Detroit Tigers 2000-2009 All-Decade Team Best Players History

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Jul 16, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; Former Detroit Tigers Brandon Inge throws out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game against the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /

Third Base: Brandon Inge

Brandon Inge gets a bad wrap for the way things ended for him in Detroit. His bat had completely left him in his final couple of seasons, and his propensity to compare himself to Babe Ruth didn’t always endear him to fans.

But Inge was a useful for the Tigers in the 2000s — he averaged 2.5 WAR per 600 plate appearances between 2001 and 2009 — and was a legitimate star for a couple of seasons in the middle of the decade.

Inge never won the Gold Glove that he (probably) deserved and only made one All-Star team (three years after he most deserved it), but he averaged nearly four WAR per season from 2004-2006. According to Baseball-Reference’s implementation of WAR, he was the second most valuable Tiger on the 2006 World Series team.

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