Tigers' Riley Greene joins Hank Greenberg in exclusive Detroit franchise history

Billy Heyen

Tigers' Riley Greene joins Hank Greenberg in exclusive Detroit franchise history image

When it comes to being a Detroit Tigers hitter, there's not much better company to keep than Hank Greenberg.

And that's who Riley Greene just joined in exclusive franchise history on Tuesday.

Before Tuesday, Greenberg was the only Tigers player ever to have 35 homers and 110 RBI in a season age-24 or younger, per @JayHayKid.

Greene has now joined him to make it a two-person club.

The Tigers won't be celebrating Greene's feat too much right now, because they lost Tuesday to fall behind the Cleveland Guardians on tiebreaker in the AL Central with five games to play.

But Greene has still had a special season and shown himself to be a key part of what Detroit is building going forward.

Greenberg did this feat in 1935, and he did it in absurd fashion.

His 36 home runs led the American League. So did his 168 RBI.

For good measure, Greenberg slugged 46 doubles and 16 triples, too.

There were few hitters better than Greenberg at a time when baseball truly was king.

Greene isn't on that level. He strikes out too much and isn't the same kind of hitter for average.

But he's still so young and has so much room to grow. The future is bright for Greene.

MORE: The Guardians have captured Cleveland's hearts again

Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle