The Cubs made it into the 1935 World Series with one of the greatest winning streaks in history. They won 21 games in a row in September, 100 games for the year, and were the prohibitive favorite going into the Series.
They had four Hall of Famers in their everyday lineup (Billy Herman, Gabby Hartnett, Freddie Lindstrom, and Chuck Klein). Their leadoff man (Augie Galan) hit over .300, led the league in stolen bases and runs scored. Their starting rotation had two twenty game winners (Lon Warneke & Bill Lee), a 17-game winner (Larry French), and a 15-game winner (Charlie Root). They had speed, power, pitching, and defense...and they were hot.
It looked like everything was going according to plans when the Cubs won the first game at Tiger Stadium 3-0 behind a Lon Warneke shutout. No-one was too concerned when they lost Game 2 because they still left Detroit with a split.
The Cubs came back to Wrigley Field and a record setting crowd turned out. The team even put up temporary bleachers (photo) to accommodate the overflow crowd of 49,000+. But in the eighth inning of that first game at Wrigley (Game 3), with the Cubs leading 3-1 and their 20-game winner Bill Lee on the mound, the wheels came off the bus.
After two men reached base, Cubs manager Charlie Grimm brought in the other 20-game winner (Lon Warneke) to shut the Tigers down. Unlike his great performance in Game 1, this time the Tigers unloaded on him. Before the inning was over, the Tigers had scored 4 more runs. The Cubs rallied in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game 5-5, but in the top of the 11th, an error by Freddie Lindstrom allowed the Tigers to score an unearned run and win the game.
In Game 4, errors once again proved to be their undoing. The score was tied 1-1 in the sixth inning with two outs. The eighth hitter in the Tigers lineup, 3B Flea Clifton, hit an easy fly ball was hit to Augie Galan. Galan dropped it, and Clifton went to second. It didn't appear to be a big deal at the time, because Tigers pitcher Alvin Crowder was coming up. Crowder hit a meek grounder right to shortstop Billy Jurges, which should have ended the inning. Jurges fielded it cleanly, but his bad throw got past first baseman Phil Cavaretta, and Clifton scored what turned out to the winning run.
The Cubs were down 3 games to 1, but they had their ace on the mound for Game 5, and he delivered again, leading the Cubs to a 3-1 win to keep the series alive.
The series returned to Detroit for Game 6, and the score was tied 3-3 in the ninth inning when Cubs manager Charlie Grimm (photo) faced a horrible dilemma. With the score tied 3-3 in the top of the ninth inning, no outs, and Stan Hack on third base with the potential winning run, Grimm had no choice but to let his regular 8-9-1 hitters bat. His entire bench had been thrown out of the game earlier for arguing balls and strikes and abusing the umpire. Instead of pinch hitters like Tuck Stainback or Woody English, the Cubs sent up light-hitting SS Billy Jurges (.241), then pitcher Larry French, who had been pitching the entire game. Needless to say, neither man could bring in Hack. Augie Galan ended the inning by flying out.
Grimm sent Larry French out for the bottom of the ninth. He struck out the first batter he faced, but Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane scratched out a hit. He went to second base on a grounder to first baseman Cavaretta, and that brought up Tigers left fielder Goose Goslin.
Goslin lined the ball over Cubs second baseman Billy Herman's head, and the throw to the plate from right fielder Chuck Klein was too late. The Tigers won the game and the series, and the best Cubs team since the 1908 World Champs went home a loser once again.
