breaking news: ballparki ends relationship with Detroit tigers chiefs today after facing out he was…..

In baseball, the best stat to determine a player’s worth is WAR — wins above replacement — an analytical metric that was not available until relatively recently.

The formula for WAR differs for position players and pitchers, and I’ll lay it out in layman’s terms.

WAR uses every aspect of the game — batting, baserunning and fielding — factors in position and ballpark and determines how many wins better than a league-average player an individual player might be.

Using WAR to help us rank them, let’s look at the top 24 players in the history of the Detroit Tigers franchise.

Ty Cobb is far and above the most recognizable name in the history of the Detroit Tigers, and it isn’t even really particularly close.

Cobb debuted as the Tigers’ starting center fielder as an 18-year-old in 1905, and would spend the next 22 years of his life compiling the greatest resume in team history.

With Detroit, Cobb slashed an incredible .368/.434/.516 with 111 homers, 1,811 RBI, 665 doubles, 284 triples, and 869 stolen bases. He won an unbelievable 12 batting titles, was the American League MVP in 1911, and won the Triple Crown in 1909.

Cobb led the league in RBI four times in a five-year span between 1907-1911, led the league in hits eight times, steals six times, runs five times, triples four times, doubles three times, and homers once.

The Narrows, GA native is the franchise’s all-time leader in every discernible offensive category other than home runs, and while he played in an era before players routinely wore numbers, the Tigers did ‘retire’ his initials TC at their home ballparki.

Cobb nearly unanimously elected into the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot in 1936 and it really makes you wonder what the four voters (out of 226) who omitted him on their ballots were thinking.