1935 World Series

Lore & Background

The Tigers won despite losing the services of first baseman Hank Greenberg. In Game 2, Greenberg collided with Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett and broke his wrist, sidelining him for the rest of the Series. The Cubs had won 21 consecutive games in September, eventually taking the National League pennant by four games over the defending World Series champions, the St. Louis Cardinals. In Game 6, Tommy Bridges pitched a complete-game victory. With the score tied 3–3 in the top of the ninth inning, Bridges gave up a leadoff triple to Stan Hack, but retired the next three batters without the runner on third scoring. In the bottom of the ninth, Goose Goslin drove in the winning run with two outs. After the game, manager Mickey Cochrane said of Bridges: '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.' Right fielder Pete Fox accumulated ten hits and an average of .385 for the Series, hitting safely in all six games. Detroit owner Frank Navin, 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.

In Their Own Story

October, 1935. The lights at Briggs Stadium hum to life over a crowd that has been stomping the bleachers since the sixth-inning rally. Greenberg steps to the plate, spits on his hands, and the whole left side of the diamond goes quiet. You can hear the crack of the bat before you see the ball leave the barrel. It sails over the gap in left-center, and the roar that follows is the kind that shakes the beer in your cup. Cochrane is already jogging out of the dugout, cap in hand, grinning like a kid who just stole second. The Bullets don't celebrate. They just keep running. That's the point.

Reader's Guide

Game 1: A pitching duel between Lon Warneke and Schoolboy Rowe, both of whom went the distance, was decided by its leadoff batter, Augie Galan, doubling, and scoring on an error by Rowe that allowed Billy Herman to reach and eventually score on a Gabby Hartnett single. Frank Demaree 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's single before Hank Greenberg's two-run home run knocked Cubs' starter Charlie Root out of the game. Tommy Bridges pitched a complete game as the Tigers' 8–3 tied the series heading to Chicago. Game 3: Frank Demaree's leadoff home run in the second off Elden Auker put Chicago on the board. The Tigers got on the board in the sixth when Goose Goslin singled and scored on Pete Fox's triple. In the eighth, after a walk and double, Goslin's two-run single tied the game. Detroit brought back Game 1 starter Schoolboy Rowe in relief, and Jo-Jo White's RBI single scored the winning run off Larry French in the 11th. This game featured four ejections. Game 4: Alvin 'General' Crowder did it all for Detroit, pitching a complete-game five-hitter, allowing only one run on Gabby Hartnett's home run in the second. Game 5: Staving off elimination, the Cubs got a two-run home run from Chuck Klein after a leadoff triple in the second. They added another run in the seventh on Billy Herman's RBI double off Schoolboy Rowe. Game 6: Pete Fox's RBI double off Larry French put the Tigers on the board. Billy Herman's two-run home run in the fifth put the Cubs ahead 3–2. The Tigers tied the game in the sixth. Stan Hack tripled to lead off the top of the ninth for the Cubs, but was left stranded at third. In the bottom of the ninth, Mickey Cochrane singled and moved to second on a groundout before Goose Goslin's walk-off single won it.

Did You Know?

• The 1935 World Series was the first championship ever won by a Detroit-based team.
• Hank Greenberg broke his wrist in Game 2 and was sidelined for the rest of the Series.
• Tommy Bridges pitched a complete-game victory in Game 6, stranding a leadoff triple in the ninth.
• Goose Goslin's walk-off single in Game 6 made him the only player to date to have walk-off hits in two World Series games.
• Detroit owner Frank Navin died of a heart attack six weeks after the Series win.