This wonderful photo taken by the esteemed photographer Charles Trefts gives us an unique view of the outfield and the bleachers of Sportsman Park during Game 3 of the 1934 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the hometown Cardinals.
The Cardinals trounced the Tigers in the first game of the series 8-3 on the heroics of left fielder Joe Medwick’s bat leading the way with four hits and a home run. But in Ga
me 2 the Tigers gutted out a 12-inning 3-2 win after falling behind early 2-0. Detroit tied the game in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra frames and in the bottom of the 12th it was Goose Goslin with the winning hit sending home Charlie Gehringer to tie the series at a game apiece.
At this point in time in this photo we’re looking at the bottom of the third inning with the Tigers in the field and once again down 2-0 early. But the Cardinals rookie sensation Paul Dean would stymie the Tigers bats allowing just a meaningless ninth inning run in a 4-1 victory and giving St Louis a two games to one edge in the series.
And it was the Cards speedy third baseman Pepper Martin who was the catalyst by leading off the first inning with a deep triple and scoring the first run of the game on a Jack Rothrock sacrifice fly. With the score 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth it would be Martin again giving the Tigers’ pitchering fits with a leadoff double and Rothrock getting him home on a triple for a 3-0 lead. Shortstop Frankie Frisch would follow with a single scoring Rothrock for the Cardinals fourth and final run.
There is a lot to admire with this great photo, from the view of the fans in the stands, the classic cars parked outside the ballpark to the rather primitive scoreboard, all caught by Trefts willing to stand on the roof of Sportsman Park to capture this moment.
As for the rest of the series, it would go seven games with the Cardinals winning the decisive match by a 11-0 score for their third World Series title in nine years and denying Detroit its very first one.
-Ron A. Bolton
