OT/....One of baseballs greatest teams?...Detroit Tigers

[Archive]

Posted By: Mark

The Cabrera pickup is huge, and the Tigers will likely be amazing, but in terms of a "Starting 8" the team to beat is still the '76 Reds.

They had only average pitching, but won the Division by 10 games, and proceeded to sweep both the LCS and World Series. They had 4 players with Hall of Fame Careers. 7 of the 8 starters made the '76 All Star Team, with only Gold Glove Centerfielder Cesar Geronimo failing to make the squad.

The '76 Reds led the league in ALL of the following categories...

Runs
Hits
Doubles
Triples
Home Runs
Walks
Batting Avg.
On-Base %
Slugging %
Fielding Avg.

No other team has ever come close to accomplishing this.

Here is how I see the comparison...

1B Perez over Guillen
2B Morgan over Polanco
SS Concepcion/Renteria... tough one... call it a tie
3B Rose over Cabrera
LF Foster over Jones
CF Granderson over Geronimo
RF Ordonez over Griffey
C Bench over Rodriguez

Some of these are very close, but I believe the '08 Tigers are superior at only 2 of the 8 positions. Does anyone disagree? Please be kind, as we Reds fans must often live in the past...