‘I Thought I Never Would Get There’: The 1935 World Series

A recap of the 1935 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs.On the eve of the 1935 World Series, pitting the National League champion Chicago Cubs against the two-time American League champion Detroit Tigers, Mickey Cochrane was asked his thoughts on the outcome. “From what I have seen and heard,” the Detroit player-manager responded, “we have more power at the plate. The Cubs must have a great ballclub, of course. Without one, they never would have staged that long winning streak and come from so far behind. But it seems to me that we have more punch. If we play the kind of ball we are capable of, we ought to win.”1

Cochrane wasn’t alone in his views. In fact, a poll of members of the Baseball Writers Association of America found that a majority believed Detroit would prevail. Among the reasons given were that the Tigers, who had come up short against St. Louis in the ’34 Series, were a more experienced club than Chicago. Even though the Cubs were only three years removed from a Series loss to the New York Yankees, several players from that Chicago team were gone, while many new faces had arrived. These current Cubs had captured the senior circuit in ’35 by virtue of an incredible 21-game September winning streak. Many writers felt that the intensity of such a streak had taken a lot out of the Cubs, and that they risked coming out flat once the Series commenced.

Cubs manager Charlie Grimm wasn’t buying it. “Certainly I think we will win,” he stated matter-of-factly. “I have a fast, hustling, confident team. However, I do not think we will win in four straight games. The Tigers are too good a team for that. I think the series will go five or six games, but I will be surprised if it goes seven.”2

Among the ink-stained wretches, William J. Briordy of the New York Times asserted, “Despite the brilliant late rush of the plucky Cubs … Cochrane will lead his Detroit team to victory over Charley Grimm’s lads. …”3 Dan Daniel of the New York World-Telegram opined that “(Hank) Greenberg will give the Tigers a big edge in the Series.”4 The Chicago Tribune’s Harvey Woodruff felt compelled to give the Cubs some hometown love, picking them to win it all.

John Lardner, who wrote for the North American Newspaper Alliance syndicate, predicted that Chicago would be “inexperienced and nervous. … I doubt if anything but a miracle of inspiration … can win for the Cubs.”5 The Boston Transcript’s Harold Kaese put it bluntly: “Greenberg, (Goose) Goslin, Cochrane and (Charlie) Gehringer hit too hard. … Detroit has the old college spirit.”6 J.G. Taylor Spink of The Sporting News believed the Cubs would come out on top, “because they are red-hot.”7

Joe Williams of the New York World-Telegram viewed the Series through a mathematical prism: “The law of averages favors Detroit. The town has never won a World’s Series. This can’t go on forever.”8 Art West, of the Philadelphia Record, was more dismissive of the Tigers: “They haven’t been playing ‘fighting baseball.”9 “Detroit is a better ball club than a year ago,” chimed in Tom Meany of the New York World-Telegram, “with more punch and steadier.”10 W.R. King of the Associated Press asserted that “the only American League player the Cubs ever feared was Babe Ruth. Not even Mickey (Cochrane) himself is an acceptable Ruthian understudy. Therefore, the Cubs in six games.”11

The chief concern among Tigers fans was whether young Greenberg’s September swoon was going to carry over to the Series. The slugger batted only .253 with 2 home runs and 13 RBIs in the summer’s final month. When asked by reporters about his recent struggles at the plate, Greenberg tried his best to exude confidence: “That was just one of those things that occur in the life of every ballplayer. A half a hundred guys have told me to do this or do that in order to get out of the slump. But I am not going to take their advice, even though I know it was well meant. If I go up there and try to remember what Joe Potatoes or Sam Zilch told me to do, I’ll begin to press.”12

 

Game One: Wednesday, October 2, 1935

In preparation for the Series, and to handle the large crowds that were expected, temporary stands were built in both Navin Field in Detroit and Wrigley Field in Chicago, bringing the seating capacity to approximately 50,000 in both venues. This was a boon to the players, who were to share in the receipts of the first four games, in addition to a pool of $100,000. The latter was made possible through the sponsorship of radio broadcasts.

Tickets were a hot item in Detroit; owner Frank Navin claimed that his club had to reject more requests for reservations than they were able to fill. The night before Game One, hardy fans lined up along Trumbull Avenue outside Navin Field, hoping to buy bleacher tickets when the box office opened the next morning at 9. To fend off the frigid nighttime air, they built bonfires and wrapped themselves with thick blankets. Entrepreneurial hot-dog and hamburger sellers made a brisk business.

The afternoon brought cloudy skies to the city of Detroit, with temperatures in the high 50s. Navin Field was looking better than ever, having been given a fresh layer of infield sod earlier in the week, while the main stands had undergone a thorough scrubbing. Ticket scalpers assembled outside the ballpark, along the east side of Trumbull. Some wanted as much as “$25 for the $6.60 and the $5.50 tickets, and $15 for the $3.30 tickets,” according to one newspaper.13

By order of Frank Cody, Detroit school superintendent, schoolchildren were permitted to hear all games of the World Series. “In schools with radio receiving sets, pupils were excused from classes at game time to hear the reports in the auditorium.”14

The baseball writers began showing up for work around 11:30. “Spotted by portable typewriters they carried,” noted one paper, “scribes were given a big hand (by the crowd).”15

Like peanuts and Cracker Jack, fashionably-late fans were a staple at ballparks then as now. “Box seat holders were, as usual, lackadaisical about arriving,” reported the Detroit Evening Times. “At 12 o’clock only a score were in stalls and these looked like stand-ins for big shots.”16 Soon, however, a pregame buzz in the stands was created when Babe Ruth and his wife and daughter put in an appearance near the dugouts. Photographers flocked to the Bambino to snap his picture. In addition to the usual dignitaries such as Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and American League President Will Harridge, notable spectators included FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, tire manufacturer Harvey Firestone, Jr., and auto magnate Henry Ford, who came accompanied by his wife, and son Edsel. Hollywood actors George Raft and William Frawley were also among the swells. “George M. Cohan, the well-known Broadwayite, pulled a Greta Garbo by showing up in smoked glasses.”17

The owner of a garage across Trumbull Avenue announced that, unlike during last year’s World Series, he would not allow spectators to sit on his roof to watch the game, having decided that it was too dangerous.

Game One featured a matchup of Lon Warneke for Chicago and Schoolboy Rowe for Detroit. “Boy, I’m tickled skinny because Mickey named me to pitch the opener,” Rowe gushed.18 Sportswriter Paul Gallico described the sights, sounds, and smells of the Tiger clubhouse before the opening bell:

It is exciting to go into the clubhouse locker rooms … and just stand around, look and listen. The air you breathe is good, close, man’s air, a little thick and sweaty, tinged with rubdown and woolen garments and wet towels. The big rooms are full of real men. I never knew of a ball player that was a sissy. They bang and stomp and clatter around and talk strong. … The athletes were standing around in their skins, pulling on or drawing off nice, dirty, woolen shirts, tamping their feet into spiked shoes, weighing bats in their hands, chatting with newspapermen or, if preparing themselves for the practice field, stuffing their cheeks with chewing tobacco until their faces were pouched like squirrels. …19

If the Cubs were feeling any pregame jitters, writer Grantland Rice didn’t notice it. “Gabby Hartnett’s loud guffaw was rocking the spider-covered window panes. Young (Augie) Galan, one of the season’s stars, looked as loose as ashes.”20

A capacity crowd of 47,391 saw a tight pitching duel. The Bengals managed only four hits off Warneke. Schoolboy Rowe pitched well enough to win on most days, giving up only two earned runs while striking out eight in a complete-game effort, but wound up on the losing end of a 3-0 score. Frank Demaree’s solo home run in the ninth capped the scoring for Chicago.

 

Game Two: Thursday, October 3, 1935

Game Two was payback time for Detroit. Despite the cold weather (it had hailed in the morning and arctic breezes blew in from the north), the Tigers teed off on Cubs starter Charlie Root, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first before an out had been recorded. Greenberg, who just two days earlier had been named the American League’s Most Valuable Player, delivered the big blow, a two-run homer into the teeth of a strong wind blowing in from left field. Root was sent to the showers.

It was all the scoring Detroit needed. Tommy Bridges, “Little Tee From Tennessee,” was the pitching star, going the distance to get an 8-3 win. Both of the first two games of the Series had finished in just under two hours.

It was a costly victory for the Tigers, however. In the seventh inning Greenberg was on first and Gehringer on second when Pete Fox singled back through the box. Gehringer scored easily. According to Greenberg, “I rounded third on the hit, and when the ball was thrown to second base I decided to try to score. I slid into home plate. Gabby Hartnett had the plate blocked, and as he fell on me, my left wrist curled up against my body, and when I fell I snapped it back.”21 Greenberg was called out to end the inning. Despite favoring his wrist, he was able to finish the contest. Swelling persisted after the game, and the pain got worse. X-rays, however, proved negative, and the Tigers boarded the train for Chicago fully confident that their slugger would start Game Three in Wrigley Field.22

By 6 o’clock in the evening, the Tigers were on a special train bound for the Windy City, with more than 5,000 well-wishers seeing them off. In Chicago the team stayed at the Edgewater Beach Hotel, near Wrigley Field. In a welcoming gesture, the hotel staff had placed a huge stuffed tiger in the lobby.

 

Game Three: Friday, October 4, 1935

By the morning of Game Three, the Tigers’ worst fears had been realized. Greenberg’s painful wrist and elbow remained badly swollen. He begged Cochrane to put him into the lineup, but the Detroit manager elected to sit his star. Marv Owen, the club’s third baseman, was shifted to first in place of Greenberg, while little-used Flea Clifton took Owen’s place at third.

Taking in Game Three at Wrigley Field were National League President Ford Frick, along with heavyweight boxing champion Jimmy Braddock, and the Brown Bomber from Detroit, Joe Louis. The Sporting News commented: “No park ever looked more spic and span for a World’s Series than Wrigley Field. It appeared as though it had just been newly-painted and that the well-drilled ushers had just been liveried by Michigan boulevard tailors (sic).”23 It was a cold day in Chicago, as well, which may have partly explained the less-than-capacity crowd of 45,532.

To the mound, the Cubs sent 20-game winner Bill Lee. The Tigers countered with submariner Elden Auker. The home team opened the scoring in the second, when Demaree slammed his second home run of the Series. Another Chicago tally in the bottom of the fifth made it 3-0, but in the sixth Pete Fox tripled home Goose Goslin for the Tigers’ first run of the afternoon.

Detroit tied the game in the top of the eighth, on a two-run single by Goslin, who later scored the go-ahead run courtesy of a Billy Rogell single.

Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers were hanging on to a 5-3 lead. But Chicago tied the game off reliever Schoolboy Rowe on three straight singles by Stan Hack, Chuck Klein, and Ken O’Dea (the latter two being pinch hits). But in the top of the 11th, Jo-Jo White singled home Marv Owen to give Detroit a 6-5 lead, and Rowe retired the Cubs in order in the bottom half of the inning. Having stolen a game in the Cubs’ own backyard, the Tigers led the Series two games to one.

Cochrane was gleeful after the grueling game. “They threw everything they had at us and it wasn’t enough,” he said. Greenberg, his wrist still in pain, congratulated Rowe on the win. “Schoolboy, you sure bore down in there, but I had the jitters in the ninth when those pinch-hitters came through and tied the score. But boy, I’m tickled to death you showed ’em.”24

 

Game Four: Saturday, October 5, 1935

A crowd of 49,350 shoehorned their way into the ballpark at Clark and Addison for Game Four. Game-time temperatures were in the 40s. A bevy of bundled policemen were assigned to the frigid, windy rooftops of the houses along Waveland and Sheffield Avenues, to make sure that no spongers tried to sneak a peek at the game from those lofty vantage points.

The contest was a pitching duel between General Crowder and Tex Carleton. The General threw nine innings, giving up only one run on five hits, while striking out five. Greenberg again did not play, but Detroit came out on top, scoring single tallies in the third and sixth inning, the latter an unearned run on an error by shortstop Billy Jurges. The Cubs’ lone score came on a second-inning home run by Hartnett. They threatened in the bottom of the ninth, with back-to-back singles by Demaree and Cavarretta, but Stan Hack bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end it. Final score: Detroit 2, Chicago 1. The Tigers were now one win away from their first-ever World Series title.

 

Game Five: Sunday, October 6, 1935

The Tigers mustered only a single run on seven hits. Chuck Klein’s third-inning two-run home run gave the Cubs a lead they would never relinquish. Rowe took the tough-luck loss, his second of the Series, while Warneke won his second. The Tigers had a chance to win it all in the top of the ninth. With the score 3-0, Gehringer and Goslin opened the frame with back-to-back singles. Fox singled to left-center, scoring Gehringer, with Goslin holding at second. After Billy Rogell flied to center, pinch-hitter Gee Walker grounded out second to first, advancing both Fox and Goslin. With two out and runners on second and third, Flea Clifton popped out to first to end the game. Final score: Chicago 3, Detroit 1. The contest was played in a snappy one hour and 49 minutes, in front of 49,237 spectators.

Despite the loss, the Tigers had to be satisfied with having won two out of three in the Windy City. They were now headed back to Detroit with a three games to two lead in the Series.

 

Game Six: Monday, October 7, 1935

The Tigers had gotten this far without the injured Greenberg, and they would not have him this day, either. He never played after the second game, finishing the Series with only one hit in six at-bats (the home run in Game Two). Tommy Bridges took the mound for Detroit, while Grimm countered with Larry French. It was standing room only at Navin Field, as 48,420 fans filled every square foot of the ballpark, eager to see their Tigers win it all.

Pete Fox put the Tigers on the scoreboard in the first inning, when his double drove in Cochrane.

The Cubs got to Bridges in the top of the third. A leadoff single by Jurges was followed by a strikeout of French. Galan singled, and Jurges landed at third. Billy Herman singled to right, scoring Jurges to tie the score. Galan tried to stretch it to third, but was called out. He put up a vehement argument with the umpire, but got nowhere. It was a pivotal moment in the game. Instead of having runners on first and third with only one out, the Cubs now had only a runner on first with two outs. Bridges bore down and got Klein to hit a fly ball to deep right field, backing Walker to the fence, to end the frame.

The Tigers scored their second run in the bottom of the fourth, but Herman hit a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the fifth. Bridges took one look over his right shoulder as the ball headed toward the stands, and hung his head in dejection. It was now 3-2 Chicago.

Controversy erupted in the visiting half of the sixth. After two quick groundouts, Bridges suddenly got into trouble when Hack doubled to right. Jurges hit a grounder to third baseman Clifton, who quickly made a lunging swipe at Hack as he headed for third. Umpire (and former Tiger) George Moriarty claimed that Hack had run out of the baseline to elude the tag, and called him out. Hack and a crowd of Cubs swarmed around the ump, arguing their cause. It was the second debatable call at third for Chicago in the game.

In the bottom half of the inning, Marv Owen, who had been held hitless in the Series, laced a single to score Rogell, tying the game.

It continued into the top of the ninth. By the time he’d finished his 16-year career in Detroit in 1946, Tommy Bridges had won 194 games, with three 20-win seasons, twice leading the league in strikeouts. But the ninth inning in Game Six of this 1935 World Series was his finest hour. If there were ever any doubts that Bridges had ice in his veins, his gutsy performance put them to rest and cemented his name forever in Detroit Tigers lore.

Stan Hack led off the inning by stroking a long triple over the head of Gee Walker in center. Up came Jurges, who just wanted to put the ball in play. Instead, Bridges made him swing and miss three times, for out number one. Jurges flipped his bat in disgust as he headed back to the dugout.

The next batter for Chicago was the pitcher, Larry French, who quickly swung and missed at two slow curves. Ahead in the count, Bridges induced French to hit an easy roller back to the mound. Bridges bluffed Hack back to third, then threw the ball to Owen at first for the second out.

Hack remained standing alone at third base, and it was now up to Galan to drive him in. The Navin Field crowd was in a frenzy, urging Bridges on with every pitch. Galan took a called strike one, then swung futilely at strike two. The crowd wanted a strikeout. Bridges bounced his next pitch two feet in front of the plate, but catcher Cochrane got down on his knees and blocked it – barely. It was a crucial play, preventing the potential winning run from scoring on what would have been a wild pitch. On the next offering from Bridges, Galan swung and hit a high popup into short left field. Rogell, Clifton, and Goslin all converged on it, while Hack raced for home. It was Goslin who made the catch, dashing toward the infield. The crowd went delirious. No runs, one hit, no errors. Improbably, the score remained tied, 3-3.

Navin considered Cochrane’s stop of the errant pitch “the most important play of the Series.25 Years later, Billy Herman would still lament the play: “When I think back to the 1935 World Series, all I can see is Hack standing on third base, waiting for somebody to drive him in. Seems he stood there for hours and hours.”26

Charles P. Ward wrote in the next day’s Detroit Free Press, “Those who saw defeat staring the Tigers in the face failed to remember that Bridges is one of the gamest little men that ever came out of the hills of Tennessee. He was sent into the game by Cochrane because Mickey wanted to have somebody on the mound who would show the Cubs plenty of gameness even if he didn’t have much on the ball.”27

Finally, the titanic battle came to an end in the bottom of the ninth. Goose Goslin blooped a single into right field, scoring Cochrane from second with the game winner, and the Detroit Tigers were world champions for the first time in their history. Navin Field erupted into pandemonium.

“They will remember the manner in which the base ball (sic) championship of 1935 was won as long as they remember the team that won it,” wrote H.G. Salsinger the next day in the Detroit News. “There have been better teams than Detroit in the past but no team ever won a World Series more spectacularly than Detroit won the one that ended with two out in the ninth inning at Navin Field yesterday.”28

“The greatest exhibition of pitching in the clutch I have ever seen,” exclaimed a jubilant Cochrane in the postgame celebration. “I told those Cubs that we’d throw 150 pounds of heart at them out there today, and I guess they realize now that Little Tommy is all of that – after that ninth inning. Pitching! He threw the six greatest curves I ever caught to lick them. …That Bridges. What a thrill he gave me. That little guy has the heart of a lion. … What a pitcher, what a heart. Just 150 pounds of grit and courage. That’s what he is.”29

Longtime Tigers owner Frank Navin made his way through the clubhouse, congratulating all the players individually. When he approached Cochrane, the normally stoic Navin beamed a broad smile that seemed to be the culmination of what was for him a 30-year wait. “Mike,” he said, “I waited a long time for this, but it’s the greatest thrill of my life. That ninth inning was a corker. I’ll never forget, and I could have leaped right out of my chair when you came racing in from third with the winning run. It was a long time to wait, but it was worth it.”30

Gabby Hartnett entered the room to congratulate the victors. “You fellows beat us with a better ballclub today,” he shouted. “But we’ll be back to get another crack at you next year.”31

Downtown, euphoric crowds jammed the streets, dancing and celebrating throughout the afternoon and into the evening. Automobiles jammed the length of Woodward, and pedestrians were forced to flow around, through, and over the cars. A carnival spirit spread everywhere in the city. Thus wrote Fred Lieb: “Crowds were still tooting, banging on dishpans, and ringing gongs as they snakedanced through Cadillac Square and Grand Circus Park well past midnight, while the bars at the Book Cadillac, Detroit A.C., Fort Shelby, Detroit Leland, Statler, and other spots kept open house until the sun rose out of the east the next morning. Detroit had a terrible hangover, but gosh, it was worth it.”32

The Detroit Free Press put it down for posterity the next day:

Police said the crowd was bigger than the Armistice Day crowd of 1918. Even in that glorious moment no such crowds had choked Detroit streets; no such paralysis of transportation had ensued; no such heights of pandemonium had been reached.

Detroit, through the baseball team that is a symbol and the incarnation of its fighting spirit, had won the baseball championship of the world, and the world was to know it.

It was Detroit’s salute to America.

Detroit had the dynamite; Mickey Cochrane and his Tigers provided the spark.

Detroit celebrated because it had won the world championship.

It celebrated because it was the city that had led the nation back to recovery.

It celebrated because it was the city that wouldn’t stay licked; the city that couldn’t be licked.

It was Detroit the unconquerable, ready to tell the world when the moment arrived.

The moment had arrived, and the world was told.

“There’s no doubt,” Police Inspector William Maloney said, “that it’s the biggest crowd in downtown Detroit in my memory.” And, he added, he has a very long memory.33

Meanwhile, back in the celebratory clubhouse, Cochrane managed to locate Goslin and Bridges among the mayhem. Grasping them both around their necks, he planted a kiss on each of them while flashbulbs popped.

“What a thrill! What a game to win! What a heart that Bridges has! What a money player that Goslin is! What a team the whole damned gang is! I’ve had many big moments in my life, but none to equal the thrill of crossing the plate with the winning run. Boy, that was great. I thought I never would get there.”34

SCOTT FERKOVICH is the leader of the SABR Baseball Ballpark Project. His articles have appeared in numerous SABR publications. He is a contributing editor to the annual “Emerald Guide to Baseball,” and blogs about Detroit Tigers history for Detroit Athletic Co. He also writes about baseball for Seamheads.com, TheNationalPastimeMuseum.com, and Spitball magazine. Scott is a graduate of Columbia College in Chicago. He lives in Michigan with his wife, Cindy, daughter, Zoey, and their golden retriever, Spenser.

 

Sources

Bevis, Charles. Mickey Cochrane: The Life of a Baseball Hall of Fame Catcher (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1998).

Davidson, Mike, “The 1935 World Series.” YouTube video, 14:56. Uploaded September 21, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=M_I_SV0-qgY

Greenberg, Hank and Ira Berkow. Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life (Chicago, Illinois: Ivan R. Dee, 2009).

Lieb, Fred. The Detroit Tigers (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2008).

Rosengren, John. Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes (New York: New American Library, 2013).

Baseball-Reference.com

Detroit Evening Times

Detroit Free Press

Detroit News

The Sporting News

 

Notes