Despite the Depression, the Tigers Roar
1934 Detroit TigersHome Field: Navin Field (Tiger Stadium)
A.L. ChampionsHit: #1 R; #1 BA
W - 101 L - 53Pitch: #1 OR; #2 ERA
Manager: Mickey CochraneDef: #2 FA

It had been 25 years since Detroit had won a pennant and the 1933 season gave little indication that would soon change. The Tigers finished below .500 that year, and hadn't finished in the upper division since 1927. During the offseason, the Tigers spent $100,000 and sent a back up catcher to Philadelphia for Mickey Cochrane. The star catcher was named Detroit's player-manager. Another key acquisition was outfielder Goose Goslin, picked up in a trade with Washington. Things were looking up in Motown.

The 1934 Tigers surprised the experts by not only landing in the first division, they won the pennant. The arrivals of Cochrane and Goslin helped but that wasn't all. 1934 saw the blossoming of first baseman Hank Greenberg and pitchers Schoolboy Rowe and Tommy Bridges, all of whom had their first big years. Rowe was 24-8 including a 16 game winning streak. Bridges added 22 wins. The offense featured six .300 hitters including Cochrane, the league's MVP. Gehringer ranked second in the loop with a .356 batting average and led the circuit with 134 runs scored. Greenberg added a .339 average and 139 RBIs.

After winning 101 games and taking the pennant by seven games, Detroit played the Gashouse Gang Cardinals in the World Series. The series went back and forth and when the Tigers won Game 5 in St. Louis to take a three games to two lead, victory appeared imminent. The series returned to Detroit, but the fourth win never came. St. Louis won Game 6 with a hard fought 4-3 win, then coasted to an 11-0 victory in Game 7.

The Tigers put pretty much the same team on the field a year later. Although their victory total dropped to 93, they won the pennant by three games over the Yankees. Finally, in the club's fifth trip to the fall classic, Detroit emerged victoriously with a six game triumph over the Cubs.


The 1934 Detroit Tigers

Pos Player Bats AB H R HR RBI BA    AL Rank
C Mickey Cochrane L 437 140 76 2 76 .320    #4 OBA
1B Hank Greenberg R 593 201 118 26 139 .339    #3 RBI, SA
2B Charlie Gehringer L 601 214 134 11 127 .356    #2 BA, OBA, #1 R, #5 RBI
SS Billy Rogell B 592 175 114 3 100 .296  
3B Marv Owen R 565 179 79 8 96 .317  
LF Goose Goslin L 614 187 106 13 100 .305  
CF Jo-Jo White L 384 120 97 0 44 .313  
RF Pete Fox R 516 147 101 2 45 .285  
                   
OF Gee Walker R 347 104 54 6 39 .300  
C Ray Hayworth R 167 49 20 0 27 .293  
OF Frank Doljack R 120 28 15 1 19 .233  
                   
Total: Team   5475 1644 958 74 872 .300  
  League   42932 11968 6305 688 5865 .279  

Pitcher Throw G IP W L ERA PCT    AL Rank
  Schoolboy Rowe R 45 266 24 8 3.45 .750    #2 W, #3t K
  Tommy Bridges R 36 275 22 11 3.67 .667    #3 W, #2 K
  Eldon Auker R 43 205 15 7 3.42 .682    #5 ERA
  Vic Sorrell R 28 130 6 9 4.79 .400  
  Firpo Marberry R 38 156 15 5 4.57 .750  
  Carl Fischer L 20 95 6 4 4.36 .600  
  Luke Hamlin R 20 75 2 3 5.40 .400  
                   
Total: Team       101 53 4.06    
  League Average           4.50    

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