When you hear of an achievement in sports, it’s usually the “greatest moment” that is highlighted, like a walk-off home run or an Olympic game-winning goal. But for the Detroit Tigers , it was a culmination of moments that made up the 1984 season, beginning with a 35-5 record with 17 consecutive wins on the road (tying a 1916 record) and a no-hitter and ending with a 104-58 record and a World Series championship win at home.
In Bill Dow’s feature article about the 1984 Tigers on the 40th anniversary of this historic season, he interviews some of the players who were key components of the team, as well as other insiders, including a former batboy. Bill also adds some insider knowledge: He was at the fifth game of the World Series and took notes, which he shares in this article.
I was also one of the lucky fans to attend a World Series game. Back then, you entered a lottery system to score tickets. My dad got Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, which ended up not happening because the Tigers swept the Royals in three games. Our ticket luck was better for the World Series. We had Game 4 again — but in a best-of-seven series, we knew this game was definitely happening.
Our seats were in the right-centerfield bleachers, which was an adjustment for me and my brother. We had attended dozens of games that season and always sat in the last row of the left-centerfield bleachers — and were always three rows behind a guy with an Eastern Michigan University jacket. That game started off with a bang with a home run by Alan Trammell in the first inning; he followed up with another in the third and was eventually named World Series MVP.
It’s hard to explain the magic of that season to those who were not born yet or were too young to remember. The best comparison is taking the excitement that was in the air in metro Detroit during the month of January — during the Lions’ end-of-season and postseason games — and extending it by six months. Even though the city of Detroit had seen better times, it was a magical time to be a Detroit Tigers fan.
It’s that spirit of celebrating Detroit that led us to develop our cover story, “Beautiful Detroit.” For this article, we asked our readers to send us photos of places and things that they find beautiful in the city. And to capture the people of metro Detroit, we assigned photographer Justin Milhouse ( who shot Pistons player Jalen Duren for us in 2023 ) to capture folks on the streets of metro Detroit he found beautiful. This is just one of the stories that make up our first-ever Beauty Issue. You’ll find more articles in our 24/7 and Agenda sections.
As I write this in early June, the Tigers are coming off an extra-inning win over the Red Sox and a nail-biting 2-1 win over the Rangers and are at .500. It’s a far cry from 1984’s start but not too shabby. The team is young and developing and reminds me a bit of the 1978 Tigers, who finished above .500 for the first time in four years with the help of Trammell, Lou Whitaker, and Lance Parrish, who were all playing their first full season.
Whether you’re attending a game at Comerica Park to help cheer on the team, visiting one of the places featured in “Beautiful Detroit,” or spending time pampering yourself at a spa mentioned in our Beauty section, I hope you have a rejuvenating July.
This story originally appeared in the July 2024 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on July 8.
The post Editor’s Letter: The Tigers’ 1984 Season and Beautiful Detroit appeared first on Hour Detroit Magazine .
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