I’ve done many replays using the APBA Baseball Game, but (while it might be heresy) I also like the occasional game of Strat-O-Matic 1They’re the Coke and Pepsi of card and dice sports simulation games. . With this year’s Fall Classic not far off, I thought I’d see how a Strat replay of the 1934 World Series 2Still called by many, including The Sporting News, the “World’s Series” at that time. would go.
That was the year the irrepressible Dizzy Dean won 30 games 3Sort of. Two of his victories would not qualify under today’s rules, or even rules of the time had there been formally codified guidelines about such things. and the National League’s Most Valuable Player award, while captivating a nation still struggling with the Great Depression. His brother, Paul, known as “Daffy,” won 19 more, fulfilling Diz’s promise that “Me and Paul are gonna win 45 games.”
The Cardinals won 95 games in 1934 and edged the defending series champs, the New York Giants, by two games to win the National League pennant. Their opponents were the Detroit Tigers, who went 101-53 and finished seven games ahead of the Yankees in the American League. In real life, the Gas House Gang won a dramatic seven-game series. What would happen in Strat?
Diz Pitches, Hits Cardinals To First-Game Win
DETROIT (Oct. 3, 1934) – Dizzy Dean didn’t have the great stuff he had in winning 30 games for the National League champion Cardinals, but he had enough on the mound and at the plate to lead St. Louis to a 6-4 win over the Detroit Tigers in the first game of the 1934 World’s Series Wednesday afternoon at Navin Field.
After giving up a home run to Charlie Gehringer and a run-scoring single to Goose Goslin, both with two out in the first, Dean kept a third-inning Cardinal rally going with a double to left center field off Tiger starter General Crowder that sent Leo Durocher to third. “The Lip” scored from there on a fly ball by Jack Rothrock to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Dean wasn’t finished at the bat. After Bill Delancey tied the game with a two-out solo home run in the fourth, Dizzy doubled again to bring home Ernie Orsatti with the go-ahead run. A two-run shot by Ripper Collins in the fifth gave St. Louis a 5-2 lead, but the American League champs plated two in the bottom of the frame. Goslin singled home Jo-Jo White and Billy Rogell doubled over Collins’ head at first to score Goslin and make it 5-4.
From that point on, though, Dean retired 12 of the final 15 men he faced and even drove in an insurance run with a fly ball in the eighth. After walking Mickey Cochrane with two out in the bottom of the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, Dean coaxed a soft ground ball to first off Gehringer’s bat to seal the win for St. Louis.
Despite giving up 11 hits (five in the first inning alone), Dean did what he had to do, and in going 3-for-4 with 2 RBI at the plate, further cemented his legend.
Bill Hallahan, who went 8-12 for St. Louis will face Detroit’s 24-game winner, Schoolboy Rowe, in the second game Thursday afternoon before the series shifts to St. Louis.
1934 WORLD SERIES GAME 1
1934 St. Louis Cardinals 6, 1934 Detroit Tigers 4
Wednesday, October 3, 1934
1934 St. Louis Cardinals (1-0) 1934 Detroit Tigers (0-1)
Player AB R H BI BB SO P A E LOB Ave Player AB R H BI BB SO P A E LOB Ave
------ -- - - -- -- -- - - - --- --- ------ -- - - -- -- -- - - - --- ---
Martin 3b 4 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 3 .000 White cf 3 1 2 0 2 0 3 0 0 0 .667
Rothrock rf 5 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 .000 Cochrane c 4 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 .000
Frisch 2b 5 1 2 0 0 0 3 5 0 1 .400 Gehringer 2b 5 2 2 1 0 0 2 4 0 2 .400
Medwick lf 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 Greenberg 1b 4 1 2 0 0 2 12 0 0 0 .500
Collins 1b 4 1 1 2 0 0 13 0 0 0 .250 Goslin lf 4 0 2 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 .500
DeLancey c 3 1 2 1 1 0 5 0 0 0 .667 Rogell ss 4 0 3 1 0 0 3 4 0 0 .750
Orsatti cf 4 2 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 .500 Owen 3b 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 0 2 .000
Durocher ss 3 1 2 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 .667 Fox rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 .000
D Dean p 4 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .750 Crowder p 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 .000
Walker ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
-- - - -- -- -- -- -- -- --- -- - - -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
Totals 37 6 12 6 3 1 27 12 0 7 Totals 35 4 11 4 4 5 27 12 0 8
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
1934 St. Louis Cardinals 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 6 12 0
1934 Detroit Tigers 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 11 0
LOB- 1934 St. Louis Cardinals 7, 1934 Detroit Tigers 8
2B- D Dean 2(2), Orsatti(1), Greenberg(1), Rogell(1)
HR- Collins(1), DeLancey(1), Gehringer(1)
RBI- Collins 2(2), D Dean 2(2), DeLancey(1), Rothrock(1), Gehringer(1), Goslin 2(2), Rogell(1)
GIDP- Frisch(1), Medwick(1), Cochrane(1), Owen(1), Rogell(1)
RLSP- Frisch, Martin 2, Rothrock 2, Cochrane, Fox 2, Gehringer, Owen 2
DP- 1934 St. Louis Cardinals 3, 1934 Detroit Tigers 2
1934 St. Louis Cardinals IP H R ER BB SO ERA
D Dean(W 1-0) 9.0 11 4 4 4 5 4.00
1934 Detroit Tigers IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Crowder(L 0-1) 9.0 12 6 6 3 1 6.00
Batters faced- Dean 39, Crowder 40
Umpires- Klem, Geisel, Reardon
T - :36
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