Ranking the Detroit Tigers’ Four Best Managers of All-Time

The Detroit Tigers are one of the charter members of the American League and were founded in 1901.

Jul 21, 2024; Cooperstown, New York, USA; Hall of Fame Inductee Jim Leyland shows emotion as he makes his Baseball Hall of Fame acceptance speech during the National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Cooperstown, NY. / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Tigers have had professional baseball since 1894 and that team became the Detroit Tigers in 1901, when the American League was founded. Since then, the franchise has been a key part of the league.

Detroit has won four World Series titles, won 11 American League pennants, seven division titles and a Wild Card berth. Along the way, they’ve had some of the best managers in baseball leading the team.

So, who are the best four managers in franchise history? Here they are ranked from No. 4 to No. 1.

1. Sparky Anderson

Sparky Anderson managed the Tigers from 1979-1995. He led the Tigers to a World Series win in 1984. In 2000 he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. / JULIAN H. GONZALEZ, DETROIT FREE PRESS

This isn’t a news flash to anyone that has watched Detroit baseball. After leading the Cincinnati Reds to back-to-back World Series titles, he took over the Tigers in 1979 and led them to a run of success that included the 1984 World Series title. That included the best season in franchise history. The team won 104 games, started 35-5 and beat the San Diego Padres in five games to win the championship.

Anderson is the winningest manager in Tigers history (1,331-1,248) and is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

2. Jim Leyland

Tigers manager Jim Leyland hugs pitcher Phil Coke after winning Game 4 of the American League Championship Series between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees at Comerica Park in Detroit on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. / KIRTHMON F. DOZIER / USA TODAY NETWORK

He can’t claim a World Series title as Tigers manager, but he can claim one of the longest runs of sustained success in team history. He won four straight division titles (2011-14), led the Tigers to two American League pennants (2006, 2012) but fell short of joining four other Tigers managers with a World Series ring.

In eight seasons he won 700 games and led the Tigers to a winning season in seven of his eight years before his retirement after the 2013 season ended with a loss to Boston in the American League Championship Series.

3. Mickey Cochrane

A look at the upcoming changes to right-center field wall, which will be 7 feet (instead of 13 feet) in the 2023 season, on January 11, 2023, at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. / Evan Petzold / USA TODAY NETWORK

The catcher joined the Tigers in 1934 in a trade with the Philadelphia Athletics and Tigers owner Frank Navin made the veteran their player-manager. It worked. In his first season the Tigers won 101 games and lost to St. Louis in the World Series.

The next season the Tigers won 93 games and then beat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series, bringing home the franchise’s first World Series title. He went 348-250 before he was fired in 1938. It was only a burst of success, but to many at the time bringing in Cochrane was the final piece of the puzzle to put a great team over the top. He is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

4. Mayo Smith

Unknown date; Detroit, MI, USA; FILE PHOTO; Detroit Tigers managers Mayo Smith in the dugout. / Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Smith took over a Tigers team in 1967 that hadn’t won a pennant or World Series since 1945, when manager Steve O’Neill led Detroit to a World Series title. Mayo didn’t win as many games as O’Neill, but he jolted the Tigers out of a two decade-long funk and got them back to the top. After winning 91 games in 1967 and finishing a game behind Boston, the Tigers finished the job in 1968.

Detroit won 103 games, then a team record, the American League pennant and then beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series by rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the series.

His tenure was brief — he was fired in 1970 and replaced by Billy Martin — but he returned the Tigers to the top of baseball.