DETROIT – So baseball is a strange sport, right? I mean, I love it, but it’s just weird, right? There are 30 stadiums used by Major League Baseball, and literally no two are alike.

Can you imagine how wild it would be if Little Caesars Arena’s ice rink and basketball court were a little different than TD Garden’s?

Baseball’s eccentricities have added to its charm. For this reason, the sport can be played in fields, yards and empty parking lots – all you need is a ball and a bat.

When it comes to ticket price, baseball may be second only to football as one of the most accessible sports. This accessibility also contributes to more eccentricities.

Speaking of strange, did you know that the Detroit Tigers are responsible for one of the wildest games, with several sports records that have yet to be broken? It seems like it should have been made into a film at that point because it’s such an unconventional and absurd situation.

The Ty Cobb strike

The Detroit Tigers are the longest-running team in the American league that has retained its name and city. It has a long and storied history. It’s no exaggeration to say that Ty Cobb is probably the most famous player the Detroit Tigers have ever had. The guy spent almost a quarter century with the Tigers – 22 seasons!

In 1912, Cobb was one of the biggest stars in all of sports. He was Babe Ruth before Babe Ruth. He was Wayne Gretzky before Wayne Gretzky. He was Tom Brady before Tom Brady. He was huge. During a May 15 game in New York City, Cobb climbed into the stands and punched a heckler. There’s more to it than that, but the details aren’t that important to this story, just that the league’s president, Ban Johnson, was present at the game and witnessed the assault. Johnson fired Cobb, fined him $50 (almost $1,600 today) and suspended him indefinitely.

The Tigers traveled to Philadelphia without their biggest star to play the Philadelphia Athletics, who had won the last two World Series. All 18 Detroit Tigers players supported Cobb and stated that they would not play if Cobb was not among them.

The Tigers’ clash with the two-time defending World Series champions was a huge game that people wanted to see. Johnson told Tigers owner Frank Navin that they would be fined $5,000 (about $160,000 today) if they did not have a team on the field. Tigers manager Hughie Jennings teamed up with athletics manager Connie Mack and their respective team coaches to put together a team. Local Little League and college teams were busy or playing away, so they grabbed players wherever they could find them. Some had never played baseball before.

Whatever the exact opposite of a wrestler is, that’s what the temporary Tigers team consisted of.

When the game began, the real Tigers entered the field, and when the referee asked Cobb to leave, the team followed. The substitutes signed one-day contracts and took the field. They were supposedly told to fold and forfeit, but the Detroit Tigers’ game against the defending World Series champions was a game that received a lot of attention. Due to the large number of spectators watching the game, they decided to play. What followed wasn’t great.

So you did… well, right? Real underdog story?

Oh, you sweet summer child, of course they didn’t. Mack Jennings had reportedly said he would play with his reserve Athletics against the Tigers substitutes. He didn’t.

How did they do it? Record-breakingly bad. For example, records that are never broken, never bad. To the surprise of absolutely no one, it turns out that baseball’s World Series champions have the edge over a bunch of randos.

Detroit Tigers manager Joe Sugden was the only reliever who had major league experience. He had a base hit.

Tigers relief pitcher Allan Travers was a violinist in the St. Joseph’s College student orchestra. He also didn’t make his college team and had never pitched before. Travers played against some of the best players in the world at the time and delivered the worst complete game of all time in the Major Leagues.

Jennings fought for Travers and struck out.

Ed Irwin played third base. He was the only reserve Tiger to score a goal in the entire game.

Vincent Maney played shortstop. He had no hits, struck out twice, but managed to reach first base after a pitch hit. He said he enjoyed the game the most, telling his brother: “It was a tough loss for us, but they paid us $15 for a few hours of work and I was happy to say I played against the world champions.” had.” .”

Jim McGarr played second base. He struck four times. Left fielder Dan McGarvey had no hits. Third baseman Jack Smith had no plate appearances.

Hap Ward played right field. He struck out twice and was caught stealing once.

Bill Leinhauser, an amateur boxer, played center field. He had no hits and struck out three times.

Billy Maharg, a professional boxer, had two assists and never made it to base. He finished his major league career with a .000 batting average. A ground ball knocked out two of his teeth.

The Tigers lost 24-2. It wasn’t the game people wanted to see and thousands of fans demanded refunds.

What happened next?

Commissioner Johnson met with the real Tigers and informed them that if they didn’t play the next game they would be banned for life. Cobb pressured his teammates to play and his suspension was reduced to 10 days.

At the time of the strike, there could be violence in the crowd, who sometimes threw bottles at players on the field. Cobb wasn’t the first player to face a heckler in the stands, so the players sided with him. The strike resulted in additional safety measures and regulations being introduced at stadiums. It also brought more attention to players’ unions, making the sport better for players and fans, but not for those who came to watch fights. At least there is still hockey for that. And probably boxing too.