Who was the Greatest Tiger First Sacker?

This one is going to be another tough choice fellas, a guy we knew and loved, versus two Hall of Fame Greats that our Dads and grandpas told us about. I’ll present them to you chronologically; you fill out the lineup card. (Kooch looked up Freehan on Wikipedia, a great idea. I’ll hyperlink the ballpayers’ names to Wiki for easy reference.)

Harry Heilmann must have been a monster in his day (the teens and 1920’s.) At 6’1” and on a lineup with Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford, the pitchers must have been forced to pitch to him. Fifteen years a Tiger, with a lifetime .342 average, you could say his numbers were evidence of the era, but he took the batting crown four times, so no matter the numbers, he was often the best of his peers. In 1923 he hit .403. A little younger than Cobb, Heilmann saw the dawn of the live ball, and was the first player to homer in every major league park after he was traded to the national league. To this day he is among the all-time hitting leaders in most categories, and besides, there’s a playfield on the east side of Detroit named after him. (At least there was when we were growing up.) Heilmann was extremely popular with our Dads, as he was the Tiger broadcaster in the late ‘30s and ‘40’s, told a great story and had a quick wit. They remembered him as we remember Ernie and George.
The only problem is where he is going to fit in our lineup? He could be considered a rightfielder, playing 1587 games there, only 448 at first, but we all know of a pretty good rightfielder who will give him stiff competition later in our poll.

Fellow Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg might give Heilmann a run for the money in our poll. He was “only” a Tiger for eleven years of his 12-year career, but what an impact he made. He led the league in homers four times, including almost breaking Ruth’s record, with 58 dingers in 1938. To this day he ranks as having one of the highest slugging percentages in baseball, and retired with a .313 average.
Greenberg was known to be a classy fellow who rose above the anti-Semitism of the day. He made a controversial decision (later repeated by Sandy Koufax) to sit out Yom Kippur. Free Press columnist Edgar Guest wrote a poem (yes, newspapers had poetry in those days.) “We shall miss him on the infield and shall miss him at the bat / But he's true to his religion--and I honor him for that." Although the draft board classified him as being “flat-footed” he enlisted after Pearl Harbor, sacrificing about four and a half years of his career.

Then there was “Stormin’ Norman,” Norm Cash We remember him for his power, popping the ball over the third deck in Tiger Stadium four times, and getting 377 home runs in his career. But he debuted with the Tigers in 1961, winning the batting title with a .361 average. When teammate Lolich asked him why he didn’t hit for average instead of power, Norm said “Jim Campbell pays me to hit home runs. I can get hits if I want to, just watch tomorrow.” The next game he went three for four.
"I owe my success to expansion pitching, a short right-field fence, and my hollow bats." (He admitted to corking his bats.)

In addition, he was one of the finest fielding first basemen, and was with the Tigers 15 years, second only to Kaline, who happened to be his roomate.
We remember him for his hitting but we loved him for his sense of humor. Who can forget him finishing the ninth in a Nolan Ryan no-hitter, coming to bat with a table leg and wearing over sized sun-glasses? Or the time he tried to call “time-out” when caught in a run-down?

If you had to make out your lineup card, who would you pick?