Archive for the '1935 Diary' Category

May 4, 1935 Tigers 5, Red Sox 2 (6-9)

The Tigers won their fourth straight, and have inched their way back up towards the .500 mark. After three straight rain outs, the Tigers were happy to get back onto the field. Rookie Joe Sullivan did a nice job shutting down the Red Sox as he went the distance and gave up only two runs on eight hits and a walk.

Backup outfielder Gee Walker had a big day as he went two for four with two doubles and two RBIs. Three other Tigers had two hits off of four time 20 game winner Wes Ferrell.

April 30, 1935 Tigers 11, Browns 3 (5-9)

Goose Goslin homered and four different Tigers scored two runs in another rout over the St. Louis Browns. The game was tight (3-2) until the Tigers opened it up in the seventh with six runs.

Alvin Crowder threw nine solid innings, giving up nine hits, three walks and three runs, while striking out four. It was his first win of the season.

April 29, 1935 Tigers 18, Browns 0 (4-9)

The Tigers won back to back games for the first time in 1935 as they simply demolished the St. Louis Browns (the future Baltimore Orioles). The Tigers scored 18 runs on 15 hits. Goose Goslin and Hank Greenberg both hit homers and all nine Tigers crossed the plate at least once.

Tommy Bridges threw his best game of the season to date. He went the distance in his first shutout of the year, yielding only seven hits and striking out seven.

April 28, 1935 Tigers 5, Indians 3 (3-9)

Tiger’s starter Joe Sullivan made his first career start and went the distance for the Tigers. He was tagged for 11 hits, but he held the Indians to only three runs as he picked up the win.

Hank Greenberg has a huge game for the Tigers. He had a double, a homerun and he scored twice. Charlier Gehringer stole two bases, and Joe Sullivan drove in two of the Tigers five runs.

April 27, 1935 Indians 9, Tigers 2 (2-9)

I’m not sure if this is the worst record by an eventual World Series Champion or not, but it has to be right down there. Tommy Bridges couldn’t even make it out of the first inning as the Indians scored five runs . They added a run in the second and three in the seventh, but the game was sealed up pretty quickly.

The Tigers managed 11 hits, but only two runs crossed the plate. Four different Tigers had two hits.

April 26, 1935 Indians 11, Tigers 3 (2-8)

This one was over by the fourth inning, as the Indians put up four runs in the third and four more in the fourth to give the Indians a nice cushion. They’d add three more in the seventh for good measure.

Tigers starter Elden Auker didn’t make it through the fourth inning as he took the loss. Goose Goslin and Marv Owen both had three hits, and Goslin scored two of the Tiger’s three runs.

April 25, 1935 White Sox 9, Tigers 8 (2-7)

The defending AL Champ’s struggles continued as the Tigers dropped their fourth straight game. Schoolboy Rowe was shelled in his 3 2/3 innings of work. He gave up nine runs and nine hits, and put the Tigers in a deficit they couldn’t crawl out of.

The Tigers did try to come back. They were down 9-5 through four innings, and they scored a run in the sixth and two in the ninth to shave the lead to a single run before falling short. Jo Jo White, Goose Goslin, and Charlie Gehringer all had two hits, and White scored twice.

April 24, 1935 White Sox 10, Tigers 4 (2-6)

With the White Sox up 1-0, the Tigers put four runs on the board. The inning was capped off by a two run shot by shortstop Billy Rogell. It was the first time in this season that the Tigers scored four runs in a single inning. Unfortunately, another Tiger wouldn’t cross the plate, and in all, they were held to only three hits.

The wheels came off the wagon in the bottom of the seventh. With the Tigers up 4-3, the White Sox scored three to put the home team up for good. In the eighth, they added four more for a little insurance. Tommy Bridges walked away with the loss and wasn’t able to retire a single batter in the seventh when he came on in relief.

April 23, 1935 White Sox 7, Tigers 2 (2-5)

At this early stage of the season, the Tigers were definitely not playing like the defending American League champs. At least the home crowd in Chicago got to see their team win on opening day.

Almost all of the damage happened in the fifth inning. The game was scoreless, and the White Sox had the bases loaded with two outs when rookie left fielder Chet Morgan misplayed a ball that led to two runs. With a walk and two singles after the error, the ultimate damage of the error ended up being five runs.

Charlie Gehringer went two for five, with a double and two RBIs. The only other player with two hits was third baseman Marv Owen.

April 22, 1935 Indians 5, Tigers 0 (2-4)

There’s not a whole lot good to say about this one. Tommy Bridges got hit hard, as he gave up five runs and twelve hits through eight innings. The big blast was a three run shot by Indian’s leftfielder Joe Vosmick in the third inning.

Indians starter Willis Hudlin held the Tigers to only three hits as he went the distance.

April 21, 1935 Tigers 3, Indians 2 (2-3)

The Tiger’s bats continued to struggle, but some top notch pitching kept the Tigers in this game and allowed them to pull it out. The Indians jumped out to a 2-0 with a run in the third and a run in the sixth off of starter Carl Fischer.

The Tigers answered in the bottom half of the sixth when Mickey Cochrane and Billy Rogell drove in a run a piece with singles. Schoolboy Rowe relieved Fischer in the seventh and slammed the door shut by pitching seven shutout innings.

The Tigers won the game in the bottom of the thirteenth when Gehringer doubled. He moved over to third on two intentional walks, and then third baseman Marv Owen drove him in on an infield groundout.

Schoolboy earned his first win of the season, and the Indian’s set a record by playing in 41 innings over the course of three games. The previous record was set by the Washingon Senators in 1915.

April 20, 1935 Indians 2, Tigers 1 (1-3)

The Tigers lost their second straight game in a fourteen inning pitchers dual with the Tribe. It wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth, down 1-0, until the Tigers finally scored. Charlie Gehringer scored on a Hank Greenberg double to put the game into extra innings.

Elden Auker and Joe Sullivan combined to throw fourteen innings of seven hit ball. Unfortunately the two runs were enough, and Sullivan walked away with the loss. Charlie Gehringer’s big game went to waste, as he went four for six, netting four of the Tiger’s nine total hits.

The oddest thing about this game was that it was only the Indian’s second game, and the previous one also went fourteen innings.

April 19, 1935 White Sox 3, Tigers 2 (1-2)

White Sox starter Johnny Whitehead held the Tigers to six hits as the Tigers dropped the first series of the season. The Tigers took a 2-1 lead in the first on a Charlie Gehringer homer, but that’s all they were able put on the board.

Firpo Marberry pitched a nice game as he went the distance and gave up three runs on eight hits and four walks. Mickey Cochrane had a solid game as well, going two for two and scoring on the Gehringer homerun.

April 18, 1935 Tigers 5, White Sox 4 (1-1)

Patience at the plate and some poor control by the White Sox pitching staff helped the Tigers earn their first win of the season. In all, the Tigers drew twelve walks, including the final one that walked home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

Tommy Bridges had his share of trouble, but worked out of a few jams to win the game. He gave up four runs, twelve hits, and he walked six runs. Goose Goslin had his second big game in a row, going three for five, with a double and two runs.

April 17, 1935 White Sox 7, Tigers 6 (0-1)

The defending American League champions dropped their home opener to the White Sox in a back and forth afair. The Sox jumped out to a four run lead in the fourth, but Schoolboy Rowe held on through the middle innings, allowing the Tigers to tie the game up in the sixth.

Rowe got hit hard in the top of the eighth and gave up three runs that put the White Sox in front for good. The Tigers bounced back with two in the bottom half of the inning, but couldn’t complete the comeback.

Goose Goslin had a big game for the home team. He went three for four with a homerun, and he crossed the plate twice. Schoolboy gave up ten hits and seven runs in the loss.

Tomorrow will being my most ambitous project on this blog. I’m going to take a stab at documenting the first season that the Tigers won the World Series. What’s somewhat ironic is when the great Tiger teams are thrown on the table, you always here of 1968 and 1984. Rarely do you hear of 1935. But the third team that usually gets put into that class is the 1934 Tigers.

At the time, the 1934 Tigers set the team record for wins in a season (101), this has since been tied (1961) and passed in both 1968 and 1984, but the mark for winning percentage still stands (.656) to this day.

It was Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane’s first season coaching the team, and he had about as good of a collection of talent as you can get. Four future Hall of Famers played for the Tigers that season, and you can make a strong case that Tommy Bridges should be a fifth. As a team, the Tigers hit .300 (and this included pitchers hitting) and had a team OPS+ of 114.

Hank Greenberg’s 63 doubles is still fourth on the all time list. Five players on the team were in the top 10 in the MVP voting, with the winner and runner up being Mickey Cochrane and Charlie Gehringer. Four starters had an OBP above .400, and Gerhinger’s .450 was second in the league. Five players scored 100 runs, and four drove in more then 100.

And their pitching was solid as well. Schoolboy Rowe and Tommy Bridges both won 20 games, and they finished second and third in strikeouts.

As a team, the Tigers 957 runs scored was more then a hundred more then the next closest team. They finished second in ERA (4.06), second in strikeouts (640), and allowed the fewest walks (488).

About the only negative you can throw at this team is they outperformed their Pythagorean Win/Loss by three wins. Oh, and they did quite pull it off in the World Series as they lost to the Cardinals in seven games. They’d have to wait until the following year to finally claim their ring (and they’d eventually get their revenge by topping the Cards in 1968).

So be sure to check back tomorrow (and throughout the season) as the Tigers make history and bring home their first World Series.

Thomas Jefferson Davis Bridges ranks right up there with Hal Newhouser as one of the best Tiger pitchers of all time. According to The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers, Bridges had the fifth best curveball of all time, and had a good enough fastball to go with it.

Over a sixteen year career that was interrupted by World War II, Bridges won 194 games, struck out 1,674 batters, and had a career ERA of 3.57 (ERA+ of 126). The six time all star led the league in strikeouts twice, and his career adjusted ERA+ of 126 is good for 47th all time. He’s also one of a handful of Tigers to play for both the 1935 and 1945 championship teams.

His best stretch of seasons was 1934-1936. During that time, he went 66-32 and logged at least 274 innings in every season. He was second in the league in strikeouts in 1934, and led the league in both 1935 and 1936. His biggest weakness was the propensity to walk batters, as he finished no better then sixth in walks allowed during the three year stretch.

Bridges and Schoolboy Rowe made quite a one-two punch for the Tigers. Both would have contented for the Cy Young in both 1934 and 1935, and Bridges probably would have won it in 1936 had the award existed.

As always, when there’s something better out there, I’m not going to try to out work the experts (because I can’t). If you want more information on Tommy Bridges, Rob Neyer did an excellent piece on him in The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers, and I’d also highly recommend you check out his biography write up over at SABR’s Baseball Biography Project.

Lynwood Thomas “Schoolboy” Rowe was the co-ace of the Tigers during the 1930s (along with Tommy Bridges). Like a lot of Tigers who played at this time, he actually had a better season the year before. In 1934, his first full season with the Tigers, he led the team in wins (24) and ERA (3.45 among starters). He played with the Tigers through 1942, and ended his career with 148 wins and a 3.87 ERA (ERA+ of 110).

1935 was a stepdown for Schoolboy, but it was an impressive season none the less. He finished second in the league with a 1.233 WHIP, and won 19 games. His 140 strikeouts put him second in the American League, just behind teammate and league leader Tommy Bridges. His six shutouts led the league. Rowe also seconded as a closer, as he finished thirteen games and saved one.

Bridges and Rowe were the workhorses of the staff. The two combined to pitch over 40% of the Tigers innings during 1935, and without either one, the Tigers would have had a tough time winning their first World Series.

The Mechanical Man was consistently good for several seasons at a very demanding position. He was the Tigers second baseman for sixteen full seasons and portions of three others. In his second full season, 1927, he hit .317, and began a fourteen season streak where he never hit below .298. He won his only batting title, and subsequently the MVP, in 1937 by hitting .371, but probably his best season was 1936, when he hit .354 and had 60 doubles, which is the sixth most in a season ever. He was good fielder, racking up 462 Fielding Runs Above Replacement (adjusted for all time), which is slightly better then nine time gold glove second baseman Ryne Sandberg. Probably the most impressive statistic is his strikeout to walk ratio. He walked 1,186 times, and struck out only 372.

1935 was an excellent year for Gehringer. He put up a .330/.409/.502 season, garnering 201 hits, 123 runs, and 108 RBIs. He hit nineteen homers, which was the second most he ever hit in a season. This total doesn’t seem like a big deal now, but at the time, it was good for eighth in the American League.

If there was a big three in Detroit in the mid-30s, it was Mickey Cochrane, Hank Greenberg, and Charlie Gehringer. If you look at the 1935 team season leaders, one of these three guys are listed for every single category.

Hammerin’ Hank had the best season a Tiger has ever had by anyone not name Ty Cobb. In 1938, he hit a team record 58 homeruns, which up until the late 1990’s, was good for fourth best all time. He drove in 146 runs, and led the league in walks with 119.

Greenberg’s 1935 numbers were also phenomonal. He won the MVP, hit 36 homeruns, and he had 170 RBIs and 389 total bases. All of these marks led the league.

His career numbers are equally impressive. He walked more times then he struck out (852 vs. 844), and has a career .412 OBP. His career 1.017 career OPS is the seventh best all time. Probably the only thing keeping him from being among the best ever was his missing all but 12 games in 1936 because of injury, and missing almost four years because of World War II. In all, he only played nine seasons where he played more then 100 games, but still managed to rack up 331 homeruns and 1,276 RBIs.

Once again, I’m going to defer to SABR’s Biography Project. Ralph Berger has prepared an excellent biography there on Hank Greenberg, and I highly recommend you check it out.

Also, for more on Mickey Cochrane, I recently read his book, “Baseball, The Fan’s Game.” SABR reprinted it, and it’s worthwhile read for any baseball fan.

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