October 3, 1934: Dizzy and The Gang Take Game One Of The World Series

On October 3, 1934, with just two days of rest Dizzy Dean pitched a complete game in an 8-3 win over the Detroit Tigers in Game One of the World Series. It was the third time in 5 days that Dean would go the distance for the Birds. He picked up his 29th win two days before the regular season came to an end. Then grabbed his 30th victory on the last day of the season, which also clinched the pennant for the Cardinals. Just a few days after that pennant clincher Dean was ready to roll again and so were his teammates. The Tigers sent General Crowder to the mound to face Dean, unfortunately for Crowder his teammates behind him committed 5 errors in the first three innings. The infield was usually a strength for the Tigers club, they had Big Hank Greenberg at first, Charlie Gehringer at second, Billy Rogell at short, while Marv Owen stood at third. The Tigers infield was described as the 18-carat part of the ballclub which was just not the case on that day in Detroit. Every one of those infielders named made errors in those first three innings and Owen made two to bring the number to 5. Crowder went 5 full innings, he pitched his ass off, striking out 6, only to have  the defensive miscues give the Cardinals a 4-1 advantage after five. Only one of those four runs could be charged to Crowder which was a home run off the bat of Ducky Medwick in the fifth. The long ball by Medwick was his third hit of the day and it was a long one that sailed into some temporary bleachers in left and he wasn't done just yet. The Tigers used two pitchers in a four run Cardinals sixth that essentially put Detroit away. Medwick picked up his fourth hit of the day in that sixth inning. Dean finished the day with 8 strikeouts while allowing the three earned runs. He admitted he took his foot off the gas pedal in the eighth when he served up a solo shot to Hank Greenberg. From there he was lights out as the Cardinals sailed to the Game One victory. While they were riding a high after the huge victory, they knew there was work to do if they wanted to achieve their goal. It was a goal that would take 7 games to achieve.

Here's the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET193410030.shtml