i gotta go with Cochrane. he was one of the best ever. Pudge was a prima donna juicer and i dont think any of the others were as good as Cochrane was.

Freehan baby.

i vote for lard

Mickey was way before my time but remember my grandpa talking about him and some of the old school tigers, his stats look good as well and is the easiest choice. I chose Lance Parrish because of sentimental reasons. I was very upset, I was like 10 or 11 when he went to Philly.

wolverinetiger7 said:

Mickey was way before my time but remember my grandpa talking about him and some of the old school tigers, his stats look good as well and is the easiest choice. I chose Lance Parrish because of sentimental reasons. I was very upset, I was like 10 or 11 when he went to Philly.

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He always said it was his worst move he ever made. He regretted it big time.

5 for Pudge? Over Freehan?

Tigers have been historically strong at catcher, much like rightfield, and second base.

Mickey Cochrane was maybe the best catcher to play up until the 50's,
at least there with Bill Dickey, Gabby Hartnett. I heard alot about him from my late father, Uncle Charlie, and the WWII guys I worked with starting out at the po late 60's early 70's.

Parrish was a slugger and a beast at catcher.

Pudge was still excellent when we got him at that stage of his career.

Birdie Tebbetts was a good player, not in their class, imo. I remember he once said he should go in the lower hall of fame, or something to that affect.

But I go with Bill Freehan by a close margin over the others. Freehan was the team leader and voice 'on the field' for those Tigers teams. He was a rock at catcher, 11 time all-star, and plenty of Gold Gloves when it mattered more (voting by the players).

Someone break the tie!

I'm assuming you meant for their overall career. Rodriguez won the silver slugger and gold glove for basically an entire decade. All due respect to Tigers past, Pudge is second only to Bench all-time, probably.

Problem with Pudge is sometimes his attitude is not that good and he can tank a team as well as lift one up.

MLB Network chose Piazza over Pudge for catcher of the 90s.

Gimme Cochrane...he can manage too. Way too young to know anything than what I've read about the guy, but he looked like he was one hell of a player.

I liked Tettleton, he was a decent switch hitter...LP gets my vote

staegrac said:

I liked Tettleton, he was a decent switch hitter...LP gets my vote

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Mickey T. was awesome.

[color=#006400 said:

Mitch[/color]]

staegrac said:

I liked Tettleton, he was a decent switch hitter...LP gets my vote

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Mickey T. was awesome.

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the OP should've included him

Pudge is first ballot HoF....no brainer

I like this little Freehan tidbit: He signed with his hometown Tigers in 1961 for a $100,000 bonus, which his father withheld until he graduated in 1966.

Ha.

And to put it in perspective and being a pitching era, he was awesome.

In his 12-year career, Freehan played in 1774 games with 1591 hits in 6073 at bats for a .262 batting average along with 241 doubles, 200 home runs, 758 RBI, and a .340 on base percentage.

[1] In addition to his home runs and total bases, his .412 slugging average and totals of 1591 hits, 706 runs and 476 extra base hits all put him among the top five American League catchers to that time.

His batting totals are particularly remarkable in light of the fact that offense was at a low throughout the sport during his career, with a decided advantage toward pitchers.

Freehan led all American League catchers in fielding percentage four times (1965, 1966, 1970, 1973).

[20] He also ranked sixth in American League history with 114 times being hit by a pitch. He was named an All-Star in each of the eleven seasons in which he caught at least 75 games.

His 11 All-Star Game appearances are the most by any eligible player who is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Freehan caught more games as a catcher than any other player in Tigers' team history and, he ranked ninth in major league history in games caught (1581) at the end of his career. [21]

A five-time Gold Glove Award winner, Freehan held the major league record for highest career fielding percentage (.9933) until 2002, when Dan Wilson broke his record.

His career totals of 200 home runs and 2502 total bases placed him behind only Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey among American League catchers when he retired.

In 1973 and 1974 he surpassed Berra to become the American League's all-time leader in putouts and total chances; he broke Johnny Roseboro's major league marks in 1975. Freehan held the records for career putouts (9941) and total chances (10,734) from 1975 until the late 1980s;


[22] Bob Boone broke his major league mark for career total chances in 1987, and Gary Carter surpassed his putouts total in 1988; [23][24] Carlton Fisk broke his American League records in 1989 (total chances) and 1990 (putouts). [25]

M. Tettleton had the best stance in the batters box. Maybe second to Tony Phillips only.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thh2R2IUfTE

2:17 if you care to reminisce.

sggatecl said:

M. Tettleton had the best stance in the batters box. Maybe second to Tony Phillips only.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thh2R2IUfTE

2:17 if you care to reminisce.

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That guy is good