in 1977, and the first AL player since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961), and finished second in the voting for AL MVP. He hit 44 home runs and collected 132 RBI in 1991, again finishing second in the AL MVP balloting. Behind the hitting of Fielder and others, the Tigers improved by 20 wins in 1990 (79–83), and posted a winning record in 1991 (84–78). However, the team lacked quality pitching, despite Bill Gullickson's 20 wins in 1991, and its core of key players began to age, setting the franchise up for decline. Detroit's minor league system was largely barren of talent as well, producing only a few everyday players during the 1990s. Adding insult to injury, in December 1990 the Tigers and radio station WJR announced that they were not renewing the contract of long-time Hall of Fame play-by play announcer Ernie Harwell, and that the 1991 season would be Harwell's last with the team. The announcement was met with resounding fan protests, both in Michigan and around the baseball world. 1992 saw the Tigers win only 75 games, with Fielder being one of the few bright spots as he won the AL RBI title for a third straight season (124). In August 1992, the franchise was sold to Mike Ilitch, the President and CEO of Little Caesars Pizza who also owned the Detroit Red Wings. One of Ilitch's first priorities as the new owner was to rehire Ernie Harwell. Late in the season, Sparky Anderson won his 1,132nd game as a Tiger manager, passing Hughie Jennings for the most all-time wins in franchise history. The team also responded with an 85–77 season in 1993, but it would be their last winning season for almost a decade and a half. On October 2, 1995, Sparky Anderson chose to not only end his career with the Tigers, but retire from baseball altogether. Randy Smith era (1996–2002) From 1994 to 2005, the Tigers did not post a winning record, the longest sub-.500 stretch in franchise history. In 1996, they lost a then-team record 109 games, under new general manager Randy Smith. The only team in the majors to have a longer stretch without a winning season during this time were the Pittsburgh Pirates, who failed to post a winning record from 1993 to 2012. The Tigers' best record over this span was 79–83, recorded in 1997 and 2000. In