The Tigers of '68: Baseball's Last Real Champions

By George Cantor

Book Overview

They had two future Hall of Famers, the last pitcher to win thirty games, and a supporting cast of some of the most peculiar individuals ever to play in the majors. But more than that, the 1968 Detroit Tigers symbolize a lost era in baseball.

It was a time before runaway salaries and designated hitters. Before divisional playoffs and drug suspensions. Before teams measured their well-being by the number of corporate boxes in their ballpark and the cable contract in their pocket. It was the last season of baseball's most colorful and nostalgic period.

It was surely not a more innocent time. The 1968 Tigers were a team of hell-raisers, the second coming of the Gas House Gang. They brawled on the field and partied hard afterward. They bickered with each other and ignored their manager. They won game after game with improbable rallies on their last at-bat and grabbed the World Championship by coming back from a three games to one deficit to beat the most dominant pitcher in the World Series history in the deciding seventh game.

Their ultimate hero, Mickey Lolich, was a man who threw left-handed, thought "upside down," and rode motorcycles to the ballpark. Their thirty-game winner, Denny McLain, played the organ in various night spots, placed bets over the clubhouse phone, and incidentally, overpowered the American League. Their prize pinch-hitter, Gates Brown, had done hard time in the Ohio Penitentiary. Their top slugger, Willie Horton, would have rather been boxing. Their centerfielder, Mickey Stanley, a top defensive outfielder, would unselfishly volunteer to play the biggest games of his life at shortstop, so that their great outfielder, Al Kaline, could get into the World Series lineup.

The story of this team, their triumph, and what happened in their lives afterward, is one of the great dramas of baseball history.

The Tigers of '68 is the uproarious, stirring tale of this team, the last to win a pure pennant (before each league was divided into two divisions and playoffs were added) and World Series. Award-winning journalist George Cantor, who covered the Tigers that year for the Detroit Free Press, revisits the main performers on the team and then weaves their memories and stories (warts and all) into an absorbing narrative that revives all of the delicious--and infamous--moments that made the season unforgettable. Tommy Matchick's magical ninth-inning home run, Jim Northrup's record-setting grand slams, Jon Warden's torrid April, Dick McAuliffe's charge to the mound, Denny McLain's gift to Mickey Mantle, the nearly unprecedented comeback in the World Series, and dozens more.

The '68 Tigers occupy a special place in the history of the city of Detroit. They've joined their predecessors of 1935 as an almost mythic unit--more than a baseball team. The belief has passed into Detroit folklore. Many people swear, as Willie Horton says, that they were "put here by God to save the city." The Tigers of '68 will help you understand why.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1589799283
• ISBN13: 9781589799288
• Release Date: March 2014
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

It was a magical time

I was 12 and just got interested in baseball in 1968 and fell under the Tiger spell. It was a spectacular year for a young Tiger fan, topped off by the magical World Series. This book captures in just enough detail the spell cast that summer and how this team is baseball's last true championship team. The following season, the game had changed, expansion, playoffs and the beginnings of free agency did not truly help the game. The stories, memories of this book will take you back if you were there, or bring it to life if you were not. The author sets the sport in with the times, beginning with the Detroit riot of 1967, the heart breaking pennant race that hot summer into the beginning of the tumultous year of 1968. Interviews with a number of the players is mixed in with specific events centered around them. The book sets the context of the events of 1968, deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, the escalating Vietnam war, and the Democratic Convention in Chicago in with the events of the season, McLain winning 30 games, Northrup's grand slams, Manager Mayo Smith's risk of playing outfielder Mickey Stanley at shortstop for the series. The heartbreaking losses in the series as Bob Gibson proved his ability in mowing the Tigers down to the jubliant wins from games 5, 6 and 7. A follow up chapter the '68 Tigers since then closes out the book. Sadly, the game has never been the same for me after the advent of free agency and its lack of player consistancy, money grubbing so-called stars, meglomaniac team owners and today's much slower pace of the game that is oriented for television. Luckily, this book brought back the joy of the sport, at least in my mind. Buy it to read, keep and re-read once again. If you are a Tigers fan, a baseball fan or one who just wants to recapture the time, it is a worthy book.

Brings back a lot of memories

I remember fondly the summer of 68. I used to lie on my bed in the afternoons (cause thats when they played baseball back then), looking at my Tiger baseball cards, and listing to Ernie Harwell give the play to play on my short wave. I remember many of the events in this book - Tommy Matchick's home run, Daryl Patterson striking out the side (nasty Orioles), the triple-play in number 27, Rocky Colevito beating the Tigers, and of course, #30, the "clinch", the world series. This book is great for reliving old memories. But I do wish it had more storeies. I was a big Coyote (Don Wert) fan, and it hardly mentions him. Same for some of the other players. In spite of that, its a great book, even if you arn't a Tiger fan, cause thats the way baseball used to be played.

Go Tigers

I am a Tiger fan but not old enough to know the stories of the '68 Tigers. I remember growing up and hearing my Dad's stories so before I read this book I was familar with the players and the team. Reading this book was fun and exciting. At times I could not put it down. Being a newspaper writer Mr. Cantor delivers this book as if you are reading a very long article in the newspaper. You will Enjoy.

A Wonderful Look-Back

Cantor does an admirable job of recapturing the spirit and excitement of the '68 Tigers. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who spent any amount of time at Michigan and Trumbull in 1968. What a season! What a team! What a wealth of memories!

recaptures the magic of 1968

This is truly an enjoyable book- especially for those who lived it in the city...it was a chance to be there again. This mentions all the big plays, players and events during this wonderful, healing summer in Motown. Lolich, Cash, Kaline, the Gator, Denny and the rest of the cast bring back all those happy emotions and feelings. If you were there in '68 then buy this one to read, keep it and then pass it on to your grandkids when you die.