1935 Detroit Tigers Season - 1935 World Series

The 1935 World Series featured the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs, with the Tigers winning in six games for their first championship in five World Series appearances. They had lost in 1907, 1908, 1909, and 1934.

The Cubs had the better regular season record and had a 21-game win streak during the pennant stretch. The Tigers, on the other hand, went 8-14 in their last 22 games. Based on momentum, it appeared the Cubs would roll past the Tigers.

The Cubs won Game 1, 3-0, on 4-hit shutout by pitcher Lon Warneke. Schoolboy Rowe took the loss.

The Tigers evened the Series in Game 2, with an 8-3 win, but the Tigers lost Hank Greenberg who fractured his left wrist when colliding with Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett. Greenberg had tried to score from first on a single. He finished the game, but he developed severe pain on the train ride to Chicago that night, and x-rays revealed fractures of two bones in his wrist. Greenberg was sidelined for the rest of the Series, and Mickey Cochrane was left to decide who could replace Greenberg. Initially, Cochrane decided to play first base himself and have backup catcher Ray Hayworth take over at catcher. But Tigers owner Frank Navin ordered Cochrane to move third baseman Marv Owen to first base and play utility infielder Flea Clifton at third base. Cochrane disagreed, as Clifton was the weakest hitter on the team, and Owen was in a slump. Navin insisted, and Owen went one for twenty in the Series, while Flea went 0-for-16 in the Series.

In Game 3, the Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the 9th, but the Tigers won it with an unearned run in the 11th inning. In the 3rd inning, umpire George Moriarty (who had played for the Tigers from 1909 to 1915) called Phil Cavarretta out in a close play at second base. When the Cubs protested, Moriarty verbally abused the Cubs, and ejected Cubs' manager Charlie Grimm and player Bill Jurges. After the game, Grimm said: "If a manager can't go out and make a decent kick, what the hell is the game coming to? I didn't swear at him but he swore at us." Coach Roy Johnson accused Moriarty of making improper reflections on the Cubs' ancestry. Judge Landis later levied $200 fines on Moriarty‚ Grimm‚ and Jurges for their conduct in the World Series.

In Game 4, Alvin Crowder pitched a 2-1 complete game victory. The Tigers won on an unearned run in the 6th inning.

In Game 5, Cubs' pitcher Lon Warneke kept the Cubs alive with 6 innings of shutout ball for his 2nd win. The Cubs won 3-1 on a 2-run home run by Chuck Klein off losing pitcher Schoolboy Rowe.

In Game 6, Tommy Bridges pitched a complete game victory to win the Series for Detroit. With the score tied 3-3 in the top of the 9th 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 9th, Goose Goslin drove in the winning run with 2 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."

Delirious Detroit fans rushed onto Navin Field in celebration after Goslin's game-winning hit. The celebration spilled out onto Michigan Avenue and Trumbull. People from throughout Detroit flooded the central city in a celebration that newspapers reported went on until three in the morning. For a few hours, the worries of the Great Depression were gone and the only thing that mattered was the Tigers.

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. On November 13, 1935, five weeks after the Tigers finally won the World Series, Navin suffered a heart attack while riding a horse and died.