1911 Detroit Tigers

1911 Detroit Tigers / Franchise: Detroit Tigers / BR Team Page

Record: 89-65, Finished 2nd in American League (1911 AL)

Managed by Hughie Jennings

Ballpark: Bennett Park

History, Comments, Contributions

The 1911 Detroit Tigers got off to a great start, winning 27 of their first 32 games. On May 19th, they had a 9 1/2 game lead over their closest pursuants, the Chicago White Sox and were 12 games in front of the defending champions, the Philadelphia Athletics, who were playing below .500 at that early point. But the A's soon went on a tear, and by July 4th, the Tigers were trailing them by half a game. Detroit finally reacted by winning 13 of its next 14 games, and by July 18th, they had once again built a nice lead, this one of 5 1/2 games. At that point, the great Ty Cobb was having a season that was completely off the charts, batting .445. And he was not alone, as Sam Crawford was at .379 and Jim Delahanty at .356.

However, this proved to be a high-water mark. The Tigers were below .500 the rest of the way and were eventually eliminated by the Athletics. Cobb couldn't maintain his otherworldly performance even though he finished with career highs in a number of categories, including runs scored (148), hits (248), doubles (47), triples (24), RBIs (135), batting average (.419) and slugging percentage (.620). Others who had been key contributors during the early days of the season, such as 1B Del Gainer and 3B George Moriarty, were injured, and SS Donie Bush unexplainably batted just .213 during that stretch. Worst off was rookie P Ed Lafitte, who went from a 10-2, 3.70 through July 18, and 1-6, 10.57 afterwards.

Standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
Philadelphia Athletics	101	50	.669	--
Detroit Tigers	89	65	.578	13½
Cleveland Naps	80	73	.523	22
Boston Red Sox	78	75	.510	24
Chicago White Sox	77	74	.510	24
New York Highlanders	76	76	.500	25½
Washington Senators	64	90	.416	38½
St. Louis Browns	45	107	.296	56½

Awards and Honors

• AL Chalmers Award: Ty Cobb