Travel day? Who needs a whole travel day? The Cardinals and Tigers got on a train after Game Two of my Strat-O-Matic replay of the 1934 World’s Series and headed the 550 miles or so west and south to St. Louis1Today the trip would take around 11 hours on Amtrak; in 1934, it would likely have taken longer. to play the next day at Sportsman’s Park.
The park (which had become the third concrete and steel ballpark in the majors in 1909) was home to both the Cardinals and the American League’s Browns from 1920 to 1952, when the Browns decamped to Baltimore. In anticipation of a World Series, Browns’ owner Phil Ball expanded the structure from 24,040 to 34,023 in 1926, but the Cardinals took advantage of it that fall and in 1928, 1930 and 1931, with the Browns only reaching the series in 1944 – against their tenants, the Cardinals.
The Cardinals sent Paul Dean to the mound for the third game against Detroit’s Tommy Bridges. Dizzy’s younger brother went 19-11 as a rookie2And would go 19-12 in 1935. Only one pitcher – Dave Ferris of the 1945-46 Red Sox – has won 19 or more games in each of his first two years since Daffy did it., while Bridges was starting a three-year stretch in which he would win 22, 21 and 23 games.
Here’s the story of the third game.
Pepper Shakes Series Up: Martin’s Double Key for Cards
ST. LOUIS (Oct. 5, 1934) – Pepper Martin’s two-run double in the seventh broke a 2-2 tie and spurred the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-2 win over the Detroit Tigers Friday afternoon at Sportsman’s Park, giving the National League champions a 2-1 lead in the 1934 World’s Series.
The Cardinals’ Paul Dean and the Tigers’ Tommy Bridges were locked in a scoreless pitcher’s duel until the bottom of the sixth, when the Cardinals’ hurler reached on an error by Charlie Gehringer, moved to second on a Martin sacrifice and scored on a single by Jack Rothrock.
Dean then gave the lead right back in the top of the seventh, allowing a double by Mickey Cochrane that plated Jo-Jo White and seeing Cochrane score on Hank Greenberg’s ground ball double play.
Bridges couldn’t hold that 2-1 advantage. He gave up a leadoff single to Ripper Collins in the bottom of the frame, then loaded the bases by giving up a one-out single to Ernie Orsatti and a walk to Leo Durocher. Dean grounded out to short to score Collins with the tying run, and Martin followed with a double to right center that put the Cardinals up 4-2.
Player-manager Frankie Frisch homered off Luke Hamlin leading off the eighth for a 5-2 lead, but the win was not secured until Dean got Goose Goslin to foul out to catcher Bill Delancey with runners on first and second and two out in the top of the ninth.
With the Cardinals now leading two games to one, Frisch will send 16-game winner Tex Carleton to the hill against Detroit’s Elden Auker for Game Four Saturday afternoon.
1934 WORLD SERIES GAME 3
1934 St. Louis Cardinals 5, 1934 Detroit Tigers 2
Friday, October 5, 1934
1934 Detroit Tigers (1-2) 1934 St. Louis Cardinals (2-1)
Player AB R H BI BB SO P A E LOB Ave Player AB R H BI BB SO P A E LOB Ave
------ -- - - -- -- -- - - - --- --- ------ -- - - -- -- -- - - - --- ---
White cf 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .200 Martin 3b 3 0 1 2 0 1 1 4 0 0 .167
Cochrane c 4 1 1 1 0 1 6 0 0 0 .083 Rothrock rf 4 0 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 .214
Gehringer 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 2 1 0 .385 Frisch 2b 4 1 2 1 0 0 3 4 0 0 .385
Greenberg 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 6 1 0 0 .455 Medwick lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 .154
Goslin lf 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 2 .364 Collins 1b 4 1 1 0 0 1 13 0 0 1 .167
Rogell ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 .300 DeLancey c 4 0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 .545
Owen 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 .200 Orsatti cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 .417
Fox rf 3 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .182 Durocher ss 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 5 1 0 .444
Bridges p 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 .000 P Dean p 3 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000
Walker ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Hamlin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
-- - - -- -- -- -- -- -- --- -- - - -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
Totals 29 2 4 1 3 3 24 8 1 3 Totals 32 5 9 5 1 6 27 13 1 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
1934 Detroit Tigers 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 4 1
1934 St. Louis Cardinals 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 x 5 9 1
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