page_title: Bill Armour
section_title: Detroit Tigers
hierarchical_section_title: Bill Armour / Baseball manager / Detroit Tigers
caption_attribution_description: English: Professional baseball player Ty Cobb during his rookie season with the Detroit Tigers. Note: Photograph of Ty Cobb, baseball player for the Detroit Tigers 1st day he played at Detroit, seated on bench with manager Bill Armour. Detroit Public Library Digital Collection.
context_page_description: William Reginald Armour was a professional baseball player and manager. He was the manager of the Cleveland Bronchos in 1902 when they signed Nap Lajoie to the most lucrative contract in baseball history and the manager of the Detroit Tigers when they acquired Ty Cobb in 1905.
  Armour played professional baseball from 1891 to 1896 as a center fielder and right fielder for several minor teams. He earned a reputation for his fielding abilities. He also had excellent speed and stole 43 bases in 69 games in 1891 and 52 bases in 126 games in 1896. Armour began his managerial career with the Dayton, Ohio baseball club, of which he was also the principal owner. He managed the Dayton club from 1897 to 1901.
  From 1902 to 1904, he was the manager of the Cleveland Bronchos/Naps. Armour took over a Cleveland team with a losing record, and during his three years there, the team's record improved each year, reaching 86-65 in 1904. From 1905 to 1906, he was the manager of the Detroit Tigers. In his first year in Detroit, the team improved by 17 games over the prior year.
context_section_description: In late September 1904, Armour was hired as the manager of the Detroit Tigers for the 1905 season.  In October 1904, he rented a suite at the Pasadena Apartments in on Detroit's Jefferson Avenue.
  Accordubg to Bill James' "Historical Baseball Abstract" Armour quite likely was the inventor of platooning while with Detroit in his use of catcher Boss Schmidt.
  
  In 1905, Armour led the Tigers to third place in the American League with a 79-74 record. The finish represented a 17-game improvement over the prior year's seventh-place finish and 62-90 record.  Armour's greatest contribution during the 1905 season was the discovery and signing of Ty Cobb. Armour paid the Augusta club for Cobb's early release, and Cobb joined the Tigers in August 1905.  Cobb later wrote:
  "To Manager Armour, my first big league boss, I cannot give too much thanks for his kindly action and his personal attention to me, my work and my welfare. He is an ideal man for any young baseball player to 'break in' under. He seems to feel just how a recruit feels when he is starting his Major League career, and his record of developing young diamond pastimers will bear me out."
  By the start of the 1906 season, relations between Armour and team owner Frank Navin were strained.  In early May 1906, Armour tendered his resignation, but later reconsidered.
  The 1906 Tigers were also plagued by numerous injuries, including the loss of second baseman Germany Schaefer, and the team's record slid in 1906 to 71-78.  On September 17, 1906, Armour announced he would not be returning to Detroit in 1907 and that he would be succeeded by Hughie Jennings.  Paul H. Bruske in Sporting Life wrote that "wherever William Armour goes he will always make firm friends and, had his hands been left free in Detroit, his team would undoubtedly have worked much better, for that is the sort of a man Armour is — to put ginger and steam into all that he does."
  On September 25, 1906, Armour was assaulted with blows to the face by Washington catcher Jack Warner under the grandstand in Detroit after a game between Detroit and Washington.  Warner had played for the Tigers in 1905 and 1906 but was sold to Washington in August 1906.  Warner stated that Armour had "branded him falsely as a disturber," and Armour blamed the failure of the 1906 Detroit team to Warner.  After the season ended, team owner Frank Navin alleged that Armour had been "too lenient with the players."
caption: Bill Armour with Ty Cobb on the 1st day Cobb played at Detroit
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