Are there two teams in sports more similar than the Pirates and the Tigers...?
...they're playing today, and it occurred to me how close they are--AL/NL mirror images of each other. Both are in rust belt cities--Pittsburgh and Detroit--that have seen better days, but are still lovely, at least in spots--Pittsburgh, perhaps, more than Detroit, at least these days. Both had one all-time superstar play for them early in their history--Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb. And neither has had a comparable player since, but have had a number of greats on just a slightly lower level--Pittsburgh, Pie Traynor, Arky Vaughan, Paul Waner, Ralph Kiner, Bill Mazeroski, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Barry Bonds, Andrew McCutcheon; Detroit, Sam Crawford, Harry Heilmann, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Al Kaline, Lou Whitaker, Miggie Cabrera. (Clemente and Kaline, of course, were exact contemporaries. Who was better? I lived in Detroit then; I'll say Kaline.) Both have had a number of good pitchers, but no really top-line all-time great, though Detroit, with Newhouser and Verlander, perhaps has a slight edge. Both have had periods of extreme excellence, and extreme failure; all teams do, but these teams seem to have a definite pattern to their histories, more than most. Which all-time team is better? I'd give a slight edge to Detroit, because their starters are a hair better. Neither team has ever had a mystique about them like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals; or even a negative mystique, like the Cubs or Indians. They've just been there, the backbones of their leagues. And--having been on a ballpark trip to both cities in the last couple of years--both play today in terrific places to watch a ball game. I salute you both, and your fans.
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... in the early years, the Pirates had a number of excellent pitchers whereas the best Detroit pitchers have never been on that level. OTOH, the Tigers had the late Mark Fidrych, which makes up for a lot.
On the gripping hand, the Pirates had the late Dock Ellis, and he was definitely a character.
The Pirates were innovators in a number of things (batting helmets and polyester, you take the good with the bad). They were pretty well-known for enlightened racial attitudes (and of course fielded the first complete non-white lineup on 1 September 1971), whereas the Tigers were pretty far behind in that category (15th of 16 AL teams to integrate).
Both teams have notorious losing records; the Bucs had 20 straight losing seasons, the Tigers lost 119 games as recently as 2003.
As to Kaline and Clemente, Roberto had a slightly better arm and was a better player during his peak years, Kaline of far greater overall value (in a much longer career).
It's intriguing that, while Wagner and Cobb were very similar as players, as personalities they were approximately polar opposites: Wagner remains one of the best-loved people in baseball history, and Cobb one of the most detested.
-- Mal
