Best 50 — 1935 Detroit Tigers (#48)
A determined Hank Greenberg powers Detroit to a world title
Our countdown of baseball’s 50 greatest teams — a list known as the Best 50 — rolls today to No. 48, the 1935 Detroit Tigers. The rankings come from my new book, Baseball’s Best (and Worst) Teams.
Here’s a quick boilerplate explanation that I’m appending to every story in this series:
I compiled the Best 50 by analyzing 2,544 major-league teams from 1903 to 2024. Those clubs have been ranked by their team scores (TS), which are plotted on a 100-point scale. (A given club’s all-time percentile is the percentage of the other 2,543 teams that it outperformed.)
See my book for an explanation of my TS calculations. The book also offers separate breakdowns of the best and worst clubs for every decade and franchise, comprehensive profiles of the Best 50 (including position-by-position lineups and much more information than you’ll find in this newsletter), and similar summaries of the 10 worst teams of all time.
Now on to today’s profile.
Facts and figures
Team: 1935 Detroit Tigers
Team score: 84.962 points
All-time rank: 48 of 2,544
All-time percentile: 98.15%
Season record: 93-58 (.616)
Season position: First place in American League
Final status: World champion
Season summary
Bucky Harris failed to ignite the Tigers during his half-decade as their manager (1929-1933). Owner Frank Navin, seeking a more dynamic leader, initially considered Babe Ruth. Perhaps the mercurial slugger could spark the Tigers to their first American League pennant since 1909.
Navin eventually opted for Mickey Cochrane, purchasing the catcher from the Philadelphia Athletics and installing him as player-manager. The Tigers responded by rolling to the seventh game of 1934’s World Series before losing to the Cardinals.
The drive for another postseason berth in 1935 was powered by a trio of future Hall of Famers known as the G-Men — Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, and Goose Goslin. They sparked Detroit to league-leading stats of 6.04 runs per game and a .290 batting average. Yet the Tigers stumbled out of the gate, falling 7.5 games behind the first-place Yankees by June 20.
The club’s fortunes improved dramatically from that point on. The Tigers roared to a 10-game lead by early September, then coasted to the finish line.
Baseball’s Best (and Worst) Teams
Get the complete lowdown on the 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
Postseason summary
The Tigers dreamed of a World Series return engagement with the Cardinals, but the Cubs intervened. Chicago reeled off 21 straight victories down the stretch, overtaking St. Louis for the National League pennant.
Pundits doubted that the fast-charging interlopers could be stopped. “My choice is the Cubs because they are red-hot,” wrote J.G. Taylor Spink in the Sporting News. Newsweek’s Paul Fitzpatrick chimed in, “The Cubs should walk away with the World Series.”
Chicago’s momentum carried into Game One, a 3-0 shutout in the Cubs’ favor. But the Tigers won the next three games, unfazed by a Game Two broken wrist that sidelined Hank Greenberg for the rest of the series. A ninth-inning single by Goose Goslin broke a 3-3 tie in Game Six, clinching Detroit’s championship.
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Lineup summary
Hank Greenberg was just 24 years old in 1935 — only three seasons into his career — yet he was Detroit’s brightest star. The first baseman led the American League in home runs (36) and runs batted in (168), while batting a solid .328. He was the unanimous winner of the AL’s Most Valuable Player Award.
Greenberg was uncommonly humorless — almost grim — on the field. “Hank never played the games. He worked them,” said his high-school coach. His somber demeanor could be attributed in large part to antisemitism. “Sure, there was added pressure being Jewish,” Greenberg said. “How the hell could you get up to home plate every day and have some son of a bitch call you a Jew bastard and a kike and a sheenie and get on your ass without feeling the pressure?”
Second baseman Charlie Gehringer was similarly colorless. He batted a team-leading .330, yet rarely spoke to reporters or fans. “All you do is wind him up on opening day, and he runs on and on all season,” said A’s outfielder Doc Cramer. Sportswriters dubbed Gehringer the “Mechanical Man,” a dual-purpose nickname that saluted his dependability and disparaged his silence.
Two other Tigers batted above .300. Right fielder Pete Fox (.321) chipped in with 15 homers. Catcher Mickey Cochrane (.319) expended much of his energy managing the club.
The pitching staff was anchored by Tommy Bridges and Lynwood “Schoolboy” Rowe, who combined for 40 wins. Bridges weighed only 155 pounds, yet he topped the league with 163 strikeouts. His chief weapon was an exceptionally sharp curveball.