The Giants, owners of 19 modern pennants, and the Tigers (11) have never met in the World Series. And very few players have had good years with both teams:

• Darrell Evans is the only position player to post a 3-WAR season for both the Giants (1978, ’80, ’83) and Tigers (1985-87).
• Doyle Alexander is the only pitcher with a 3-WAR season for each club — 1981 with the  Giants (his lone year there), 1987 with Detroit (4.3 WAR in just 11 brilliant games).

The few who played in the postseason for each side:

• SS Dick Bartell (“Rowdy Richard”) started for the 1936-37 Giants and 1940 Tigers, all of whom lost in the WS.
• C Tom Haller was a platoon starter for the 1962 Giants (who lost the WS in 7) and ended his career as a third-stringer for the ’72 Tigers, getting 1 AB in the ALCS.
• 2B Eddie Mayo — the second-best-known Mayo in Tigers history — broke in at the hot corner for the 1936 Giants and got 1 AB in the WS, then had his best year at age 35 for the 1945 Tigers and started all 7 games in their WS win.
• P Don McMahon, one of the first pure relievers to have a long career, was a shrewd midseason pickup for the ’68 Tigers and pitched 2 games in that Series (one good, one not), then was dealt to SF mid-’69 (for Cesar Gutierrez!!!) and logged 3 scoreless innings (at age 41) in their ’71 NLCS loss.
• OF Pat Sheridan. Really?
• IF Neifi Perez. OK, it happened, but both sides have agreed not to discuss the matter.

A couple other notables who played for both teams:

• Harvey Kuenn, the 1953 Rookie of the Year and 1958 batting champion with Detroit, batted .304 as a regular for the ’62 Giants, but played only 3 games in the WS, with 1 single in 12 ABs.
• 2B Tito Fuentes was a 7-year starter with San Francisco and hit the come-from-behind HR that led to their only win in the ’71 NLCS. He signed with Detroit as a free agent in ’77 and pulled a .309 BA out of his … hat, besting his prior career average by 35 points. But with Lou Whitaker ready, Detroit sold Tito during the ’79 spring training to Montreal, who released him before the season started, and he wound up in just 13 games with Oakland that year and then retired. From 190 hits, to 6, to done.

Roger Craig was Detroit’s pitching coach from 1980-84, helping Jack Morris and others to master the split-finger fastball, then managed the Giants from 1985-92, leading them to the ’89 pennant and ’87 division title.

The most beloved person to work for both teams has to be the late Ernie Harwell, who called games for the Giants from 1950-53 (including the TV broadcast of the 1951 playoff) and for Detroit from 1960-2002. His Tigers tenure spanned the entire careers of not only Mickey Lolich, Mickey Stanley, Norm Cash, Bill Freehan, Willie Horton and John Hiller, but also Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker and Jack Morris. He even called the rookie years of Omar Infante and Ramon Santiago, the only members of Ernie’s final team who are with the current Tigers. Ernie was the sound of my first Tigers season, his dulcet tones coming out of my dad’s parked VW bug in 1969 while my brother and I played pickle on our front lawn in the late sun of daylight saving at the western edge of the Eastern time zone. He ruined me for anyone else.

The sides have played four interleague series, with the Giants holding a 7-5 edge. They took 2 of 3 last July, beating Jose Valverde and then pummeling Max Scherzer for 9 runs in 2+ IP. The only SP on the current teams with extensive experience against the other side is Anibal Sanchez, who has mastered the Giants at a 3-1, 1.98 clip in 5 starts over the past three years.

Here are the times the Giants and Tigers came closest to squaring off for the championship:

1908 — In a year of epic pennant races in both leagues, the Giants famously fell a game short of unseating the dynastic Cubs, while Detroit defended its AL crown by a half-game over Cleveland, thanks partly to the absence of a rule requiring postponed games to be made up if they might impact the standings. (On the other hand, Detroit’s missing game was against 7th-place Washington, whom they dominated by 16-5.) The Cubs mauled the Tigers for the second straight WS, although Detroit did manage a win this time.

1934 — Detroit’s first pennant in 25 years and a club 154-game record 101 wins. But their anticipated first meeting with the Giants vanished when the defending champs blew a 7-game September lead by finishing 8-13 and 1-6, getting knocked out on the final weekend with two home losses to 6th-place Brooklyn. In the Series against St. Louis, Detroit brought home a 3-2 lead but dropped the last two to remain one of two AL franchises still without a championship.

1987 — The only year that both teams finished first. But while Detroit had baseball’s best record (98-64), they had to sweep Toronto on the final weekend to claim their ha’pennant, while the Giants clinched with a week to go in what was a down year for the NL West, with just one other team over .500 and the others sporting the league’s four worst records. Surprisingly, the Giants got closer to the World Series, holding a 3-2 edge in the NLCS before St. Louis took the last two at home by 1-0 and 6-0, while the Tigers were abruptly dismissed by the 85-win Twins.

1909 — Detroit copped a third straight pennant, while the Giants’ .601 W% brought them only 3rd place.

1935 — Detroit’s pennant defense started slowly, but they caught fire in July and cruised to a repeat. The Giants did the opposite, starting 47-19 and holding 1st place until late August, but fading to 3rd with a 17-19 finish.

1971 — The Giants won their first NL West title with a scant 90 wins, while Detroit won 91 but finished a dozen back of the Oriole juggernaut.

2011 — Detroit won the AL Central, while the defending champs came up short in a late wild-card chase.

1911, 1923, 1936-37 — Giants won the pennant while Detroit finished 2nd but well off the pace.

1968 — Vice versa.

So, who do you like in the 2012 World Series, and what else might we see for the first time?