Sock It To Em Tigers: The Incredible Story of the 1968 Detroit Tigers

In 1968, the “Year of the Pitcher,” the sock-it-to-’em Detroit Tigers were far and away the American League leader in home runs—and in thrilling come-from-behind wins. Not only did they master the American League, but—with the daring switch of outfielder Mickey Stanley to shortstop for the Fall Classic—the Tigers came back from a three games to one deficit in the World Series to defeat the heavily favored St. Louis Cardinals and their Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson in Game 7, becoming only the third team in World Series history to trail three games to one and come back to win. Sock it to ’Em Tigers: The Incredible Story of the 1968 Detroit Tigers celebrates this legendary team like no book ever has, complete with many photos and artifacts from the time. A project of the Detroit chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research, this volume gathers the collective efforts of more than sixty SABR members and friends of the non-profit research society and features profiles of every player, coach, broadcaster, and front-office member connected to that great Tigers squad. Included are Hall of Famers Al Kaline and Eddie Mathews, thirty-one-game winner Denny McLain, World Series Most Valuable Player Mickey Lolich, and beloved broadcasters Ernie Harwell and George Kell, plus Norm Cash, Bill Freehan, Willie Horton, Gates Brown, Jim Northrup, and Dick McAuliffe, the longtime core of a Tigers team that played hard on the field—and sometimes off. Forty years later, that team is still the most beloved in Tiger history.