Once again:
Mission Accomplished! I was able to manage the '34 Detroit Tigers to a World Series Championship. This Tigers team
did win the AL pennant by a fairly large margin before losing the World Series to St. Louis in 'real life', so it wasn't really that difficult to accomplish my mission. But it sure was a lot of fun!
This is the oldest season replay I've ever done and it was very interesting to get to know the players of this era. While I knew of the more recognized players like Ruth, Gehrig, Ott, Greenberg, Gehringer, Dean, etc.... it was players like Hal Trosky, Billy Werber, Heinie Manush, Wally Berger, Lon Warneke and all the players on the Tigers roster that I really had fun following throughout the season.
As I said, the Tigers won the pennant by a fairly large margin in the actual '34 season (11 games ahead of the NY Yankees), but the Yankees really gave the Tigers a battle in my replay. It wasn't until September 17th that my Tigers were finally able to move past NY into 1st place and eventually win the pennant by 5 games.
Besides the Yankees over-performing during my replay, the Pittsburgh Pirates were a big surprise going 88-62 compared to their actual 74-76. The New York Giants were a big factor in the pennant race for most of the NL season before falling off at the end of the year.
The 1934 Detroit Tigers have got to be the best hitting club I've ever had. They didn't hit for a lot of power but did average 6.47 runs/game and had a .314 team BA, the first time I've ever had a team hit over .300.
2nd baseman Charlie Gehringer led the way for the Tigers with a league leading .381 ba, 12 hr, and 134 rbi. 1st baseman Hank Greenberg hit .331, had 30 hr's, and a league leading 164 rbi. Pitcher Schoolboy Rowe tied with Lefty Gomez of NY for most wins with 23 and along with his 2.52 era, 23 complete games and league leading 162 strikeouts, Rowe won the AL Cy Young award. Lou Gehrig of the Yankees won the AL MVP by batting .346(4th in AL), 48 hr's(1st), and 157 rbi (2nd).
In the NL, Rip Collins of the St. Louis Cardinals won the NL MVP by batting .344, 36 hr's (1st in NL) and 138 rbi (1st). Teammate Joe Medwick, batting right before Collins in the Cardinals lineup hit .349 (3rd), 31 hr's (4th), and 124 rbi (4th). Mel Ott of the NY Giants also had an outstanding season batting .349 (4th), 33 hr's (2nd), and 126 rbi (3rd). Paul Waner of the Pittsburgh Pirates won the NL batting crown with a Major League leading .393 ba. The Cardinals Dizzy Dean 26-5, 2.38 era and the Giants Carl Hubbell 22-11, 2.11 era, battled for top pitching honors with Dean being named the NL Cy Young award winner.
All in all, 1934 was a great/fun season to replay that I obviously enjoyed, especially the final result:
Detroit Tigers, 1934 World Champions!
