History:1910-1911

1910-The Tigers finished the season a disapointing 86-68, 18 games back of the Philadelphia Athletics. The battle between Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie (Cleveland) came down to the final games of the season. Cobb, with the Tigers out of the pennant race, decided to sit the final games finishing the season hitting .385. Lajoie, with a little help from the St. Louis Browns (St. Louis manager Jack O'Connor ordered third baseman Red Corriden to play on the outfield grass) reached base every at bat (9) in the double header, officially going 8 for 9(reached base on error) Cobb squeaked out the batting title by one thousandth of a point .385 to .384095. Chalmers Automobile Company had promised a new car to the batting champ and ended up giving both players a new car.

In 1989, The Sporting News discovered a discrepancy in Cobb's career hit total.Initially recorded at 4,191 (still the total on MLB.com, researchers say that a Detroit Tigers box score was counted twice in the season-ending calculations. The statisticians gave Cobb an extra 2-for-3. Not only did this credit Cobb with two non-existent hits, it also raised his 1910 batting average from .383 to .385. As Lajoie is credited with a .384 average for the 1910 season, the revised figure would have cost Cobb one of his 12 batting titles and reduced his career average to .366.

St. Louis's manager Jack O'Connor was fired for his role in the affair. The ensuing mathematical mess was described by one writer as follows: "It could be said that 1910 produced two bogus leading batting averages, and one questionable champion."

1911-Tigers finished 13 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Athletics with a record of 82-72 (2nd). Ty Cobb left no doubt who the batting champ was hitting a career best .420, coming up just short of Nap Lajoie's record .422(set in 1901).

The Tigers started out roaring to a 21-2 record before going 23-34(20-30 in July) in the second half. Cobb and Crawford once again assaulted the league. Cobb led both leagues in batting average (.420), RBIs (127), stolen bases (83), slugging (.621), runs (147), hits (248), total bases (367), doubles (47), and extra base hits (79). Crawford was not far behind, ranking in the top three in the AL in batting average (.378), slugging (.438), hits (217), total bases (302), and RBIs (115). The pitching was the downfall finishing the year with an ERA of 3.73(2nd worst in league) and a full point behind league leading Boston.