The Detroit Wolverines: The Rise and Wreck of a National League Champion, 1881-1888

There was a time when Detroit flourished, but baseball struggled. This is the story of that time.

The Detroit Tigers were founding members of the American League and have been the Motor City’s team for more than a century. But the Wolverines were the city’s first major league club, playing in the National League beginning in 1881 and capturing the pennant in 1887.

Playing in what was then one of the best ballparks in America, during an era when Detroit was known as the “Paris of the West,” the team battled hostile National League owners and struggled with a fickle fan base to become world champions, before financial woes led to their being disbanded in 1888.

  • Throughout its rise and fall, and recalibration, Detroit has had baseball. For eight years, a long time ago, that team was the Wolverines. Many Detroiters may be unaware that their city was once a member of the National League and captured its pennant.

    The Detroit Wolverines tells the story of the early days of baseball in the City of the Straits. It’s a story with many ups and downs, the raging and ebbing of baseball fever, a tale that should resonate with Detroiters and with a wider audience that has witnessed the struggles of Tiger Town.

    This first-ever history of the Wolverines covers the team’s rise and abrupt fall and the powerful men behind it.

Brian Martin
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 222
Bibliographic Info: 32 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6507-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2786-1
Imprint: McFarland

Recreation Park, home of the Wolverines

REVIEWS

“A Canadian manager had to shut down a Canadian superstar for the city of Detroit to win its first World Series.

That’s one of the many fascinating stories that Brian “Chip” Martin shares in his excellent new book, The Detroit Wolverines: The Rise and Wreck of a National League Champion, 1881-88.

It was in 1887 that Brantford, Ont., native Bill Watkins managed the National League’s Detroit Wolverines to a World Series victory over the American Association’s St. Louis Browns, led by Triple Crown winner and Woodstock, Ont., native Tip O’Neill.

Yes, before there were Tigers in Motown, there were World Champion Wolverines. That’s the little talked about chapter in Detroit’s professional baseball history that Martin adeptly shines the spotlight on in his engrossing new book, which is the first devoted to the Wolverines.”

--Cooperstowners in Canada

“This is a very well written book. It often reads like a novel. Even though I am a big Detroit baseball fan and knew about the Wolverines, I did not know how significant they were in history.”

--Goodreads

“This is a fascinating story about a short-lived baseball team, but a team that had a lot of impact on the game. They had an owner whose desire to win helped change the business rules of the game. The team was also full of characters. It reads much better than most baseball histories of that era.”

--Goodreads

“Interesting story about a little-known Detroit National League team

 --Amazon.ca