DETROIT – Todd Jones was 4 months old in Georgia when the Tigers won the 1968 World Series.

In Detroit, though, the achievement made quite a difference.

“It healed a lot of things off the field,” Jones said Tuesday before the 1968 team was honored at Comerica Park.

Jones, now Detroit's closer, compared the Tigers' 1968 title to the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and the 2004 Boston Red Sox championship because each squad did more than win medals or trophies.

“Those teams solidify towns, and in Team USA's case, they solidify a country,” Jones said. “That's a once-in-a-millennium thing.”

Before the Tigers opened an interleague series against St. Louis on Tuesday night, a celebration was held for members of the 1968 team – 40 years after they rallied to beat the Cardinals in the World Series.

The atmosphere in the Motor City changed during the run-up to the Series, said Gates Brown, who played for the '68 Tigers not long after race riots enveloped Detroit for days.

“After 1967, everybody seemed like they were at each other,” he said. “We gave them something else to talk about.”

Al Kaline, Willie Horton, and Mickey Lolich were among the stars from the 1968 team who were recognized on the field before the game against the Cardinals.

Kaline was happy to be reunited with his former teammates.

“We had a great group that just had a lot of fun,” he said.

Even though former Cardinal Mike Shannon has bad memories from the World Series, he said a classy group of ballplayers got their due.

“If the Tigers didn't win, they wouldn't have been recognized for the great team they had,” said Shannon, a radio voice of the Cardinals.

Jones said he'd like to spend some time with Lolich, one of the Tigers' top pitchers four decades ago.

“He's kind of a guy that looks like he'd be fun to go have a burger and a hot dog and a beer with, or a Coke to just kind of shoot the breeze and talk about baseball,” Jones said.

Tigers outfielder Marcus Thames said Willie Horton is his favorite from the 1968 team.

“He's been in my corner since I've been here,” Thames said. “I talk to him a lot.”

During the 1968 World Series, the Tigers were down 3-1 before coming back.

Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell didn't pause before naming the big moment of the series – a triple by Detroit's Jim Northrup.

“It was a series that sort of characterized the Tigers because they came from behind, they were down 3-1. I never thought they would do anything,” Harwell said. “They were playing badly on Sunday, they were playing badly on the early part of the Monday game, then they turned it around and came back and showed everybody that they could do it.”

Fans who arrived early enough received 1968 replica Tigers jerseys. Dave Patterson, 61, of New Albany, Ind., showed up at 1:45 p.m. for the 7:05 p.m. game to get a jersey and some autographs.

Patterson, who was living in Indiana four decades ago, managed to get reception on his radio to hear Harwell announce the Tigers' win.

“It was really exciting to listen to it,” Patterson said. “That last game was really tremendous.”