In the early 1930s, the Motor City was sputtering from the Great Depression. Then came a talented Detroit Tigers team, steered by player-manager Mickey Cochrane, to inject new pride into the Detroit psyche. It was a cast of colorful characters, with such nicknames as Schoolboy, Goose, Hammerin' Hank and Little Tommy. Over two seasons in 1934 and 1935, the team powered its way to the top of the baseball world, becoming a symbol of a resurgent metropolis and winning the first-ever Tigers championship. This exhaustively researched account provides an in-depth look into a remarkable period in baseball history.

In the early 1930s, the Motor City was sputtering from the Great Depression. Then came a talented Detroit Tigers team, steered by player-manager Mickey Cochrane, to inject new pride into the Detroit psyche. It was a cast of colorful characters, with such nicknames as Schoolboy, Goose, Hammerin' Hank and Little Tommy. Over two seasons in 1934 and 1935, the team powered its way to the top of the baseball world, becoming a symbol of a resurgent metropolis and winning the first-ever Tigers championship. This exhaustively researched account provides an in-depth look into a remarkable period in baseball history.

The changing fortunes of Detroit, told through the lens of the city's major sporting events, by the bestselling author of Soccernomics, and a prizewinning cultural critic From Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg to the Bad Boys, from Joe Louis and Gordie Howe to the Malice at the Palace, City of Champions explores the history of Detroit through the stories of its most gifted athletes and most celebrated teams, linking iconic events in the history of Motown sports to the city's shifting fortunes. In an era when many teams have left rustbelt cities to relocate elsewhere, Detroit has held on to its franchises, and there is currently great hope in the revival of the city focused on its downtown sports complexes—but to whose benefit? Szymanski and Weineck show how the fate of the teams in Detroit's stadiums, gyms, and fields is echoed in the rise and fall of the car industry, political upheavals ushered in by the depression, World War II, the 1967 uprising, and its recent bankruptcy and renewal. Driven by the conviction that sports not only mirror society but also have a special power to create both community and enduring narratives that help define a city's sense of self, City of Champions is a unique history of the most American of cities.

Motor City Legends explores the rich history of Detroit area and Michigan related competitive sports and individual athletes through the careers of old-time greats as Al Kaline, Doak Walker/Bobby Layne, Gordie Howe, Joe Louis and George Yardley. Also recent legends Barry Sanders, Isiah Thomas, Steve Yzerman, Chauncey Billups, Miquel Cabrera, the Fab Five, defunct teams Michigan Panthers and Detroit Shock, goalie fights, odd Tigers' trades in the 1959/60 seasons, Benton Harbor's House of David baseball teams, and Lions Alex Karras squaring off against pro wrestling bad man Dick the Bruiser. The messy results of Gates Browns' unusual slide into second base. There's the time a rival ball player stole home against the Tigers twice in a single game. Countless items of trivia are presented in this stroll down Michigan Sports Memory Lane. Much of the book centers on a large Who's Who section of many athletic personalities who were raised in Michigan, attended a local school, or played on an athletic team.

The names still have a clarion call, ringing true like cathedral bells -- Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk, "Terrible" Ted Lindsay, Sid Abel, Red Kelly -- a great cast of tough, talented hockey players. After all, how many teams can claim to have finished first place six seasons in a row?