MLB History

Ernie Banks. Pete Rose. Rod Carew. Robin Yount. Paul Molitor.

The common thread may seem obvious—they’re all Hall of Famers (with the exception of Rose, of course). But there’s something else that ties them together, and it’s something that may end up being very relevant to your Detroit Tigers.

For the first time in history, readers will get a chance to have a say in a single vote (at the very least) for the Baseball Writers' Association of America Hall of Fame vote.

According to Deadspin, the website has officially bought a ballot from a voting member for the annual elections:

The year still looms there, like the cheese that stands alone.

1984.

It used to be 1968. That was the year that all Tigers fans would reference, sometimes happily, sometimes wistfully, sometimes pessimistically.

It seemed like we waited eons after the Tigers' 1968 World Series triumph for that feeling to come again. But it was only 16 years, which in retrospect is nothing, really.

When Mariano Rivera retires after the 2013 MLB season, his cutter will also leave the sport forever. All active players who have been victimized by it will rejoice, knowing that they've outlasted a near-unhittable pitch.

How does it compare to baseball's filthiest offerings ever? That's what we'll be ranking in the following slides.

September 17th marks Roberto Clemente Day around the MLB, as the league honors the legacy of one of the all-time greats.

He made his impact felt on and off the field during his 18-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, before his life came to a tragic end in a plane crash at the age of 38.

The two names atop the leaderboard for batting average in the National League are certainly not players that were thought of as contenders for the batting crown at the start of the season.

Chris Johnson entered the season as a career .276 hitter and was transitioning to a new team in the Atlanta Braves. Michael Cuddyer does have the advantage of playing at Coors Field, but that was not a help to him last season as he hit just .260. With less than a month left in the season, both of these players are in a race to lead the NL in batting average.

Major League Baseball has taken a no-nonsense approach to performance-enhancing drugs. MLB officials, the sport's fans and even its players now villify the rotten individuals who attempt to cheat their way to on-field success and monetary gain.

Keep in mind, several of the following PED users never actually tested positive for an illegal substance. Some admitted to injecting themselves or cannot disprove overwhelming circumstantial evidence.

The long summer months of Major League Baseball have perennially been referred to as "the dog days of summer." In 2013, fans are now actually able to bring their dogs to the baseball games, as this handy schedule of "dog day" events illustrates—Sept. 9 "Puppypalooza" in Cleveland, anybody?

If I had myself a private audience with the Pope of the Tigers, Jim Leyland, I’d pretty much just have one question for him.

Dave Rozema was a fun-loving, gangly pitcher of baseballs who never met a clubhouse prank he didn’t like. He was perpetually 13 years old. He went through his career stifling a giggle.

Rozema, who pitched for the Tigers from 1977-84, could be impetuous, and not always at the most convenient moments.