Who's the best Detroit Tiger ever? Alex Avila, Tom Gage answer that in new book

Detroit — Tom Gage has seen more Tigers baseball than just about anyone, so, sure, he's got his opinions. But his latest book about the franchise he covered for 36 years as beat writer for The Detroit News isn't about opinions. It sticks to the stats and the facts.

The book is, "Your Detroit Tigers: The Great, The Good, The Top 400," and it's being marketed as the definitive ranking of Tigers hitters and pitchers. The book, which was available starting Tuesday, is written with player commentary from former Tigers catcher Alex Avila, a former All-Star and Silver Slugger — who now can add published author to his resume. "Who would've thought?

" Avila said with a laugh during a recent appearance on The News' Tigers Today podcast . "I kind of looked at it like a fun project where I can actually kind of slow down and kind of reflect a little bit, especially when discussing some of the guys I played with and played against. "It was a blast over the last couple years.

" This is the latest Tigers book authored or co-authored by Gage — "The Big 50," "Joy in Tigertown" with Mickey Lolich and "The Enchanted Season" with Lance Parrish — since he retired from The News in 2015, the same year he was inducted into the writers' wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum . The genesis of this book dates back to 2023, future Hall-of-Famer Miguel Cabrera's last season, when the debates inevitably popped up, asking if Cabrera was the best hitter in Tigers history. Gage, 77, set out to answer the question, without emotion or recency bias.