never a good fielder - he led the league in errors in his first
two seasons - it was over for Alexander. He ended his career with a career
.331 BA and .497 slugging average: a roman candle career. 

After Alexander's departure, Detroit reverted to the slick fielding,
low power type, in Harry Davis, for the remainder of 1932. The next spring
22 year old Hank Greenberg arrived in Detroit, coming off a monster season
in which he was MVP in the Western League. But Tiger manager Bucky Harris
was from the old school - with the stubborness of a Randy Smith, Harris was
convinced that the model first baseman was the slick fielding Hal Chase
type, and Harry Davis, who fit that mold, was his personal acquisition.
Harris told Greenberg he would play third base, a position Greenberg had
never played. Naturally, Greenberg was horrible at third, and soon was not
only benched, but was being totally ignored by Harris. Finally, Greenberg
simply left his third baseman's mitt in his locker, and each day he would
take up a spot behind Davis near first base. Whenever Davis took a break or
finished infield practice, Greenberg would step in. Still, Harris and the
coaches ignored him. Finally, early in the season, Greenberg went to see
Tiger owner Frank Navin. Navin, from all I've heard or read, was a very
wise man, and it showed in how he handled Greenberg. Greenberg asked Navin
for his release, so that he could play somewhere else. Navin reminded
Greenberg that he was young and that he could learn a lot watching from the
bench, but he also assured Greenberg that if he kept working hard, in due
time he would get his chance. For another two weeks, Greenberg sat buried
on the bench. Then one day, shortly before game time, Manager Harris got a
call. A lefty was scheduled for the opposition - Greenberg batted right,
Davis was a lefty. It's unknown who called Harris, or even if the call was
related to what happened next, but you can draw your own conclusions. After
the call, Harris went over to the line-up board, crossed out Davis's name,
and wrote in Greenberg's. Greenberg learned who was boss; Navin did not
publicly undermine his manager; and soon enough Greenberg began to play.
Davis, meanwhile, hit just .214 and was let go after the season - as was
Bucky Harris.  Greenberg hit .301/12/87 in 117 games, and a great career was
launched. 

In 1934, Greenberg hit .339 and slugged .600, with 63 doubles, but
that was just a warm-up for what was to come. One would be hard pressed to
name a player who was a more dominant player than Hank Greenberg was between
1935 and 1946. Sadly, Greenberg played just six full seasons during that
period. In the first of those six seasons, 1935, Greenberg won the MVP.
He hit .328 (6th in the league), and led the league with 36 Home runs and
170 RBI - 51 more than Gehrig, who was second. In 1936 he was hitting .348
and slugging .630 when he was injured after just 12 games and missed the
rest of the season. He returned in 1937 to hit 40 home runs, 49 doubles,
and 183 RBI, the third highest total ever. In 1938 he hit 58 home runs
while scoring 144 runs and driving in 146, second in the league to Foxx. He
had an "off year" in 1939 (.312/33/112; second in the league in HRs; 4th in
RBI, 3rd in slugging at .622; and led the league in fielding percentage, the
main fielding stat at the time); but rebounded in 1940 to win his second
MVP, hitting .340 with a league leading totals of .670 slugging, 50 doubles,
41 HR and 150 RBI. Greenberg missed most of all of the 1941-45 seasons
while serving in the military, but, after five years of virtually never
touching a baseball, he did return to hit .311 with 60 RBI in 72 games in
1945, including a pennant winning home run. Then, in 1946, he led the
league with 44 homers and 127 RBI. 

Think about this: in six full seasons over that 12 year period,
Greenberg won 2 MVPs; another year, he hit 58 home runs; in a 4th year, he
drove in 183 runs; in a fifth season, he led the league in homers and RBI,
after nearly 5 seasons away from the game. In the worst of those 6 seasons,
all he did was hit .312 and finish in the top 4 in the league in home runs,
RBI, and slugging average. The two MVP seasons were no better than the 3rd
and 4th best seasons of the bunch. 

As this article is about Tiger first basemen, we might note that
Greenberg played the outfield in 1940 and during his abbreviated 1945
season, and this provides a worthwhile story, too. After "slumping" to 33
HR and 112 RBI in 1939, the Tigers asked Greenberg to take a $5000 pay cut,
and to move to the outfield so that iron-gloved catcher Rudy York could move
to first base. Greenberg agreed to move only if the Tigers kept his salary
at its former level ($40,000), and give him a bonus if the experiment worked
- which of course he got. Greenberg actually liked playing the outfield,
and later insisted he would have been a better hitter had he played his full
career there. The 1940 season also made Greenberg the first player to win
MVPs at two different positions, an acheivement later matched by Stan Musial
and Robin Yount.

In 1946 Greenberg moved back to first base and, as noted, led the
league in HRs and RBI. Yet after the season, the Tigers sold him to
Pittsburg, deciding that, at $70,000 per year, he was too expensive!
Greenberg decided to retire, but was talked out of it by the Pirates, who
agreed to pay him $100,000, change the fences at Forbes Field to match those
of Briggs Stadium in Detroit, and give tired, aging Hank a private room on
road trips. Greenberg played one season in Pittsburg, hitting 25 homers in
119 games and leading the league in walks. Jackie Robinson credited
Greenberg, who had periodically run into anti-Semitism in his career, as
helping him adjust to his role as the first black player in the majors.
Hammerin' Hank, Detroit's greatest first baseman, was elected to the Hall of
Fame in 1956, and passed away in Beverly Hills, California 30 years later. 

So, how good a hitter does one have to be to push a Hall of Famer in
the prime of his career out of his position? As good a hitter as Rudy York,
it appears. In the minors, Rudy York was a primarily catcher, but his first
chance with Detroit came as a third baseman in 1937. He was bad in field,
very bad, but he could hit, and when Mickey Cochrane's career was ended by a
beaning in early 1937, York moved back behind the plate - where he was still
very bad defensively. But York hit a ton (see previous article on catchers)
and was the AL's catcher in the 1938 All Star game. Finally, however, the
Tigers decided to move him to first, pushing Hank Greenberg into the
outfield, as described above, prior to the 1940 season. Rudy never again
played anywhere but first base. 

York manned the sack for Detroit from 1940 through 1945, after which
he was traded to Boston, in large part to make room for Greenberg back at
first. York had one of his best seasons in 1940, hitting .316/33/134, with
46 doubles and 105 runs scored, in helping the Tigers to the pennant. York
was one of the few top players never drafted during the war, and during
those war years he was one of the league's most reliable sluggers, and the
league's best first baseman. His best season came in 1943, when he led the
AL in home runs (34), RBI (118), and slugging average (.527), but the Tigers
only finished 5th and York lost out in MVP voting to pitcher Spud Chandler
(20-4, 1.64) of the pennant winning Yankees. In addition to being a top
power threat who hit for good averages,York also walked 80 or 90 times a
season. After the 1945 season, York was swapped for shortstop Eddie Lake.
York was certainly a very good hitter - just how good is a bit difficult,
for reasons I discuss below when ranking the first basemen. But between
Greenberg and York, from 1933 through 1946 the Tigers were consistently
among the best in the league at first base.

The Tigers' decision to sell Greenberg after the 1946 season opened
a hole at first that the Tigers would not satisfactorily fill until the
arrival of Norm Cash in 1960. Roy Cullenbine moved in from the outfield to
play the position in 1947, but while his home runs rose from 15 to 24, his
BA fell from .335 to .224, and he retired after the season. In '49, Paul
Campbell, a bench player who batted a total of 380 times in his career,
played 74 games at first, hitting .274 with no power. To help Campbell out
Don Kolloway, a second baseman acquired early in the season from Chicago,
saw increasing amounts of action at 1st base, but while he hit .292, he had
a middle infielder's .355 slugging average. Still, Kolloway was the team's
primary 1B in 1950, and had a similar season - .289 BA, .388 slugging, just
29 walks in 125 games. Dick Kryhoski also played 47 games at 1B in 1950,
but hit just .219. In '51, though, Kryhoski turned in a respectable year,
hitting .287 with 12 home runs, good for a .437 slugging average. A lefty,
he platooned with the right-handed Kolloway, who hit .255 with just a .302
slugging average. Neither player walked much - between them they had 43
walks in 633 ABs. Kryhoski was traded after the season, so that Kolloway
opened the '52 season at first. When he got off to a dismal start, the
Tigers in early June acquired Walt Dropo from Boston in a 9 player deal that
sent the aging George Kell, Dizzy Trout, and Hoot Evers to the Sox. Dropo
played well for the remainder of 1952, hitting .279 with 23 home runs in 115
games. The Tigers finished last in 1952 for the first time ever. 

Dropo fell off badly in '53, slugging just .371, and in 1954 he
seemed to lose all his power, hitting just 4 home runs. He was traded after
the season. Fred Hutchinson was also fired as manager after the '54 season,
and Bucky Harris was hired to replace him. As you will recall, it had been
Harris, as the Tiger manager in the spring of 1933, who had buried Hank
Greenberg at the end of the bench until the apparent intervention of owner
Frank Navin. Twenty years had elapsed, but Harris still liked the idea of
the mobile, high batting average first baseman with no power. In the Dropo
trade, he acquired Ferris Fain, a slick fielding, two-time AL batting champ
who regularly drew 100 walks a season but never topped 10 home runs or
slugged over .475. Despite his lack of power, Fain had been a good player,
but by 1955 he was at the end of his career, and was let go in mid-season.
Another veteran, Earl Torgeson, "the Earl of Snohomish," was acquired from
Philadelphia and took over Fain's position. Torgeson had been a decent
player at one time, but was also well past his prime. Still, he did OK,
hitting .283 with 9 home runs in 300 Tiger ABs. Jack "Stretch" Phillips, a
right-handed journeyman, platooned with the lefties Fain and Torgeson, and
had the best year of his career, hitting .316 in 117 ABs. The
Torgeson/Phillips platoon continued in 1956, with another left-handed
journeyman, Wayne Belardi, also seeing substantial playing time. 

After the '56 season, Bucky Harris was again dumped as Tiger
manager, and the new field boss, Jack Tighe, sought to get a little more
power in the position. He moved Ray Boone, who had hit .308 with 25 home
runs at third base the year before, over to first, but Boone was also
entering the twilight of his career, and slipped to just .273 with 12
homers. Boone got off to a slow start in 1958 and was traded to Chicago
along with rookie Bob Shaw, who went on to become a pretty good pitcher.
Meanwhile, Detroit got a career year out of yet another journeyman, Gail
Harris, who hit .273 with 20 dingers and 83 RBI. Harris slumped back to
form in 1959 (.221) and lost playing time to another twilight veteran, Gus
Zernial, and Bobo Osborne, a career .206 hitter over parts of six seasons.
During the off-season, the Tigers signed veteran free agent Steve Bilko to
play first base. Then, on April 12, 1960, the Tigers made one of their best
trades ever, sending a disappointing third base prospect, 25 year old Steve
Demeter, to the White Sox for another disappointing prospect, 25 year old
first baseman Norm Cash. Steve Demeter played just 4 major league games
after the trade. Norm Cash became the Tigers' regular first baseman for the
next 14 years, hitting 373 home runs and winning the 1961 batting title with
a .361 average.

Indeed, Cash's 1961 season is one of the greatest offensive seasons
ever. You could take that season and drop it into Lou Gehrig or Jimmie Foxx
or Hank Greenberg's careers, and not only would it not look out of place,
but it would be one of their better seasons. But it's even better than
that, because Gehrig, Foxx, and Greenberg played during the 1930s, a decade
of offensive explosiveness not matched until the 1990s. Cash's season came
at a time when baseball was entering some of its weakest offensive years.
Analyst Tony Blengino rates Cash's 1961 season as the 26th greatest ever -
he rates Greenberg's best year as only 77th best. A group of
sabremetricians who ranked the top 100 single seasons ever, dubbed the
"Pittsburg consensus," a few years back rated Cash's 1961 as the 32nd best
season ever. By any standard, it was amazing: .361/41/132 on the triple
crown, with 119 runs scored, 124 walks, a league leading 193 hits and .488
on base percentage, a .662 slugging average. Some folks have discounted his
season on the theory that everybody hit in 1961, noting Maris's 61 homer
season and Mantle's 54 homers, plus great power seasons by Harmon Killebrew,
Joe Gentile, and Cash's teammate, Rocky Colavito. But in fact, while home
runs were way up, the two categories that Cash dominated, BA and OBP, were
not up: the league BA was just .256, one point higher than in 1960, and the
league OBP also increased by just one point. In the batting race, Cash
finished 37 points ahead of the second place finisher, teammate Al Kaline.
In fact, only six players with enough ABs to qualify for the batting title
even hit .300. Cash's OBP was 36 points higher than runner-up Mickey
Mantle's. 

Cash's 1961 season is also dismissed by some precisely because it
was such a fluke - Cash never again hit 40 home runs, drove in 100 runs, or
hit as high as .290. Cash's slump in 1962 to a .243 average - the biggest
drop ever for a defending batting champ - is interesting. The other
indicators of Cash's hitting ability really didn't change much. Oh, they
dropped slightly, but that was to be expected after such a great season.
His doubles dropped from 22 to 16, not a big deal, and his home runs from 41
to 39. He actually hit home runs at exactly the same rate as in 1961, as he
had 28 fewer at-bats. In 1961, he had 124 walks and 85 Ks in 535 ABs: in
1962, he had 104 walks and 82 Ks in 507 ABs. The huge difference between
1961 and 1962 then, is not how often Cash hit for power, or how often he
walked, or how often he put the ball the play: it's that, putting the ball
the play almost the same percentage of the time, with the same percentage of
home runs, he hit 56 fewer singles. My own conclusion is this: Cash
probably did hit the ball better in 1961 than in any other year, but I
suspect also that in 1961 he got extraordinarily lucky, with far more than
the usual number of bloop singles and "seeing eye" grounders, and in 1962
the opposite occured, and he had far less than the typical amount of "luck."
Anyway, Cash's "disappointing" 1962 campaign was actually an outstanding
year, with a .513 slugging average (3rd in the league, as compared to second
in 1961), and a .372 OBP. 

While Cash was never considered a great player while active, work by
sabremetricians over the past two decades has launched a reevaluation of his
career. On systematic analysis, his numbers look pretty good. Pete
Palmer's methods put Cash on the fringe of the 100 or so greatest players
ever; in the Historical Baseball Abstract (last revised in 1988, and so
missing the careers of Frank Thomas and Mark McGwire) Bill James ranked Cash
as the 10th best first baseman ever for career value. Cash never led the
league in any major batting category after 1961, but did you know that he
finished 2nd in the league in home runs three times: 1962, 1965, and 1971?
He was in the top 10 in the league in home runs nine times. James notes
that Cash's career was dimmed by the comparison to his long time teammate,
Kaline, and also to the fact that Cash walked a lot in an era when most
folks didn't appreciate the value of walking. The impression of Cash is
also dimmed by the low batting averages of his era: Cash's .263 average in
1968 was 33 points above the league average: his .280 in 1969 was 34 points
better the league; his .283 in 1971 was 36 points better; his .279 in 1966
was 39 points better. Throughout his career, he usually hit 20 or more
points better than the league, or, to put it another way, in today's numbers
he usually hit the equivalent of between .290 and .310. Cash was never on
the disabled list in his career, but he did miss about 20 games a year with
minor injuries, and this also held his raw totals down. But what Cash
didn't do was make outs, something statisticians have only begun to
appreciate in recent years. Cash wasn't the guy who hit 35 homers with 110
RBI in 635 ABs. Instead, Cash hit 25 homers with 90 RBI in 450 ABs. And
Cash was also a very good defensive player. 

Cash was also known for his sharp sense of humor and rather wild
lifestyle off the field - not wild with drugs and women in the way of some
modern ballplayers, but just a good ol' boy from rural Texas. One of Cash's
best remembered stunts came in a game against Nolan Ryan. Ryan was pretty
much unhittable that day, and as he edged toward a single game K record,
Cash finally summed up the Tigers' futility by taking a chair leg, rather
than a bat, up to the plate. He got along with everybody, and his humor
showed regularly: for example, in one 1969 game Cash dribbled a ball down
the third base line, and thinking it foul, didn't run very hard. The ump
called the ball fair and Cash was thrown out. Returning to the dugout, Cash
didn't argue or get mad - he merely shouted to the ump, "Hey, you know we'd
do better on the honor system!" Bill James hypothesizes that Cash's
self-effacing humor may also have led people to underestimate his career.
But Cash was also a smart ballplayer, and a good strategist. It was Cash,
for example, who suggested to Mayo Smith that Mickey Stanley move to
shortstop before the 1968 World Series. (Cash, BTW, had a great series,
hitting .385 with 5 runs scored and 5 RBI). I suspect that Cash would have
made a fine manager, but nobody ever hired him - perhaps in part due to his
image as the clowning country boy. It is sad, but perhaps fitting, that
Cash died young, drowning off Beaver Island, Michigan in 1986 at age 51,
after an accident that may have been caused in part by alcohol.

After Cash's career petered out during the 1974 season, the Tigers
had a brief period of uncertainty at first. Bill Freehan moved out from
behind the plate to play 65 games at first in '74, and Ben Oglivie and
Mickey Stanley each played a few games there. Before the 1975 season, the
Tigers acquired slugger Nate Colbert from the Padres, but after a couple of
first week home runs, Colbert bottomed out and was sold to Montreal after
hitting .147 in 45 games. Rookies Dan Meyer and Jack Pierce filled the slot
with minimal success, again assisted by Stanley and Oglivie. 

Meyer and Oglivie opened the 1976 season at first base, but were
soon displaced by 21 year old rookie Jason Thompson. Thompson hit just .217
that year but whacked 17 homers. Over the 1977-78 seasons, Thompson emerged
as one of the best young first basemen in the league, making the All Star
team both seasons and hitting 57 home runs and 201 RBI over the two year
period. At age 24, Thompson seemed poised for stardome at the start of
1979. He hit for average, he hit for power, he drew walks. And then he
flopped. He slipped to .246 with just 20 homers and a slugging percentage
barely above .400 in 1979, and after a very poor start in 1980 (.214 in 36
games), the Tigers traded him to California for outfielder Al Cowans. It
turned out to be a bad move: Cowans never did much for Detroit and was sold
to Seattle before the 1982 season, whereas Thompson rebounded and, though
never quite fulfilling his early promise, turned in several fine seasons for
California and Pittsburg before leaving baseball in 1986. 

Thompson's departure left the Tigers with a void at first base that
would not be satisfactorily filled for a few years. Richie Hebner, Rick
Leach, Ron Jackson, John Wockenfuss and Enos Cabell all got a chance at the
job, and Cabell's .311 BA in 1983, albeit with no walks and no power,
allowed him to play regularly. 

The Tigers won 92 games in 1983 and felt they needed a first
baseman, and some added power from the left side, to win in 1984. The
Tigers made two moves to accomplish this. The second of the two came
shortly before opening day, when they acquired Dave Bergman from
Philadelphia in a trade whose primary acquisition was relief pitcher Willie
Hernandez. Bergman was a good defensive player who could hit some, and had
a lengthy career as a popular bench player/sometime starter in Detroit.
Under Sparky Anderson's "everybody gets to play" regime, Bergman could count
on 150-300 ABs per year. 

The other acquisition was that of 36 year old free agent Darrell
Evans. Evans was the the first big money free agent ever signed by the
Tigers. He had had a big year with San Francisco in 1983 and was generally
considered the top free agent available on the market, but his signing was
not without risk: his .277 average and .516 slugging in 1983 were his best
since 1973, and his 30 home runs had marked the first time he had hit more
than 20 since 1975. Evans had been a fine defensive third baseman earlier
in his career, and it was also hoped that he could help out at third,
another Tiger weak spot. Unfortunately, Evans had a poor 1984 season,
hitting just .232 with 16 homers and a .384 slugging average. He played
much of the season at DH, and also split the first base chores with Bergman
and a refugee Cuban rookie, Barbaro Garbey. Still, the Tigers won the
pennant and the World Series in grand style that year. 

Evans started slow again in 1985, and the Tigers called up rookie
Mike Laga to give him some competition. Laga hit a home run in his first
game up. Whether it was competition from Laga or mere coincidence, Evans's
bat came to life, and for the next three years he was one of the league's
best first basemen. He hit a three year total of 103 home runs, including 40
in 1985, when he became the first Tiger since Greenberg to lead the league
in homers. Evans never hit for high averages, but he drew 80 to 100 walks a
year so his on-base percentages were often quite good. He was still
productive in 1988, hitting 22 home runs and drawing walks, but at age 41
the Tigers could see his days were numbered and let him go. He finished his
career the next year with Atlanta.

Keith Moreland played first base for most of 1989 before being
traded for pitching prospect Brian Dubois. This put the Tigers back in the
free agent market prior to the 1990 season. The Tigers' first choice was
Minnesota's Kent Hrbek, but Hrbek shunned the Tigers to stay with the Twins
for less money. Next the Tigers went after Texas's Pete O'Brien, again
losing the sweepstakes. This worked out for the best, as O'Brien and Hrbek
were both on the wrong side of 30 and entering what would be rapid declines.
Instead, the Tigers were able to sign Cecil Fielder, a younger player just
entering his prime. 

Fielder had been a hot Blue Jays prospect in the 1980s, and shown
some talent, hitting 31 home runs in 507 ABs over 4 seasons, but he had been
beaten out by Fred McGriff and spent the 1989 season in Japan. Fielder
blossomed in 1990. A late April home run barrage got him started, and by
year's end Fielder had hit .277, with a league leading .592 slugging
average, 51 homers, and 132 RBI. Ninety walks pushed his OBP up to .377.
He was the first player in 14 years to hit 50 or more home runs, the first
American league player in 29 years. He repeated his home run and RBI crowns
in 1991 (44/133) and in 1992 became the first since Babe Ruth to lead the
majors in RBI three consecutive years, with 124. Fielder was less effective
after 1991, topping a .500 slugging average only once, in the strike
shortened 1994 season, but he remained a serious power threat and one of the
league's more exciting home run hitters through mid-1996, when he was traded
to New York for pitching prospect Matt Drews. 

Fielder was traded in part to open up a spot for Tony Clark, a
former first round draft pick who hit 27 home runs in 100 games in 1996.
Over the next two years, Clark developed into a fine all-around hitter,
hitting 66 homers, slugging over .500 each year, pushing his average close
to .300 in 1998, drawing some walks, and hitting more doubles. Clark is
already a very good player, and should just be entering his prime. With
luck, he will join the elite of a very good group of first basemen currently
playing in the American League. The Tigers have made clear that they
consider Clark a key part of the Tigers' rebuilding plans, and with no
promising first basemen pushing up from the minors, it appears that Clark
will be the Tigers' first baseman for the foreseeable future. 

TIGER FIRST BASEMEN AWARDS:

Hall of Fame: Hank Greenberg

Most Valuable Player: Hank Greenberg, 1935

No Tiger first baseman has ever won a Gold Glove or been Rookie of the Year.

All Star Selections: Hank Greenberg: 1937, 1938, 1939
Rudy York:
1941, 1942, 1943, 1944
Norm Cash: 1961,
1966, 1971, 1972
Jason Thompson: 1977, 1978
Cecil Fielder: 1990,
1991, 1993

SMITH'S FIRST BASE RANKINGS

PEAK VALUE 				CAREER VALUE
1. Hank Greenberg 		1. Hank Greenberg
2. Cecil Fielder 			2. Norm Cash
3. Rudy York 			3. Rudy York
4. Norm Cash 			4. Cecil Fielder
5. Dale Alexander 		5. Darrell Evans

Comments on Rankings: Picking Greenberg as the top peak value wasn't too
hard, unless you consider just one year to be "peak" value, in which case
you have to choose between Greenberg and Cash. I think of peak value,
however, as being the player's value over the two or three consecutive year
period that he was at his best, not just one season. After that the
rankings are pretty subjective.

Career value is very tough. I put Greenberg first, in part because it seems
absurd to pick anyone ahead of him - but Greenberg, due to his 1936 injury
and the war, was only the Tigers' first baseman for seven seasons (+1 1/2 in
the OF), whereas Cash was the man for 14 years. But I give Greenberg some
credit for the war years, I guess - it's not his fault. (Of course, he might
have been playing OF all that time). York and Fielder had careers of
similar length for Detroit. York was the regular first baseman for 6
years, 1940-45, plus some games there in '39 (he also played 3B and catcher
1937-39). Fielder was the regular for just over 6 1/2 years, 1990-1995,
plus much of 1996, but he also played some DH during those years, and 1994
was shortened by the strike. Altogether, York played 943 games at 1B as a
Tiger, Fielder 748. Cecil hit 245 homers during those years, to York's 151.
Their slugging averages are remarkably similar, and they walked about the
same amount, York just a bit more. York played against the weakened
competition of the war years, but the flip side is that hitting was down
during those years, primarily due to the fact that balls used longer. And
it's worth noting that York was a very good player - an All Star - both
before and after the war, so he could certainly compete with the best. I
think that Cecil from 1990-92 was probably a bit better, though it's a close
call. I gave it to Rudy on career value, mainly for playing more first base
for Detroit. One could argue that Darrell Evans or Dale Alexander had more
peak value than either. Tony Clark could move up quickly on career value if
he keeps doing what he's doing, and hopefully he'll take one more step
forward and enter the peak value charts in a few years, too.


CORRECTION: In part one of this article, I stated that Greenberg was MVP of
the Western League in 1932. Actually, he was the MVP of the Texas League.

Bradley A. Smith Phone: (614) 236-6676
Associate Professor Fax: (614)236-6956
Capital University Law School e-mail:
bsmith@law.capital.edu
303 E. Broad St.
Columbus, OH 43215

Peter Welch's Detroit Tigers Page