The 1935

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

was the championship series in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

for the 1935 season. The 32nd edition of the World Series, it matched the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs. The Tigers won in six games for their first championship in five Series appearances, as they had lost in , , , and . The Tigers won despite losing the services of first baseman

Hank Greenberg Henry Benjamin Greenberg (born Hyman Greenberg; January 1, 1911 – September 4, 1986), nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank", "Hankus Pankus", or "The Hebrew Hammer", was an American professional baseball player and team executive. He played in Major Leagu ...

. In Game 2, Greenberg collided with Cubs catcher

Gabby Hartnett Charles Leo "Gabby" Hartnett (December 20, 1900 – December 20, 1972), nicknamed "Old Tomato Face", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played almost his entire career in Major League Baseball as a catcher with the Chic ...

and broke his wrist, sidelining him for the rest of the Series. The Cubs had won 21 consecutive games in September (still a record ), eventually taking the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

pennant by four games over the defending World Series champions, the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

. In Game 6,

Tommy Bridges Thomas Jefferson Davis Bridges (December 28, 1906 – April 19, 1968) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers from 1930 to 1946. During the 1930s, he used an outstanding cu ...

pitched a complete-game victory to win the Series for Detroit. With the score tied 3–3 in the top of the ninth inning, Bridges gave up a leadoff triple to

Stan Hack Stanley Camfield Hack (December 6, 1909 – December 15, 1979), nicknamed "Smiling Stan", was an American third baseman and manager in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago Cubs and was the National League's top t ...

, but retired the next three batters without the runner on third scoring. In the bottom of the ninth,

Goose Goslin Leon Allen "Goose" Goslin (October 16, 1900 – May 15, 1971) was an American professional baseball left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns, and Detroit Tigers, from until . Goslin ...

drove in the winning run with two outs. After the game, manager Mickey Cochrane said the following of Bridges' gutsy performance: "A hundred and fifty pounds of courage. If there ever is a payoff on courage this little 150-pound pitcher is the greatest World Series hero." In addition to Bridges, the Tigers had a hitting hero. Right fielder

Pete Fox Ervin "Pete" Fox (March 8, 1909 – July 5, 1966) was an American professional baseball player from 1930 to 1946. He played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball, principally as a right fielder, for the Detroit Tigers from 1933 to 1940 and th ...

accumulated ten hits and an average of .385 for the Series. Fox hit safely in all six games. Detroit owner

Frank Navin Francis Joseph Navin (April 18, 1871 – November 13, 1935) was the president of the Detroit Tigers in Major League Baseball for 27 years, from 1908 to 1935. He was part-owner from 1908 to 1919, and principal owner from 1919 to 1935. He also ser ...

, then 64 years old, had been running the organization for 30 years and had seen four of his teams win American League pennants, only to lose four World Series. Six weeks after the Tigers finally won the World Series in October 1935, Navin suffered a heart attack while riding a horse and died.

Summary

Matchups

Game 1

A pitching duel between

Lon Warneke Lonnie Warneke (March 28, 1909 – June 23, 1976) (pronounced WARN-a-key), nicknamed "The Arkansas Hummingbird", was a Major League Baseball player, Major League umpire, county judge, and businessman from Montgomery County, Arkansas, whose caree ...

and

Schoolboy Rowe Lynwood Thomas "Schoolboy" Rowe (January 11, 1910 – January 8, 1961) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, primarily for the Detroit Tigers (1932–42) and Philadelphia Phillies (1943, 1946–49). He was a three-time A ...

, both of whom went the distance, was decided by its leadoff batter,

Augie Galan August John Galan (May 23, 1912 – December 28, 1993) was an American professional baseball outfielder, manager and coach. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to for the Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, New ...

, doubling, and scoring on an error by Rowe that allowed Billy Herman to reach and eventually score on a

single.

Frank Demaree Joseph Franklin Demaree (June 10, 1910 – August 30, 1958) was an American baseball outfielder. He played all or part of twelve seasons in the majors for the Chicago Cubs (1932–33, 1935–38), New York Giants (1939–41), Boston Braves (1941– ...

added a homer in the ninth inning for the visiting Cubs.

Game 2

In the bottom of the first, Jo-Jo White hit a leadoff single and scored on a double by Mickey Cochrane, who scored on

Charlie Gehringer Charles Leonard Gehringer (May 11, 1903 – January 21, 1993), nicknamed "the Mechanical Man", was an American professional baseball second baseman, coach, general manager, and team vice president, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for ...

's single before

's two-run home run knocked Cubs' starter

Charlie Root Charles Henry "Chinski" Root (March 17, 1899 – November 5, 1970) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago Cubs between 1923 and 1941. Root batted and threw right-handed. He holds the club record fo ...

out of the game. In the fourth,

Roy Henshaw Roy Knikelbine Henshaw (July 29, 1911 – June 8, 1993), was a professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1933 to 1944. Born in Chicago, Henshaw played collegiately for the University of Chicago. Henshaw spent eig ...

got two outs before letting the Tigers load the bases on a single, hit-by-pitch and walk. A wild pitch scored a run, then after a walk reloaded the bases, Gehringer's two-run single made it 7–0 Tigers. The Cubs got on the board in the fifth when Phil Cavarretta reached first on an error, moved to second on a groundout and scored on

Billy Jurges William Frederick Jurges (May 9, 1908 – March 3, 1997) was an American shortstop, third baseman, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball. He was born in the Bronx, New York. During the 1930s, he was central to three (, and ) National ...

's single. The Cubs got two more runs in the seventh on Billy Herman's single with runners on second and third, but the Tigers added a run in the bottom half on

's RBI single off of

Fabian Kowalik Fabian Lorenz Kowalik (April 22, 1908 – August 14, 1954), was a professional baseball pitcher. He played in the Major League Baseball from 1932 to 1936 for the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Bees. Kowalik ...

pitched a complete game as the Tigers' 8–3 tied the series heading to Chicago.

Game 3

In Game 3,

's leadoff home run in the second off of

Elden Auker Elden LeRoy "Submarine" Auker (September 21, 1910 – August 4, 2006) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Browns between 1933 and 1942. Auker batted and threw right-handed. Auker ...

put Chicago on the board. A one-out single and subsequent error put runners on first and third before Bill Lee's ground out made it 2–0 Cubs. They added a run in the fifth when

drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on

's single. The Tigers got on the board in the sixth when

singled off of Lee and scored on

's triple. In the eighth, after a walk and double, Goslin's two-run single tied the game and knocked Lee out. Reliever

allowed two singles, the second of which to

Billy Rogell William George Rogell (; November 24, 1904 – August 9, 2003) was an American baseball player who played 14 years in Major League Baseball, primarily as a shortstop for the Detroit Tigers. He made his major league debut on April 14, 1925 and p ...

scoring a run, then Fox stole home to make it 5–3 Tigers. Detroit brought back Game 1 starter

in relief. He allowed three straight one-out singles in the ninth, the last of which to

Ken O'Dea James Kenneth O'Dea (March 16, 1913 – December 17, 1985) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the Chicago Cubs (1935–38), New York Giants (1939–41), St. Louis Cardinals (1942 ...

, before

's sacrifice fly sent the game into extra innings, but Rowe nailed down the victory after Jo-Jo White's RBI single scored the winning run off of

Larry French Lawrence Herbert French (November 1, 1907 – February 9, 1987) was an American starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1929–1934), Chicago Cubs (1935–1941), and Brooklyn Dodgers (1941–1942). A k ...

in the 11th. This game remarkably featured four ejections, two from each team. The Tigers lost Woody English and coach Del Baker. The Cubs lost Tuck Stainback and manager Charlie Grimm. Neither English nor Stainback were in the game.

Game 4

Alvin "General" Crowder did it all for Detroit, pitching a complete-game five-hitter, allowing only one run on

's home run in the second, singling in the third and scoring his team's first run on

's RBI double, and getting

Flea Clifton Herman Earl "Flea" Clifton (December 12, 1908 – December 22, 1997), was a professional baseball player for 13 years from 1930 to 1943. He played parts of four season in Major League Baseball as an infielder for the Detroit Tigers from 1934 to ...

home as the go-ahead run with a groundout in the sixth off of

Tex Carleton James Otto "Tex" Carleton (August 19, 1906 – January 11, 1977) was a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1932 to 1940 for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and Brooklyn Dodgers. Carleton threw a no-hitter on April 30, 1940, against the R ...

aided by two errors. Chicago threatened against Crowder with a pair of one-out hits in the ninth, but

grounded into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Game 5

Staving off elimination, the Cubs got a two-run home run from

Chuck Klein Charles Herbert Klein (October 7, 1904 – March 28, 1958), nicknamed the "Hoosier Hammer", was an American professional baseball outfielder. Klein played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (–, –, –), Chicago Cubs ...

after a leadoff triple in the second. They added another run in the seventh on Billy Herman's RBI double off of Schoolboy Rowe. They replaced

after six innings with right-hander Bill Lee, who gave up Detroit's only run in the ninth on three consecutive singles (the last of which to

before settling down to retire the final three batters. This was the first of three World Series games that the Cubs have won in Wrigley Field (where they had previously lost 6 Series games). The other wins were Game 6 in 1945, and Game 5 in 2016.

Game 6

In Game 6,

's RBI double off of

put the Tigers on the board. Billy Herman's RBI single tied the game in the third off of

, who put the Tigers back in front in the fourth with an RBI groundout with two on, but Herman's two-run home run in the fifth put the Cubs ahead 3–2. The Tigers tied the game in the sixth when

doubled with two outs and scored on

Marv Owen Marvin James Owen (March 22, 1906 – June 22, 1991) was an American baseball player, manager, coach and scout. A native of northern California, Owen played both baseball and football at Santa Clara University. He made his Major League Baseb ...

's single. In the ninth, Mickey Cochrane singled and moved to second on a groundout before

's walk-off single won it in front of Detroit's home fans, pitcher

getting his second win of the Series. Stan Hack tripled to lead off the top of the 9th for the Cubs, but was left stranded at third.

Composite line score

1935 World Series (4–2): Detroit Tigers (A.L.) over Chicago Cubs (N.L.)

Detroit: "City of Champions"

When the Detroit Tigers won the 1935 World Series, the city of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

was mired in the Great Depression, which had hit the city and its industries particularly hard. However, with the success of the Tigers and other Detroit teams and athletes in 1935/36, Detroit's luck appeared to be changing, as the city was dubbed the " City of Champions." The

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

continued Detroit's winning ways by capturing the

1935 NFL Championship Game The 1935 NFL Championship game was the third National Football League (NFL) title game, held December 15 at University of Detroit Stadium (Titan Stadium) in Detroit, Michigan. The 1935 champion of the Western Division was the Detroit Lions (7– ...

, followed by the Detroit Red Wings winning the 1935–36 Stanley Cup championship. With the Stanley Cup win, the city had seen three major league championships in less than a year. Detroit's "champions" included Detroit's "Brown Bomber", Joe Louis, the heavyweight boxing champion; native Detroiter

Gar Wood Garfield Arthur "Gar" Wood (December 4, 1880 – June 19, 1971) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and championship motorboat builder and racer who held the world water speed record on several occasions. He was the first man to trave ...

who was the champion of unlimited powerboat racing and the first man to go 100 miles per hour on water; and Eddie "the Midnight Express" Tolan, a black Detroiter who won gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter races at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Notes

References

External links

Detroit Tigers History
{{Major League Baseball on Mutual World Series

Detroit Tigers postseason Chicago Cubs postseason

1930s in Chicago 1935 in Detroit October 1935 sports events Sports competitions in Detroit Sports competitions in Chicago Wrigley Field