"Seeing these rare photographs reminds me how lucky I was to have played with Hank Greenberg, George Kell, Hal Newhouser, Dizzy Trout, Hoot Evers, and all of my other teammates.”
The Glory Years of the Detroit Tigers
1920-1950
William M. Anderson
With a foreword by Dan Dickerson
Cloth - 9780814335895
Price: $39.95L
Available June 2012
Size: 8 x 10, Pages: 480, Illustrations: 368
Series: Painted Turtle Series
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Description
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In the three decades between 1920 and 1950, the Detroit Tigers won four American League pennants, the first world championship in team history in 1935, and a second world crown ten years later. Star players of this era—including Ty Cobb, Harry Heilmann, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Mickey Cochrane, George Kell, and Hal Newhouser—represent the majority of Tigers players inducted into the Hall of Fame. Sports writers followed the team feverishly, and fans packed Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium) to cheer on the high-flying Tigers, with the first record season attendance of one million recorded in 1924 and surpassed eight more times before 1950. In The Glory Years of the Detroit Tigers: 1920–1950, author William M. Anderson combines historical narrative and photographs of these years to argue that these years were the greatest in the history of the franchise.
Anderson presents over 350 unique and lively images, mostly culled from the remarkable Detroit News archive, that showcase players’ personalities as well as their exploits on the field. For their meticulous coverage and colorful style, Anderson consults Tigers reporting from the three daily Detroit newspapers of the era (the Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, and Detroit Times) and the Sporting News, which was known then as the “Baseball Bible.” Some especially compelling columns are reproduced intact to give readers a feel for the exciting and careful reporting of these years. Anderson combines historical text with photos in six topical chapters: “Spring Training: When Dreams are Entertained,” “Franchise Stars,” “The Supporting Cast,” “Moments of Glory and Notable Games,” “The War Years,” and “The Old Ballpark: Where Legends and Memories Were Made.” Anderson presents sketches of many fine players who have been overlooked in other histories and visits characters who often acted in strange ways: Dizzy Trout, Gee Walker, Elwood “Boots” “The Baron” Poffenbeger, and Louis “Bobo” “Buck” Newsom.
Tigers fans and anyone interested in local sports culture will enjoy this comprehensive and compelling look into the glory years of Tigers history.
Published by Wayne State University Press
Author(s)
William M. Anderson is the retired founding director of the Michigan Department of History, Arts, and Libraries and also had a thirty-three-year career in higher education, during which time he served as president of Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois, and West Shore Community College near Scottville, Michigan. Dr. Anderson is a widely published baseball and Civil War historian, a past president of the Historical Society of Michigan, and a past member of the Michigan Humanities Council. He is the author or editor of ten books, including The Detroit Tigers: A Pictorial Celebration of the Greatest Players and Moments in Tigers History (Wayne State University Press, 2008).
Reviews
“Bill Anderson’s The Glory Years of the Detroit Tigers is a great gift to Tiger fans in particular, but also to baseball fans everywhere. The many pictures that appear with the outstanding text make this book unique. The years of 1920 to 1950 were the Glory Days of Detroit, and the Tigers were major contributors to that glory.”
— Mickey Briggs, Detroit lawyer and grandson of Walter O. Briggs, sole owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1936 to 1951
“With the charm of a natural storyteller, William M. Anderson captures the lusty decades of the heavy-hitting Detroit Tigers. If you thrill to the crack of the bat and the flight of the ball, this is a book you will treasure.”
— Donald Honig, novelist and baseball historian
“William M. Anderson vividly recaptures the glory years of the Tigers in this wonderful testament to a bygone time. Fans who don’t know much about this great era in Detroit baseball history are in for a treat. Those who think they already have seen and heard it all will be dazzled by the rare images Anderson has culled from his personal collection and the archives of the Detroit News.”
— Peter Morrison, author of A Game of Inches
“William M. Anderson’s wonderful book The Glory Years of the Detroit Tigers has brought back many special memories of playing at Briggs Stadium for those great Tiger fans. Seeing these rare photographs reminds me how lucky I was to have played with Hank Greenberg, George Kell, Hal Newhouser, Dizzy Trout, Hoot Evers, and all of my other teammates.”
— Virgil Trucks, 1945 World Champion Detroit Tigers pitcher
“This was a time when players willingly cooperated with photographers as these photographic artists used great imagination in creating and preserving intriguing and interesting moments. . . . Before long lenses and photographers had to get close to the action, sometimes in harms way and in the way.”
— William M. Anderson, from the preface
