The Yankees, and nearly 30,000 Sunday worshippers, welcomed the Tigers to the Stadium in the Bronx on May 26. Joe Sullivan scattered five hits in a complete-game gem. His two big mistakes were a gopher ball to Bill Dickey in the second inning and a two-out wild pitch in the third that let in a run. The Yankees’ rookie left-hander, Vito Tamulis, shut out the Tigers, improving his record to four wins and no losses.
Johnny Allen and Schoolboy Rowe locked horns the following afternoon in a classic pitchers’ duel. Rowe, rounding into midseason form, fanned five and walked only two. But the Detroit bats were silent once again. Allen tossed a three-hitter, gave up only one unearned run, and registered his fifth win against no defeats. In the finale, Greenberg and Rogell each homered twice and drove in four runs, accounting for all the Detroit offense in an 8–3 victory. General Crowder held the Yankees at bay to gain win number four. It had been a successful eastern swing for the Tigers, winning eight of 12.
Less than successful had been the play of Marv Owen. His batting woes had begun in Lakeland and carried over to the regular season. As the Tigers left Gotham, Owen was mired in a 1-for-19 slump, while his average had plummeted to .184. Cochrane knew that he would have to make a change, and soon.
Tommy Bridges had emerged as Detroit’s most dependable starter. In the first game of a May 30 doubleheader, the Browns lit up Elden Auker and three relievers to the tune of 16 hits in a 10–7 Tigers loss. But Bridges notched his second shutout of St. Louis in the second game. His parsimonious pitching limited the Browns to just three singles, and he struck out five in front of a celebratory Memorial Day crowd of 38,000. Bridges now had six wins in as many starts, with a 1.77 earned run average. The big blow the next day was delivered by Goslin, a bases-loaded, ninth-inning double that gave the Tigers a thrilling 6–5 victory. The Detroit Times’ Bud Shaver noted with his usual hyperbole, “One sweet swish of Goose Goslin’s mighty bat today must be recorded as one of the most far-reaching events in baseball history.”4
Schoolboy Rowe’s inconsistency, on the other hand, had the Tigers concerned. The pitcher labored through a complete-game loss to the White Sox on June 1, yielding five runs and walking five. Detroit had a chance to tie it in the bottom of the ninth. With Cochrane on first and two outs, Gehringer laced a single into right, with Cochrane sprinting to third. But Gehringer made the mistake of rounding too far off first base, where Zeke Bonura intercepted the throw from right. With Gehringer caught in a rundown, Cochrane made a mad dash for home; in the words of H. G. Salsinger, he “hurled himself at home plate in a desperate attempt to score the tying run. [Catcher Luke] Sewell went down under the impact but he kept hold of the ball and won the decision.”5 That was the ballgame, 5–4.
It was Rowe’s fifth loss against only three victories. Had any pundits predicted before the season that Rowe would limp into June averaging 5.56 earned runs per game, they would have been told to re-check their math. Rowe’s struggles were especially mystifying because the speed on his fastball was still there, along with his sharp curve and good control. But the Tigers never knew what they were going to get from Rowe on any given day. Unable to put together a string of good starts, Rowe had yet to resemble the pitcher who was one of the best in the American League in 1934.
The day after Rowe’s loss to the White Sox, the man with 714 lifetime home runs finally had enough of Braves owner Judge Fuchs. In the middle of a game against the Giants, Babe Ruth told manager Bill McKechnie and the rest of the Braves that he was going to go on the voluntarily retired list for at least 60 days. It was a lost season for the flabby Bambino. His final burst of glory had come a week earlier, when he homered three times in a game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. But there was no hiding the fact that he was through. His .181 batting average read like a sinking stock price.
After the game, the 40-year-old Ruth huddled with the press. “I’m sorry to tell you this, boys, but I can’t get along with Fuchs…. I like the Boston players and have the highest respect for McKechnie, but I’ll never play another game as long as Fuchs is head of the club. He double-crossed me.” A reporter asked how exactly the Babe had been double-crossed. Ruth related some cock-and-bull tale about wanting to go to New York the next day to represent baseball at a gala reception to welcome the French liner Normandie. Fuchs, said Ruth, had refused to give him time off to do so. That seemed unlikely, given that Ruth was not even playing due to a knee injury. In truth, Ruth’s deep-seeded angst sprang from the realization that Fuchs never planned to make him manager in the first place.
Nobody seemed particularly surprised at the news. Most thought it a wonder that the charade between Fuchs and Ruth had lasted as long as it had. Braves pitchers, to a man, were relieved that the stationary Ruth would not be around anymore to turn routine fly balls into doubles. A few hours later, Fuchs read a prepared statement saying that Ruth was being unconditionally released. He added a final zing: “Nobody but an imbecile would act as Ruth did.”6 In the span of a year and a half, the Babe had gone from nearly managing the Tigers to persona non grata in Boston.
On June 5, Bridges won his seventh straight, a 5–4 decision against the Indians in the opener of a doubleheader at Navin Field. His own one-out, ninth-inning double scored Gee Walker to win it. It was the kind of late-inning magic that had so energized the Tigers the year before. The rousing victory put Detroit four games over .500 (22–18) for the first time in 1935. Because of a downpour, the game did not start until 3:10; by the time it was over, chances were slim of getting in the second contest. But the umpire called “play ball” at around 6:00, and dusk began falling by the time the Tigers came to bat in the sixth inning, trailing by a deuce. In the gathering gloom, a round-tripper by Cochrane, his first of the year, evened the score. “As he crossed the plate,” wrote Sam Greene, “photographers took his picture with flashlights, the first time this has ever been done at Navin Field. The umpires decided that, night baseball not yet being approved by the American League, it was time to halt the proceedings.”7 William Kuenzel, a Detroit News photographer who had been snapping pictures for 31 years at Navin Field, pointed out after the game that never before had he needed to use a flash bulb to take a baseball shot. It was officially a tie, and the individual records stood.
Schoolboy Rowe’s season reached its nadir the following afternoon at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. For a while, he resembled the Schoolboy of old, holding the Indians hitless through the first six innings. The Tigers staked him to a seven-run lead. “Then came the most surprising reversal of the season,” wrote H. G. Salsinger in the Detroit News.8 Inexplicably, Rowe suddenly lost it in the seventh. Hal Trosky led off with a double to break up the no-no. The hits then came in rapid-fire succession: Another double, three straight singles, an RBI groundout, a single, and yet another double. Before Rowe knew what hit him, he was out of the game and was eventually charged with six runs in the inning. Detroit won it in the tenth on Goslin’s RBI single, but all the fans could talk about as they exited the ballpark was how Rowe had imploded before their very eyes. Goslin, on the other hand, was hopeful that his game-winning hit would be the lift he was looking for. Coming into the contest with a .237 average, and hearing whispers that he was finished at age 34, he went 4-for-6 with five RBI. Gee Walker continued his hot hitting on June 7 against the second-place White Sox. His two-run homer in the ninth inning brought the Tigers to within a run in an eventual 9–8 loss. It was his second homer of the game.
Gee wasn’t the only Walker in the Detroit lineup that day, however. His brother, Hub, recently called up from the Toledo Mud Hens, went hitless in a pinch-hitting appearance. It had been a long road back to the major leagues for Harvey Willos Walker.
He was never sure when, where, or how he had gotten his nickname. As a kid, everyone called him Hubby, which later was shortened to Hub. Of all the Walker Brothers (in addition to Gee and Hub, there was also Richard, Hilman, and Leonidas), it was generally acknowledged that Hub was the best athlete growing up. All four played football and
baseball at the University of Mississippi, and Homer Hazel, the team’s coach, called Hub “one of the greatest quarterbacks I have ever seen.”9 It was the hard-hitting Gee, however, with an inch or so and ten-odd pounds on his older brother Hub, who drew the most attention from baseball scouts. He signed with the Tigers in 1928; Hub hung around Oxford to get his degree before signing the following year. Reportedly, both had been wooed by scout Eddie Goosetree, who would also ink Schoolboy Rowe.
Hub was assigned to the Ft. Smith Twins of the Western Association his first year of pro ball. He hit .341 as a 22-year-old, earning a promotion to the Evansville Hubs the following year. Teaming up in the same outfield with Gee, the Hubs won the Three-I League championship. Hub batted .355, Gee .378. Their future in Detroit seemed bright. Both made the Tigers out of spring training in 1931 and had solid rookie seasons. Gee, despite spending nearly half the year at Double-A Toronto, batted .296. Hub suffered through various injuries, including a wrenched back, spiked hand, and broken collarbone, which negatively affected his swing. He still saw action in 90 games and hit .286.
Nevertheless, the Brothers Walker were headed in opposite directions. Manager Bucky Harris liked Hub’s speed, but was intoxicated by Gee’s potential as a hitter. Hub found himself back in the minor leagues, where, for the next three years, he struggled at the plate. His .261 batting average with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Royals in 1932 impressed no one. In 1933, he split time with the Royals and the Jersey City Skeeters, showing slight improvement at bat. At Montreal in 1934, he slumped to .256. The only part of his game keeping him in the lineup that year was his speed; he hit 11 triples and led the International League with 33 stolen bases. He spent hours before and after games in the batting cage, trying out different swings and hitting styles, but none of them seemed to work. While his kid brother was establishing himself in the majors, Hub appeared to be no better than a busher.
With the Mud Hens in 1935, however, Hub started to hit the way he always thought he could. Spraying the ball all over Toledo’s Swayne Field, he maintained a plus-.300 average for much of the early season. That alone was not enough to punch his return ticket to Detroit, however. He needed a good break. He got one in Chet Morgan. The phenom who had looked like a future star in Lakeland had been a bust so far with the Tigers, appearing in only 14 games and hitting .174. Cochrane could no longer justify Morgan’s continued presence on the roster. He was still high on Morgan’s potential but wanted to give him more minor league seasoning. That meant the Tigers would need another spare outfielder. South to Toledo went Morgan, while north to Detroit went Walker.
The day after Hub made his first appearance in a big league game in over three years, the White Sox edged the Tigers, 3–2. All the scoring came via the long ball, with Rip Radcliff and Luke Sewell going yard for the Sox, and Greenberg and Owen doing the same for Detroit. Bridges tossed a five-hitter in the getaway game for his eighth win in a row. Greenberg homered again, his 13th, and Gee Walker added an RBI double in a 4–1 affair. Third baseman Marv Owen, however, went 0-for-3 and was batting .203. Such production out of the third base position was not going to win any pennants.
With the victory, the Tigers were 24–20, in fourth place, but only three games behind the Yankees. Cochrane’s men headed back to Detroit, where they would enjoy some home cooking for the next 17 games. One player who did not make the trip, however, was Firpo Marberry. He had been a workhorse at the top of the rotation the past two years, with 31 victories. In 1935, however, he suffered from a sore arm. Winless in five appearances, he was finally given his outright release.
After an awful season in 1934, Boston’s Lefty Grove was making a modest comeback. With eight starts under his belt in 1935, he had a 3–4 record and a very presentable 3.09 earned run average. In the opener of a doubleheader at Navin Field on June 11, he toyed with the Tigers, giving up only five hits and no walks in a 3–1 Sox win. Wasted was Joe Sullivan’s solid six-hitter. Cochrane had decided to rest Owen, who not only had lost his stroke but was feeling physically weak. Taking his place at third base was the little-used Heinie Schuble. A 28-year-old Texan with five years of service in the majors, Schuble was a weak hitter with a solid glove. He didn’t fare any better than the struggling Owen, going hitless in three at-bats. In the second game, Wes Ferrell bested General Crowder, who failed to pick up his sixth win.
Schoolboy Rowe had one of the best days of his life, both professionally and personally, on June 12. Celebrating the birth of his first child, he went the distance in a 4–1 victory, allowing a scant four baserunners while fanning five. He retired 20 in a row at one point. It was Schoolboy’s first win in nearly three weeks, and it felt great. Cochrane, who was behind the plate, gushed that Rowe never had more stuff than he did that afternoon. Bridges was equally stellar the next day, racking up his ninth win in a row to improve his mark to 10–3. Among the offensive stars was Pete Fox, who had cooled down in recent weeks. Hitless in his last 14 at-bats, his average had dropped to .265, but he collected a single and a triple, good for two RBI and a run scored. He hoped it was the start of something good.
On June 14, before the fifth and final game with Boston, the Tigers raised their American League pennant to the top of the flagpole in center field. Will Harridge, president of the junior circuit, travelled from Chicago to be on hand for the ceremony. A military parade consisting of players from both teams, along with a marching band and “ten soldiers from Fort Wayne,”10 made its way from home plate to deepest center. Fox picked up where he left off the day before, hitting a single, a home run, and driving in four runs. But the Tigers’ bullpen spoiled the day, squandering a late-inning lead, as the Red Sox took three of five.
The June 15 trading deadline passed without the Tigers making any moves to shore up holes. Cochrane would have loved to add another experienced arm or two, but the market was bare. A spare outfielder and a third baseman would have given him flexibility as well, but once again, there just were not any available players. Third base had become a glaring weakness. Heinie Schuble was replaced by Flea Clifton, a good-field, no-hit rookie who clearly was not the long-term answer. Cochrane even pondered bringing up Dixie Howell from Birmingham, but scouting reports suggested the aspiring actor could not cut it at the hot corner.
Detroit took three from the Athletics at Navin Field, including a doubleheader on June 15. Greenberg hit his 15th home run in the opener, tying him with Philadelphia’s Bob Johnson for the league lead. The power surge was a pleasant development; at the same point the year before, Greenberg had only seven homers. Both sluggers hit their 16th circuit clout the following day, and Rowe went the distance for win number five. The Tigers outscored Philly 34–7, setting up a four-game clash with the first-place Yankees, who rolled into town having won seven of ten. Detroit, at 29–23, was tied for second with the White Sox, four and a half games off the pace.
New York routed the Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader on June 19. General Crowder suffered the bulk of the beating in the 13–3 loss, while Gee Walker and Fox both homered. Bridges took the mound in the second game, gunning for his tenth win in a row. Tied at three in the top of the tenth, he gave up a solo shot to Ben Chapman, but Fox answered with his second homer of the day in the home half. In the 13th, with Bridges still in the game, New York’s Red Rolfe led off with a chopper to first that deflected off Greenberg’s glove. It was ruled a hit, and the next batter, Chapman, laid down a nifty bunt toward third base. The charging Clifton threw an off-balance peg in the general direction of third that wound up in the Yankees’ dugout. With runners on second and third, Gehrig was passed intentionally to set up a force at any base.
Bridges then took Tony Lazzeri to a full count; on the next pitch, the Yankees’ second baseman lined a single into center to score two. A third tally tripped across the plate on a force out to make it 7–4. The Tigers refused to go down quietly in their final at-bat. With two down and the fans headed for the exit ramps, Greenberg and Gehringer both homered to narrow the
gap. To the plate strode Goose Goslin, who, at .268, was still trying to get untracked in 1935. The re-energized crowd shouted and stomped, but all Goslin could muster was a popup to end the nail-biter. “Tommy Bridges’ winning streak,” penned Bud Shaver in the Detroit Times, “expired with a soft little plop in Tony Lazzeri’s gloved fist, like a punctured toy balloon.”11
The third game started with a scare for the Yankees. In the first inning, a Joe Sullivan fastball struck Bill Dickey on the back of the skull. The catcher was carried off the field and later taken to a hospital, where an examination showed a slight concussion. Injuries had limited Dickey to only 104 games the previous season, and the Yankees could ill afford to lose him for any length of time in 1935. Despite his absence, New York scored three runs in the first and cruised to a 5–2 victory on the strong pitching of Johnny Allen. Joe Sullivan’s control was not sharp, as he walked seven in seven innings. On the plus side, Fox banged out two hits for the sixth time in his last eight games.
His team desperate to avoid a three-game sweep, Schoolboy Rowe squared off against Red Ruffing on June 21. In one of the best-pitched games of his young career, Rowe gave up only four hits and three walks, fanning seven, in a 7–0 blanking. He even contributed a single and two RBI. Ruffing was cruising until Gehringer’s leadoff home run opened the floodgates to a five-run sixth inning. “It really looks,” wrote Sam Greene in the Detroit News, “as if the Schoolboy is ready to settle down to the serious business of the summer after a start that had everybody asking, ‘What’s wrong with Rowe?’ and Mickey Cochrane groping in vain for an answer.”12 The Yankees, despite their loss, had taken three out of four; the Tigers slipped into fourth place, six and a half games off the pace.
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