(AP) - When he left Detroit in 1995, after 17 years as manager of the Tigers, the venerable Sparky Anderson said, "I ain't here no more."

It was like the baseball life was sucked out of the Motor City with his leaving. The Tigers have had six managers since Anderson and none of them, until Jim Leyland this season, could produce a winning record. To say nothing of a championship.

The Tigers, who lost 119 games just three years ago, open the best-of-seven ALCS against the Oakland Athletics on the road Tuesday night.

For a decade, however, it just wasn't much fun to hang out at old Tiger Stadium or the new Comerica Park. And that seemed out of character for both the town and the team.

Let's be honest. Detroit is a medium market at best in the baseball world. In their long history, the Tigers have only appeared in the World Series nine times, winning just four; they were champs in 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984. Hockeytown will never be mistaken for Baseballtown.

Yet that doesn't mean there hasn't been some fun over the past 50 years or so. Even when the Tigers struggled on the field, they still managed to employ some of baseball's most memorable characters.

Well-traveled players like Champ Summers, Richie Hebner and Rusty Staub left their marks during stops in Detroit. Ron LeFlore and Gates Brown, both of whom had seen the insides of a jail, became fan favorites in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1976, Birdmania swept the country as rookie right-hander Mark "The Bird" Fidrych charmed and captivated crowds, talking to the ball, patting down the mound, winning 19 games. A knee injury the following season led to arm trouble and Fidrych was soon out of baseball.

Cecil Fielder hit 51 homers, which was a big deal in 1990. Fielder, who later filled out enough to be called "Big Daddy," now has a son, Prince, playing in the majors.

Alan Trammell and Sweet Lou Whitaker became the longest-running double-play combination in baseball, playing 1,918 games together from 1977-95. Trammell won four Gold Gloves, Whitaker three. Trammell was selected to six All Star teams, Whitaker five. Whitaker showed up for the All Star game in Minnesota without his uniform and had to wear a jersey purchased at a concession stand.

Aurelio Lopez, a right-handed reliever known as "Senor Smoke," teamed with lefty Willie Hernandez to give the Tigers a formidable bullpen in the early 1980s, including the 1984 championship season. Lopez later would become mayor of his small town in Mexico.

Mayo Smith, the beloved manager of the 1968 team, now has a society named after him. It has become a good source of some baseball research.

It is the players who earned titles for Detroit who are best-remembered these days. Some of them, like Al Kaline, are now in the Hall of Fame. Kaline, too, played on some colorful teams.

His team that won the 1968 World Series title, for example, featured pitchers Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich, a first-baseman called "Stormin' Norman" Cash, outfielders Willie Horton, Jim Northrup and Mickey Stanley, and catcher Bill Freehan. Together, they helped heal a town that had been torn apart by racial rioting the year before.

McLain, maybe the last pitcher who will ever win 30 games, went 31-6 in 1968, but it was the lefty Lolich who won three games as the Tigers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

McLain played the organ, frequently flew his own plane to Las Vegas, and did two stints in prison after his baseball days were over. The fun-loving Cash once took a table leg to the plate for an at-bat against fire-balling Nolan Ryan.

"I had as much chance with that as with a bat, the way he was throwing," Cash said.

Major league baseball had moved to a playoff system and Smith had been replaced by battling Billy Martin by 1972 when the Tigers won the AL East. The Tigers had to get past Oakland if they wanted to return to the World Series. They couldn't do it. The A's had a powerful team that included a young Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter and Blue Moon Odom.

Detroit pitcher Lerrin LeGrow hit Bert Campaneris in the ankle in Game 2 in Oakland. Campaneris, in turn, hurled his bat at LeGrow, just missing his head. A bench-clearing brawl followed.

"That's the dirtiest thing I ever saw in my whole life in baseball," Martin said afterward. "He could have killed my man."

Sparky took over when Les Moss was fired early in 1979. Detroit fell in love with him almost at once.

He'd make fractured proclamations like "Pain don't hurt you" and "That Jose Canseco, he's got a body like a Greek goddess" and folks acted like they understood. Anderson promised the Tigers would be winners in five years. He was able to produce in 1984.

That magical season is perhaps best-known for Detroit's 35-5 start, including a no-hitter by Jack Morris.