The Cardinals (95-58) won the NL pennant despite numerous distractions.

• Player-manager Frankie Frisch added not a few gray hairs to his 37-year-old head during the season.
• His primary headache was star P, Jay Hanna Dean, who more than lived up to his nickname of "Dizzy" that season. The following links tell some of the story:
  Diz's Interesting '34 | Down the Stretch in '34
• The cast of characters would ultimately - during the 1935 season - be labeled the "Gashouse Gang," arguably the most famous team in baseball history or at least #2 behind the 1927 Yankees, the "Bronx Bombers.".
• Led by Dean's 30 victories - the last time that feat has been achieved in the NL - the Red­birds won the pennant by two games on the last weekend over the Giants, who had led most of the season.

The Detroit Tigers (101-53) were dull by comparison to the Cardinals but just as ruthless between the lines.

• The aging Yankees in Babe Ruth's last year in pinstripes finished seven games behind the Tigers, who led the Junior Circuit in runs and finished second in fewest runs allowed.
• Like their World Series opponent, the Tigers had a player-manager, C Mickey Cochrane, who was acquired that winter from the Philadelphia A's.
• Detroit boasted one of the greatest infields in the history of baseball. Charles P. Ward of the Detroit Free Press christened the foursome "the Battalion of Death."
  1B Hank Greenberg, "still an awkward young slugger": .339, 139 RBI, 118 R, 26 HR
  2B "brilliant" Charlie Gehringer: .356, 127 RBI, 134 R, 11 HR
  SS "smooth-fielding" Billy Rogell: .296, 100 RBI, 114 R, 3 HR
  3B Marv Owen, "another exceptional fielder": 317, 96 RBI, 79 R, 8 HR
  Their RBI total remains the greatest in history for an infield.
  Captain Rogell had fractured his ankle the first week of September but continued to play with his leg tightly wrapped.
• Two 20-game winners led the staff: Schoolboy Rowe (24-8) and Tommy Bridges (22-11). Eldon Auker and Firpo Marberry added 15 victories each, the latter pitching in relief half the time (19 of 38 appearances).

"The Battalion of Death" - Tigers 1934 infield
L-R: 1B Hank Greenberg, 3B Marv Owen, SS Billy Rogell, 2B Charlie Gehringer

Detroit pitchers L-R: Tommy Bridges, Eldon Auker, Vic Sorrell,
General Crowder, Carl Fischer, Luke Hamlin

• Mickey decided not to pitch his ace, Rowe, against Dizzy in the first game. It wasn't a question of giving Schoolboy more rest. "If anybody else pitches for St. Louis, it will be Rowe for us." The only reason for Mick's hesitation was the fact that Dean had pitched the clincher on Sunday and would have only two days rest.
• But Frisch knew Dizzy wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he sent out anyone else to open the Series.
• In making the decision to hold his ace until Game 2, Cochrane gave a psycho­logical edge to the Cardinals, who didn't need any help in irritating the oppo­sition.
• Diz explained to J. Roy Stockton of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The way I sees it, braggin' is where you do a lot of poppin' off and ain't got nothin' to back it up. But I ain't braggin'. I know me 'n' Paul is gonna win four games in this here Series - if Detroit is good enough to win a couple when we ain't pitchin'. This may be the quotation that eventually got shortened to, "If you can do it, it ain't braggin'."
• The Deans would live up to Diz's promise. So, by his definition, he wasn't brag­gin'.

• It was not only that the Tigers had made the Fall Classic for the first time since the halcyon days of Ty Cobb in 1909. Fans wanted to see the Cardinals, about whose exploits they had read so much. Just as Muhammed Ali forty years later would generate interest in his bouts with his braggadocio, Dizzy did the same.
• Jimmy Powers reported from the Motor City to the New York Daily News: The Deans are on every lip. Vaudeville actors insert allusions to them in impromptu acts, movie organists compose parodies of popular songs in their honor. The papers carry headlines of the size usually employed to announce a declaration of war. They tell hourly bulletin movements of the two grinning, roistering, record-breaking farm boys.
• The Cards arrived at the Brook-Cadillac Hotel to find a large crowd waiting for them.

• After deciding to sell 1,500 standing room ducats, the Tigers front office still had to send 31,000 letters of regret to fans whose ticket requests couldn't be met.
• Reserved seats cost $6.60 while general admission seats went for $1.10. How­ever, scalpers were asking $25 for a pair of reserved seats.
• Railroad lines reported heavy traffic from all parts of the country to Detroit.
• The Series was broadcast coast-to-coast on two major networks. France Laux and Ted Husing called the action for CBS while Pat Flanagan and Ward Bond told the story for NBC.
• A newsreel unit of Universal Studios in Hollywood set up to produce a play-by­play print of each game within an hour of the last out to be shown in a Detroit theater later that day. Prints would be shipped to all major cities in the U.S. and Canada.

Bill Hallahan

Hudson's Department Store in Detroit celebrating AL pennant

Firpo Marberry

Goose Goslin

Elon "Chief" Hogsett

Eldon Auker

L: Detroit World Series program; R: St. Louis World Series Program

Home plate umpire goes over the ground rules before Game One in Detroit
L-R: Leo Durocher, Frankie Frisch, Brick Owens, Mickey Cochrane, Harry Geisel, Bill Klem, Beans Reardon

1. Wednesday, October 3 @ Detroit: Cardinals 8 Tigers 3
   WP: Dizzy Dean; LP: General Crowder
2. Thursday, October 4 @ Detroit: Tigers 3 Cardinals 2
   WP: Schoolboy Rowe; LP: Bill Walker
   
3. Friday, October 5 @ St. Louis: Cardinals 4 Tigers 1
   WP: Paul Dean; LP: Tommy Bridges
4. Saturday, October 6 @ St. Louis: Tigers 10 Cardinals 4
   WP: Eldon Auker; LP: Bill Walker
5. Sunday, October 7 @ St. Louis: Tigers 3 Cardinals 1
   WP: Bridges; LP: D. Dean
6. Monday, October 8 @ Detroit: Cardinals 4 Tigers 3
   WP: P. Dean; LP: Rowe

The Cardinals needed to win two games in Detroit after falling down three-games-to-two when the Tigers took Game 5.

• Paul Dean pitched and Leo Durocher batted the Redbirds to the Game Six win.
• Cochrane had started his ace, Rowe, to try to wrap up the Series. So he had to go with Eldon Auker in Game Seven. The sidearming righty was not super­stitious, as evidenced by the big #13 on his back.

Game 7: Tuesday, October 9 @ Detroit

Leave it to the '34 Cardinals to embroil themselves in a controversy even to the last day of the long season.

• Frisch leaned toward starting southpaw Bill Hallahan, who pitched well in Game 2 and had won two games in the '31 Fall Classic.
• But Diz wouldn't hear of it. After watching the Tigers take batting practice, he went back to the clubhouse where Frisch was holding a meeting with Hallahan to go over the hitters. Dean told Franco, as he called his manager: Franco, you know what the problem is? You're going over the batting order, trying to decide who's going to pitch. You want to win, don't you? There's only one man to pitch, an' here he is.
  Frisch asked, Are you sure you're able to go?
  Diz replied, You let me pitch, an' you won't have any more problem.
  So the manager said, Okay, you start, and Hallahan, you're in reserve.

As game time approached, the Cardinals were loose.

• Martin asked the band to play a few tunes from the Gay Nineties.
• Dizzy happily signed autographs. He showed no sign of fatigue as he prepared to pitch in his ninth game in 19 days - other than a slimmer figure after losing 20 pounds down the stretch of the pennant race. He also had a cold. But there ain't gonna be no alibis, he declared before starting to warm up.

The Tigers, by contrast, were tense.

• Goose Goslin made a prophetic comment to a reporter: Everybody seems to be mad at everybody else in this Series, with all hands sore at the umpiring, which has been terrible. So watch out for fireworks.
• P Elon Hogsett remembered that nobody was saying much [in the clubhouse], not even Cochrane. You could hear a pin drop. There had been lots of stories in the papers about Willie Hallahan or maybe one of the other pichers getting the call in that final game, but we knew who'd they use. It didn't matter any that he hadn't rested. It would be Dizzy.

Both teams had to walk through the same runway to get to the field through the Tigers dugout.

• Diz greeted Greenberg: Hello, Mo [short for Moses, an ethnic slur at the Jewish player]. What're you so white about? When Hank didn't answer, Dean continued. You boys are too tight. What you gotta do is "unlax" a little. But your troubles are gonna be over in a couple a hours. Ol' Diz is pitchin.'
• As captain Durocher stepped onto the field, he noticed Dizzy standing with his arms behind his back watching Auker warm up. As Leo remembered, Diz hollers down to Cochrane, "Are you going to pitch this guy today? You must have given up." Then he breaks out laughing, the most insulting laugh I've ever heard in my life. "Is that the best he's got? He's nothing. Nothing. My slow stuff is better than that." Auker turns around and hollers, "Get out of here, you blowhard!" ... Cochrane is screaming at me, Get him out of there! Leo claimed that he pulled Dean away before he got in a fight. (Durocher, who tended to exaggerate his role in events, also claimed in his autobiography that he persuaded Frisch to start Diz in Game 7 after preventing the manager and his flamboyant ace from coming to blows.)
• Cardinals GM Branch Rickey later opined that Dean's confidence (bordering on arrogance) determined the outcome. Detroit knew it couldn't win.
• Just before they took the field, Frisch told Durocher, How about playing a little closer to second and giving me a hand. I'm getting pooped. But Leo would have none of it. Go get yourself a wheelchair if you can't cover your territory. I'm not going to make myself look bad just to make yourself look good. The exchange may have been the first step toward The Lip's inevitable departure from the Cardi­nals.

The weather was clear but chilly, in the 40s with a strong wind blowing from RF.

• Bookies installed St. Louis as 7 to 10 favorites.
• 40,092 packed Navin Field in hopes of seeing their heroes win their first Fall Classic after losing three straight years (1907-08-09).

Jack Rothrock

Dizzy Dean's follow through

Joyner "Jo-Jo" White

James Anthony "Ripper" Collins

Ernie Orsatti

Pepper Martin

Joe Medwick

Bill DeLancey

Pete Fox

Dean rares back.

• Auker falls behind 3-0, then strikes out Pepper Martin swinging as the crowd roars.
  Jack Rothrock nails a scorching liner to LCF for a double, his sixth hit of the Series.
  Auker jams Frisch, who pops to SS Rogell in LCF.
  Joe Medwick fouls out to 3B Owen.
  
• Showing no signs of fatigue as he pitches in his ninth game in 19 days - other than a slimmer frame from losing 20 points down the stretch of the pennant race, Dean sets down the Tigers quickly, starting with Jo-Jo White who grounds out 4-3.
  Cochrane gets a big hand as he steps in after spending the night in the hospital nursing a severe spike wound in his left leg suffered the day before. But he too bounces out to 2B Frisch.
  Gehringer flies deep to Rothrock down the RF line.
  

• Not bothered by Auker's Port Arthur delivery, Ripper Collins smacks the first pitch on one hop to CF White for a single.
  Bill DeLancey grounds to Owen who starts an around-the-horn DP.
  Orsetti singles to RF.
  On the second pitch to Durocher, Orsatti takes off for 2B, but Cochrane's throw to Gehringer nails him.
• Goose Goslin hits a lazy bounder to 1B Collins, who tosses to Dean just before the runner arrives at 1B.
  Rogell bounces the first delivery to SS. Durocher runs in, scoops, and throws into the dirt. Collins can't come up with it. E6.
  Greenberg strikes out on a beautiful curve that breaks on the outside corner at the knees.
  On the first pitch, Owen forces Rogell 5-4.

3rd inning

• The inning starts innocently enough as Durocher flies to CF.
  The crowd generously cheers Dizzy as he steps to the plate. On the second pitch, Dean hits a foul over the plate that Cochrane, all aches and pains from the long season, ignores. But the ball drops into the front row of box seats, meaning Mickey could have caught it had he tried. But he never even looked around. Then Diz dumps a looper from Auker into LF and, without even looking at the 1B coach Buzzy Wares, sets sail for second. Dean slides in just ahead of Goslin's throw.
  Martin hits a slow roller to Greenberg. Hank takes a moment to decide whether to run for the bag or toss to the P, and that is just enough time for Pepper to beat the toss to Auker by an eyelash. Dean hesitates, then takes 3B. The Ti­gers briefly argue the call by 1B umpire Beans Reardon.
  The infield plays back hoping for a DP. On the first pitch to Rothrock, Martin steals second. The ball bounces off Gehringer's glove about 10', but Diz holds 3B. Surprisingly, it is the Redbirds' first stolen base of the Series. Pitching cau­tiously, Auker walks Jack to load the bases.
  After staying alive with four fouls on 2-2 pitches, Frisch hammers a double down the RF line, clearing the bases when Fox misplays the carom.
  
  
  Dean later claimed that, as he crossed the plate with the first run of the game, he told C Cochrane, "Well, Mickey, this does it. This is the ballgame." And you know what he says to me? He says, "I know it." Poor Mickey. I felt sorry for him, the way his ballclub was fallin' apart on him.
  
  Cochrane calls in Rowe, who threw a complete game the day before, to stop the bleeding as the crowd erupts with its biggest cheer so far. They are finally getting the matchup they've wanted since Game One: Dean vs Rowe. But the move backfires on the Tigers.
  Medwick hits Schoolboy's first pitch to SS Rogell who throws him out at 1B, Frisch taking 3B.
  Collins also jumps on the first pitch, singling to LF to send home his manager with the fourth run of the inning.
  DeLancey raps a 2-0 pitch off the RF screen for a two-bagger. Collins, running on the crack of the bat with two outs, scores all the way from 1B.
  Manager Mickey, realizing that Rowe doesn't have much, brings in lefty Chief Hogsett to face the left-handed batting Orsatti.
  Ernie works a walk on a full count.
  Batting for the second time in the inning, Durocher smacks the first pitch for a single to RF to load the sacks.
  Dean hits a high bounding ball off the plate 20' into the air down the 3B line. Owen doesn't bother to throw as DeLancey crossing the plate.
  Hogsett walks Pepper on four pitches, forcing in Orsatti to make it 7-0.
  The desperate Cochrane calls on his fourth hurler of the inning, Tommy Bridges, who outpitched Dizzy in Game 5, to get the final out.
  Rothrock forces Martin at 2B, Gehringer to Rogell, to finally close the seven- run, 13-batter inning as the crowd gives a mock cheer.
• Pitching free and easy, Dean doesn't give the Tigers a chance to answer back.
  Pete Fox nails a fast ball on a lne to Rothrock in CF.
  P Bridges hits a hot smash to Frisch, who knocks it down and throws to Collins for the second out.
  White flies to Orsatti in LCF.

• Frisch bounces out to Gehringer.
  Medwick, the only Cardinal without a hit in the game, flies to RF. In LF, Goslin, thinking it was the third out, discards his glove, then sheepishly reclaims it and resumes his position as the crowd roars.
  Collins raps his third first-pitch single of the game, this one to RF.
  DeLancey forces Collins, 4-6.
• Cochrane, again cheered by the crowd, pops to Frisch.
  Gehringer breaks up Diz's no-hitter with a one-base hit to RF.
  Goslin flies to Medwick in short LF.
  Rogell forces Gehringer at second, Frisch to Durocher, who needlessly relays the ball to 1B.
  

5th inning

• Bridges breezes through the bottom of the Cardinal order, starting with Or­satti, who flies to Goslin in shallow LF.
  Durocher also skies to Goose.
  Again applauded by the crowd, Dean swings so hard at the first delivery that he falls down. He then waves at two more offerings to the great delight of the crowd, which cheers mightily. Diz laughs and takes the ball from Cochrane. When Umpire Harry Geisel asks for the horsehide, Dean absent-mindedly hands him the bat instead and starts walking to the dugout. Realizing his mis­take, he trades the ball for the bat.
• Greenberg singles to RCF on a 2-1 pitch, giving the fans some hope that rally is starting.
  Owen flies to Rothrock. Greenberg, two-thirds of the way to 2B, retreats to first.
  Down in the count 1-2, Fox brings the crowd to its feet with a double to LCF, just beating Medwick's throw to Frisch. Greenberg stops at 3B.
  Cochrane decides to let Bridges hit for himself. With a chance to break the scoring ice with just a ground ball, Tommy never takes the bat off his shoulder and is called out on the fourth delivery.
  White goes after the first pitch and hits a bounder up the middle that Durocher fields on the run behind the bag and makes a leaping throw to first to retire Jo-Jo and preserve the shutout.
  

6th inning

• Martin singles to LF and continues to 2B when Goslin fumbles the ball.
  Rothrock skies to Goslin.
  Frisch lofts a fly to White in LCF.
  Then comes the play for which this game is famous. Medwick bounces a triple off the RCF bleachers, Martin scoring. Although Coach Mike Gonzalez signals Joe to come into 3B standing up, Medwick, possibly confused by Owen's faking a tag, slides into Marv, knocking him over. As he tries to keep his balance, Owen steps on Joe's leg. When Joe kicks at Marv's chest, the two start scuf­fling in the dirt. Players from both clubs charge out, but 3B umpire Bill Klem and several players quickly break up the fracas. When Medwick gets up, he offers his hand to Owen, who refuses it and curses.
  When play resumes amid some boos, Collins gets his fourth straight hit, a single over 2B to drive in Medwick. Rip continues to 2B on White's fumble. As Joe heads to the dugout to a chorus of boos after scoring, some fans toss programs and papers at him.
  DeLancey strikes out, but Cochrane drops the ball and has to throw to Green­berg as the disgruntled fans fill the air with boos again.