Pistons' legendary eras on display in Detroit Historical Museum

Detroit Historical Museum hosts Pistons exhibition

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The legendary history of the Detroit Pistons will be on display at the Detroit Historical Museum starting this Saturday.

The new and engaging museum exhibition, Thirty-Five | 20, "celebrates the determination and triumph of the ‘Detroit Bad Boys’ and the ‘Goin’ to Work’ Pistons teams," according to the Detroit Historical Society. "This dual anniversary exhibition recognizes the significance of these two great teams and will feature significant and surprising artifacts from both seasons."

The team developed a physical and aggressive style of play, earning them the nickname the "Bad Boys" of basketball. The earliest iteration – Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn, and Dennis Rodman – won back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990.

However, the "Goin’ to Work" era in the early 2000s was the Pistons' most prolonged phase of success – with Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, and Ben Wallace. The "Goin' to Work" team beat the Lakers in the 2004 NBA finals.

The exhibition will feature artifacts, images, and media from the Pistons and the Detroit Historical Society's collections, the museum announced.

"We have the actual championship trophies, we have the Pistons banners that came out of the rafters at the Palace of Auburn Hills, we have Rasheed Wallace – his championship belt," said Jeremy Dimick, Detroit Historical Museum's director of collections and curatorial. "If you remember Rasheed bought himself and the rest of the team, these WWE style championship belts and then they wore them opening night the following season. So we have some really great significant pieces."

Pistons exhibition at the Detroit Historical Museum.

The Detroit Historical Museum will be open until 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27 for the exhibition’s first day.

"It just brings people who don’t normally associate with ‘the other’ together and kind of provides this common ground that I think was the case then and is the case now," Dimick said.

Season ticket holders and anyone attending the Jan 27th Pistons-Wizards game at Little Caesars Arena can show a digital ticket stub at the museum's front desk to receive free admission all weekend.