1934 World Series recap

September 22nd, 2022
Cardinal Ducky Medwick's hard slide into third on his sixth-inning triple in Game 7 raised the ire of Tigers third baseman Tigers Marv Owen and Detroit fans alike.

Detroit and St. Louis took vastly different paths to the World Series, as the Cardinals didn't clinch until the last day of the regular season, while the Tigers won their first flag since 1909 by seven games over the feared Yankees.

Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean, who won an incredible 30 games during the regular season, started the opener in Detroit. St. Louis scored three times in the first three innings, thanks almost entirely to five Tiger errors, and sewed the game up with four runs in the sixth. Dean went the distance to earn the 8-3 decision. Game 2 was a thriller, as pinch-hitter Gee Walker's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth made the score 2-2, and the teams moved to extra innings. In the bottom of the 12th, Goose Goslin's single to center scored Charlie Gehringer with the winning run.

The next afternoon in St. Louis, Dizzy Dean's brother Paul started for the Cardinals and held the Tigers to a single run. Right fielder Jack Rothrock's two-run triple was the biggest hit of the game, the Redbirds taking a 4-1 decision. The Tigers bounced back in Game 4 behind sidearmer Eldon Auker, who clung to a 5-4 lead until the eighth, when his pals in the lineup erupted for five runs. Final: Tigers 10, Cardinals 4.

Detroit's Tommy Bridges, who was roughed up in Game 3, out pitched Dizzy Dean in Game 5, beating the Redbirds ace 3-1.

Back in Detroit for Game 6, Paul Dean went the route for a 4-3 victory, keeping the Cardinals alive and evening the World Series. Dean himself drove in the decisive run, slapping an RBI single to right field in the seventh inning.

Despite pitching eight innings just two days earlier, Dizzy Dean drew the starting assignment for Game 7, with Auker going for the Tigers. It was no contest, as the Cardinals torched Auker and his replacements for seven runs in the third inning. St. Louis scored twice more in the sixth, when Joe Medwick and Tigers third baseman Marv Owen wrestled briefly after Medwick slid hard into third on a triple. When Medwick took his place in left field in the bottom of the inning, he was pelted by soda bottles and fruit, and eventually he was ordered from the game by Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis, so that the game might continue. Meanwhile, Dean was brilliant, permitting just six hits and cruising to an 11-0 shutout. The Cardinals were World Series champs, and the Brothers Dean had accounted for all four St. Louis victories.

Managers: Frank Frisch, STL; Mickey Cochrane, DET