COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. — The Detroit Tigers last won a championship in 1984.
The historic season, now approaching its 40th anniversary, was dominant from start to finish for Detroit.
A 35-5 record through 40 games is the best 40-game start in MLB history.
The Whitecaps honored that Detroit team before Tuesday's game against the Lugnuts.
13 ON YOUR SIDE sat down with three members of that team at LMCU Ballpark: Lance Parrish, Dave Rozema and Bárbaro Garbey.
"I just felt like, you know, we had a great nucleus," Parrish said. "We made additions, like Barbaro and a few other guys that kind of put the puzzle together.
Parrish hit a home run in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series as the Tigers downed the Padres 4-1 en route to winning a championship.
"If you consider the 35-5 [start], which nobody did before, and I don't think anybody will ever do again, we were wire-to-wire champions," the former Tigers catcher said.
"I thought we were pretty dang good team...I would hope that everybody would give us a little bit of a nod as to one of the better teams throughout baseball history."
Dave Rozema is from Grand Rapids, Michigan. The 67-year-old grew up idolizing the 1968 Tigers team that won a title which, before 1984, was the last for Detroit.
"Goosebumps," Rozema said. "I just feel [a dream] came true."
"Didn't you think after 84 that we were going to do it a couple more times," Parrish responded.
On a championship team filled with veteran talent, Bárbaro Garbey was just a rookie in the eventual championship clubhouse.
"That's something you can never forget," Garbey said. "As a rookie, I was a little bit more calm."
Meanwhile, Parrish was known as a quieter guy, which made way for him to observe just how great this team really was.
"We traded away some good friends of mine," Parrish said. "The guys that we got, you know, certainly were up for the challenge and did a great job,"
40 years is a long time for any fanbase to wait for its next championship. Especially for a Tigers team that doesn't look close to contending this season.
"I'd like to see a little better defense," Rozema said. "Stay together as a team."
"We knew each other from a ball, then instructional ball, then instructional ball, double-A so you got to know each other pretty well, wives, families, girlfriends, so you stay together."
No team in MLB has yet to come out swinging the way Detroit did in the first 40 games of the season. Considering the Tigers also won a championship that year, it always brings an interesting conversation when it comes to legacy.
"Wasn't really a lot of free agents, a lot of arbitration going on," Rozema said. "[Front office] knew they had the team. They put the pieces together, and that's it. I mean, we're brothers from another mother."
"Sometimes they're talking about the '84 tigers. But not enough," Garbey said.