Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 109

Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer was the Tigers' second baseman from 1925-1942, and has been called the finest second baseman to ever play in the major leagues. He had lifetime batting average of 320. After the 1935 series, Grantland Rice wrote: "The steadiest all-around star was Charlie Gehringer. He batted 375 and rolled up 39 chances without an error." He's now a partner in Gehringer and Forsyth, manufacturing representatives. Gehringer Recalls: A Big Series, A Big Homer "Vr I -a, and the ground was frozen in front of the Chicago dugout.

The Cubs and umpire George Moriarty got in trouble with the commissioner over their language, but I don't recall their words. The language was a lot rougher the year before- with St. Louis. The Cards had a lot of roughnecks on their team, but the Cubs were different. I couldn't help think of the year before when the fans threw everything at Joe Medwick.

Where they got all that produce so fast, I'll never know. The big question in the series was: What was wrong with Schoolboy Rowe? Maybe his arm bothered him. Maybe some guys don't show off so well in the critical areas, because he didn't do much in the '34 series, either. We weren't too surprised when Alvin Crowder pitched so well in the fourth game. He'd been around a long time, and he knew what to do.

But when he got into trouble in the ninth, we all felt better when someone hit a sharp grounder to Billy Rogell for the final double play. In the second game I hit the hardest ball I ever hit in my life, but it went foul, 'way over and to the left of-a temporary scoreboard. Of course, Pete Fox was the hitting star of the series. I hit well, but Fox got the really timely ones. We weren't happy with the loss of Hank Greenberg, but the guys got together real well without him.

If the Cubs thought we were going to fall apart after that, they must have been real disappointed. It was a little disconcerting for a minute or two when Stan Hack got that triple in the ninth inning of the last game with no one out. He hit it over the head of Jo-Jo White in center field. Hack is a little man, and that was a tremendous poke for him; Or maybe Jo-Jo just played him a little too shallow. Bridges did a real great job of settling down after that, as every one knows.

But author Robert Smith is wrong about one thing. He says If tTj 0 By CHARLIE GEHRINGER As Told to Mark Beltaire Overall, the 1935 Series was well-played, between two good ball clubs. I can't recall any unconscious plays. Nobody looked in his glove and found the solid gold watch. Actually right up to the end of the season we expected we'd be playing the Cardinals again as we had unsuccessfully in 1934, and we were looking forward to getting another crack at the Dean boys.

All our scouts were following the Cards in the last several games. When the Cubs squeaked in we really didn't know much about them. The series monetarily turned out to be one of the best up until that time, some $6,800 a man, because the Cubs had so many box seats. It was awfully cold in Chicago, Charlie Gehringer today. His lifetime average, a solid 320.

I hit to the shortstop with Cochrane on first in the ninth inning. Cockrane was on first, with Cav-aretta holding him there. Ordinarily, the first baseman moves off the bag with the pitch. This time he stayed close. I hit a screamer down the first base line.

When it left the bat, I said to myself: "That's a sure double and the ball game." But because Cavaretta was so close to the bag, he managed to knock the ball down. It rolled a few feet away, but he recovered in time to throw me out, Cochrane went to second. It didn't really matter though, because Goslin came up and hit that single..