My next post was going to be the top 15 Tigers outfields of all time, but it turned out to be the same cast of characters. In fact 13 of the top outfields by WAR and 14 of the top 15 by oWAR involved Ty Cobb. That wasn't a very interesting list, so instead, I'm presenting the top 15 Tiger outfields by WAR since 1930 in Table 1 below. I also lowered the plate appearance requirement to 250 for each outfielder.
The best Bengals outfield since 1930 was Al Kaline, Roky Colavito and Bill Bruton in 1961. They combined for 18.7 WAR which means that they were about 19 wins better than a trio of replacement players. They finished fourth on the Tigers all-time list. This group was an important part of a team that won 101 games and finished in second place behind the Yankees. As we saw in the previous post, those Yankees had the fourth best outfield ever with Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra combining for 21.5 WAR.
Number two on the Tigers post-1930 list list was the 2007 triplet of Magglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson and Marcus Thames. Most of you remember Ordonez putting up MVP quality numbers that year but finishing second in the voting to Alex Rodriguez who had an even better season. It was also the year of Granderson's quad twenty - 20 homers, 20 triples, 20 doubles and 20 stolen bases. They were 15th on the Tigers overall leader board.
The 1967 - 1969 outfields of Kaline, Willie Horton and Jim Northrup finished third, fourth and 15th. Kaline's name shows up a lot on this table - nine times to be precise.
Fans of the 1980s Tigers will notice that the 1983-1984 outfields did quite well. Chet Lemon and Larry Herndon were part of each of those outfields. Glenn Wilson and Kirk Gibson completed the outfields in 1983 and 1984 respectively.
Table 1: Best Tigers Outfields by WAR since 1930
Player 1 | WAR | Player 2 | WAR | Player 3 | WAR | Total WAR | |
1961 | Al Kaline | 8.3 | Rocky Colavito | 7.9 | Bill Bruton | 2.5 | 18.7 |
2007 | Magglio Ordonez | 8.9 | Curtis Granderson | 6.3 | Marcus Thames | 0.6 | 15.8 |
1968 | Willie Horton | 5.6 | Jim Northrup | 5.6 | Al Kaline | 3.7 | 14.9 |
1967 | Al Kaline | 7.3 | Willie Horton | 3.3 | Jim Northrup | 2.7 | 13.3 |
1959 | Al Kaline | 6.0 | Harvey Kuenn | 4.5 | Charlie Maxwell | 2.5 | 13.0 |
1962 | Rocky Colavito | 5.8 | Al Kaline | 4.2 | Bill Bruton | 2.6 | 12.6 |
1955 | Al Kaline | 9.0 | Bill Tuttle | 2.5 | Jim Delsing | 0.3 | 11.8 |
1984 | Chet Lemon | 6.0 | Kirk Gibson | 5.1 | Larry Herndon | 0.7 | 11.8 |
1950 | Hoot Evers | 4.4 | Vic Wertz | 4.1 | Johnny Groth | 2.8 | 11.3 |
1940 | Hank Greenberg | 6.4 | Barney McCosky | 4.0 | Bruce Campbell | 0.8 | 11.2 |
1983 | Chet Lemon | 5.7 | Larry Herndon | 3.3 | Glenn Wilson | 2.0 | 11.0 |
1958 | Al Kaline | 6.1 | Charlie Maxwell | 2.5 | Harvey Kuenn | 2.0 | 10.6 |
1966 | Al Kaline | 5.8 | Willie Horton | 2.3 | Jim Northrup | 2.3 | 10.4 |
1936 | Goose Goslin | 3.6 | Gee Walker | 3.6 | Al Simmons | 3.1 | 10.3 |
1969 | Jim Northrup | 4.7 | Al Kaline | 2.9 | Willie Horton | 2.6 | 10.2 |
Next, I'll drop the fielding portion of WAR and rank the Tigers outfields since 1930 by oWAR. Table 2 shows that the 2007 outfield finished first while the 1961 outfield finished second. The 1959 threesome of Kaline, Harvey Kuenn and Charlie Maxwell was third.
One of the great things about doing a historical list like this is seeing the names of childhood favorites. With fielding removed, two of my favorite outfields from the 1970s appeared on this list. The 1976 outfield of Ron Leflore, Rusty Staub and Ben Oglivie finished eighth. Right after that at number nine was Leflore, Steve Kemp and Champ Summers in 1979.
I can't provide anything here for fans of the 1990's Tigers, but most of us would prefer to forget those years anyway. Just about every other era is represented in one or both of these tables.
Table 2: Best Tigers Outfields by oWAR Since 1930
Year | Player 1 | oWAR | Player 2 | oWAR | Player 3 | oWAR | Total oWAR |
2007 | Magglio Ordonez | 7.4 | Curtis Granderson | 5.9 | Marcus Thames | 0.5 | 13.8 |
1961 | Al Kaline | 5.4 | Rocky Colavito | 6.0 | Bill Bruton | 1.6 | 12.9 |
1959 | Al Kaline | 5.3 | Harvey Kuenn | 5.5 | Charlie Maxwell | 2.1 | 12.8 |
1968 | Willie Horton | 5.8 | Jim Northrup | 3.6 | Al Kaline | 3.2 | 12.7 |
1955 | Al Kaline | 8.0 | Bill Tuttle | 3.1 | Jim Delsing | 1.2 | 12.3 |
1940 | Hank Greenberg | 6.6 | Barney McCosky | 4.0 | Bruce Campbell | 0.8 | 11.4 |
1950 | Hoot Evers | 4.0 | Vic Wertz | 3.9 | Johnny Groth | 3.3 | 11.2 |
1976 | Ron LeFlore | 5.0 | Rusty Staub | 4.5 | Ben Oglivie | 1.5 | 11.0 |
1979 | Steve Kemp | 4.5 | Ron LeFlore | 3.4 | Champ Summers | 3.0 | 10.9 |
1967 | Al Kaline | 6.2 | Willie Horton | 2.8 | Jim Northrup | 1.9 | 10.8 |
1936 | Goose Goslin | 3.9 | Gee Walker | 3.4 | Al Simmons | 2.9 | 10.2 |
1984 | Chet Lemon | 4.0 | Kirk Gibson | 5.1 | Larry Herndon | 1.1 | 10.2 |
1966 | Al Kaline | 5.8 | Willie Horton | 2.6 | Jim Northrup | 1.3 | 9.7 |
1962 | Rocky Colavito | 4.0 | Al Kaline | 3.4 | Bill Bruton | 2.3 | 9.6 |
1965 | Al Kaline | 4.4 | Willie Horton | 3.1 | Don Demeter | 1.7 | 9.2 |
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