ESPN.com recently published an article by David Schoenfield that featured, what he considered the best single season performances of baseball players under the age of 25, so I thought I would do the same, but rather than focus only on the sport of baseball, I looked at Detroit athletes under the age of 25 and tried to rank the top performances ever.  Here it goes:

[PODCAST] Young Detroit Athletes 1-24-13

 1. 1968-Denny McLain: Age 24 - This was one of the more remarkable seasons in baseball history.  McLain helped lead the Tigers to the World Series by winning 31 games, the last 30-game winner in MLB history.  He had an eye-popping 1.96era and led the league with 41 starts, 28 complete games and 336 innings pitched.  McLain had six shutouts that year and went on to win both the Cy Young and MVP.

 2. 1951-Terry Sawchuk: Age 21 - He led the league with 70 games played and won every game for the Wings that season with 44.  He had a 1.99 goals against average and a league best 11 shutouts. Sawchuk was named the winner of the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) and a first team all-star.

 3. 1994-Sergei Fedorov: Age 24 - He was the Hart Trophy winner as the league MVP after leading the NHL with 39 even strength goals. He helped lead the Wings to the top spot in the Central Division with 100 points and his 56 goals were third most in the league and 120 points were second only to Gretzky.

 4. 1935-Hank Greenberg: Age 24 -  He led the Tigers to the World Series and was named the league MVP. Greenberg batted .328 and led the league with 36-homers and 170-rbis.  He boasted 203 hits and struck out just 91 times.

 5. 1991-Barry Sanders: Age 23 - He rushed for 1548 yards, second best in the league, but he averaged a league high 103ypg.  Sanders also led the league with 16 rushing touchdown and 17 touchdowns overall.  Those numbers earned him all-pro status.

 6. 1953-Gordie Howe: Age 25 - He had a career high 49 goals en route to a 95 point season.  Howe led the Red Wings to a league best 36 wins and 92 points and won the second of his six career Hart Trophies.

 7. 1955-Al Kaline: Age 21 - He led the American League with a .340 batting average, hit 27 homers and drove in 102 runs.  Kaline also scored 121 runs, second most in the A.L., and his 200 hits and 321 total bases also led the league and yet he finished second to Yogi Berra in the MVP race. Berra had the same number of homers and six more rbi’s, but he batted 68 points LOWER and scored 37 fewer runs.

8. 1945-Hal Newhouser: Age 24 - He led the Tigers to their second world series championship and won his second consecutive MVP by leading the league in wins (25), era (1.81), strikeouts (212), starts (36) and complete games (29).

9. 1989-Steve Yzerman: Age 24 - His 65 goals were third in the league, his 90 assists were second in the NHL and his 155 points were third best. It’s just too bad he played at a time with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

10. 1976-Mark Fidrych: Age 21 - The “Bird” burst in the baseball scene by winning 19 games, leading the league with a 2.34era and 24 complete games.  He was named rookie of the year; an all-star and finished second in the Cy Young to Jim Palmer and 11^th in the MVP race (won by Thurman Munson).

11. 1985-Isiah Thomas: Age 23 - He averaged 21 points, a career high 14 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Isiah joined Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone and Bernard King as NBA first teamers. 

12. 2011-Matthew Stafford: Age 23 - He tore up Detroit Lions franchise records by tossing for 5,038 yards….third most in the league and fifth most ever at the time. He also threw for 41 touchdowns, third most in the league that year, completed 63.5% of his passes, fifth best, and his quarterback rating of 97.2 was fifth in the NFL as well.  On top of all that, he led the Lions to a 10-6 record and a playoff spot for the first time in 11 years.

13. Tommy Hearns: Age 25 - After amassing an amateur record of 155-8, Hearns turned pro and by the time he was 25 he had won two world boxing championships and was 37-1 with 29 ko’s and his lone loss coming to Sugar Ray Leonard.  Hearns would go on to be the first fighter in history to win belts in four different divisions and then five different weight classes.

14. 1980-Billy Sims: Age 25 - He gained 1,303 yards…fifth in the league…and helped the Lions to the third ranked rushing offense in the league.  Sims was named offensive rookie of the year and pro bowler.

15. 2008-Calvin Johnson: Age 23 - The season will be best remembered for the Lions becoming the first team ever to go 0-16, but it wasn’t Johnson’s fault.  He had 70-catches for 1,331 yards and he was the league leader with 12 touchdowns.  His deep threat ability was evident by his 21 catches of 20-yards or more and that ranked second in the NFL.