Detroit Tigers Trivia
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49 free Detroit Tigers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
45 free Detroit Tigers trivia questions with answers. Detroit Tigers trivia for the Corner faithful and the Comerica generation. The quiz walks through the whole franchise: the Western League club of 1894 and the AL charter of 1901, Bennett Park and the Michigan-and-Trumbull era, Ty Cobb's arrival at 18, the three straight World Series defeats of 1907-09, Greenberg and Gehringer's 1935 title, Newhouser's Game 7 in 1945, McLain's 31 wins and Lolich's three in 1968, the 35-5 start and Gibson's home run off Gossage in 1984, the 119-loss season of 2003, Ordonez's walk-off in 2006, Galarraga's imperfect game, Verlander's MVP year, Cabrera's Triple Crown and the 2024 and 2025 playoff runs. Expect questions on retired numbers, the Olde English D, why the road uniforms are the only ones in baseball with a colour the home whites lack, and where the team's nickname really came from. Easy questions open the set; the later ones will test someone who listened to Ernie Harwell every summer. Every answer has been checked against a reference page and each question shows its citation.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year did the Tigers become a charter member of the American League?
1901
Detroit was one of the American League's eight charter franchises when it began play as a major league in 1901; the club had played in the minor Western League since 1894.
Q 02Before settling on Tigers, the 1894 Detroit club was referred to by which names?
Wolverines and Creams
Newspapers called the 1894 Western League club the Wolverines and the Creams; 'Tigers' first appeared in the Detroit Free Press on 16 April 1895, before manager George Stallings claimed credit for it.
Q 03According to author Richard Bak, the Tigers took their nickname from which local institution?
The Detroit Light Guard militia
Richard Bak's 1998 history traces the name to the Detroit Light Guard, a militia unit nicknamed 'the Tigers' that fought in the Civil and Spanish-American wars; the club obtained its formal permission to use the name in 1901.
Q 04Bennett Park, Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium all stood at the corner of which two Detroit avenues?
Michigan and Trumbull
Bennett Park opened at Michigan and Trumbull in 1896; its successor on the same site opened in 1912 and was renamed twice before the Tigers left 'The Corner' after the 1999 season.
Q 05Under what name did the ballpark that became Tiger Stadium open in 1912?
Navin Field
It opened as Navin Field on 20 April 1912, named for owner Frank Navin, the same day Fenway Park opened; it became Briggs Stadium in 1938 and Tiger Stadium in 1961.
Q 06Since which year have the Tigers played at Comerica Park?
2000
Comerica Park opened on 11 April 2000 with a 5-2 win over Seattle, replacing Tiger Stadium after the 1999 season.
Q 07How old was Ty Cobb when the Tigers acquired him in 1905?
18
Cobb was 18, born in December 1886, when Detroit bought him from Augusta in August 1905; the Georgia Peach won the 1909 Triple Crown with a .377 average, 9 home runs and 107 RBIs.
Q 08Which team beat the Tigers in both the 1907 and 1908 World Series?
Chicago Cubs
Detroit lost a third straight Series to Pittsburgh in 1909, going down 8-0 in Game 7 at Bennett Park.
Q 09In 1934 Hank Greenberg famously sat out a Tigers game on which Jewish holiday?
Yom Kippur
Hank Greenberg played on Rosh Hashanah in 1934, hitting two home runs, but sat out the Yom Kippur game ten days later, a choice celebrated in Edgar Guest's poem 'Speaking of Greenberg'.
Q 10Which Tigers pitcher won the 1945 pitching Triple Crown with 25 wins, a 1.81 ERA and 212 strikeouts?
Hal Newhouser
Hal Newhouser, 'Prince Hal', also led the league with 313 innings in 1945, then beat the Cubs with a complete game in the Series-clinching Game 7 on 10 October.
Q 11In 1955 Al Kaline hit .340 to become what?
The youngest batting champion in major league history
Kaline was 20 years and 280 days old, one day younger than Ty Cobb had been in 1907, making him the youngest batting champion in major league history; Mr. Tiger retired with 3,007 hits.
Q 12Which Tigers first baseman won the 1961 batting title with a .361 average?
Norm Cash
Norm Cash hit .361 with 41 home runs in 1961 and never hit .300 again; the 101-win Tigers led the majors in runs yet finished eight games behind the Maris-Mantle Yankees.
Q 13How many games did Denny McLain win for the 1968 Tigers?
31
Q 21Who was named MVP of the 1984 World Series after homering in his first two at-bats in Game 4?
Alan Trammell
The Tigers' manager became the first to win the World Series in both leagues.
Q 22Before the 1984 Tigers, which team last led from opening day to a championship?
The 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers
The 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers opened 22-2 and led the National League every day on the way to their only Brooklyn title; the 1927 Yankees were the only earlier wire-to-wire champions.
Q 23What was the Tigers' record in 2003, the worst in franchise history?
43-119
The 2003 Tigers finished 43-119, avoiding a tie with the 1962 Mets' 120 losses by winning five of their last six; Mike Maroth went 9-21, the majors' first 20-game loser since 1980.
He went 31-6 with a 1.96 ERA as Detroit won 103 games and led the AL from 10 May to the finish.
Q 14Who was named MVP of the 1968 World Series after winning three games against the Cardinals?
Mickey Lolich
Mickey Lolich won Games 2, 5 and 7, beating Bob Gibson on two days' rest in the finale as Detroit came back from 3-1 down; Jim Northrup's triple in Game 7 scored Cash and Horton in a 4-1 win.
Q 15Which pitcher's 1976 rookie season is called 'The Year of The Bird' in Tigers history?
Mark Fidrych
Mark Fidrych, 'The Bird', went 19-9 with a league-best 2.34 ERA in 1976 and won Rookie of the Year while talking to the ball and grooming the mound by hand.
Q 16Which pizza magnate bought the Tigers from John Fetzer for $53 million ahead of the 1984 season?
Tom Monaghan
Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, paid John Fetzer $53 million in October 1983, then sold the club in 1992 to Little Caesars founder Mike Ilitch, a rival pizza man.
Q 17What was the 1984 Tigers' record after their first 40 games?
35-5
The 1984 Tigers started 9-0 and stood 35-5 after 40 games, then cruised to a franchise-record 104 wins, leading the AL East wire to wire and finishing 15 games clear of Toronto.
Q 18Which pitcher threw a televised no-hitter against the White Sox in the fourth game of 1984?
Jack Morris
Morris went on to pitch two complete-game wins in the World Series; his number 47 was retired in 2018.
Q 19Which reliever won both the AL Cy Young and MVP awards for the 1984 Tigers?
Willie Hernandez
Willie Hernandez, acquired from the Phillies that March, saved 32 games in 33 chances with a 1.92 ERA in 1984, the second reliever after Rollie Fingers in 1981 to win both awards in one season.
Q 20Off which Padres reliever did Kirk Gibson hit his three-run homer in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series?
Rich Gossage
Sparky Anderson yelled 'He don't want to walk you!' after Gossage talked manager Dick Williams out of an intentional pass.
Q 24Which Tigers pitcher threw two no-hitters in 1952 despite finishing the season 5-19?
Virgil Trucks
Virgil Trucks no-hit Washington on 15 May and the Yankees on 25 August 1952, both 1-0 wins, in a season he finished 5-19 for a last-place Tigers team.
Q 25Whose walk-off homer in Game 4 of the 2006 ALCS swept Oakland and sent Detroit to the World Series?
Magglio Ordonez
The Tigers had lost their last five regular-season games to blow the division, then beat the Yankees as a wild card.
Q 26Which umpire's blown call at first base cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game on 2 June 2010?
Jim Joyce
A tearful Joyce apologised, and the next day Galarraga brought the lineup card to the plate and shook his hand.
Q 27Justin Verlander's 2011 AL MVP made him the first pitcher to win the award since whom?
Dennis Eckersley in 1992
Dennis Eckersley's 1992 award for Oakland was the last pitcher MVP before Verlander, who won the 2011 pitching Triple Crown with 24 wins, a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts, plus a unanimous Cy Young.
Q 28Miguel Cabrera's 2012 Triple Crown was the first in the majors since which player?
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski won the previous Triple Crown in 1967; Cabrera hit .330 with 44 homers and 139 RBIs in 2012 and was named MVP, repeating as MVP in 2013.
Q 29Which team swept the Tigers in the 2012 World Series?
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants swept the Series after Pablo Sandoval's three-homer Game 1; Detroit had itself swept the Yankees in the ALCS for its 11th AL pennant.
Q 30Which pitcher's 21-3 record won the 2013 AL Cy Young Award for Detroit?
Max Scherzer
Max Scherzer went 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and 240 strikeouts in 2013, opening the year 13-0; the staff's 1,428 strikeouts broke the 2003 Cubs' major league record.