September 21 in Tigers and mlb history:
1908: Detroit takes two at St. Louis. With two weeks to go, 3 1/2 games separate four teams.
1909: Rest seems to have cured Walter Johnson's sore arm, as the Nats' ace shuts out Detroit, 2 - 0, in his first appearance since August 29th.
He will finish the season at 13-25, 10 of the losses coming in shutouts.
1922: The American League reinstates the MVP award, last given in 1914, appointing a committee of one writer from each city, headed by I.E. Sanborn of the Chicago Tribune. As a player-manager, Ty Cobb is not eligible, and the trophy goes to George Sisler. The National League will pick up the idea two years later.
1935: The Detroit Tigers clinch the pennant with a double win over the St. Louis Browns, winning 6 - 2 and 2 - 0. Elden Auker wins the nitecap with a complete game shutout, while Tommy Bridges takes the opener. The Tigers will coast the rest of the way, going 1-6, while the Yankees go 6-1.
1940 - With the Tigers, Indians, and Yankees neck-and-neck, the Tigers boost their lead to 2 games, as Schoolboy Rowe shuts out Cleveland, 5 - 0.
Rowe, seemingly washed up after anchoring the staff through Tiger championships in the mid-1930s, will finish at 16-3.
1952: Brooklyn catcher Roy Campanella hits the last home run ever in Boston's Braves Field.
1957: Gail Harris is the last player to hit a home run as a New York Giant, as they beat the Pirates, 9 - 5, in the 2nd game of a doubleheader.
1958: Today's win is marred when Ted Williams, after striking out looking with two aboard to end the 3rd inning (and less than 2 months after having incurred his second spitting-related fine in less than 2 years), flings his bat aside in a fit of anger. Unfortunately, the intended flip along the ground gains some unwanted elevation, flying into the stands and striking, of all people, Boston GM Joe Cronin's 69-year-old housekeeper, Gladys Heffernan, in the head.
"I didn't mean to throw the bat that way," explains the distraught Williams.
"I started to flip it along the ground but the sticky stuff on my hands stuck to it and it left my hands on the fly instead. I was sick."
Mercifully Heffernan is not badly hurt, but Williams is greeted with a thunderous chorus of catcalls when he takes the field in the 4th. Cronin, for his part, hastily announces a 1-year contract extension for manager Mike Higgins in what is widely regarded as an attempt to distract attention from Ted's near-tragic tantrum. Nonetheless, American League President Will Harridge will impose a modest $50-dollar fine for the incident.
1972: The American League East is in a virtual tie as Detroit's Joe Coleman posts his 18th win, a critical 10 - 3 defeat of first-place Boston. Coleman strikes out 10 and knocks in three runs.
1980: The Detroit Tigers signed Roger Mason as an amateur free agent.
2006: The Detroit Tigers released Brian Boehringer.
2009: The last remaining portion of Tiger Stadium falls to the ground, completing demolition.
Tigers players, coaches, and executives birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcmanfr01.shtml
Frank McManus 1904.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bogarjo01.shtml
John Bogart 1920.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Elden_Auker
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/aukerel01.shtml
Eldon Auker 1933-1938.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/John_McHale
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mchaljo01.shtml
John McHale 1943-1945, 1947-1948, General Manager 1957-1958.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/maccofr01.shtml
Frank MacCormack 1976.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Billy_Muffett
Billy Muffett coach 1985-1994.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Aurelio_López
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lopezau01.shtml
Aurelio Lopez 1979-1985.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Cecil_Fielder
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fieldce01.shtml
Cecil Fielder 1990-1996.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/santape01.shtml
Pedro Santana 2001.
Tigers players and coaches who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Tony_Cuccinello
Tony Cuccinello coach 1967-1968.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Purnal_Goldy
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/goldypu01.shtml
Purnal Goldy 1962-1963.
from Baseball Reference
