The 1934 regular season was a breakout campaign for Dean, as he led the league with 30 wins, 195 strikeouts, and 26 complete games. In the final week of the season, he earned three wins to lift the Cardinals to the National League pennant. The Redbirds had trailed the New York Giants by as many as seven games on September 6, but a 21-7 record in the final week of the season propelled them past the defending National League champs.

Through the first six games of the World Series, the Cardinals and the American League champion Tigers had proven to be equals. Dean had taken the loss in Game 5 as Tigers right-hander Tommy Bridges held the Cardinals to one run and seven hits in a complete-game effort.

The following day, Dizzy’s younger brother Paul Dean outpitched Tigers ace Schoolboy Rowe, allowing three runs – one earned – in a 4-3 Cardinals win. That left Cardinals second baseman and manager Frankie Frisch with a decision to make regarding his starting pitcher for Game 7. He could either pitch Dizzy Dean again on one day’s rest or turn to left-hander Bill Hallahan, who had held the Tigers to two runs over 8 1/3 innings in Game 2.

Radio announcer France Laux recalled, “Finally Frisch said, ‘Hallahan, you start. Walker (left-hander Bill Walker), you’re in reserve.’ Just as he said that, the door opened, and here’s old Diz. He called Frisch ‘Franco.’ He said, ‘Franco, you know what the problem is? You’re going over the batting order, trying to decide who to pitch. You want to win, don’t you?’ He said, ‘There’s only one man to pitch, an’ here he is.’

“Frisch said, ‘Are you sure you’re able to go?’

“He said, ‘You let me pitch, an’ you won’t have any more problem.’

“Frisch said, ‘Okay, you start, and Hallahan, you’re in reserve.’”[1]

The Tigers countered with Elden Auker, a 23-year-old right-hander who had gone 15-7 during the regular season, then pitched all nine innings to earn the win in Detroit’s 10-4 Game 4 victory.

Before the game, Dean visited the Tigers bullpen and observed Auker as he warmed up.

“You don’t expect to get anyone out with that stuff, do you?” Dean asked.[2]

After both pitchers cruised through the first two innings, it was Dean who got the Cardinals’ offense sparked with a one-out double in the third. Pepper Martin followed with a single, and Jack Rothrock walked to load the bases ahead of Frisch. The 36-year-old Frisch came through with a bases-clearing double to give his team a 3-0 lead.

“That was a million-dollar hit to me,” Frisch said.[3]

Tigers catcher/manager Mickey Cochrane quickly turned to his bullpen, calling upon Rowe, who had earned the win in Game 2 but was outpitched by Paul Dean in Game 6 just one day earlier. After throwing all nine innings the previous day, Rowe had little left for Game 7. Joe Medwick grounded out for the second out of the inning, but Ripper Collins hit an RBI single and Bill DeLancey smacked an RBI double into right field to give the Cardinals a 5-0 lead and chase Rowe from the game.

With Elon Hogsett now in the game, Ernie Orsatti worked a walk and light-hitting shortstop Leo Durocher singled to load the bases for Dean.

“It’s all over, Mick,” Dean told Cochrane as he took his warm-up swings.

Dean bounced an infield single to third base that scored DeLancey, and Martin followed with a bases-loaded walk to extend St. Louis’s lead to 7-0. Finally, Bridges, the Tigers’ fourth pitcher of the inning, got a ground ball to end the inning.

Dean, meanwhile, continued to cruise. Detroit didn’t collect its first hit until Charlie Gehringer singled in the fourth. The Tigers finally threatened in the fifth when Hank Greenberg singled and Pete Fox followed with a one-out double. With two runners in scoring position, Dean struck out Bridges, then retired Jo-Jo White on a ground ball to Durocher to end the threat.

The most famous – or infamous – moment of the game took place in the sixth inning, when Medwick hit a two-out RBI triple. Medwick slid hard into the base, knocking Owen down in the process. After Owen landed on him, Medwick kicked at the Tigers third baseman, and the two players were soon wrestling in the dirt.

“I admit he slid hard. Joe always played hard. But it wasn’t a dirty slide,” Frisch wrote in his autobiography. “But Marvin Owen, the third baseman, thought Joe was carrying one of his spiked shoes too high as he slid, and perhaps accidentally or perhaps in retaliation, Owen took the high throw and came down on Joe’s leg harder than Joe thought was necessary. So Medwick kicked at Owen’s leg.”[4]

Collins followed with a single to center field, extending the Cardinals’ lead to 9-0. When the Cardinals took the field in the bottom half of the inning, however, the fans began to throw produce, cigar stubs, and empty soda bottles at Medwick in left field.[5]

Paul Gallico of the New York Daily News described the scene:

“I watched the crowd and Medwick, and the pelting missles (sic) through my field glasses, and it was a terrifying sight. Every face in the crowd, women and men was distorted with rage. Mouths were tore wide, open eyes glistened and shone in the sun. All fists were clenched. Medwick stood grinning with his hands on his hips, just out of range of the bottles. A green apple rolled to his feet, and he fielded that too.”[6]

The game was delayed as staff worked to clear the field of trash, and the public address announcer pleaded with fans to allow play to resume.

“I don’t know where they were getting all that stuff from,” Gehringer said. “It was like they were backing produce trucks up to the gate and supplying everyone.”[7]

Meanwhile, Medwick picked up an apple and began to play catch with Martin and Orsatti.

“Aw, it’s nothing, Joe. Don’t let it bother you,” Durocher said.

“Nothing, hell,” Medwick replied. “If you think that, you play left field and I’ll play shortstop.”[8]

Finally, commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis called Medwick, Owen, Frisch, and the umpires to his box on the third-base line.

“Mr. Owen, did Mr. Medwick attempt to kick you?” Landis asked.

“Yes, sir,” Owen answered.

“Is that true?” Landis then asked Medwick. “Did you attempt to kick Mr. Owen?”

“Yes, I did, sir,” answered Medwick.[9]

After determining that Owen had done nothing to prompt Medwick’s anger, Landis ordered the Cardinals slugger removed from the game. With 11 hits in the series, Medwick’s shot at tying the record of 12 was over.

“It’s a good thing Joe didn’t have a bat in his hands,” Frisch said. “He would have killed some of those fans.”[10]

“I was running to third base,” Medwick told the St. Louis Globe-Democrat after the game. “I saw Owen in front of the bag, and I slid in hard. Then the row followed. When Mr. Landis called me to him, he asked me if I had anything against Owen. I said ‘no.’ He asked Owen the same question, and he said ‘no.’ I offered to shake hands with Owen, but he refused. Mr. Landis then told me I was out of the game. That’s all there was to that, and I left.”[11]

After a 20-minute delay, the game was able to resume.

In the seventh inning, Durocher tripled and scored on an error and Rothrock hit an RBI double to make the score 11-0. It proved to be 10 runs more than Dean needed, even as he experimented with new pitches.

“Hey, Frank,” he shouted to Frisch late in the game. “If I’m as good as (Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell), I should be able to throw a screwball. Watch this.”[12]

Dean’s ensuing pitch sailed over DeLancey’s head.

“Bear down, dammit!” Frisch shouted.[13]

In the ninth inning, Gehringer and Billy Rogell each singled, but Dean struck out Greenberg for his fifth strikeout of the game. When Owen hit a ground ball to Durocher and the Cardinals’ shortstop flipped the ball to Frisch at second base for the force out, the Cardinals were world champions.

Dean had allowed just six hits over nine shutout innings, and every player in the Cardinals’ lineup had at least one hit. Together, Dizzy and his brother Paul Dean had earned all four of St. Louis’s World Series wins.

After the game, Dizzy celebrated with a rubber, inflatable tiger.

“Look at old Frankie Frisch over there,” he said. “He’s the best manager in both leagues. He knows more baseball than all them Tigers thrown together. Everything was just lovely today. I let them Tigers have a couple of base hits and then I throwed strikes at ‘em. Boy, there was nothing to it.”[14]

As champions, each of the Cardinals received $5,941 while the Tigers received $4,313.90.[15]

With tensions still high following Medwick’s dustup, the Cardinals received a police escort back to their hotel. There, Medwick and his roommate, pitcher Bill Hallahan, observed two men following them on the elevator and then down the hallway. They had barely gotten to their rooms when there was a knock on the door. It was the two men who had been following them.

“Which one of you is Joe Medwick?” one of them asked.

“He is,” Medwick said, pointing to Hallahan.

“I am not,” said a startled Hallahan. “He is.”

The men explained that they were plainclothes detectives assigned to protect Medwick until he left town.[16] Medwick ate dinner with the two detectives in his room that evening.[17]

“I never knew a city to take a World Series defeat so bitterly,” Frisch said. “Twenty-five years later, our center fielder, Ernie Orsatti, was in Detroit on a business trip and he registered at the Sheraton-Cadillac Hotel, where we were housed while playing the 1934 World Series. The desk clerk looked at the name on the register, then looked at Orsatti. He told Ernie he didn’t believe he could give him a room. Orsattie thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. Ernie had to go over the clerk’s head to get a room at the hotel.”[18]

While there was no love lost between Detroit’s fans and the Cardinals, the Tigers didn’t have any hard feelings for the Dean brothers.

“This Dizzy Dean they’re all talking about told the boys what he’s going to do to them, but after listening for a while, I kind of liked the kid,” outfielder Goose Goslin said. “There’s no real harm in him.”[19]

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[1] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 191.

[2] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and Depression-Era Baseball, McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, N.C. and London, Page 165.

[3] Charles W. Dunkley “Cochrane’s Handshake Fills Frank’s Cup To Brim,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 10, 1934.

[4] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-From-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series, PublicAffairs: New York, Page 270.

[5] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-From-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series, PublicAffairs: New York, Page 270.

[6] Paul Gallico, “Riot,” New York Daily News, October 10, 1934.

[7] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-From-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series, PublicAffairs: New York, Page 271.

[8] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-From-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series, PublicAffairs: New York, Page 271.

[9] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and Depression-Era Baseball, McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, N.C. and London, Page 168.

[10] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-From-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series, PublicAffairs: New York, Page 272.

[11] Martin J. Haley, “Cardinals Win Series as Fans Stage Riot,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 10, 1934.

[12] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and Depression-Era Baseball, McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, N.C. and London, Page 168.

[13] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and Depression-Era Baseball, McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, N.C. and London, Page 168.

[14] Charles W. Dunkley “Cochrane’s Handshake Fills Frank’s Cup To Brim,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 10, 1934.

[15] “Each Card Gets $5,821, Tiger $4,313,” New York Daily News, October 10, 1934.

[16] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-From-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series, PublicAffairs: New York, Page 276.

[17] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and Depression-Era Baseball, McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, N.C. and London, Page 170.

[18] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 194.

[19] Charles F. Faber (2014), The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, Kindle Android Edition, Location 3536.

The post 1934 World Series Game 7: Dizzy Dean shuts out Detroit and Joe Medwick nearly sparks a riot first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Shortly after Dean walked off the field with his 30^th win of the season, a young boy ran out to the diamond and placed a four-pound block of ice on the mound.

“Dizzy told me this morning to put it there after the game,” the boy explained when reporters asked him why he had done such a thing. “Said it would be burning up if I didn’t. Go ahead and feel it. Even the ice hasn’t cooled it down yet.”^[1]

At 94-58, the Cardinals entered the final day of the regular season with a one-game lead over the defending World Series champion New York Giants. With a win over the Reds at Sportsman’s Park, the Cardinals could clinch their own World Series berth, where they would face the American League champion Detroit Tigers.

As if that weren’t motivation enough, Dean had an opportunity to earn his 30^th win of the season. If he reached the milestone, he would join Lefty Grove as the only pitchers to reach 30 wins since Jim Bagby did it in 1920, and the first National League 30-game winner since Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1917.

The pitching performances of Dean and his brother, Paul Dean, had led the Cardinals to the cusp of the NL pennant, even though they briefly left the team in August due to a salary dispute. Just one day earlier, Paul won his 19^th game of the season, holding the Reds to one run in a complete-game performance that lowered his ERA to 3.43.

Dizzy, meanwhile, was slated to make his 12^th appearance of the month on just one day of rest. On September 28, Dizzy had dominated the Reds, scattering seven hits and striking out seven for his 29^th win of the season. With the win, he exceeded 300 innings on the season, part of a stretch that had seen him pitch in five games from September 21-28, including three complete-game starts.

Even after that incredible workload, Dizzy was set to face the Reds one more time with a possible trip to the World Series on the line. If he was fatigued, he certainly didn’t show it in the first inning, even as the scoreboard showed that the Giants had scored four first-inning runs against the Dodgers. With 37,402 fans in attendance, the largest crowd at Sportsman’s Park in three years,[2] Dean retired the Reds’ first three hitters in order, thanks in part to a diving catch by center fielder Ernie Orsatti.

The Cardinals’ lineup gave Dean an early lead in the bottom of the first. After Cincinnati’s Si Johnson walked Ripper Collins to load the bases, Cardinals catcher Bill DeLancey singled to right to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Cardinals broke the game open. Johnson was clearly battling his control, as he hit Collins with a pitch and walked DeLancey and Ernie Orsatti before Reds manager Chuck Dressen came to the mound to replace him with Benny Frey.

Light-hitting Cardinals shortstop Leo Durocher greeted Frey with an RBI single to right before Pepper Martin punched a two-run single into the left-field gap to make the score 5-0. One inning later, DeLancey hit his 13^th home run of the season onto the pavilion roof in right-center field, and in the seventh Collins hit a two-run homer for his 200^th hit and 35^th blast of the 1934 campaign.

DeLancey’s third hit of the day, an RBI single in the eighth inning, made it 9-0 Cardinals. By that point, there was no doubt that the National League pennant belonged to St. Louis. Nonetheless, Dean had to battle to complete his shutout bid. After the Reds’ first three batters reached in the ninth inning, the scoreboard was updated to show that the Dodgers had rallied to defeat the Giants 8-5, clinching the pennant for the Cardinals. As confetti fell from the upper decks of Sportsman’s Park, Dean struck out Clyde Manion and Ted Petoskey before getting Sparky Adams to pop out to DeLancey behind the plate.

With the final out recorded, the capacity crowd surged onto the field and Dean was escorted off the field by the police. “For about two hours afterwards the crowd milled about underneath the grandstand, outside the exit gates and along the streets bordering the ball park,” the St. Louis Star and Times reported. “Everyone, it seemed, wanted to get a glimpse of this superstar, Dizzy Dean.”[3]

Dean’s two ninth-inning strikeouts gave him seven for the game and a league-high 195 for the season. It marked the third consecutive season Dean had led the league in strikeouts.

“By hurling two shutouts with only one day of rest in between, Jerome Herman climaxed the greatest baseball finish of all time,” Ray J. Gillespie wrote.[4]

The win was Dean’s seventh in a row and his seventh shutout of the year. Together, Dizzy and his brother Paul had combined for 12 of the Cardinals’ 15 shutouts on the season as they claimed 49 of the team’s 95 total wins.

“There is no question in my mind about who should be declared the most valuable player of 1934 in this league,” Cardinals manager Frankie Frisch said in his column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “There is no candidate in my estimation except Jerome Herman Dean. He deserves the award.”[5]

In the clubhouse, the Cardinals celebrated with singing, dancing, hugging, and shouting.

“What did I tell yuh – what did I tell you?” Dizzy shouted in the midst of the celebration. “I asked you to get me one run and it would be a breeze for us.”[6]

Finally, Frisch arrived in the clubhouse. Immediately, his players tackled him as they offered him congratulations.

“It’s swell of you fellows to say all these nice things,” Frisch said when they finally let him go.[7]

“Swell of us?” responded Paul Dean. “Heck, we’re going to do more than this for you when the World Series is over.”[8]

Later, Frisch slumped onto a bench as his players continued the celebration around him. His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of his ace pitcher, Dizzy Dean. “They shook hands quietly, did these two men who had just come through a great experience together, and Frank moved over on the bench to make room for Jerome Herman, where they sat talking until interrupted by photographers,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.[9]

Even after the Cardinals completed their revelry, their fans awaited outside the stadium. Police guided Paul Dean into a waiting cab only to be informed that his car was in a nearby parking lot. As a result, the police had to lead him back through the crowd again to find his vehicle.[10]

If anything, Dizzy faced an even greater challenge. As the Star and Times described the scene: “Dizzy, who had shown no fear in the face of enemy bats, turned white as he was confronted with the yelling, wild mob that attempted to grab his hand. The blue-coats quickly came to his rescue, fought away the fans and escorted the ‘people’s choice’ to safety.”[11]

It was a good thing for all concerned that Dean escaped unscathed. After all, the Cardinals would need him in Detroit just three days later for Game 1 of the World Series.

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[1] Doug Feldmann (2015), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang, McFarland, Kindle file, Page 135.

[2] “Final Game Drew Largest Crowd Since Cubs’ Double Header of 1931,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 1, 1934.

[3] Ray J. Gillespie, “Crowd of 37,402 Cheers Dizzy Dean As He Hurls Cards To Flag,” St. Louis Star and Times, October 1, 1934.

[4] Ray J. Gillespie, “Crowd of 37,402 Cheers Dizzy Dean As He Hurls Cards To Flag,” St. Louis Star and Times, October 1, 1934.

[5] Frankie Frisch, “Frisch Says He Never Played On Club With More Courage or Confidence Than The Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 1, 1934.

[6] Sid K. Keener, “Keener Paints Picture of Cards’ Flag Celebration,” St. Louis Star and Times, October 1, 1934.

[7] Sid K. Keener, “Keener Paints Picture of Cards’ Flag Celebration,” St. Louis Star and Times, October 1, 1934.

[8] Sid K. Keener, “Keener Paints Picture of Cards’ Flag Celebration,” St. Louis Star and Times, October 1, 1934.

[9] Damon Kerby, “‘We’re in the Money,’ Theme Song of Cards After Victory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 1, 1934.

[10] Ray J. Gillespie, “Crowd of 37,402 Cheers Dizzy Dean As He Hurls Cards To Flag,” St. Louis Star and Times, October 1, 1934.

[11] Ray J. Gillespie, “Crowd of 37,402 Cheers Dizzy Dean As He Hurls Cards To Flag,” St. Louis Star and Times, October 1, 1934.

The post How Dizzy Dean earned his 30th win in 1934 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

“It’s the greatest honor I ever received,” Dean said. “I want to thank the good Lord for giving me a good right arm, a strong back, and a weak mind.”[1]

Dean was inducted alongside Al Simmons, a three-time all-star and two-time batting champion who played most of his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. During the ceremony, Dean was joined on the platform by some of the 62 previous Hall inductees, including Ty Cobb, Connie Mack, Cy Young, Ed Walsh, and Rogers Hornsby.

“Them’s the kind of ballplayers I’d like to have had behind me all the time,” Dean said, before complimenting the former teammates who “stopped them line drives and got some runs for me.”[2]

Joseph Cashman, head of the Baseball Writers of America, served as toastmaster and George M. Trautman, head of the National Association of Baseball Leagues, unveiled both honorees’ plaques. Dean’s Hall of Fame plaque read:

One of four N.L. pitchers to win 30 or more games under modern regulations. Pitched in 1934 (St. L.) 1938 (Chicago) World Series. Let league in strikeouts 1932-33-34-35. Single game record with 17, July 30, 1933. First pitcher to make two hits in one inning in World Series. Most valuable N.L. player in 1934.

Dean and his brothers grew up picking cotton. With little in the way of formal education, Dean enlisted at Fort Sam Houston and developed a reputation as “a hard-pitching mountain boy who wanted to throw barefoot, though his sergeant insisted that he wear spikes.”[3] Dean’s pitching at Fort Sam Houston attracted the attention of a semipro team in San Antonio, and it was there that Cardinals scout Don Curtis discovered Dean and signed him.

On September 28, 1930, Dean made his major-league debut, holding the Pirates to one run on three hits in a complete-game victory. Prior to the game, St. Louis mayor Victor Miller, seated in a box seat near the field, called Cardinals manager Gabby Street over to ask him about the new pitcher.

“Mr. Mayor, I think he’s going to be a great pitcher, but I’m afraid we’ll never know from one minute to the next what he’s going to do,” Street said.[4]

Despite Dean’s successful outing, the Cardinals kept him in the minor leagues in 1931, perhaps as punishment for his tendency to charge items totaling thousands of dollars to the team. He was even known to register at several hotels for the same night, then sleep at whichever one was closest when he was ready to conclude the evening.[5]

By 1932, however, Dean was simply too good to keep in the minors. The 23-year-old won 18 games with a 3.30 ERA and led the league in innings pitched (286) and strikeouts (191) in his rookie campaign. In 1933, Dean won 20 games and led the league in strikeouts for the second consecutive year, including a 17-strikeout performance against the Cubs.

Dean made baseball history with his 30-win 1934 season. In September, with the Cardinals chasing the Giants for the National League pennant, Dean pitched in 10 games between September 10 and September 30. He won six of those games and earned the save in two others, lowering his ERA from 2.98 to 2.66 during that span. With Dean and his brother Paul Dean leading the way, the Cardinals caught the Giants on September 28, then won their final two games of the regular season to win the National League pennant by two games.

In the seven-game 1934 World Series, Dean pitched 26 innings, allowing just five earned runs for a 1.73 ERA. He pitched all nine innings of the Cardinals’ 8-3 Game 1 win, then took a tough-luck loss in Game 5 after allowing two earned runs over eight innings. With just one day of rest, Dean pitched the decisive Game 7, holding the Tigers to just six hits in a complete-game shutout.

Following Dean’s historic season, he was named National League MVP ahead of Pittsburgh’s Paul Waner, who placed second, and the Giants’ Jo-Jo Moore, Travis Jackson, and Mel Ott, who finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.

Dean went on to place second in the MVP voting in 1935 and 1936, pitching a combined 640 innings while leading the league in innings pitched both years. Prior to the start of the 1938 season, the Cardinals traded Dean to the Cubs for Curt Davis, Clyde Shoun, Tuck Stainback, and $185,000.

Dean battled arm troubles throughout his career in Chicago, compiling a 16-8 record before retiring to take a coaching job with the Cubs in 1941. Dean went on to become a radio and TV broadcaster, providing commentary for Cardinals, Browns, Yankees, and Braves games. He was part of CBS’s national game of the week broadcast team from 1955 through 1965, and became a memorable part of ballgames for younger fans who had never seen him pitch.

After Dean’s broadcasting career concluded, he retired to Bond, Mississippi. He passed away on July 17, 1974, on the same day that Bob Gibson threw the 3,000^th strikeout of his career.

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[1] Jack Hand, “Dean, Simmons Acclaimed,” St. Joseph News-Press, July 28, 1953.

[2] Jack Hand, “Dean, Simmons Acclaimed,” St. Joseph News-Press, July 28, 1953.

[3] John Heidenry (2007), “The Gashouse Gang,” PublicAffairs, Page 35.

[4] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang, McFarland, Kindle File, 34.

[5] John Heidenry (2007), “The Gashouse Gang,” PublicAffairs, Page 44.

The post Dizzy Dean is inducted into the Hall of Fame: July 27, 1953 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

On July 17, 1974, Bob Gibson claimed the 3,000^th strikeout of his career, retiring Cesar Geronimo on strikes in a 6-4 loss to the Reds. Early that morning, Dizzy Dean, the unquestioned ace of the 1934 Cardinals’ world championship team had passed away with his wife Patricia; his brother, Paul Dean; and Paul’s two children at his side in Reno, Nevada. Dean had checked into St. Mary’s Hospital with chest pains a few days earlier, on July 14, then suffered a heart attack early the next day.

“Mrs. Nixon and I join sports fans everywhere in mourning the loss of this legendary figure,” President Richard Nixon said.^[1]

Dean cemented his place in baseball lore in 1934 when he led the Gashouse Gang to the World Series championship. Dean won the National League Most Valuable Player Award after he led the league with 30 wins – including seven shutouts – and struck out a league-high 195 batters. Pitching in nine games over a 19-day stretch in the heat of the pennant race, Dean finished the season with 311 2/3 innings and a 2.66 ERA.

He led the league with 28 wins the following season, pitching 325 1/3 innings as he threw 29 complete games. His 190 strikeouts marked the fourth consecutive year that he led the National League in strikeouts.

Given his incredible workload – which included at least 286 innings in five consecutive seasons, plus a variety of exhibition performances throughout each season to supplement the Cardinals’ revenue – Dean’s arm trouble in the late ’30s comes as no surprise. Just before the 1938 season, the Cardinals traded him to the Chicago Cubs, where he battled through injuries until 1941, when he pitched a single inning before retiring.

Dean returned for a lone start in 1947 when, as a radio broadcaster for the St. Louis Browns, he told the audience that he could pitch better than the hurlers the Browns were sending to the mound. Backing up his words, Dean pitched four scoreless innings in a Sept. 28 game against the White Sox.

In 1953, Dean was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and that year he began announcing the nationally televised Game of the Week alongside Buddy Blattner and Pee Wee Reese. Though Reese later denied that Dean ever said such a thing, legend holds that Dean once observed a young couple among the spectators.

“Look-a-there, Pee Wee,” he said over the air. “Those young folks are smooching after every pitch. He’s kissing her on the strikes and she’s kissing him on the balls.”[2]

Dean’s colorful mangling of the English language, including using the term “slud” instead of “slid,” endeared him to audiences, including many who were too young to have seen him pitch in the ’30s. He continued to broadcast games for CBS through 1965 and Braves games from 1966 through 1968, giving him an opportunity to see Gibson’s emergence as the Cardinals’ next legendary pitcher. As Dean remarked, Gibson knew just the right pitch to throw “99 times out of 10.”[3]

Indeed, as Gibson took the mound in pursuit of his 3,000^th strikeout, he had long since earned his own place in the Hall of Fame. He entered the game with 2,999 strikeouts, one shy of becoming the first National League pitcher and just the second player in major league history to reach 3,000, joining Walter Johnson.

Earlier that day, Tony Perez had announced Geronimo as the favorite to be Gibson’s 3,000^th strikeout victim as he set odds for players in the lineup. Six years later, Geronimo also was at the plate for Nolan Ryan’s 3,000^th strikeout.

“Pete Rose is 20-to-1, Joe Morgan is 30-to-1,” he said. “Johnny Bench is 3-to-2, but only because he may bunt.”

“What if I say I’m not bunting?” Bench asked.

“Then you are 1-to-3,” Perez answered with a laugh. “Me, I’m even money if it gets to me. I (have) been helping Gibson for 10 years. Why not do it now? I mean, I always look for the fastball, right here. It never comes. Just that hard slider, hard slider.”[4]

The first time through the lineup, the Reds played spoiler to Gibson’s milestone. In the first inning, Morgan singled and stole second, scoring on a single by Bench. In the second, Dan Driessen reached on an error by Ted Simmons at first base and scored on a ground ball by Ken Griffey. With runners on first and second and two outs, Gibson struck out Geronimo on a fastball above the strike zone to end the inning.

As the Busch Stadium II crowd of 28,743 cheered, the ultra-competitive Gibson uncharacteristically tipped his cap to the fans.

“I wanted the fans to know that I appreciated that they appreciated my efforts,” he said the following day.[5]

Joe Torre hit a three-run homer and Reggie Smith added a solo shot to give Gibson and the Cardinals a 4-2 lead, but in the fourth inning, Lou Brock lost track of a Driessen fly ball, allowing it to drop for a double. Griffey smacked a double into right field to cut the St. Louis lead to 4-3.

Gibson maintained that lead until the sixth. With two outs, Dave Concepcion singled, Griffey walked, and pinch hitter Terry Crowley, who was batting just .160 on the season, singled into center to tie the game.

In the seventh, manager Red Schoendienst pulled Gibson for a pinch hitter. Gibson finished the day with four strikeouts, giving him 3,003 for his career.

“I thought he was getting a little tired,” Schoendienst said. “He was also leading off the inning and I thought we might get a run.”[6]

Both bullpens continued to put zeros on the scoreboard until the 12^th inning, when Cardinals reliever Rich Folkers walked Darrel Chaney and allowed a single to Concepcion. Schoendienst called on Orlando Pena to end the threat, but George Foster greeted him with a double to left field to score Chaney and Concepcion.

In the ninth, St. Louis second baseman Jerry DaVanon reached on an error and pinch hitter Ken Reitz singled. After Pedro Borbon uncorked a wild pitch, Reds manager Sparky Anderson called for him to intentionally walk Brock and pitch to infielder Mike Tyson.

The strategy worked. Tyson popped out to Morgan at second base to end the game.

“I wouldn’t have slept if we didn’t walk Lou Brock and he beat us,” Anderson said. “He’s beaten our club a lot in the last few years, at least three times with home runs. If Mike Tyson had beaten us, I would have slept.”[7]

“That’s the kind of game that makes you lose your hair and get ulcers,” Bench said. “Imagine, two out in the ninth, then an error and a hit. I thought, ‘Here we go again.’”[8]

Never inclined to discuss personal accomplishments following a loss, Gibson had already left by the time reporters reached the clubhouse after the game.

The 38-year-old Gibson finished the 1974 season with an 11-13 record and 3.83 ERA over 240 innings. He retired following the 1975 campaign with 251 career victories, a 2.91 ERA, and 3,117 strikeouts, concluding a career that included two World Series titles, two World Series MVP awards, two Cy Young awards, one National League MVP Award, nine Gold Glove Awards, an ERA title, and nine all-star game appearances. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.

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[1] “Dizzy Returns To South,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 18, 1974.

[2] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang, PublicAffairs: Page 289.

[3] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang, PublicAffairs: Page 292.

[4] Bob Hertzel, “Gibson Gets 3000^th Strikeout, Reds Get Hits,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 18, 1974.

[5] Jack Herman, “Fans’ Applause Earns Tip of Gibson’s Cap,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 19, 1974.

[6] Associated Press, “Reds Spoil Gibson’s March Into History,” Mexico Ledger, July 18, 1974.

[7] Neal Russo, “Cincy Book A Sleeper,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 18, 1974.

[8] Neal Russo, “Gibby Is Still Gibby,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 18, 1974.

The post July 17, 1974: Bob Gibson gets his 3,000th strikeout the same day Dizzy Dean passes away first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

It was, perhaps, surprising that Dean had to win over the fans at all after his incredible 1934 season. In that historic campaign, Dean led the league with 30 wins against just seven losses, leading the Cardinals to the 1934 National League pennant and a World Series championship against the Detroit Tigers. His seven shutouts and 195 strikeouts each led the league, and he ended the regular season with a 2.66 ERA in 311 2/3 innings.

In the seven-game World Series, Dean pitched 26 innings, allowing just five earned runs for a 1.73 ERA. He pitched all nine innings of the Cardinals’ 8-3 Game 1 win, then took a tough-luck loss in Game 5 after allowing two earned runs over eight innings. With just one day of rest, Dean pitched the decisive Game 7, holding the Tigers to just six hits in a complete-game shutout.

Following Dean’s historic season, he was named National League MVP ahead of Pittsburgh’s Paul Waner, who placed second, and the Giants’ Jo-Jo Moore, Travis Jackson, and Mel Ott, who finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.

The Sporting News chose to honor Dean with a trophy presentation as part of one of the biggest days on the St. Louis baseball calendar. The Cardinals’ annual Tuberculosis Day carnival raised funds for the Tuberculosis and Health Society, which supported a variety of causes in the city. The fundraiser was so important to the city that union leadership, which was boycotting Sportsman’s Park over the employment of union bartenders and ushers, called a one-day halt to support the event. As the St. Louis Globe-Democrat explained, “The Central Trades and Labor Union, in raising the boycott, was influenced by the fact the Tuberculosis Society spends a great deal of its income to feed underprivileged children, some of whom come from union homes.”[1]

Tuberculosis and Health Society officials declared that the event would be “the largest and most spectacular in the history of the tuberculosis games,” including:

• a performance by 8-year-old trapeze artist Adele Inge;
• an exhibition by the Southwest Gymnastic Society;
• a niblick contest featuring golf stars Johnny and Jimmy Manion, Bob Cochran, Ben Richter, Lou Fehlig, George Dawson, Tom Draper, and Francis Schwartz;
• a race between 100- and 220-yard world record holder Helen Stephens, University City’s Harriet la Mertha, and U.S. Olympian Gertrude Webb;
• a model airplane contest;
• an exhibition by the Shriners Drum and Bugle Corps and Patrol;
• and a band concert.[2]

The extravaganza featured 3,000 total performers and attracted 16,000 fans to the stadium. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, “Women outnumbered the men in attendance by more than three to one, their bright dresses making a coat of many colors for the stands, and their voices during the closely contested ball game, adding a predominating, vibrant note.”[3]

Despite the positive spirit of the festivities and his accomplishments of the past year, Dean had attracted some controversy in recent days. One day earlier, on July 15, he had been slated to appear at an exhibition game in Springfield, Illinois. However, Dean’s scheduled start for the previous day was pushed back. As a result, he pitched all nine innings in the Cardinals’ 13-6 victory over the Braves. After showering, driving 2 ½ hours to Springfield, and stopping at a restaurant, Dean arrived late.

In his Post-Dispatch column, Dean explained:

They tell me in the spring that I am doin’ too many things and should ought to rest more and be sure to eat good nourishin’ food and not miss my meals on account of outside engagements. I try to remember all these things so when I hurry from pitchin’ a ballgame and goes to Springfield and ain’t had my dinner I figure I owe something to the ball club to be sure and eat nourishin’ food, so I goes to a restaurant and orders a steak. And what happens? Why, I get the blast because it seems a Governor and some other people was waitin’. But the Governor can’t pitch for us none and old Diz has got to stay in shape.[4]

Dean was scheduled to receive the MVP trophy from St. Louis Mayor Bernard Dickmann, but in a late change, Dickmann was replaced by Sporting News editor E.G. Brands. With the Braves and Cardinals gathered at home plate, Dean accepted the award and, after a fan loudly shouted, “Say something, you big weed jumper!” made a few brief remarks.[5]

“I want to thank the Sporting News for this trophy and I want to thank each and every St. Louis fan for the loyal support you have given me and I hope I will spend many more years here with the fans of St. Louis,” Dean said.^[6]

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported, “Dizzy’s speech won his public back, and they cheered loudly as he left the field.”[7]

In the game that followed, it was another Cardinals pitcher, Jesse Haines, who stole the show, allowing one run on eight hits in a complete-game victory. After the Braves’ Buck Jordan hit a first-inning home run, Bill DeLancey hit an RBI single and Terry Moore drove a run home on a fielder’s choice in the fourth. St. Louis won the game, 2-1.

A few days later, the Baseball Writers Association of America presented Dean with its National League MVP Award before a July 21 doubleheader against Brooklyn.[8]

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[1] “T.B. Charity Carnival to Be Staged Today at Sportsmans Park,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 16, 1935.

[2] “T.B. Charity Carnival to Be Staged Today at Sportsmans Park,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 16, 1935.

[3] “16,000 At Ball Game On Tuberculosis Day,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 17, 1935.

[4] Dizzy Dean, “Poppin’ Off,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 17, 1935.

[5] “16,000 Witness Colorful Events at T.B. Carnival,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 17, 1935.

[6] “Charity Day Race At Ball Park Won By Miss Stephens,” St. Louis Star and Times, July 16, 1935.

[7] “16,000 Witness Colorful Events at T.B. Carnival,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 17, 1935.

[8] “Writers Will Award Dean Trophy Sunday,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 17, 1935.

The post July 16, 1935: Dizzy Dean wins over the crowd as he accepts the NL MVP trophy first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Dean entered the game having won 11 of his last 12 decisions and each of his last four appearances. While Dean and his younger brother Paul were keeping the Cardinals in the pennant race, the Reds were mired at the bottom of the National League standings with a 21-44 record. Despite their season-long struggles, the Reds would prove a challenge for Dean and the Redbirds as the lead exchanged seven times in the 18-inning affair.

Dean and Cincinnati southpaw Tony Freitas exchanged zeros through the first three innings. Frankie Frisch got the Cardinals on the scoreboard in the fourth with an RBI single, but the Reds scored a run of their own with two singles and an RBI groundout in the bottom of the inning.

After Dean retired the first two batters of the fifth inning, the Reds rallied for three consecutive hits, including an RBI single by Gordon Slade and an RBI triple by Mark Koenig that gave Cincinnati a 3-1 lead.

St. Louis tied the score again in the top of the sixth. Pepper Martin led off the inning with a single, snapping an 0-for-11 slump, and scored on an RBI double by Frisch. With two outs, Ripper Collins singled into center field to score Frisch.

From there, the teams continued to trade runs. A sacrifice fly gave Cincinnati a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth before Martin hit a sacrifice fly of his own to tie the score in the seventh. In the bottom of the frame, Koenig doubled and former Cardinal Chick Hafey singled into right field to give the Reds a 5-4 lead. The Cardinals wouldn’t tie the score again until the ninth, when Chick Fullis hit a leadoff double and Leo Durocher singled into center field to drive him home.

Incredibly, Dean and Freitas exchanged scoreless innings until the top of the 17^th. With one out, Joe Medwick launched his eighth home run of the year over the wall and onto a factory roof across the street.[1]

“The Reds had a lot of fun kidding Ducky during batting practice before the warfare started about his recent light hitting, and they also kidded him a lot when little Tony Freitas fanned him in the second and fourth innings of the long game. But he had the last laugh on Bob O’Farrell’s crowd,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.[2]

Dean returned to the mound for the bottom of the 17^th inning holding a 6-5 lead, but after he retired the first two batters he faced, Tony Piet doubled to left and Slade hit an RBI single to tie the score yet again.

The Reds had replaced Freitas with a pinch hitter in the frame, so Paul Derringer entered the game for Cincinnati in the 18^th. With one out, Derringer walked Burgess Whitehead. Pat Crawford, called upon to pinch hit for Dean, singled into center before Martin popped up for the second out.

With Jack Rothrock at the plate, Derringer uncorked a wild pitch that advanced the runners to second and third. Rothrock took advantage of the opportunity, reaching on an infield single that scored the go-ahead run. Frisch followed with his fourth hit of the day, a single into center field that gave the Cardinals an 8-6 lead.

With a two-run lead to protect, the Cardinals called on Jim Lindsey, a journeyman reliever who had pitched for the Reds earlier that season. On May 23, the Reds traded Lindsey to St. Paul of the American Association to acquire Freitas. Two weeks later, the Cardinals purchased Lindsey from St. Paul and inserted him into the bullpen.

Lindsey’s former teammates didn’t make it easy for him. After Lindsey retired Hafey on a fly ball to center field, Jimmy Shevlin singled and Ernie Lombardi reached on an error. Lindsey retired Harlin Pool for the second out, but then walked Adam Comorosky to load the bases.

That brought former Cardinals slugger Jim Bottomley to the plate. The 34-year-old first baseman lifted a high fly into left field, and as the Cincinnati Enquirer described it:

When the ball left his bat it looked good for three bases and would have won the game then and there. But Medwick cut back toward the scoreboard like a startled hare, leaped high and came down with the ball tightly encased in his glove.[3]

Frisch led the Cardinals offense with four hits in eight at-bats, while Martin, Rothrock, and Collins had three hits apiece.

Dean improved to 13-3 on the season with the win, which tied him with the Braves’ Fred Frankhouse for the National League lead. Over 17 innings, Dean allowed six earned runs on 18 hits and seven walks. He struck out seven of the 75 batters he faced.

“Just where the Cardinals would be without those Dean boys is not so hard to figure out,” Jack Ryder wrote in the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Somewhere down in the second division, anyway.”^[4]

Lindsey earned the save.

Incredibly, after a game that lasted almost 4 ½ hours, the Cardinals and Reds had the second game of a double-header to play. That contest, which was played “just to keep faith with the fans who had been promised a double-header,”[5] the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, ended in a 2-2 tie after five innings before it was called due to darkness. Medwick drove in both the Cardinals’ runs with his second home run of the day.

“It was a great day, with a fine crowd and an abundance of remarkable plays, but 23 innings ought to be enough for the most confirmed fanatic,” Ryder wrote. “No one could complain that he didn’t get his money’s worth on this occasion, at least.”[6]

For the Reds, Freitas received no decision for his 17-inning performance, which included six earned runs on 17 hits and two walks. He struck out five. With the loss, Derringer fell to 4-10 on the season.

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[1] Jack Ryder, “Reds Lose First In Eighteenth — Second Game Tie Affair,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 2, 1934.

[2] “Dizzy Dean’s 18-Inning Victory Keeps Cards Near Front,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 2, 1934.

[3] Jack Ryder, “Reds Lose First In Eighteenth — Second Game Tie Affair,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 2, 1934.

[4] Jack Ryder, “Reds Lose First In Eighteenth — Second Game Tie Affair,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 2, 1934.

[5] Jack Ryder, “Reds Lose First In Eighteenth — Second Game Tie Affair,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 2, 1934.

[6] Jack Ryder, “Reds Lose First In Eighteenth — Second Game Tie Affair,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 2, 1934.

The post July 1, 1934: Dizzy Dean pitches 17 frames and Joe Medwick hits a game-winning homer in 18-inning marathon first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

His big brother, Dizzy Dean, had taken it upon himself to serve as Paul’s spokesperson, telling anyone who would listen that his little brother was an even better pitcher than he was, and predicting that together the Dean brothers would win 45 games that season.[1]

The early results, however, weren’t promising. Making his debut in the Cardinals’ second game of the season against the powerful Pirates lineup, Paul lasted just two innings, as Pie Traynor and Gus Suhr each homered and Lloyd Waner added an RBI single to give Pittsburgh an early 4-0 lead.

Seeking to lessen the pressure on his rookie pitcher, manager Frankie Frisch used Paul in relief in each of his next two appearances. In a 15-2 loss to the Cubs, Paul pitched the fourth and fifth innings, allowing two runs. Six days later, he pitched two more innings and allowed two more runs in a 7-1 loss vs. Chicago.

On May 3, Paul earned his first major-league victory, throwing five innings of relief as the Cardinals beat the Phillies 8-7. He didn’t pitch particularly well, allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks. Nonetheless, Frisch selected the younger Dean for a May 11 start against the defending world champion New York Giants and their ace pitcher – Carl Hubbell.

The 31-year-old Hubbell had won the National League MVP Award the previous year. With his left-handed delivery and baffling screwball, he had won 23 games and posted a 1.66 ERA over 308 2/3 innings.

Why did Frisch have confidence in Paul against arguably the best pitcher in the game? In The Gashouse Gang, John Heidenry writes that the Cardinals’ manager believed Paul “was trying to imitate his brother instead of developing his own style. The younger Dean also lacked Dizzy’s enormous self-confidence, which no number of defeats, no criticism from colleagues, no taunting from opponents could erode.”[2]

To boost that confidence, Frisch invited Paul to his dining car as the team traveled by train between cities.

“We open with the Giants in about a week and you’re going to start the third game,” Frisch said. “Those Giants will be tough, but smart pitching can beat them. Let’s analyze their batting form.”[3]

Together, the Cardinals’ 36-year-old player/manager and the 21-year-old rookie pitcher spent the next two hours discussing the Giants lineup, with Frisch standing into the aisle to imitate the Giants’ batting stances. Through the entire conversation, Frisch never once mentioned Paul’s brother; instead, he emphasized his primary message: that Paul had the talent to beat the Giants.[4]

The Cardinals put that message to the test in front of 6,500 fans at Sportsman’s Park on May 11.

Paul worked himself out of trouble in the first inning. Jo-Jo Moore drew a leadoff walk before Paul struck out Lefty O’Doul and Bill Terry. Mell Ott hit a two-out single to advance Moore to third base, but Paul got Travis Jackson to fly out to center field for the final out.

The Cardinals gave Paul some early run support when Pepper Martin led off the bottom of the first with a double and Frisch tripled to drive him in. Ripper Collins singled to score Frisch and gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.

The Giants got on the scoreboard with three more hits in the second inning. Blondy Ryan led off with a single to center, then scored with a two-out double by Moore. From there, both pitchers settled down for the long haul.

Paul retired the side in order in the third and worked around a two-out walk to Paul Richards in the fourth. In the fifth, O’Doul singled and stole second, but Dean retired Ott on a fly ball to right field to end the inning.

In the sixth, the Giants loaded the bases with one out before Hubbell drove Ryan home with a sacrifice fly to right field.

With the score tied 2-2, Paul worked out of trouble again in the seventh. O’Doul led off the inning with a single and Terry reached base on an error by Martin at third base. After Ott laid down a bunt to advance O’Doul to third, Travis Jackson hit a ground ball to third and Martin made up for his earlier misplay, throwing O’Doul out at the plate. Paul then retired Ryan on a ground ball force out.

Paul retired all three batters he faced in the eighth, then worked around a leadoff single by Moore in the ninth. Hubbell matched Paul pitch for pitch, retiring Joe Medwick, Collins, and Spud Davis in order in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

In the 10^th, Paul retired the side in order. In the Cardinals’ half of the inning, Leo Durocher hit a one-out double, then advanced to third when Ryan misplayed a pop fly off Paul’s bat. Hubbell chose to intentionally walk Martin to face right fielder Jack Rothrock, who was 0-for-4 on the day.

It proved a poor decision for the Giants. Rothrock singled to left, and Ernie Orsatti, in the game as a pinch runner for Durocher, scored the game-winning run. With the victory, the Cardinals continued a streak that included five consecutive wins and victories in 12 of their last 13 games.

Hubbell fell to 4-2 on the season after allowing three earned runs in 9 1/3 innings.

Dean, meanwhile, improved to 2-0 with two earned runs allowed over 10 innings. As Doug Feldmann wrote in Dizzy Dean and the Gas House Gang, “Paul Dean had proven that he was here to stay, and gained some more respect from the rest of the Cardinals for his performance.”[5]

Paul’s performance certainly caught the attention of New York Daily News sports reporter Jimmy Powers.

“When you hand either Paul or Jerome (Dizzy) a baseball and tell them they are to pitch a nine-inning contest they more or less mechanically turn in an excellent job,” Powers wrote after Paul and Dizzy each defeated the Giants during a three-game series later that month. “If you tell them they are to pitch against the New York Giants their eyes glow fanatically, they snatch the horsehide away from you and they stride out to the mound with nostrils breathing fire.

“Until the world champs appeared in St. Louis the younger Dean was just another performer. Most of the western clubs had knocked him out of the box. Now, he is made. He has beaten us twice and so has his bigger brother. Both are Texans, both are tank towners and both look upon themselves as consecrated Saint Georges turning back the Metropolitan dragons. If the Giants do not win the pennant this summer and the Cardinals do, you can credit the remarkable Deans.”[6]

Powers’ words proved prophetic. Trailing the Giants by as many as seven games on Sept. 6, the Cardinals made a furious rally in the season’s final weeks. On Sept. 28, Dizzy Dean shut out the Reds to move the Cardinals into a tie with the Giants. The following day, Paul Dean earned the win in a 6-1 victory to give St. Louis the lead, and in the season finale, Dizzy threw another shutout to clinch the pennant and secure his 30^th win of the season.

The Cardinals went on to defeat the Detroit Tigers in a seven-game World Series, and the legend of the Gas House Gang was born.

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[1] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang, PublicAffairs, Kindle file, Page 68.

[2] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang, PublicAffairs, Kindle file, Page 114.

[3] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang, PublicAffairs, Kindle file, Page 114.

[4] John Heidenry (2007), The Gashouse Gang, PublicAffairs, Kindle file, Page 114.

[5] Doug Feldman (2015), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang, McFarland, Kindle file, Page 73.

[6] Jimmy Powers, “The Deans Are Mad!” New York Daily News, May 24, 1934.

The post May 11, 1934: Paul Dean turns his rookie season around first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Babe Ruth, the premier slugger of his era, played his final season with the New York Yankees. As Ruth’s career was winding down, young Dizzy Dean vaulted to the national spotlight. As the Oklahoma farmboy led the Gashouse Gang to the World Series championship, he charmed fans across the nation with his boyish charisma and lighthearted antics.

Dean was a fan of Ruth and even called the Yankees slugger after his Game 1 World Series victory over the Detroit Tigers, inviting him to stop by the Cardinals’ clubhouse.[1] After the series concluded, no less an authority than Grantland Rice, known as the “Dean of American Sports Writers” (no pun intended), wrote that Dean’s legacy would come to match those of Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Ty Cobb in the years ahead.

“As Babe Ruth fades out, the bounding Deans arrive just in time to fill the gap against the skyline,” Rice wrote.[2]

Though everyone expected Ruth to retire at the end of the season, the Boston Braves offered him an opportunity to extend his career as a player, assistant manager, and team vice president. When Dean and the Cardinals squared off against Boston on May 5, 1935, at Braves Field, the 40-year-old Ruth was penciled in at left field, batting third in the lineup.

Dean entered the game with a 2-2 record and a 2.08 ERA, and quickly overpowered the Braves, who would finish last in the National League with a 38-115 record. Dean retired Billy Urbanski and Buck Jordan, then respectfully tipped his cap as Ruth stepped to the plate.[3] Ruth drew a walk before Dean retired Wally Berger.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second inning. Catcher Spud Davis hit an RBI triple to score Ripper Collins, and Terry Moore followed with a two-run homer. With two outs, Dean strolled to the plate. With the Boston fans greeting him with a mix of cheers and boos, he gave the crowd a bow before hitting a slow curve into the stands in left center field.[4] Following Dean’s home run, Jack Rothrock hit an RBI double and Charlie Wilson brought him home with a single.

“From that point, it was a gallop for Dizzy,” sports editor Sid C. Keener wrote for the St. Louis Star and Times. “He laughed and joked with the Braves.”[5]

In the fourth inning, Dean still held a 6-0 lead when he struck out Ruth with a high fastball[6] for his ninth consecutive out. Two innings later, Collins tripled and Terry Moore hit a sacrifice fly to left to extend the Cardinals’ lead to 7-0.

In the bottom of the sixth, Ruth led off the inning with a groundout to the shortstop. After the inning ended, Braves manager Bill McKechnie replaced Ruth with Joe Mowry.

“I hated stealin’ the show from him like that,” Dean later said, referring to Ruth.[7]

Dean worked around a single and a walk in the ninth inning to secure the complete-game victory. He improved to 3-2 on the season while scattering 10 hits and striking out three. Ed Brandt took the loss for Boston.

Exactly two weeks later, on May 19, Dean and Ruth met again for the second and final time. One day earlier, Dean injured his right knee during practice, and there were fears that the injury might prevent him from making his start against Ruth and the Braves.[8]

When game time came, however, Dean was ready for the rematch. He struck out Ruth in the first inning, but the veteran made up for it when he raced to deep left field and leaped to catch a deep drive off Collins’ bat.

“It was a great catch, reminiscent of the kind Babe used to make in his heyday as a star,” Ray J. Gillespie wrote for the St. Louis Star and Times. “The play brought down the place in thunderous applause, and the big fellow doffed his cap and smiled broadly as he marched to the dugout between innings.”[9]

Ruth hit sharply into an inning-ending double play in the third, then grounded out to Dean and hit a foul pop fly to third base. He finished the day 0-for-4, dropping his batting average for the season to .156.

Dean again pitched a complete game, allowing three runs on seven hits, including a two-run homer by Randy Moore.

Dean led the league with 28 wins in 1935. His 325 1/3 innings pitched and 190 strikeouts also paced the circuit as he finished second in the National League MVP voting behind Gabby Hartnett.

Ruth played in just 25 games in 1935, batting .181 with six homers and 12 RBIs. Less than a week after facing Dean for the final time, on May 25, Ruth hit three homers and drove in six runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ruth’s third homer of the day, the 714^th and final blast of his incredible career, cleared the right field roof for the longest home run ever hit at Forbes Field.[10]

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[1] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and Depression-Era Baseball, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC, 147.

[2] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and Depression-Era Baseball, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC, 171.

[3] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and Depression-Era Baseball, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC, 175.

[4] Sid C. Keener, “Cards, Two Games Behind Leading Giants, Oppose Robins Next,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 6, 1935.

[5] Sid C. Keener, “Cards, Two Games Behind Leading Giants, Oppose Robins Next,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 6, 1935.

[6] Associated Press, “Dizzy Toys With Braves As Cards Triumph, 7-0,” St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, May 6, 1935.

[7] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and Depression-Era Baseball, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC, 176.

[8] “Dizzy Dean Hurt In Fall, But He May Pitch Today,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 19, 1935.

[9] Ray J. Gillespie, “Dizzy Dean and Ruth Provide Thrills As Cards Trim Braves 7 To 3,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 20, 1935.

[10] Allan Wood, “Babe Ruth,” Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/babe-ruth/.

The post May 5, 1935: Dizzy Dean faces Babe Ruth first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

One year prior, Dean had been pitching while stationed with the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston outside San Antonio. There, he was discovered by a bird-dog scout and signed by the Cardinals. In his first season in Branch Rickey’s farm system, the Cardinals sent him to the St. Joseph (Mo.) Saints in the Class A Western League.

In his first year in organized baseball, Dean went 17-8 with a 3.69 ERA over 217 innings. With the Houston Buffaloes of the Texas League vying for a pennant, the Cardinals sent Dean there, where he went 8-2 with a 2.86 ERA in 85 innings. Cardinals manager Gabby Street called Dean “the nearest thing to Walter Johnson I ever saw,”[1] and in September, the Cardinals called him up to St. Louis, where the team was in the midst of a pennant race with the Chicago Cubs.

With a 10-5 victory over the Pirates on September 26, the Cardinals clinched the National League title. Two days later, on September 28, Dean took the mound for the Cardinals’ regular-season finale. In the words of St. Louis Star and Times reporter Walter W. Smith, “this unseasoned rookie startled the baseball world with a spectacular three-hit shutout of the Pirates.”[2]

Prior to the game, St. Louis mayor Victor Miller, seated in a box seat near the field, called Street over to ask him about the Cardinals’ new pitcher.

“Mr. Mayor, I think he’s going to be a great pitcher, but I’m afraid we’ll never know from one minute to the next what he’s going to do.”[3]

Smith described Dean as “a tall, gangling youth, with huge hands that dangle from grotesquely long arms,” and indicated that his nickname came as a result of his unusual windup, one of several stories that circulated over the course of Dean’s career. “Ready to deliver a pitch, he whirls his right arm around his head like the lash of a whip, then throws with a sweeping sidearm motion, baffling to the batter and amusing to the crowd.”[4]

Before the game, Dean lost his shoes and was forced to borrow a pair from fellow pitcher Burleigh Grimes. Perhaps this briefly affected his performance, or he was simply nervous about pitching in front of an estimated 22,000 fans for the first time, but Dean struggled in the first inning.

He walked Pirates leadoff hitter Gus Dugas to lead off the game, then got center fielder Paul Waner to ground out to second base. Dean issued his second walk of the inning to George Grantham before cleanup hitter Pie Traynor followed with an RBI single.

Pittsburgh’s Adam Comorosky struck a ground ball that Cardinals third baseman Sparky Adams fielded cleanly and threw home to catcher Earl Smith, who tagged Grantham for the second out of the inning. Pirates first baseman Grant Suhr ended the inning when he lined out to Jim Bottomley at first base.

If Dean was nervous in his first inning of major league action, he settled down in the second and third innings, retiring all six Pirates in order.

“Dizzy and me were sitting side by side on the bench,” Grimes said. “He was as unconcerned as if he was tossing rocks at a mud turtle in the Meremac River.”[5]

In the bottom of the third, the Cardinals took the lead for their rookie pitcher. Pirates pitcher Larry French retired Earl Smith before Charlie Gelbert singled into center field. Dean, who had hit .279 for St. Joseph that season, followed with a single into right.

With runners on first and second, Cardinals leadoff hitter Taylor Douthit doubled into right, scoring Gelbert and bringing Dean to third. With one out, Sparky Adams hit a ground ball to second base that appeared primed to become the second out, but Dean started for the plate, drawing the throw home as he retreated to third base. With Adams safe at first, third baseman Andy High followed with an RBI groundout that scored Dean and gave the Cardinals the lead.

Three innings later, Chick Hafey added a sacrifice fly to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead. That would prove more than enough run support for Dean.

Dean allowed a single to Traynor to lead off the fourth inning, then retired the next 11 batters he faced. In the seventh, Pirates shortstop Ben Sankey hit a two-run single, and in the eighth Waner drew a walk. They proved the final baserunners the Pirates managed, as Dean retired the side in order in the ninth, striking out Suhr to cap off his first career victory.

Over nine innings, Dean held the Pirates to one run on three hits, striking out five while walking three in the 3-1 win.

“The youngster showed a burning speed, a wide, sweeping curve, a clever change of pace and, best of all, unusual control for a rookie,” Smith wrote in assessing Dean’s debut in the St. Louis Star and Times.

In the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Martin J. Haley wrote that Dean “was pitching as if a veteran campaigner. Besides poise, he had tremendous speed, a fast curve and, lo and behold for a youngster, a change of pace which he employed smartly.”[6]

With the win, St. Louis finished the regular season with a 92-62 record, two games ahead of the Cubs. Facing a Philadelphia Athletics team led by Lefty Grove, Jimmie Foxx, and Mickey Cochrane, the Cardinals fell to the defending World Series champions in six games.

“Dean’s brilliant performance made one thing certain,” Smith wrote. “The Cardinals must give him a chance to prove his caliber next spring. He is not on the list of players eligible for the World Series, and sound baseball strategy would not permit the use of a raw recruit even if he were, but he cannot be denied a fair chance next year.”[7]

Despite Smith’s prediction, Dean spent the 1931 season with the Cardinals’ Class A affiliate in Houston, possibly as punishment as punishment for Dean’s habit of charging purchases totaling more than $2,700 to the ballclub.

In Houston, Dean went 26-10 with a 1.57 ERA over 304 innings. Finally, in 1932, the Cardinals could no longer afford to keep Dean in the minors. In his rookie campaign, he led the National League in innings pitched (286), shutouts (four), and strikeouts (191). Dean would lead the league in strikeouts in each of the next three seasons.

In 1933, Dean won 20 games in the first of four consecutive seasons in which he would reach that milestone. The following year, he would lead the Gashouse Gang to the 1934 World Series championship, going 30-7 en route to the National League MVP Award.

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[1] Walter W. Smith, “‘Dizzy’ Dean stars as Cards finish 1930 season here,” St. Louis Star and Times, September 29, 1930: Page 14.

[2] Walter W. Smith, “‘Dizzy’ Dean stars as Cards finish 1930 season here,” St. Louis Star and Times, September 29, 1930: Page 14.

[3] Doug Feldmann (2000), Dizzy and the Gas House Gang, McFarland, Kindle File, 34.

[4] Walter W. Smith, “‘Dizzy’ Dean stars as cards finish 1930 season here,” St. Louis Star and Times, September 29, 1930: Page 14.

[5] Robert Gregory, Diz: The Story of Dizzy Dean and Baseball During the Great Depression (New York: Viking, 1992), 50.

[6] Martin J. Haley, “Rookie Dean stops Bucs with 3 hits, Birds win, 3-1,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 29, 1930: Page 1.

[7] Walter W. Smith, “‘Dizzy’ Dean stars as Cards finish 1930 season here,” St. Louis Star and Times, September 29, 1930: Page 14.

The post Dizzy Dean makes his major league debut: September 28, 1930 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

You may sing the praises of Mickey Cochrane’s Tigers and the glory of the Giants from the housetops. Tell the story of Lynwood (Schoolboy) Rowe and the saga of Carl Hubbell, the wizardry of Grover Alexander and the blinding speed of Walter Johnson, but brother, if you were at Ebbetts Field yesterday, you’ve got something to tell your children.[1]

It wasn’t often in 1934 that someone managed to steal the show from Dizzy Dean, but on September 21, 1934, his brother managed the trick on a day that only served to bolster the legend of the incredible Dean brothers.

Both games were make-ups for games that were rained out earlier in the month. Before the double-header started, the Deans were speaking to a reporter in the visitor’s dugout when they were asked who would pitch the first game.

“I’m supposed to,” Dizzy said, “but I don’t feel so good. How about you taking it, Paul?”

“OK with me,” Paul responded. “Where’s the boss?”

Frankie Frisch, the Cardinals’ second baseman/manager, was just emerging onto the field and began to take infield drills. Before his pregame routine was complete, however, the Deans already had lost interest.

“Well, I guess there’s no help for it,” Dizzy said as he walked off to begin warming up.[2]

However well Dizzy was feeling, he went on to throw 7 1/3 no-hit innings in a 13-0 blowout. With one out in the eighth, Buzz Boyle beat out a slow roller to the shortstop. In the next inning, Sam Leslie and Joe Stripp each singled before Al Lopez reached on an error by Pepper Martin at third base. With the bases loaded, Dizzy ended the threat by striking out Nick Tremark for his 27^th win of the year.

“I didn’t know that I had a no-hitter,” Dizzy said. “I was way out in front and I was just coasting along. Boy, if I had known that I was so near to a no-hitter, I’d have given those Dodgers so much smoke and such fancy curves that they wouldn’t have even seen the ball.”[3]

Ripper Collins led the Cardinals’ offense with four hits and six RBIs, including a two-run single in the first inning, an RBI double in the third, a two-run home run in the fourth, and another RBI double in the sixth. Frankie Frisch and Spud Davis drove in two runs apiece, and Jack Rothrock added two hits and three runs scored.

With their win streak now up to five games, 21-year-old rookie Paul Dean and the Cardinals matched up against Ray Benge and the Dodgers. After Benge retired the Cardinals in order in the first, Paul issued a two-out walk to Len Koenecke before retiring Leslie on a fly ball.

“I’ve pitched better ball games in my career than the one today,” Paul said afterwards, “but everything went my way. It seemed that I was always ahead of the hitters, all but Koenecke, whom I walked in the first inning. I had him 3-and-2 and inasmuch as he tagged me for an extra-base hit last month in St. Louis, I wasn’t going to give him anything good.”[4]

Benge kept pace with Paul until the top of the sixth inning, when the younger Dean helped his own cause with a one-out double into center field. Pepper Martin followed with a double to left, and though he was thrown out at third by the center fielder Koenecke, Paul scored on the play to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

One inning later, Joe Medwick doubled to left field and scored on an RBI single to right by Collins. In the seventh, Paul had his closest call of the game as Leslie lifted a fly ball to deep left field that required Medwick to make a running, one-handed catch.[5]

“When did I first think about (a no-hitter)?” Paul said. “Why, after I got the first three outs of the game in the first inning. I said to myself as I went back to the dugout, ‘Well, no hits so far,’ and after the second inning I said the same thing.

“Then after a couple more innings I started to talk to (rookie catcher Bill) DeLancey about it. We’re roommates and I think a lot of him and we told each other after each inning that there wasn’t no hits yet. After six innings I said to Dee that if we could bear down just a little bit longer, we’d have a no-hit game for the room. Dee thought it was a good idea and we both cut the pie at each other when Medwick goes out near the bleacher wall in that seventh inning and comes up with Leslie’s fly, which was well rickety-cacked.”[6]

Paul Dean struck out two of the three batters he faced in the eighth, and in the top of the ninth Collins drove in his eighth run of the day on a ground ball that scored Medwick.

Down 3-0 in the bottom of the ninth and still seeking the Dodgers’ first hit, Casey Stengel called on Jim Bucher to pinch hit for Lopez. The move didn’t work, however, as Paul recorded his sixth and final strikeout of the game.

After Paul got the final strike, coach Miguel Gonzales, who caught Jesse Haines when he threw the first no-hitter in Cardinals history 10 years earlier, yelled at Paul, “Two more and you’ll get Dizzy jealous!”[7]

“I was pouring that ball through there in the late innings,” Paul said. “How did you like them strikes I throwed to Bucher? … He ain’t never saw anything I thrun.”[8]

The next batter also was a pinch hitter, as Johnny McCarthy came in to bat for Benge. McCarthy popped out to Frisch at second base, leaving Boyle between Paul and history.

“I was thinking it would be kinda nice to have the no-hitter, but if Boyle had been man enough to sock one, I’d have taken it without any crying,” Paul said.[9]

The Cardinals rookie never had to find out, as Boyle hit a sharp ground ball to Leo Durocher at shortstop, who blocked the ball with his chest[10] and recovered to throw Boyle out for the final out of the game.

With the game won, fans mobbed the field to congratulate the younger Dean. Delancey raced out to the mound to hand him the historic ball, but it briefly was stolen by a fan. One of the officers on duty, Jimmy Curran, grabbed the fan and the ball and returned the memento.[11]

“My curve was breaking good and as the game went along I felt looser and better,” Paul said. “I got faster as I went along and the funniest thing to me was that I wasn’t a bit tired when it was all over. I didn’t feel like I’d done no work at all. The fellows on the bench and the other players in the game acted like they’d been under a great strain and they kept sighing and heaving that they was glad it was all over, but I didn’t feel none of that. I felt like I could have pitched a couple more games.”[12]

Paul’s no-hitter was the first in the majors since Cleveland’s Wes Ferrell and Washington’s Bob Burke accomplished the feat, and the first Cardinals no-hitter since Jesse Haines did it 10 years earlier. Despite the accomplishment, Paul said his biggest thrill of the game was his offensive performance.

“I guess those two hits I got will knock Dizz off for a while,” he said. “Did I hit those or didn’t I? I never hit so good in my life. That single to right was good, but that double that I larruped out there to left-center was what I got a big kick out of. Yes sir. I guess Dizz won’t talk about his hitting for a while after those two wallops.”[13]

Of course, that didn’t mean that Dizzy Dean didn’t have anything to say. The two wins not only kept the Cardinals within three games of the New York Giants for the National League lead, but it meant that the Deans already had combined for 45 of the Cardinals’ 88 wins, matching a preseason prediction from Dizzy.

“Even Dizzy wasn’t dizzy enough to predict that the 45^th would be a no-hitter,” Durocher said.[14]

In later years, legend would allege that Dizzy told his brother, “Shucks, Paul, you shoulda told me you was gonna pitch a no-hitter, then I woulda pitched one too!” While the quote appears in Milton Shapiro’s The Dizzy Dean Story, published almost 30 years later in 1963, none of the papers covering the game appear to have recorded the anecdote.

What was indisputable, however, was that the Cardinals would end up winning 13 of their final 15 games to catch the Giants and win the National League by two games. Facing the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, Dizzy and Paul would each win a pair of games, including Dizzy’s Game 7 shutout to win the third world championship in St. Louis Cardinals history.

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[1] Bill McCullough, “Dean Brothers Wrote Mound History With Double Win Over Dodgers,” Brooklyn Times-Union, September 22, 1934: Page 1A.

[2] Tommy Holmes, “Dean Brothers Bubbling Over With Fame,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 22, 1934: Page 6.

[3] J. Roy Stockton, “Paul Dean First St. Louis No-Hit Pitcher Since 1924,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1934: Page 1B.

[4] Bill McCullough, “Dean Brothers Wrote Mound History With Double Win Over Dodgers,” Brooklyn Times-Union, September 22, 1934: Page 1A.

[5] Tommy Holmes, “Dean Brothers Bubbling Over With Fame,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 22, 1934: Page 6.

[6] J. Roy Stockton, “Paul Dean First St. Louis No-Hit Pitcher Since 1924,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1934: Page 1B.

[7] Bill McCullough, “Dean Brothers Wrote Mound History With Double Win Over Dodgers,” Brooklyn Times-Union, September 22, 1934: Page 2A.

[8] J. Roy Stockton, “Paul Dean First St. Louis No-Hit Pitcher Since 1924,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1934: Page 1B.

[9] J. Roy Stockton, “Paul Dean First St. Louis No-Hit Pitcher Since 1924,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1934: Page 1B.

[10] Bill McCullough, “Dean Brothers Wrote Mound History With Double Win Over Dodgers,” Brooklyn Times-Union, September 22, 1934: Page 1A.

[11] Bill McCullough, “Dean Brothers Wrote Mound History With Double Win Over Dodgers,” Brooklyn Times-Union, September 22, 1934: Page 1A.

[12] J. Roy Stockton, “Paul Dean First St. Louis No-Hit Pitcher Since 1924,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1934: Page 1B.

[13] J. Roy Stockton, “Paul Dean First St. Louis No-Hit Pitcher Since 1924,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1934: Page 1B.

[14] Tommy Holmes, “Dean Brothers Bubbling Over With Fame,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 22, 1934: Page 6.

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