Back-to-back Pennants (1934 and 1935)
In 1934, Gehringer had his best year to date, playing all 154 games and leading the Tigers to their first American League pennant in 25 years. His .356 batting average and .450 on base percentage were both 2nd best in the league. He led the league in runs scored with 134 and hits with 214. He was also among the league leaders in doubles with 42 (2nd best in the league) and RBIs with a career-high 127 (5th best in the league). Gehringer finished 2nd in the American League MVP voting, just 2 points behind Detroit’s player-manager, Mickey Cochrane.
The Detroit infield in the mid-1930s was one of the best-hitting combinations in major league history. With Hank Greenberg at first, Gehringer at second, Billy Rogell at shortstop, and Marv Owen at third, the 1934 Tigers infield collected 769 hits (214 by Gehringer, 201 by Greenberg, 179 by Owen and 175 by Rogell), 462 RBIs (139 by Greenberg, 127 by Gehringer, 100 by Rogell, and 96 by Owen), and 179 doubles (63 by Greenberg, 50 by Gehringer, 34 by Owen and 32 by Rogell). Three members of the 1934 Tigers infield (Gehringer, Owen and Rogell) played in all 154 games, and the fourth (Greenberg) played in 153.
Gehringer’s 127 RBIs in 1934 is all the more remarkable given the fact that he played in the same lineup with one of the greatest RBI men of all time, Hank Greenberg. Gehringer later recalled that Greenberg would tell him: “Just get the runner over to third," so Hank could drive them in. Gehringer noted that "Hank loved those RBIs," to the point that Gehringer once kidded Greenberg: "You'd trip a runner coming around third base just so you could knock him in yourself.”
The 1934 World Series was a match-up between St. Louis’s "Gashouse Gang" and Detroit’s’ “G-Men” (so named because of stars Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, and Goose Goslin). Even 50 years later, Gehringer (interviewed in 1982) felt the Tigers were robbed of the 1934 championship by umpire Brick Owens. Detroit was ahead 3 games to 2, and in Gehringer's view "we should've won the sixth game." Late in the game, Brick Owens called Mickey Cochrane out on a play at third base "even though all of the photographs show that he was safe by a mile." Gehringer insisted that, if Cochrane had been called safe, "we would've had the bases loaded with nobody out and we could've had a big inning.” The Tigers wound up losing Game 6 by one run. They then lost Game 7 in an 11–0 shutout thrown by Dizzy Dean, despite a 2-for-4 game from Gehringer. Gehringer can’t be faulted for the World Series loss, as he played all seven games, batting .379 with an on base percentage of .438 and a .517 slugging percentage.
In 1935, Gehringer and the Tigers won a World Series, beating the Chicago Cubs 4 games to 2. It was the Tigers' first-ever World Series win, after failing in the fall classic in four previous appearances. For the year, Gehringer hit .330 with a .409 on base percentage and a .502 slugging percentage, collecting 201 hits, 123 runs, 108 RBIs, and 19 home runs. Once again, Gehringer was among the top vote getters in the MVP race, again losing to one of his own teammates, Hank Greenberg.
Gehringer also continued his consistent hitting into the 1935 World Series, where he played all six games, and hit .375 with a .423 on base percentage, a .500 slugging percentage and 4 RBIs.
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